Recently, I’ve been noticing a pattern with some clients who are coming to me for shamanic spinal sessions.
Some arrive expecting a big emotional catharsis, body tremors or deep visionary insights like they may have seen in some of my videos.
I wonder if that might be due to our modern culture’s bucket list culture of collecting experiences and hoping for a magic instant change.
I also recently had a discussion with one of the most powerful healers I know and someone I consider a spiritual teacher who has very much influenced the development of my path.
Through that discussion, I have been reflecting on the notion of how …
To access expanded states of awareness without a solid foundation…
equates to more fragmentation of the self.
Mystical experiences, altered states, deep emotional release, visions, downloads, ancestral memories — these do not happen simply because you daydream for them to happen.
They happen when the body, nervous system and energy field have the capacity to receive them.
From an energetic perspective, we each have layers of the bioenergetic field that extend beyond the physical body. These layers correspond with the chakras and different aspects of our human experience: vitality, emotion, mind, relationship, expression, soul purpose, and connection to Source.
When someone’s field is expanded, resourced, and alive, there is often more access to vision, feeling, movement, emotional release, and spiritual perception.
When the field is contracted, it can feel like the person is living inside energetic cling film.
On a day to day level…
They may be functional.
They may be intelligent.
They may have done years of therapy or personal development.
But the life force is low.
The breath is shallow.
The emotional field is dim.
The body is fatigued.
The mind is running the show.
And when the etheric interface — the life-force layer of the bioenergetic field closest to the physical body — is under-resourced, it is like trying to use an iPhone with a touch screen that is cracked and unresponsive.
You can try to tap on all the fancy apps you bought all day,
but nothing will open, because this etheric interface is an essential bridge,
between the invisible world of energy and the limited world of physicality and material existence.
This is why conscious breathing has been crucial to every notable spiritual tradition.
Breath increases life force.
Breath strengthens the bridge between the physical body and the energetic bodies.
Without the breath, we are dead in the water.
And this is one of the great confusions in modern spirituality: people want expanded states, but they have not cultivated the vessel to hold these experiences.
They want downloads, but they are exhausted.
They want visions, but they cannot feel their emotions.
They want purpose, but they are not sleeping well.
They want awakening, but they are feeding the body processed foods, alcohol, overstimulation, and endless mental distractions.
If you want a vibrant field, you have to cultivate discipline to build one.
That means:
– conscious breath practices and visualizations, either from the yogic, taoist or Buddhist traditions that actually work on the energy body.
– deep rest
– organic whole foods
– sweat every day through strengthening movement like yoga or qigong, because emotional tension gets stored in the muscular system, and traumatic unprocessed experiences get stored in the skeletal system.
– time in nature to recalibrate
– less alcohol
– less dairy
– less sugar and caffeine
– less processed foods (canned foods, foods with lots of chemical fillers and preservatives)
– less overstimulation from all media.
– more stillness
– more devotion to filling yourself with nourishment in quality of food, relationships and life experiences.
Because the body is not separate from your spirituality.
The body is the very instrument that enables you to deepen into your spirituality.
And if the instrument is out of tune, the music of Spirit cannot play through it clearly.
That is why in the yogic and Buddhist systems, before any of the fancy stuff around gaining skills to perceive energy and move forward in life with purpose and clarity,
you first have to start with what we call the Yamas and the niyamas.
These are the do’s and don’ts that set your moral compass, to make sure you have a steady foundation for your consciousness to lean on.
Then you, begin your body based practices, and breath practices to develop your vessel.
On the way towards clarity and a more enlightened way of living, when the body is prepped, you can are primed then to receive visions and soulful insights.
This is also why I find it so important to combine the mysticism of shamanic work with the structure of yogic and Buddhist energetic systems of the East.
Shamanic work gives us access to the expanded realms: symbols, visions, archetypes, ancestors, plant spirits, elemental forces.
Yogic and Buddhist traditions give us step-by-step structure, discipline, practice, and refinement.
They teach us how to build the vessel.
Because without structure, people can become addicted to peak experiences.
They chase plant medicine ceremony after ceremony, retreat after retreat, vision after vision, but their daily life doesn’t change.
They still can’t sit still.
They still don’t breathe properly.
They still don’t sleep well.
They still numb themselves with food, alcohol, distraction, or drama.
That is not integration.
That is spiritual tourism… another form of appropriation grabbing hold.
The real work is to EARN your way to receiving the expanded state by becoming the kind of person who can hold it.
This is why I love shamanic breathwork.
It gives you a doorway into the mystical without bypassing the body.
It asks you to breathe.
To feel.
To move energy.
To strengthen your emotional field.
To access the soul without abandoning the nervous system.
It is both structure and surrender.
Form and freedom.
Discipline and mystery.
And when those two meet, something magical happens.
You begin to access the deeper layers of yourself without needing to force the door open.
You don’t need to chase visions.
Your field becomes alive enough that the visions can find you.
This is the work we will be exploring in my next Shamanic Breathwork Journey.
It will be the last group breathwork journey I offer for the first half of the year, as I’ll be traveling soon until August to run international programs and retreats.
Here’s your invite and call for the next upcoming
Friday, May 16 (early bird ends May 3)
2:00pm – 5:00 pm
Body by Berner, Bondi
If you feel called to strengthen your field, deepen your breath, and reconnect with the vitality that allows Spirit to move through you more clearly, I invite you to join us.
This is not about chasing a big experience.
It is about building the vessel that makes true transformation possible.