Shamanism and Yoga = Shamanic Yoga 

 

Yogis and shamans are one and the same; they are men and women who study the human condition and through their practices become their own teachers and healers. The Yogic path as shamanism leads to the understanding of the world as a matrix of energy and offers techniques on how to intervene on the realm of mind, body, and spirit for healing and enhanced perception.

 

There are three traditional systems of consciousness transformation, systems of belief and practice in which the exploration of these non-ordinary realms is pursued with discipline and intention: shamanism, alchemy and yoga. Of these, shamanism is of course the oldest, and the one with the widest distribution all over the globe.  Alchemy, which developed independently in Europe, the Near East, India and China, shares with shamanism the goal of consciousness transformation, the quest for healing, knowledge and power, and the profound respect for Nature. Alchemy could in fact be regarded as being a development of a certain type of shamanism, i.e. that practiced by miners, smiths, metalworkers, toolmakers, and their descendants. We will only be referring to shamanism as a whole.

 

Yoga comprises, like shamanism, a certain kind of world view, and a systematic technology of changing consciousness. Compared to shamanic tradition, here is less emphasis on connecting with nature, animals, plants, minerals or metals, -- and more focus on interior, higher states of consciousness. In some of the Indian yoga teachings there is a kind of detachment from and transcendence of the realms of nature, matter and the physical body. Important exceptions to this general tendency are tantra yoga in India and Tibet, and Taoist yoga practices in China, both of which are closely allied to alchemy in those cultures.  Alchemy in India and China, as well as Tantra and Taoism, emphasize the transmutation of the physical body and practices of regeneration and longevity, along with the seeking of higher, transcendent states of consciousness.

 

Like shamanism, yoga utilizes the use of imagery, both in waking and dreaming states, in the various branches of yoga is well-documented. Especially in the Tantra traditions, both the Hindu and the Buddhist forms, visual symbolic images of psychic anatomy are pervasive. The chakras and nadis are described in great detail, with all their associated colors, geometric shapes, animals, Sanskrit letters, and so on. The awakening energy of the root-chakra, called kundalini, is visualized as a serpent rising up a central pillar, or two serpents coiling back and forth across the central axis. Yantras, or geometrical diagrams, including the mandala, are constructed as external supports or expressions of the interior domains. In Tibetan Buddhist yoga there is even an elaborate and sophisticated system for working consciously with dream images; this topic in Western research is only now beginning to explore with the concept of controlled lucid dreaming.

 

In the yoga traditions animal spirits and animal consciousness play some role, though much less than in shamanism. There are symbolic animals associated with each of the chakras, like the elephant with the foundational root chakra. And there are animal figures and composites found as "wrathful deities", or threshold guardians, in the intermediate bardo realms of Tibetan Buddhism. These figures appear to function primarily as symbolic meditation images, and are not treated as real inner animals as in shamanism. Nevertheless, such images play an important role in transformative processes. The yogic practitioner is learning, through such symbolic visualizations, to incorporate within him/herself the strengths and qualities of that animal.

 

In all three of these ancient teachings of transformation, and in their modern derivative practices of psychotherapy to an extent, we find recognition of the value of integrating animal consciousness. Shamanism in particular, holds out to humanity the ancient wisdom and strength that comes from a mutually supportive symbiosis between the animal and human kingdoms of life.

 

The transmutation of opposites, from antagonism to complementarity, is a common theme in these traditions of transformation. This is a kind of core metaphor that, along with the other metaphors discussed, exemplifies a deep cognitive pattern that reflects the structure of the transformative experience. Such core metaphors can provide a conceptual framework, or guidepost, to individuals in contemporary society who may be undergoing such transformative crises, and who is looking to the ancient Earth Wisdom teachings for insight into the dilemmas and challenges of homosapiens in our time.

 

The non-ordinary, shamanic state of consciousness, induced by drumming or hallucinogens, is an experience in which the practitioner’s awareness "leaves" the ordinary reality of time, space and body for a limited period of time, exploring the "otherworld" to obtain healing or knowledge, and then returning to ordinary, body-based consciousness. This parallels the metaphor of the "trip” that was spontaneously created by users of psychedelic drugs in the sixties. Another metaphorical meaning of "journey" relates to a longer-lasting, ongoing process of personality transformation, in which concepts of self and world-view may undergo a profound change as a result of guided practice, or sadhana. This kind of journey of self-transformation, which also involves a departure from the conventional world of home, family and culture, parallels the mythic hero's journey, as described by Joseph Campbell, in his Hero With a Thousand Faces.

