Welcome to your first shamanic journey!
Journey work is one of the most fundamental tools in the shaman’s toolkit. While the method of doing journey work is quite straight forward, it can be, for some, a challenge to do. One of the biggest things I can recommend is practice. If you are having trouble getting into the journey, practice and it’ll come. And if you slide right in like a fish in water, practice as it’ll only allow you to discover more!
What you will need to get started:
- A comfortable place to lay down.
- A cover for your eyes.
- A time where you will not be disturbed.
- A drum beat to journey to (if you don’t have a drummer, download these free drumming tracks).
I would recommend that if you have animals you may want to lock them out of the space where you will practice your journey work. The reason for this is they may disturb you and bring you out of the state. It can be quite disorientating to be quickly pulled out of an altered state. The drumming is a very monotonous rhythm. It has to be somewhat boring so that we do not engage the conscious mind, rather we wish to for it to be bored. If we engage your conscious mind with fancy rhythms it is more difficult for your subconscious mind to venture and experience the journey in the Spirit World. Then there is the call back. This is a distinct change in the rhythm. The rhythm goes from a monotonous beat to a dead stop, followed by four sets of seven beats which in turn is followed by disjointed drumming. Then, finally coming to a close with another four set of seven beats. The actual call back is between 1 to 2 minutes, which is long enough for you to return from your journey to this time and space.
Once you have returned you can feel a bit disorientated. I generally suggest that you lick your lips and wiggle your fingers as a means to slowly re-engage with this reality. Pat your body and make sure you are fully back and if you still feel a bit out of it, say your name out loud three or four times. This re-engages you with the three dimensional world you are expected to function in. It is also a good idea to record your experiences in what ever way helps you to remember what you have been told.
Some of my students have drawn maps from their journeys. Some have painted their experiences and some have created simple rituals for each Guardian. We recommend using our 25 minute drumming track for your first three journeys.
Once you’re ready, continue on to your first shamanic journey!
If you’d like to know more about the journey state first, read our article on it here.
If you’re having trouble getting into your journeys, or just want some ideas on how to deepen the experience, we also have 11 tips and tricks for journeying here (podcast).
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This is exactly the high quality information I ave been seeking and will be able to share with the Group I facilitate. Thank you for your generous sharing and effort on giving this information. Many thanks. Brightest of Blessings.
We’re excited that this helped you out Brenda! We’d love to hear what your group thought of it and look forward to getting to know you through the site!
Hello I’m a certified usui reiki practioner I’m currently in the process of starting up my own reiki buisness I want to introduce shamanism to my reiki practice will the shamanic journey help me discover how to do that
Hi Reikiraven,
Thank you for your question. I do believe that journeying will aid you in discovering how to combine Reiki and shamanism. One of the journeys (or perhaps series) that would be of great benefit to you, would be to journey to your Reiki master(s) and ask how you could combine the two. I would ask questions such as – will I feel a difference in my hands when using Reiki and shamanism combined – is there a method you (to the Master/teacher) could show me to use to incorporate that – is there a power animal available to help me in my work and or diagnosis.
If these journeys do not give you some direction, feel free to check back again and ask another question.
I wish you well on your healing journey!!
Kriket