Walking Between Worlds: A Guide to Shamanic Training and Practice

Something in the human nervous system recognises the drum. You hear a steady beat at four to seven cycles per second, and something shifts. The ordinary mind loosens its grip. Images arise. A sense of direction appears, pointing somewhere that is neither here nor elsewhere yet somehow both.

This is where shamanic practice begins: not in doctrine or belief, but in direct experience of an altered state of consciousness that humans have been cultivating for at least forty thousand years. Today, interest in shamanic training is growing among people drawn not by nostalgia but by a specific hunger: for direct spiritual experience, for connection with the living world, and for tools that address deep psychic wounds that conventional approaches sometimes cannot reach.

This guide covers what shamanism actually is, how the three-world cosmology works, how training is structured in the West, the main healing practices, the ethics of approaching indigenous traditions, and what the emerging neuroscience tells us.

What Is Shamanism?

The word "shaman" comes from the Evenki language of Siberia, where it described a specialist who entered trance states to communicate with spirits on behalf of the community. Anthropologists applied the term more broadly to similar figures across cultures: the sangoma of southern Africa, the curandera of the Andes, the mara'akame of the Huichol people in Mexico.

What these figures share is not cosmology or ritual form but function: deliberately entering non-ordinary reality to obtain power and information for healing or guidance. The core technology, intentional trance through rhythmic sound, appears across cultures that had no contact with one another.

Anthropologist Mircea Eliade, whose 1951 work Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy brought the subject to academic attention, described the shaman's central characteristic as the ability to control the soul flight: to enter trance deliberately, travel to other realms, interact with spirits, and return at will. This distinguishes the shaman from a medium (who is passive to spirit possession) or a mystic (who seeks union with the divine).

Core Shamanism vs. Indigenous Traditions

The most important distinction for a Western practitioner to understand is the difference between core shamanism and living indigenous traditions.

Core shamanism was developed by anthropologist Michael Harner, who observed that beneath cultural differences, certain techniques appeared universally: rhythmic drumming to induce trance, a three-tiered cosmology, power animal retrieval, and the understanding that illness often has a spiritual dimension. He extracted these techniques from their cultural containers and created a training system for Western practitioners. In 1979, he founded what became the Foundation for Shamanic Studies (FSS), which has trained tens of thousands of practitioners worldwide.

Indigenous shamanic traditions are something different. They are embedded in specific languages, landscapes, ceremonial protocols, and lineages of initiation. A Lakota ceremony cannot be separated from the Lakota relationship to the land, the pipe tradition, and the authority of recognised knowledge-keepers. These traditions are not available for adoption by outsiders without proper invitation and initiation from within the tradition.

These traditions are not interchangeable with core shamanism and they are not available for adoption by outsiders without proper invitation and initiation from within the tradition. Respecting this distinction is not optional for ethical practice.

The Shamanic Worldview: Three Worlds and Spirit Helpers

Across cultures with no historical contact, the same basic map appears: the world has three layers. Below ordinary reality lies the lower world. Above it, the upper world. And woven through the fabric of everyday life, the middle world, which is both the physical realm and its spiritual counterpart.

The three-world cosmology is not a literal geography but a functional map of consciousness. It describes where different kinds of spirit helpers are found and what information is available in each domain: not a perfect representation of reality, but a reliable guide for getting where you need to go.

The Lower World

The lower world is reached by imagining a descent through a cave entrance, a tree root, or a body of water. Despite being "below," it is not a place of punishment. Most practitioners describe it as a lush, natural landscape: forests, rivers, mountains. This is the primary home of power animals and nature spirits.

Power animals are the most common spirit helpers encountered in lower world journeys. They appear in animal form and serve as protectors, guides, and sources of spiritual power. One of the first practices taught in basic shamanic training is power animal retrieval: journeying to meet and restore relationship with this ally.

The Upper World

The upper world is reached by imagining an ascent through clouds or by climbing a great tree. It tends to be lighter, more luminous, and more ethereal than the lower world. Its inhabitants are often humanoid: teacher figures, ancestors, and guides who communicate verbally. These are the "teacher guides" or "spiritual teachers" in core shamanism.

The Middle World

The middle world is the spiritual dimension of everyday physical reality. Journeys here are used for tracking lost objects, gathering information about the physical world, or working with the spirits of places and the land. Middle world journeying requires more caution and discernment because it contains a wider range of spirit presences, including those that are not necessarily benevolent.

Teacher Plants

In many indigenous traditions, certain plants are understood as teachers and healers with their own intelligence and spirit. This includes ayahuasca in the Amazon, peyote among the Huichol, and various other plants across cultures. For Western practitioners, engaging with these plants outside their traditional ceremonial containers carries significant ethical and practical risks addressed in the ethics section below.

How Shamanic Training Works

If you decide to pursue formal shamanic training, the most widely available lineage in the Western world flows through Michael Harner and the Foundation for Shamanic Studies (FSS).