 

Shamanic journeys, or altered states of consciousness, may be one of three types: lower world, middle world, or upper world. Travelling downward, horizontally, or upward in space are the chosen metaphors for these kinds of altered states: no actual physical travel is of course involved (the physical body is usually lying on the ground). They are appropriately chosen metaphors, because they aptly characterize the phenomenology of these states. In lower world journey one feels and perceives oneself to be falling, sliding, or crawling down, into or under the earth. In upper world journeys one feels and perceives oneself rising up, flying or floating through the air or sky, or climbing a mountain, or climbing the world tree. In middle world journeys one is travelling horizontally, through an interior landscape that may be in many ways very different from exterior reality, but is somehow perceived as being on the same level. This metaphor of journey or travel is found equally in the traditional lore of shamanic cultures, and in the reports of modern individuals practicing shamanic methods.

 

From the point of view of a psychology of consciousness that espouses a multi-dimensional model of the human constitution, such as is found in esoteric and theosophical teachings, as well as in Vedanta, one would say that a lower world journey is a movement of awareness to a level "below" the normal waking consciousness (hence referred to as sub-conscious). A higher world journey, on the other hand, involves movement to a "superior" level than the normal waking level. Esoteric teachings describe these levels as differing in vibratory rate, or frequency rate, as the notes of a musical scale. The lower levels or worlds are lower or slower in frequency rate, denser, more involved in matter, and the physical body. The higher levels or worlds are higher or faster in frequency rate, subtler or less dense, more like the traditional "heavens", or etheric and astral planes.

 

The theme of ascent to higher levels of consciousness is of course central to the raja and tantra yoga traditions, where it is sometimes symbolized by the ascent of the kundalini energy up the physical body axis. In Vedanta and Yoga traditions the meditator is described as ascending through the levels or "sheaths" of successively finer substance. Relatively rarer do we find, in the Asian meditation teachings, processes of downward movement described. This is one of the major differences of yoga from both the shamanic and alchemical work: in yoga there is more emphasis on transcendence, on rising up into higher states of absorption, or dhyana, that are progressively more devoid of form and content, to the pure formless states of samadhi or nirvana. Only in the tantric tradition, and the related alchemical way of rasayana, do we find much concern with the transmutation of physical substance and form per se, the downward involvement into matter for the purpose of refining it.

 

The upper world journey is one of a class of metaphors of ascent: this can include, besides flying or floating through the air (such as can also occur in flying dreams), also riding on a giant bird (eagle or wild goose), or a "magic carpet", or climbing a mountain, or a pillar, or a tree. This connects with the very wide-spread tree of life symbolism, found in shamanic cultures throughout the globe. The shaman typically reports that he has climbed the tree, and obtained information for diagnosis or healing, perhaps by a certain leaf from the top of the tree. The tree is described as being at the center of the world, and sacred. The different branches on the tree represent stages in the ascent, and subsequent descent: they are symbolically analogous to the planes or levels of consciousness in esoteric and occult lore. The trunk or axis of the tree is the axis through which we can ascend to the higher dimensions: it is therefore an interdimensional axis. And the individual axis and world axis are aligned, so that climbing one means climbing the other. Hence the prevalence of the axis mundi image in connection with the tree of life.

 

The tree of life symbolism is also prevalent in the hermetic tradition, where it is associated with regeneration. There are images of Hermes standing beneath the tree in two forms: as old man and as youth. An alchemical text advises that the old man should eat of the fruit of that tree, until he becomes a youth. "For the alchemists, the tree of knowledge has little to do with the making of judgements--separating good from bad; it is more a symbol for inner 'seeing', for insight into the inner structure of things, for seeing how everything hangs together. To them...the tree symbol is a vast reservoir of imagery and psychic energy. The 'tree of the philosophers' is, to the alchemist, the axis of the transformational work, the unfolding opus. Significantly, the Old English root word for 'tree' and 'truth' is the same: it is treow".

 

The shamanic metaphor of climbing the tree also appears in the Indian yoga traditions, especially Tantra, in the notion of the central axis, called merudanda, staff of Meru, which is also the sushumna axis on which the chakras are aligned. The bottom chakra is called the "root chakra" (muladhara); and the awareness of energy moving up this axis of transformation is symbolized by the ascent of the coiled kundalini serpent.

