Santa Cruz Shaman

“I am sorry for coming when I am such a mess,” the man coming in the door said.

“It seems like everyone who crosses my door says that,” I replied.

This one factor, feeling out of control, unites most of the people I see. As Americans, we share a cultural value which pressures us to power through our life, ignoring our pain. It isn’t until we are tied in knots, often by yet another difficulty (i.e. divorce, unemployment, medical issue) that we seek help. We often only seek non-traditional intervention when every other thing we have tried has failed. It I no wonder that people come to a shamanic practitioner with feelings of embarrassment, failure and even shame at needing help.

It is very good news that people universally leave feeling better because:

• They have immediate confirmation that there is something to this non-traditional stuff.
• They typically receive specific information, energy and/or spiritual healing.
• Most importantly, they leave aware that another human being isn’t afraid of their pain and will stand in it with them.  I’m not an energy vampire, wallowing in their pain, but a brief open-hearted sharing allows a person to let down their defenses.
• By letting down defenses a patient releases a burst of creative energy in which healing and the awareness of the possibility of healing is received.
• They become awareness of a context for their experience.

This doesn’t mean that everyone leaves cured of all their problems. However, they typically move forward unburdened and hopeful. I often don’t see a patient again for several months and when I do, they tell me that things are going better, even when they are in a difficult period of their life. They often attribute part, or much of this, to their experience of shamanic healing.