Is shamanic journeying the same as meditation?
Is shamanic journeying the same as meditation?
This is a question that comes up a lot. And the answer depends on how you define meditation.
Questions around what counts as meditation at all can be pretty big points of contention amongst seekers…
Is jogging a type of meditation? Painting? Getting into a flow state?
Or is meditation only done in silence? Or by chanting mantras?
Are guided meditations somehow less meditationy than more “serious” meditation?
Where do moving meditations fit into all this?
I’m not going to answer any of those questions. Because honestly, I’m not that interested.
I think it’s a lot more interesting to assess a spiritual practice by the results it produces.
Are you becoming a more loving, fulfilled, and happy person? Are you kinder, less self-centered, and more present for your life? Do you feel more in your wellness from your practices?
Rather than trying to define exactly what is or isn’t meditation, let’s look at the differences and effects of our potentially meditative practices…then you’ll know where you want to place shamanic journeying.
Does your meditation quiet your mind or Activate it?
Setting aside the idea that flow states are a type of meditation for now…we’re left with two loosely distinguishable schools of meditation: the let’s quiet the mind camp and the let’s visualize camp.
The let’s quiet the mind meditation styles might include things like breathwork, mindfulness, focus or concentration practices, mantras and chanting, Zen practices, the golden flower, Vipassana, and transcendental meditation.
The let’s visualize meditation styles will include mostly guided meditations in a variety of styles—picturing healing light, imagining yourself in a relaxing garden, focusing on what you wish to manifest, meeting with a goddess for insight and guidance, or doing a chakra clearing, for example.
Note: Though I use the term “visualize” here, this includes all types of intentional perception. Some people simply aren’t visual and experience guided meditations in different ways. That still counts!
(Are you now thinking, but what about somatic meditation? In my experience, some somatic meditations can have the result of quieting the mind—pranayama and certain body scans for example. While others utilize your visioning powers—chakra scans, yoga nidra to extent, and certain healing techniques.)
If you want to maintain sovereignty over your own mind in this day and age, some sort of “quiet the mind” meditation is essential.
You must cultivate the ability to quiet your mind, focus your attention, and expand your awareness in order to create space for spiritual insight and connection with your authentic self to arise.
If you go from reading articles and emails online, to scrolling through a few social media sites, to listening to a podcast, to watching a random tv show…to listening to a guided meditation…then your mind never has a chance to rest.
This onslaught of words is like a drug for our consciousness. It’s a good way to keep numbing out to the spiritual wisdom that wants to come through.
And it means that when you do try to actively listen to your intuition, you’re more likely to get distracted or confused by what is a thought and what is guidance.
Once the foundational ability to create space in your awareness has been cultivated, guided meditations, visualizations, and yes, shamanic journeys, become more impactful.
These more active types of meditations are usually done with the intention of receiving healing or guidance.
And let me be clear—visualizations aren’t simple fantasies in your head. When you enter into a meditative state and intentionally engage with visualization practices, you are affecting reality at foundational energetic and spiritual levels.
Guided meditations and visualization are profound practices for engaging with the spirit world.
Which is what we do through a shamanic journey.
Which is why the shamanic journey is, in many ways, a type of mediation.
So what makes a shamanic journey different from other kinds of guided meditation?
I love all kinds of visualizations—but there are a few things that, all together, set a shamanic journey apart.
1. An altered state of consciousness.
Any good meditation session should alter your consciousness, so this alone isn’t the full definition of a shamanic journey—but it is a key component. For shamanic journeying specifically, the theta state is what we hope to access.
Most people think of either using the beat of a drum or some sort of psychedelic to get into this brain state, and both can be great. But in reality, any practice that effectively alters your consciousness can be used for shamanic journeying—breathwork, yoga nidra, or even simple concentration practice once you’re skilled enough can all work beautifully.
2. You journey.
It’s in the name ;) The idea with shamanic journeying is that you actually go somewhere. In core shamanism, this is called “non-ordinary reality”. In Celtic traditions, it’s known as the otherworld. Quantum perspectives might call this visiting other dimensions of reality.
Whatever you call it…you aren’t staying in the here and now. Your consciousness is crossing a threshold into other realms where you have access to both spiritual worlds and more dimensions of existence.
For what it’s worth, there are two ways you can cross this threshold. You can send your awareness out and travel, or you can bring the threshold into your physical body and “travel” right where you are.
3. You communicate with spiritual beings, energies, and entities that are not the same as you.
And I would call your higher self a spiritual being…
But I would not classify your parts or your own subconscious as spiritual beings.
This is important for distinguishing shamanic journeying from other forms of intentional and active meditations…at least I think it is.
I might change my mind on this one—let me know what you think!
My general sense is that using shamanic techniques to enter altered states and explore your own subconscious realms is very effective and helpful. But is it journeying? I’m really not sure. It seems more like intentional meditation than otherworld exploration to me.
Also, I totally get that we’re all really one divine blob…and we’ve incarnated into separate bodies and a little acknowledgement of this level of separation is worth dealing with from our human perspectives.
Anyway, the jury might be out on this one, but this is the direction I’m leaning in. What are your thoughts?
Want to learn how to journey and explore even more nuances of this powerful practice? The Art of the Shamanic Journey is a seven-day audio course delivered via private podcast, so you can listen anywhere at any time :)
This course is totally FREE for my paid Substack subscribers. And you can check out the first lesson without a subscription (seriously, you don’t even need to put in an email!) right here.
If you already know how to journey, then you know that the questions you ask make all the difference.
My new book, 144 Shamanic Journey Prompts, will help you explore the otherworlds and so much more. Get it here.
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