 

Another very widespread theme in shamanic training and apprenticeship is dismemberment or shamanic sickness. Shamans in training often expect to become sick or wounded as part of their initiation, or voluntarily submit to the experience of feeling oneself being dismembered, cut open, broken into small pieces, -- and then reconstituted, often by the animal ally or other spirit guide. Psychologically, one could say that this is a metaphor for the psychic fragmentation that any one may experience to a greater or lesser degree at various phases of life. The psychotic, with this shattered language and fragmented thinking, is perhaps an extreme (and involuntary) form of this kind of experience. In contrast, the shamanic initiate who intentionally undergoes a dismemberment experience as part of his training, "feels he is being delivered from the limitations of the ordinary world and empowered to perform visionary, healing, and protective work for himself and the members of the tribe."

 

Dismemberment imagery occurs in the yoga traditions also, where the ability to separate the body into different pieces and reassembling them at will, is recognized as one of the siddhis of an advanced yogi. There are eye-witness accounts of the 19th century Indian saint Sai Baba of Shirdi performing such practices, visibly to others. Likewise, in the Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist teachings, admittedly strongly influenced by the indigenous Bon shamanism, there is the gruesome chod, or "cutting off" rite, in which the yogi invokes a demon to devour and transmute his body, with all its negative past karmic patterns. The mythologies of Osiris and of Dionysus also feature stories of the god's dismemberment and reconstitution.

 

Central and essential to all traditions of transformation is the notion of opposites or dualities and their reconciliation. There are at least three major pairs of opposites, whose mutual balancing and integrating is important in shamanism, and alchemy and yoga as well: the balance of male and female; the reconciliation of good and evil; and the integration of human and animal consciousness. In each case, the task is to recognize the duality that exists within us and then to find ways to transform the opposites from a state of divisiveness and antagonism to a state of complementarity, or peaceful co-existence.

 

The ubiquity of the androgyny motif is well-known: the central belief here is that all human beings are, in essence, of dual nature, though one side or the other may be unevenly developed. Shamans, alchemists and yogis, as well as the mystics of almost all religious traditions have concerned themselves with the project of integrating these polarities. In shamanic cultures the mythology of Father Sky and Mother Earth is the cosmic dualism on which this integrative project is based. Shamans in some cultures may practice a ritual transvestism, or even live for long periods of time completely as the other sex does, in order to bring about a better balance of the masculine and feminine energies. In alchemy, Sun and Moon, King and Queen, are the symbolic representatives of the male and female energies. The "alchemical marriage" between fire and water, is the union from which arises the new "philosophers' child". In yoga practice, we also have the notion of solar and lunar currents of energy flow, the ida and pingala, which must be balanced for the yogi to attain liberation.

 

From the most ancient times, human beings have practiced disciplines of psychospiritual transformation with devoted energy and intention. Modern systems of psychotherapy are the inheritors of three great traditions of transformation, in which the human is seen as engaged in purposive processes of exploration and integration in many realms of consciousness. In this essay I describe some of the common methods used, as well as the major metaphors for transformation.

 

One possible definition of shamanism is that it is the disciplined approach to what has been variously called "non-ordinary reality", "the sacred", "the mystery", "the supernatural", "the inner world(s)", or "the otherworld". Psychologically speaking, one could say these expressions refer to realms of consciousness that lie outside the boundaries of our usual and ordinary perception. The depth psychologies derived from psychoanalysis refer to such normally inaccessible realms as "the unconscious", or "the collective unconscious". This would, however, be too limiting a definition for shamanism, if "unconscious" is taken to refer to something within the individual, i.e. intrapsychic. Shamanic practice involves the exploration not only of unknown aspects of our own psyche, but also the unknown aspects of the world around us, - the external as well as internal mysteries.

 

There are three traditional systems of consciousness transformation, systems of belief and practice in which the exploration of these non-ordinary realms is pursued with discipline and intention: shamanism, alchemy and yoga. Of these, shamanism is of course the oldest, and the one with the widest distribution all over the globe.2 Alchemy, which developed independently in Europe, the Near East, India and China, shares with shamanism the goal of consciousness transformation, the quest for healing, knowledge and power, and the profound respect for Nature. Alchemy could in fact be regarded as being a development of a certain type of shamanism, i.e. that practised by miners, smiths, metalworkers, toolmakers, and their descendants. The psychospiritual purposes and techniques of the alchemists came in time to be all but forgotten, and overshadowed by its applications in the experimental physical sciences.

