Fears
Most of the obstacles come from within, and many of them are fear-based. A common one is the fear of being wrong. This is a fear that is usually instilled in childhood—fear of appearing foolish or that somehow you will not receive love and acceptance if you do not give the “appropriate” answer. The path of the traditional shaman is not separate from life but integrated throughout all aspects of it. And as we know about life, there is always more than one answer that can work to create a better conclusion. The love of the Great Spirit and of All Your Relations is not conditional! As long as you come to this with realistic expectations, a compassionate Heart, and good effort, you have nothing to fear.
This is followed closely by fear of feeling as if you are not good enough. Usually, we are our own worst critics and are harsher with ourselves that anyone else will ever be. Remember that this is not just the practicing of simple exercises to build skills. It is the developing of your own spiritual character and that of creating lasting alliances with benign beings in this and any other world. The best gift that you can always give is to be who you truly are, for only then can authentic relationships that are Balanced and healthy grow.
Loss of Control
A major fear that a great many people have is the loss of control. Sometimes trying to manage the fear of loss of control can manifest itself as setting too many expectations when you come to something that is currently unknown to you. The setting of expectations, whether conscious or not, is an attempt by an individual to create points of reference with known parameters that may have nothing to do with what is actually needed. It is meant to be a safety mechanism, which is appropriate in many circumstances but not in this one. I would ask you instead to trade in your expectations, which will only get in your way, and exchange them for learning to listen with your Heart, which is working in partnership with a skeptical yet receptive mind. There is also the advantage of working within a centuries-old tradition. It offers the comfort of walking upon a well-known path with built-in safeties to avoid and move beyond pitfalls. Ancient traditions are practices that have been honed through the centuries to help you to grow securely through teachings that have been passed on for countless generations.
Too Critical and Judgmental
Other obstacles come from the imperious and endlessly noisy mind being too critical and judgmental and not wishing to relinquish control to the Heart. For many of you, it will seem odd to allow the sacred Voice Within, which comes from your Heart, to have more sway than your mind. Your mind may be tempted to dictate what this experience should look like and feel like. But here I need to dispel yet another myth, the myth that the logical mind and the Knowing deep within your soul should be kept apart. The truth is you need both halves to work together, both spirit and mind, in order to succeed on this path, just like you need both sides of your brain to work together to be a healthy person. However, the other extreme is also unhealthy. This is not about blind belief! It is important for you to remain receptive yet analyze and retain a healthy skepticism of what information is received, just like you do with any other area of your life.
Performance Pressure
Difficulty in journeying can also come from performance pressure. This is particularly true for people who are perfectionists and high achievers. Or you could be like me, feeling very self-conscious in the beginning of your training by comparing yourself to others who seemed to be able to move so effortlessly in between the worlds. In this culture, there is always pressure to succeed and to exceed expectations, which puts unnecessary stresses on you.
Be patient with yourself. Show kindness to yourself. Allow yourself to grow in your time, as the elders told me when I was first starting on this trail. Truly being able to completely relax in your own skin and trust your own Heart while getting accustomed to this sacred ritual takes time. It is also human nature that as the older we become, the more we expect ourselves to get it right the first time. Everything is a Sacred Hoop. There is a time for being the teacher, and then there is a time for being a student. The irony is the more you try to force “success,” the longer it will take you to journey. I cannot emphasize enough to be kind and patient with yourself. It takes time and much practice to discipline a mind that has never had to be subservient to your spirit. Instead of stressing yourself out, enjoy this time of being a beginner, when the world is new once more with no preconceived notions. Allow yourself a sense of wonder as you begin to explore the realms as you have never seen them before.
Creating a Breakthrough by Daydreaming
I would like to share a technique that one of my dearest friends and students used to create her breakthrough. She found that if she focused as she was instructed but allowed herself to begin the process by daydreaming, her mind would be distracted enough to allow her Heart to take the lead. She would listen to the drumbeat and my guidance of the journey throughout the whole process so that she could transition from daydream to Walking between the worlds when her mind could finally let go.
This is because when you daydream, you allow your mind to drift off and be open while your body relaxes. This creates the perfect environment for your Heart to begin to take the lead. The key word here is relax! The difference between daydreaming and journeying is that you can completely control all aspects of a daydream, for it is a creation of your mind. Journeying, however, is a completely different matter, for it will take on a life and energy of its own beyond your control. Journeying is very much like living life. You make plans and focus on the manner of reaching your destination, but life itself will place different paths and events ahead of you that you may not expect. It gives you choices so that you have the opportunity to grow.