Foundation for Shamanic Studies Trainings

The FSS offers a structured curriculum with several levels. The basic foundation workshop (two to three days) introduces the shamanic journey, power animal retrieval, and the three-world cosmology. Intermediate workshops cover extraction healing, soul retrieval, divination, and psychopomp work. Advanced trainings lead to the Three-Year Program, which includes extended residential training.

The FSS website maintains a directory of certified teachers and upcoming workshops. Sandra Ingerman has trained her own network of teachers with an emphasis on healing, integration, and "transmutation" work: applying shamanic principles to personal and ecological challenges.

What to Look for in a Teacher

A trustworthy teacher will be transparent about their training lineage, maintain a clear code of ethics, understand the distinction between core shamanism and indigenous traditions, and support you in developing your own direct experience rather than creating dependency. Avoid practitioners who promise dramatic outcomes, charge exorbitant fees for "secret" teachings, or position themselves as exclusively authorised channels for spiritual truth. Authentic training builds your own capacity for direct experience.

The Shamanic Journey: A Step-by-Step Approach

The shamanic journey is the central practice: entering a light trance state through drumming, travelling in non-ordinary reality with intention, and returning with information or healing power. Here is how the basic practice works.

Setting Your Intention

Every journey begins with a clear, specific intention. "Show me my power animal" suits a first journey. "What do I need to know about this relationship?" suits a more experienced practitioner. Vague intentions produce vague journeys. The clearer your question, the more useful the information you receive.

Creating the Right Environment

Journey lying down in a quiet, darkened space with your eyes covered. Many practitioners use protective crystals: a labradorite tumbled stone strengthens the veil between worlds and sharpens the visionary state, while a smoky quartz tumbled stone offers grounding protection throughout the journey.

The Drumming Track

Shamanic journeying is accompanied by a drum beaten at approximately four to seven beats per second, a rhythm that falls in the theta brainwave frequency range and induces the journeying state. You can journey with live drumming, recorded drumming (the FSS sells purpose-made downloads), or your own drum or rattle. Most tracks run fifteen to thirty minutes and end with a distinct "callback rhythm" signalling it is time to return.

Entering the Lower World

For a first journey, visualise a place in nature and within it an opening that leads downward: a cave mouth, a hollow tree, a spring. Enter and descend, following the imagery rather than directing it. When you reach the lower world, look for your power animal. When an animal appears three or more times or faces you directly, this typically signals it is your power animal. Acknowledge it, engage with it, and ask if it has a message for you.

Returning

When the callback rhythm sounds, thank your power animal, retrace your path to the entry point, and ascend back to ordinary reality. Open your eyes slowly, breathe, and write what you experienced immediately after.

Integration

Integration is not optional. The journey experience needs to be processed and embodied in daily life. Keeping a journey journal and discussing experiences with a teacher or peer circle significantly deepens the practice over time.

Key Shamanic Practices

Beyond the foundational journey practice, trained shamanic practitioners work with several specific healing modalities. These are typically taught in intermediate and advanced trainings, not introductory workshops.

Power Animal Retrieval

This is often the first healing work a practitioner learns to do for others. The practitioner journeys on behalf of a client to locate and return a power animal that has become disconnected from the client's field. The return of a power animal is understood to restore vitality, protection, and spiritual power. Clients often report an immediate shift in energy, increased motivation, and a greater sense of being supported.

Soul Retrieval

Soul retrieval addresses what shamanic traditions describe as soul loss: the experience in which a fragment of a person's vital essence leaves the body in response to trauma or shock. The concept parallels the Western psychological understanding of dissociation. In a session, the practitioner journeys to locate lost soul parts and returns them to the client. Sandra Ingerman's Soul Retrieval is required reading before attempting this work.

Integration after soul retrieval is considered as important as the retrieval itself. The client needs to actively welcome back what was lost through specific practices the practitioner assigns over the weeks following the session.

Extraction Healing

Extraction is the removal of energies that do not belong in a person's energy body. These "intrusions" are misplaced energies that can cause pain, illness, or emotional disturbance. The practitioner uses hands, breath, and sometimes mouth to remove and dispose of them appropriately.

Extraction is often performed alongside soul retrieval: together, the two practices address removing what should not be there and returning what should.

Psychopomp Work

Psychopomp means "guide of souls" in Greek. This practice involves assisting the souls of the deceased in completing their transition from the physical world. Practitioners may work with souls who are confused or earthbound. The work requires maturity, clear personal boundaries, and significant training, and is not typically introduced until intermediate or advanced levels.

Divination

Shamanic divination involves journeying to obtain information for clients about their health, relationships, or the situations they face. Unlike fortune-telling, it is understood not as prediction but as access to a deeper level of information about the spiritual dimensions of a situation. The client retains full agency, and shamanic guidance is one perspective among many.

Ethics, Appropriation, and Respectful Practice

This is the conversation that separates thoughtful practitioners from those who will ultimately cause harm, to themselves, to others, or to the communities whose practices they are drawing from.

Cultural appropriation in spiritual contexts is not a matter of political correctness but of harm. When non-indigenous people adopt indigenous ceremonial practices without authorisation, sacred knowledge is diluted, communities lose control over their own heritage, and commercial exploitation follows. The "plastic shamans" who charge thousands of dollars for ceremonies they have no lineage authority to conduct are extracting value from traditions that were never offered to them.