 

Yoga comprises, like shamanism and alchemy, a certain kind of world view, and a systematic technology of changing consciousness. Compared to the shamanic and alchemcial traditions, here is less emphasis on connecting with nature, animals, plants, minerals or metals, -- and more focus on interior, higher states of consciousness. In some of the Indian yoga teachings there is a kind of detachment from and transcendence of the realms of nature, matter and the physical body. Important exceptions to this general tendency are tantra yoga in India and Tibet, and Taoist yoga practices in China, both of which are closely allied to alchemy in those cultures. Alchemy in India and China, as well as Tantra and Taoism, emphasize the transmutation of the physical body and practices of regeneration and longevity, along with the seeking of higher, transcendent states of consciousness.

 

Modern schools of psychotherapy, especially those based on psychodynamic depth psychology and the newer so-called "experiential therapies", employ many of the methods and techniques of consciousness change that were known in the ancient systems of shamanism, alchemy and yoga. In some instances, for example in both Freud's and Jung's borrowing of alchemical ideas, the derivation is quite conscious and deliberate; in other cases, for example the use of inner journeys or imagery sequences, psychologists are re-discovering or re-inventing methods that have been known and practised for centuries in these older traditions.

 

The first difference is that shamanism, alchemy and yoga are not focussed only on the solving of psychological problems, as is most psychotherapy. Rather, these traditional systems operate from an integrated world-view, in which physical healing, psychological problem-solving, and conscious exploration of spiritual or sacred realms of being are all considered as aspects of the way, or work, or practice. A shamanic ritual such as the Native American sweat-lodge, for example, is simultaneously a healing, a psychological therapy, and a form of worship including prayer. Alchemy's interest in healing is evident in their quest for the panacea, the "cure-all"; and the deep spiritual commitment of the genuine alchemists, who sought to produce the lapis, the wisdom stone, is likewise apparent. Similarly, in yoga, the spiritual purpose, the attainment of higher states of consciousness is paramount. Physical or psychological problem-solving may occur, but is almost a secondary effect.

The purpose of psychotherapy on the other hand is not generally to bring about physical healing, nor does it concern itself normally with spiritual values or religious issues. The goal is usually framed in terms of psycho-social adjustment, or the resolution of intrapsychic conflicts, or interpersonal communication problems. The split in the Western worldview between body, mind and spirit is reflected in the rigid separation of the roles of physician, therapist, and priest. There are however encouraging signs that this situation may be changing: the contribution of psychological factors to the origins and the treatment of diseases is increasingly acknowledged. The work of C.G. Jung with archetypes, of Abraham Maslow with the notion of self-actualization, and of Roberto Assagioli with psychosynthesis, has pointed the way toward greater recognition of spiritual factors; and the transpersonal psychology movement explicitly has attempted to integrate the spiritual dimensions into a comprehensive understanding of the human psyche.

 

The second important difference in goals and values is that psychotherapy focuses on changing or helping the other -- the patient, client, victim, sufferer; whereas in the traditional systems of shamanism, alchemy and yoga, the emphasis is on self-transformation, self-healing, self-understanding. While it is true that the more sophisticated approaches to psychotherapy are well aware of the relevance of the therapist's own perceptions and feelings to the therapeutic process, these tend to be categorized as "countertransference" reactions, and seen as an impediment to the conduct of therapy, to be eliminated if possible. On the other hand, while it is true that helping or healing others is an important application of shamanic work (in healing shamanism especially, as distinct from power shamanism or sorcery), such work is always based on the shaman's own inner process: typically, the healer shaman may contact his or her own power animal or ally, in order to facilitate a similar contact with inner sources of support and healing for the patient or sufferer. The wide-spread concept of the "wounded healer" points to a direct personal engagement of the healer with the sickness or wound of the patient, -- the shaman may journey into the inner world in order to combat or destroy the "spirits" or "forces" that are manifesting as physical or psychic pathology.

 

Thus, comparison of shamanism, alchemy and yoga as traditional systems of consciousness transformation, with modern psychotherapy as a problem-solving approach that uses similar methods and similar metaphors, must be tempered by the awareness that the traditional systems see the human being as an integrated body-mind-spirit continuum. Their approach seeks to recover a way of knowledge that can not only heal and solve psychic problems, but lead to ultimate concerns of human destiny and the meaning of life.

 

The practice of shamanism is a study in perception, psychology, ecology, and the nature of the universe itself. It is an incredibly powerful system of beliefs and techniques and can lead to shockingly rapid growth and life change. For this reason, proper guidance has always been an important part of training.

Behind shamanism is a very important practice. This is the practice of changing ones point of view, and eventually fusing completely with the environment and its inhabitants.