Journeying between the worlds is a personal experience. If you are a person who feels things better than you visualize them, you might find that your journey is one of sensations and impressions versus a panoramic scene. This is also true when you are developing your spiritual senses to connect with your physical ones. When we are first conceived, we do not have all our senses. The first sense we experience is touch, and then eventually the other senses develop one by one. So as you are beginning to Walk in your spirit body consciously, you might find that only one or two of your senses seem to be completely open. If you find that there are some senses missing, begin to focus on them. Gently allow for your conscious mind to catch up with the input given by your spirit body.
Remember, this is not you forcing yourself to create images of fancy and fantasy! This is training your conscious mind to be aligned with and receptive to your Heart. Your Heart acts as the conduit between your spirit body and your physical one. This practice impresses upon your consciousness whatever feelings or sounds you may have received on the spirit side and then disciplines your mind to allow the images to unfold on their own without you creating them. What also happens is that we expect for information to be communicated to us in the same way it is here on earth. At times you will find yourself connecting with beings or locations that are pure energy, emotions, or thoughts. In order to begin to overcome that feeling of being handicapped, permitting yourself to focus is the best solution.
Let me give you an example. Say that you get a brief sensation of a rocking motion. You also get the fleeting impression of cycles, but after that, there is only darkness and you have no idea exactly what you have experienced. All you know is that it is familiar somehow. You completely focus with your conscious mind on the sensations that you received on the spirit side. Slowly but surely, the image of an ocean develops along with the sound of the waves upon the shore. How do you know if it truly is a message versus monkey-mind chatter? If something is true, it will resonate within you like a bell. Even if you try to force a change in the energy, message, or image, it will either defy your efforts or revert back to its true form the minute you stop concentrating on it. The truth will always stand. It is okay to test what you receive. In fact, I encourage it. Your senses are more acute on the s
pirit side because they are able to perceive subtleties that can be easily missed by the five physical senses. It is best not to pressure yourself but let this ability unfold naturally with the help of lots of practice. It is not uncommon for people to not have all five senses for a while or perhaps not at all.
Be at peace and know that this is perfectly normal.
Other Reasons You May Not
Be Able to Journey
Here are some common reasons why perhaps even after you have successfully journeyed, at times you might find that you are unable to. These are the most common causes, and they reflect whether or not you should continue to practice at that time.
Not Feeling Your Best
The first one is simply that you are not feeling well. Just like doing any other activity or exercise, you need to make sure that you are healthy, eating properly, and getting enough rest. Although it may not seem like it when you are doing shamanic work, you are using a lot of energy! As you journey longer and deeper, you will proportionately feel as if you have done the equivalent in physical exercise. As you grow in your practice, you will develop greater stamina in time. If you are overly tired or fighting off the beginning of some sort of illness, such as a cold, you will find it difficult if not impossible to go on the spirit side. Your body is a machine that is dedicated to surviving in the best possible way.
This is not to say that you cannot practice Native American shamanism if you have a chronic condition. The human body has a wisdom of its own. Your body will give only the energy it can safely spare in order to preserve itself. If you are fighting something off or if you are sick, then your body will redirect the energy toward healing and repairing itself versus a function that it does not feel is absolutely necessary for survival. The good news is that this is a great motivation for making sure that you are being consistent in your self-care. Just like athletes are careful to take perfect care of themselves so that they can be at peak performance for an event, so must you do the same when you are Walking between the worlds.
Unsafe Environment
Sometimes you are not able to travel between the realms because your energetic or spiritual environment might be unsafe or toxic. Your Guardian Spirit is in charge of making sure you have safe passage when you journey. In conditions like these, it is very much like air traffic control grounding the planes until there is safer weather for them to take off. If this is the case, then it is better to not force the issue but wait it out or go to a place where the energy is healthy and conducive to journeying. If you have correctly and consistently done the Middle Kingdom Exercise of Walking the Land, which I will guide you through in chapter 6, then you should have a sense that a place is not safe long before you have to be grounded by your Guardian. However, if you find yourself being held here on this earth plane, do not take it personally, for sometimes a place can seem beautiful on the surface but have something harmful hiding underneath it. Be confident in knowing that you are being well looked after!
No More to Find on the Spirit Side
Although this is not spoken of often, at times when you are not allowed to journey, it is because there is no more to be found or said on the spirit side in relation to what you are working on. At times like these, I like to say, “Do not look up into heaven, for your Guardians are sweating by your side here on earth.” This means that there is no more to be learned or seen that can be relevant and useful on the spirit side. You have been given all the information you need, and the resources to begin to solve your problems or to move forward on a project are now here in this Middle Kingdom. Sometimes this can happen when we are reluctant or are unsure of ourselves. It is normal to keep looking to one of the spirit realms for more and more information until all that is left is the doing. On a positive note, when this happens, take this to be an affirmation that you have everything around you that you need in order to begin moving forward successfully to completion. All that is left is the “doing” by executing a planned course of action after you are done thinking things through!