The Lakota Declaration

In 1993, a delegation of Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people issued a "Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality," explicitly naming non-indigenous people who were selling sweat lodge ceremonies and vision quest experiences. This declaration, along with subsequent statements from many indigenous communities, makes the position of the communities themselves clear: their ceremonies are not available for adoption or commercialisation by outsiders.

What Ethical Practice Actually Looks Like

Ethical shamanic practice in a Western context means being honest about your training lineage, using the term "core shamanism" rather than claiming a title you were not initiated into, and never leading ceremonies you have no lineage authority to conduct. It also means studying the history and ongoing struggles of indigenous peoples, not only the aspects that seem spiritually interesting.

Genuine curiosity about a specific indigenous tradition is best satisfied by seeking teachers from within that tradition, not Western workshops about it. Many indigenous teachers do share knowledge with respectful outsiders. The key word is respectful: entering on their terms, in their context, with genuine reciprocity.

For your own protective practice as you develop your shamanic path, working with a protection crystals collection supports strong energetic boundaries. A clear quartz tumbled stone is widely regarded as the master healer, amplifying intention and bringing clarity to the information received in journey states. High-vibration stones can support the elevated states needed for upper world journeying and communication with teacher guides.

What Research Says About Shamanic Healing

The neuroscience of shamanism has been developing steadily since the 1990s, and the picture is more interesting than either credulous acceptance or dismissive scepticism would suggest.

Winkelman's Neurology Research

Michael Winkelman, a medical anthropologist at Arizona State University, has conducted the most rigorous comparative research on shamanic states of consciousness. His 2010 book Shamanism: A Biopsychosocial Paradigm of Consciousness and Healing argues that shamanic practices produce altered states that activate integrative functions across multiple brain systems simultaneously, linking frontal cortical functions with subcortical and limbic systems.

The shamanic state, induced by rhythmic drumming, produces inter-system integration that Winkelman calls "integrative mode of consciousness" (IMC). This state appears to facilitate healing by accessing information unavailable in ordinary analytical consciousness, with intriguing parallels to REM sleep, which also integrates information across brain systems.

Drumming and Theta Waves

EEG studies show consistent increases in theta brainwave activity (4-8 Hz) during shamanic drumming. Theta waves are associated with hypnagogic states: the borderline between waking and sleep where vivid imagery and heightened creativity occur. The four-to-seven beats per second drumming rhythm maps directly onto this range, functioning as an acoustic entrainment device that shifts brain activity into the journeying state.

Psychoneuroimmunology and Ritual Healing

Research in psychoneuroimmunology has demonstrated that mental states and imagery significantly influence immune function. What anthropologist Daniel Moerman calls "meaning response" (what biomedicine calls placebo) has measurable physiological effects. Shamanic healing rituals are highly sophisticated systems for mobilising meaning, relationship, and expectation, suggesting they can produce genuine healing effects independent of any literal spirit interaction.

None of this resolves whether spirits are real in any objective sense. It does establish that shamanic states are genuine, measurable neurological phenomena and that shamanic healing cannot be dismissed as mere suggestion without engaging with the actual research.

The Thalira article on safe kundalini practices explores another tradition of working with subtle energy states, while esoteric teachings provides broader context for the Western mystery traditions that have been influenced by shamanic concepts.

Building a Sustainable Shamanic Practice

The most common mistake people make when drawn to shamanism is consuming information without establishing a practice. Actual capacity is built through regular, consistent direct experience: journeying on a schedule rather than only when the mood strikes.

Start with Daily Practice

Ten to fifteen minutes of journeying four to five days per week builds skill faster than longer sporadic sessions. Keep a dated journey journal. Over weeks and months, patterns emerge: recurring symbols, consistent messages from guides, themes that reflect your inner work. This record becomes one of the most valuable tools for understanding your own psyche and development.

Find Community

Shamanic practice was never a solitary pursuit. The shaman functioned within a community and on behalf of that community. Finding a peer circle, a local drum circle, or an ongoing study group with a trained teacher provides accountability and the checks that prevent the inflation and delusion that can develop in isolated practice. The FSS and Sandra Ingerman's website both maintain directories of local teacher-practitioners.

Work with What You Receive

Guidance from journeys is meant to be applied. If your power animal shows you imagery related to a fear, address that fear in your waking life. If your teacher guide recommends a practice, try it. Shamanism is a pragmatic tradition: it is evaluated by results in the lived world.

Tend Your Relationship with the Natural World

Every shamanic tradition roots its practice in relationship with the living earth. Spending time in nature, paying attention to the plants and animals around you, and cultivating genuine reciprocity with the natural world deepens the shamanic practice in ways that no amount of indoor journeying can replicate. Your power animal is a representative of the living intelligence of the animal kingdom. Honour that relationship in the physical world.

The Thalira articles on light language activation and ego death address related territories of consciousness work that many shamanic practitioners encounter as their practice deepens.