 

One of the most important experiences the Shaman works with is allowing the point of view of the environment around them to penetrate them and replace the point of view of their own ego. It is when this happens that the Shaman experiences a profound union, communication or oneness with the environment and some or all of its inhabitants.

 

Some shaman become very highly practices at this skill. This fusion of identity may result in some new understanding of “large stone in the river spirit”, of eagle consciousness, of the the meaning in the words of the wind, or of what the entire expanse of the universe feels like through time. Sound familiar? Yes, this experience interlocks with Eastern samadhi experiences and ego dissolution practices.

 

This is how the Shaman learns to listen. It is through focused listening that the Shaman is imparted wisdom and much of their power to heal. The ability to listen is dependent on several factors. One of the most important is respect. As the respect the shaman shows to the universe around them grows, so to does their ability to be touched by it. This is why it is natural for a Shaman to show respect to their environment and its inhabitants. This is why shamanism holds a unique cure for our species sustainability problems. Once we begin to actually listen in this way, and are undeniably touched by what we hear, it become impossible to act with the same thoughtlessness that is destroying so much. Life becomes sacred. This is not a belief, but a reproducible experience.

 

Techniques of Transformation

 

A crucial notion that grew out of the early research on psychedelics was what became known as "the set-and-setting hypothesis". According to this hypothesis, widely accepted by consciousness researchers, the actual content of a psychedelic experience is a function of the set (intention, beliefs, expectations, personality), and the setting (physical and social context); with the drug playing the role of a trigger, or catalyst of the transformative process. The same principle can be applied in other transformations of consciousness, not involving drugs: the trigger or catalyst of an altered state might be hypnosis, breath, sound, sensory isolation, meditation, stress, and so on, and similar features of subjective experience can occur across the different modalities.

 

Techniques of consciousness transformation then refers to the specific triggers and catalysts that are used to bring about altered states, in which the healing, or insight, or vision, can occur. Furthermore, the systematic and continued use of a given technique to induce altered states constitute a kind of training or practice. The shamanic, alchemical or yogic initiate is, after all, not only interested in a one-time experience of heightened consciousness, but rather in a more or less permanent development of the capacity to enter into such states at will, to gain knowledge from them, and to apply them in healing and problem-solving situations. Thus the psychologists' distinction between "state" and "trait" changes is important to keep in mind here also. The same stimuli or agents that function as triggers for altered states, become, when used with the appropriate set and in the relevant context, ingredients in an integrated practice, discipline or sadhana.

 

Techniques of directed imagery or visualization are very widespread. A work by Jeanne Achterberg reviews the use of imagery methods in traditional shamanism, and compares it to the role of imagery in contemporary medicine, such as the Simontons' application of visualization in the treatment of cancer. Achterberg distinguishes preverbal imagery, where "images communicate with tissues and organs, even cells, to effect a change"; and transpersonal imagery, where "information is transmitted from the consciousness of one person to the physical substrate of another". The shamanic practicioner in training is directed and prepared to "see" objects, plants, animals, spirits in the inner realm, the non-ordinary state. Such inner seeing, which may be intensified by drumming, or hallucinogenic plants, is not regarded as "imagination" in the sense of something that is "made up", a constructed fantasy. Rather, it is regarded as seeing in non-ordinary reality, with perceptible results and impact in this reality (as, for example, if the patient gets healed). Numerous accounts now exist of shamanic visionary experiences, both those collected from native informants, and those gathered from modern Western individuals who have taken up the pratice of shamanic work.  Under this heading, we can also consider dreamwork as an important aspect of shamanic imagery technology: images are explored and "amplified" (Jung's term) regardless of whether they occur in dream or waking states.

 

The use of imagery, both in waking and dreaming states, in the various branches of yoga is well-documented. Especially in the Tantra traditions, both the Hindu and the Buddhist forms, visual symbolic images of psychic anatomy are pervasive. The chakras and nadis are described in great detail, with all their associated colors, geometric shapes, animals, Sanskrit letters, and so on. The awakening energy of the root-chakra, called kundalini, is visualized as a serpent rising up a central pillar, or two serpents coiling back and forth across the central axis. Yantras, or geometrical diagrams, including the mandala, are constructed as external supports or expressions of the interior domains. In Tibetan Buddhist yoga there is even an elaborate and sophisticated system for working consciously with dream images, -- an area Western research is only now beginning to explore with the concept of controlled lucid dreaming.

