According to noted historian Mircea Eliade, Shamanism is a “technique of ecstasy.” Like yoga, shamanism transforms our awareness by getting us out of our normal waking mental state and into an altered, more blissful understanding. Both practices dissolve the hard edges of our egos to facilitate freedom and growth. In yoga, our edges dissolve and we merge with silence, with a posture and, ultimately, with the Divine. In shamanism, our egos disperse, and we merge with nature, with spirit guides, and with all that is. Shamanasana, created by Nancy McCaochan, playfully merges traditions.

Disciplines as diverse as Buddhist Meditation and Neuro-psycho-immunology tell us that our physical bodies are home to memory--that our emotions and our reactions to the circumstances of our lives are stored deep within our cell tissues. Furthermore, negative emotions imprint themselves within us. Over time, these often solidify into habits of stress and tension that frequently lead to both acute and chronic illness. Herbert Benson, M.D. calls this tendency the “stress response.” Because they occur below the level of consciousness, such patterns are difficult to break. Both yoga and shamanism release us from these patterns of attitude and behavior as they release us from the hold the ego has on us. Both practices open doors of perception, simultaneously teaching us to live within the new vistas created by an ever expanding sense of reality.

Yoga, which originated in ancient India, is a systematic technology of re- education for both mind and body. Hatha yoga, the most prevalent form practiced in the west, employs various body postures to release muscular tension and to create new, healthier movement patterns. Controlled breathing, inspirational imagery, and attentive awareness are also used to retrain the psyche. Through a consistent yoga practice, self-defeating beliefs, habitual stress, and chronic pain begin to drop away. Spaciousness, inner calm, and compassion become rooted within us, and good health flows naturally.

Shamanism is a practice common to both past and present indigenous peoples throughout the world. A shaman is "one who knows." What s/he knows is that we are surrounded by spirit. Founded on the perception that all life forms have something to teach us, shamanic practice is a method of bringing us into harmony with the earth and with our spirit guides. Basic to its methodology is the “Journey," which can be thought of as a foray into Jung’s collective unconscious, wherein lie mythic and symbolic understanding and insight. This understanding, when brought to bear on our daily lives, changes the way we perceive the events that happen to us. Through Shamanism our lives gain meaning and all circumstance--both positive and negative--become part of a continuing dialogue with the universe.

The drum and rattle, the primary Shamanic journey tools, have a profound affect on our nervous systems. This is sound therapy in its most primal form. Yoga has its own version, called Nad Yoga, which uses mantra, chanting, and even contemporary music to encourage the body-mind to transform neural patterns and thereby promote healing and growth.

Drawing from various traditions within the yogic and shamanic communities, Shamanasana is a healer's medicine bag of techniques that facilitates health, well-being, and spiritual transformation. Though themes and intended outcomes differ, all sessions include asana, pranayama, visualization and the drum journey. Some classes may also use mudra (sacred hand gestures), mantra (chanting), and yantra (sacred mandalas).

Shamanasana, while designed for groups, is excellent for 1-on-1 healing. Called Shamanic Paths, Shamanasana healing sessions work with the chakras as a diagnostic tool to determine the course of each session and to develop a treatment plan based on individual client needs.