When was the last time you read a headline, watched the news, or heard the latest going on in the political arena and felt yanked into anger, discouragement, outrage, or despair? How often, when you have been to a social gathering, did you feel annoyance with someone whom you got stuck sitting next to or were forced to listen to? For most of us these events happen almost daily and yet we take them for granted. They are all examples of swinging on the pendulum away from neutral to the side of upset and resistance. Sometimes we are yanked the other way into a sense of elation when we feel we score some points in a discussion or make a good showing or think we are going to make a lot of money on some scheme. In a shamanic sense these little events do not stack up to lasting happiness. They are a result of imprinting, social programming, or family injunctions that are deeply embedded in the subconscious. Usually they are related in some way to whether we feel loved or not.
The good news is that there are many shamanic methods to reduce and eliminate the retaining walls in the mind that keep us from growing, expanding, and meeting our full potential as human beings. Shamans the world over, speak to the importance and power of erasing personal history and detaching from the drama to become neutral once and for all. Only when we are not caught up in identifying ourselves with this event or that, only when we are not resisting what is, do we find our true power and become able to access the Inner Shaman. Let us go into some of the major processes that allow us to not only to clear the clutter and find the power within, but to revolutionize the world with a new dream.
Recapitulation
In a shamanic sense recapitulation means to review, to repeat the evolutionary stages we have been through, to recap the major themes of our lives. Interestingly it also means to repeat the process of surrender. The purpose of reviewing the major events of our lives is not to indulge in repeating the drama but to surrender to it, to accept it, to put it exactly where it is and thus take the energy out of it by not resisting it anymore. The reason that we carry so much baggage is that we tend to resist our experiences because we don’t like them, we don’t want to experience them fully when they happen.
Let us say for example that you have a social trauma, someone embarrasses you in public, insults you, or humiliates you in some way. A part of you says “no, no, no” while it is happening. Immediately afterward you try to forget it, wish it had not happened, and so on. This resistance causes the condition to persist and all you can do is circle around and repeat the memory of it over and over much to your chagrin. The memory of the trauma stays with you as a highly charged unpleasant memory. It holds a large part of our energy in a kind of timeless state of repetition. By surrendering to it you let it go and free up the energy around it.
Now when shamans refer to erasing personal history they do not mean that you suddenly never had the trauma or the event you have resisted. What they actually mean is that you rob it of any energy that is being held or trapped within you. To erase personal history means to render it neutral so that you don’t care any more that this event happened. You don’t care any more because it no longer influences you one way or the other. If it no longer influences you in a bad way you need not resist it any more.
The Shamanic Power Of Neutrality
Most people hear the word neutral as a negative. They are afraid that being neutral is boring, completely uninteresting, like being dead. In fact it is true that many humans are addicted to drama and find trouble rather delicious. This is especially evident in teenagers who embrace drama with regularity much to their parent’s exasperation. Why indeed do so many young people choose to run with a destructive crowd? The truth is that it is more exciting than being obedient or following the rules. Even adults get into dramas on a regular basis. They take small insults and blow them up into major fights. They love nothing more than to participate in office politics, inheritance fights, vendettas, gossip, and slander. More than a few lawsuits are simply blown up situations resulting from people spoiling for a fight.
There is nothing at all wrong with much drama. Drama is entertainment and without it we would not be able to enjoy classic stories, novels, films, and plays. Rough challenges and difficult lessons make for an interesting life. But in the end all this drama and challenge can become tiresome, a big distraction leading to confusion and unnecessary suffering. When all is said and done there is no shamanic power inherent in suffering even though the shamanic path can be quite difficult at times. Shamanic initiation, like working out or training for a marathon, may be challenging, however the objective is not to suffer but rather to bump up to the next level of ability and effectiveness.
In the end, when on the shamanic path, approaching life with clarity, sobriety, and focus leads a person much more rapidly to their freedom and power. Then life becomes incredibly interesting but not in the way a child would think of excitement. Being able to change someone’s life for the better is as exciting as it gets. Helping someone to let go of their fears to become courageous and powerful is truly dramatic but not in the way most people think because it must be done without identification, without a lot of hoopla, without self-importance
When you are not neutral you cannot create your dream, you simply recreate what you have resisted. From a shamans point of view you can begin to create only when you do not care if you are the one who gets the credit. That is why most shamans worth their salt, do not even call themselves shamans. If you pay attention, you will discover that your Inner Shaman is always neutral, always sober, not engaged in petty ego games. In the end you cannot advance on the shamanic path without finding the neutral position. Your life may not look interesting to many who are engaged in the old patterns but it will be totally riveting to the new you. In fact you will find that those interested in conventional forms of drama will studiously avoid you because to them you look like someone who will not engage them, who will not play their games, someone they cannot create karma with. When you are neutral you will no longer attract thieves, attackers, or violent people. You will not have to worry that bad things will happen to you. Now that is a good thing for you. Let them go their way and you go your way, the way of power.
Remote Healing
Each month, around the new and full moons, Jose, Lena or Anna leads a remote shamanic healing session. These approximately 30 minute sessions are designed to be experienced in a quiet, safe place free from distraction. Even if you cannot join live they can be very powerful, and always include a good clearing and beautiful icaros. Recording access is included for a short time afterwards. See the product description for dates and times.
1. Here is a process that shamans use to recapitulate or find neutral. Think of a person, a situation, or an event in your life in which you are not neutral. This might be a memory of a childhood event, a divorce, the death of someone you cared for, the loss of a pet, a business downturn, or just about anything that has caused you grief and still does when you think about it. Notice your lack of neutrality and what emotions get triggered as you contemplate it.