 

The use of breathing techniques, as means to develop special states of consciousness, is well-documented in the yoga traditions, although its use in shamanism is more uncertain. In Patanjali's classic exposition of the ashtanga (eight-limbed) yoga, breath control (pranayama) is the fourth step, coming after various behavioral and moral restrictions, and asanas, the physical postures of hatha yoga. Moreover, prana refers not only to the physical breath, but also to the breath-like subtle life-force, that is accumulated, preserved and distributed throughout the body by the use of special breathing techniques.

 

While breathing techniques have not been documented in shamanic traditions, the practice of certain kinds of chanting, such as the so-called "throat music" of the Inuit, and other very rapid, rhythmic chants, appears to involve a kind of accelerated, rhythmic hyperventilation, which probably induces an altered state. The circular or continuous breathing that is required to play the didjeridu of the Australian aborigines, or the long, curved horns of the Tibetans, may have a similar function.

 

The use of sound as a trigger or catalyst of heightened states of consciousness is also wide-spread in all traditional cultures. We leave aside the important role of group chanting in various kinds of tribal rituals, which probably also induces collective alterations of consciousness. For the induction of shamanic states of consciousness, or inner journeys for healing or the acquisition of knowledge, it appears that the method of rhythmic drumming is the most prevalent technique, besides hallucinogenic plants. There is some evidence that this method involves "auditory driving", or entrainment, of cerebral electrical rhythms. Shamans who employ this method often refer to the drum as their "horse", or "vehicle": the beat seems to carry the awareness naturally and effortlessly through various inner landscapes. Other sound techniques in shamanism would include the already mentioned didjeridu, as well as various kinds of rattles, conches, and of course chanting or singing.

 

In the Indian and Tibetan yoga traditions the use of mantra, or specific syllables and formulas that have definite psychic and spiritual power, is pervasive. Though there are some analogies to the role of prayer in the Western religious traditions, mantras are said to have definite effects on consciousness through their sound quality alone, quite apart from their meaning content. Particular mantras are said to activate or energize certain chakras, for instance. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition there are practices of overtone chanting, which also have quite definite consciousness heightening effects, -- on the listener, as well as, presumably, on the performer.

 

Modern shamanic yoga is a synthesis of ancient and modern techniques used as part of the emerging global science of consciousness. Part of what makes shamanic yoga different is its focus on actually living the profound range of experiences that make up reality, as opposed to just talking about them or thinking about them. Shamanic Yoga is not a religion. It is a methodology which may be practiced by anyone of any faith, including atheists. As a starting point, it may accurately be thought of as a way of experiencing the functioning of ones own perception and the ramifications of this filter we place over the world.

 

Shamanic Yoga contains many elements that are familiar to most yogis, including asana, pranayama, and meditation. In fact, we feel that it is wise to explore traditional yogic teachings far more deeply than is commonly done. Because of the intensity and range of experience which often occurs through the practice of these techniques, a strong foundation in Karma, Bhakti, Jnana, Tantric, Dream and Ashtanga (Raja) Yoga traditions are all extremely beneficial. This system also relies heavily on the meditation system of one of the greatest recorded yogis, Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha). The Buddha’s practice of Vipassana meditation was one of his greatest gifts to the world. We encourage anyone and everyone to study this profound meditation. Finally, though many academics separate the non-physical journeying techniques of shamanic cultures worldwide from yogic practices, we do not. They are absolutely critical to any serious examination of the mind and reality as a whole. 

 

Later, a priestly class of yogis emerged who codified this knowledge and who often acted as teachers of knowledge. Thus, over time the actual experience of yoga was often transformed into thinking about yoga or talking about yoga. What practice remained was often reduced to a physical exercise that led to mild perceptual changes only. This is a common though not ubiquitous problem with yoga today. Although a great deal of variation is seen in consciousness modification techniques globally, these variations tend to be in form, rather than substance.

 

The systematic integration of these ancient practices sits alongside modern scientific understanding in physics, cognitive psychology and ecology to create a comprehensive system for deconstructing and understanding the self, and arguably what lies beyond the self.   

 

Yoga is union. There is only one yoga. It is everything, our bodies, our breath, our thoughts, the stars, every atom and the currents of energy that bind them. However, just as a range of mantras break up the all encompassing “OM” into smaller, more manageable parts, this site will break up yoga a few different ways. All of these aspects are important to understand and master.

 

 Together, Shamanic Yoga brings a host of lost and cutting edge practices together into a comprehensive and highly effective whole.  "But the true yogi always experiences." 

 

-World Shamanic Institute