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Developing Good Relationships
with Spirit Beings
Since there is a myriad of different entities, for the sake of simplicity I’ll refer to them collectively as spirit beings. I think a good place to start our discussion on developing relationships with spirit beings is to help dispel some myths regarding spirit beings.
Spirits Are Not All-Knowing
The first myth is that all spirits are all-knowing. That is very untrue! The extent of a particular being’s knowledge and perspective depends on where it hails from. For example, a Sky Teacher, considered an ascended master in this culture, would have a far greater knowledge of how your karmic lessons have impacted you throughout your lifetimes but would be very ineffective in telling you how to apply those lessons in a practical matter in the twenty-first century. Conversely, the spirit of your deceased grandmother may not understand karma, but she would be able to help you with the nuances of everyday life in a very personal way. Think of it in this way: just as you have go-to people in this life for help with technology, relationship advice, or just having fun, so it is in the spirit realms. As time goes on, you will build relationships with different types of spirit beings with a wide array of abilities and helpful knowledge.
Discerning Benign Relationships
from Toxic Relationships
Another myth is that spirits help or hurt us merely because they can. This is untrue. We offer a friend or relative food, refreshments, and a place to be comfortable and sit when they come to visit. We do this so they can recharge and enjoy our company and hopefully want to visit again. The same is true of spirit beings. They may not ask for food or drink, but they need energy to be able to continue doing what they do. Different spirit beings require different types of energy. That energy will define and deeply impact you when you interact with them. There is good and bad everywhere. Here are some details to assist you in making good choices.
Regardless of where a relationship may start, whether it be in the Middle Kingdom or in any of the spirit realms, the same universal guidelines apply. A good relationship will be one of mutual respect and equal benefit. It will be one of open, honest partnership. Conversely, bad relationships are harmful and toxic. Typically, there is a dominance struggle for control, and it is destructive and self-serving. It is about abusive control and using any means to an end.
Here are some examples. Let’s choose a benign sacred being, an angel, and that angel’s mission is to promote peace on earth. The angel will seek out individuals who want to live out that same purpose. In return for helping the angel with the mission of peace, that person’s work will be enhanced. There will be other benefits. They may be blessed with extra protections and deeper insights that the average person will not receive. In turn, anyone who is assisting the angel will interact with others so that the energy of peace multiplies exponentially. This is how a single act of kindness can grow into a wave that creates global movements. The increase of joy, peace, and goodwill helps sustain the angel to do the work on earth, in addition to promoting its mission. Spirit beings that are good will always tell you up front what is expected of you in order to interact with them, whether it be for a one-time task or on a regular basis.
Much like good spirits “feed” on what is generated by helping to promote positive emotions and energy, evil and toxic spirits consume the opposite. They feast upon anger, pain, depression, and confusion, to name a few. Their relationships with people are parasitic. The idea is that a person is connected with others who in turn will be afflicted and multiply toxic energy and emotions. Once the host is no longer useful or is destroyed, then that evil being is able to follow the bonds of relationship and affect others the individual has been in contact with. Depending on the type of spiritual being, the spread of poisonous energy can become viral! Beings of evil and toxicity are just like a drug pusher who is trying to get
you addicted—they will never tell you the price up front for their “assistance.” Unfortunately, by the time a person figures it out, it is too late. Evil beings also like to masquerade as something benign in order to trick and seduce individuals into a trap. I will be covering different ways to help safeguard you as you venture forward into your shamanic practice.
How Spirits Are Drawn to Us
What attracts a spirit being to a person? For the vast majority of cases, like attracts like. A positive, happy, and peaceful person will attract spirits who also have the same type of outlook and energy. A negative, angry person given to drama will attract toxic and harmfully chaotic beings. Realize it is not just emotions but also your way of being from the inside that creates your auric field around you, which others will respond to whether conscious of it or not.
At times it can be that you have visited a place that has entities already “residing” there. Sometimes because of their curiosity or misguided way of trying to fulfill their desires, they will attach themselves to you, although they are not invited to do so. The beings range from a lost soul who doesn’t know how to cross over to a curious nature spirit to an entity of ill will.
Although there can be other instances of how spirit beings attach themselves to someone, they are so rare as not to be worthy of mention here. Being aware of how you present yourself in this world or any other and being mindful of whom you invite to share your journey are usually enough to ensure that you make good choices.
Setting Boundaries
Another important element of creating healthy relationships is setting realistic boundaries. It is not very difficult. Set rules for spiritual beings that are similar to the guidelines you set for people in your life. Simple rules such as not interrupting you when you sleep or when you’re in the bathroom might seem like common sense, but remember, you’ll be dealing with entities who may not understand these concepts. Other good guidelines such as setting times you are available and receptive to receiving communications plus the spirit letting you know who is “speaking” to you are important. It will help reduce frustration on both sides!
Journeying Between the Worlds Page 5