Now the first reaction for most people is blame. “He did this to me.” She screwed me over.” “It’s your fault.” Notice the blame and the intensity around it. Notice thoughts of get-back or revenge. Notice thoughts of poor me.
Underneath blame, anger, grief, shock or loss is almost always fear. This is what most of us hate to admit. Notice any number of conclusions you came to as a result of the event or situation: “The world is not safe. What if I never find love again? The world is unfair. What if this affects me negatively for the rest of my life.” And so on. What was this conclusion that you came away with and made part of your belief system?
In non-neutral events there is always identification with something not good. Your ego wants you to identify with something narrow, something limiting, something that makes you smaller, a thing that disconnects you from your sense of power.
What did you identify with as a result of the memory? Notice that this is different from the belief you adopted. This is an actual identity you adopted: “I am the jilted wife or husband. I am the victim of a robbery. I am the abused one. I am the victim. I am the injured one. I am the loser. I am the one who makes mistakes. I am the one who will pay forever. I am stupid. I am rejected. I am powerless. I am crazy. I am an idiot. I never learn. I am completely worthless. I have no self-control.” Blah, Blah, Blah.
Look and see that you made a choice to believe this, to accept this, to become this. You choose your response to your experience.
Is this what you want? How attached are you to the identity? Are you willing to let go of it? Are you willing to release the drama around it? How many cookies and how much secondary gain do you derive from this? Is this the way you get people to feel sorry for you? Is this how you feel sorry for yourself?
Notice there is no power in any of this. It’s a losing proposition. It will only create more of the same. This can be hard to look at. Stay with it.
Now raise the questions: What if I gave this belief up? What if I let go of this identity? Who would I be without it? What would I be?
Make a list of as many of these dramas as you can remember. It is easier to do this according to categories, breakups, accidents, losses, and so on. This may take some time, an hour or two every day, like a project you might do for a week or two. It is actually a small investment for the return.
Focus on each one of the dramas and with intention breath it out moving your head from left to right. Don’t forget to clear the space around you after you are done by using some sage, incense, or pure natural tobacco smoke.
This then is the relatively simple process of recapitulation. To do it successfully you will have to take responsibility of each item on your list.
2. There is an even simpler process of release. That is, for each item on your list breathe in saying accepting and breathe out saying releasing.
3. The most powerful time to find neutral is right in the moment when the event is happening. Notice that you are going out of neutral. Here you have a choice of several responses. A) See what is happening and quickly say to the event, “You have no power over me.” B) Or, you can say, “I am the word through this event, this person, this situation.” This will raise the frequency automatically and cut off the action of the ego. C) Give the directive to your heart, “Correct Neutral Now.”
In other words there is always something you can do or say quietly that will give you your shamanic power back. The key is you have to find a way to disrupt the automatic mechanical dominance of the false personality or ego that is attempting to use the event for its own aggrandizement. You may not find immediate success with these responses and tools. They take practice. The important thing is that they represent you being proactive and not passive in the situation. Little by little you will move toward neutral. Try not to start with an extremely difficult situation. Start with something manageable and work up from there. Remember, being neutral is effective, being reactive and not being neutral is business as usual.
Questions and Answers:
Just wondering if you could comment on the purpose the dysfunctional congress is serving to move us forward?
The stuck congress is serving to wean people from reliance on the government to solve all the problems. Instead the people themselves will have to assume leadership because the congress, through gerrymandering and manipulation, does not represent them any longer.
What is a nature of blessing?
First of all a blessing can be performed by anyone who wishes to. One may bless a person, an animal, a house, a business, land, or whatever one wishes. A blessing is an intention to hold that which is blessed in the highest regard, in its original state of perfection, to see it as an expression of Spirit or the Creator. The intention is that all good will come to pass with regard to what is being blessed. There is a difference between a true blessing and the fear that something bad might happen as when a mother hastily blesses her son as he goes off to war fearing she will never see him again. In a true blessing fear has no place, only the highest frequency is bestowed on the that which is blessed. There are no right words for a blessing, sometimes no words at all are needed, just a smile of compassion or love. Words might include: “I bless you with health and happiness and may you be surrounded by love wherever you roam.” Hands are made for blessing so one can hold them over whomever or whatever they are blessing.
Tags:
José Stevens
José Luis Stevens, PhD is the president and co-founder (with wife Lena) of Power Path Seminars, an international school and consulting firm dedicated to the study and application of shamanism and indigenous wisdom to business and everyday life. José completed a ten-year apprenticeship with a Huichol (Wixarika) Maracame (Huichol shaman) in the Sierras of Central Mexico. In addition, he is studying with Shipibo shamans in the Peruvian Amazon and with Paqos (shamans) in the Andes in Peru. In 1983 he completed his doctoral dissertation at the California Institute of Integral Studies focusing on the interface between shamanism and western psychological counseling. Since then, he has studied cross-cultural shamanism around the world to distill the core elements of shamanic healing and practice. He is the author of twenty books and numerous articles including Encounters With Power, Awaken The Inner Shaman, The Power Path, Secrets of Shamanism, Transforming Your Dragons and How To Pray The Shaman’s Way.
Related Articles
The Evolution of Perception and Fear
The Challenge Of Creating Our Future
The frequency of the Earth is shifting, The hertz frequency of the earth is dropping temporarily while changes are being made from the core of…