Our emotions speak to us in images. Poetry, novels, film, myth, and dreams all contain a vision of reality that’s structured around a central emotional theme. Thus loss and love, hatred and peace, fear and trust are central to the scenarios that influence our lives. Whether we or someone else constructs the story, what we imagine impacts us in profound ways. Shamans call this process dreaming, and they believe that human beings dream the world into being.

As long as our dreams are the result of impulse and conditioning, we remain alienated from our deeply personal visions, we're prevented from creating lives that embody our unique gifts, and we're fated to replicate what has always been--for ourselves and the world at large.

The shamanic journey takes us into our dreams. As we become familiar with the process, we also become familiar with the language of our emotions. Eventually we enter the realm of myth and the collective subconscious, which are wired into our nervous systems. From here we begin to direct our lives in accord with a more transcendent understanding of what it means to be human.

The following Shamanasana sessions facilitate dreaming and are available in 2, 3, and 4 hour sessions. Longer workshops combine offerings for a total of 6, 9, 12, and 15-hour programs. Asana flows vary in intensity and duration depending on the length of the program, the needs of the students, and the theme.

Making the Journey. This session focuses on the journey process: what it is, how to do it, and what it contributes to daily life—that earthly journey that we all are making.

Dancing the Directions. It’s hard to plot the courses of our lives if we don’t have a relationship to the points of the compass. This class works with archetypal images of the east, south, west, and north to form a dynamic mandala that will help us orient our earthly journey.

Animal Wisdom/Totem Power. Native peoples have long admired members of the animal kingdom for their abilities and for their teachings. The exquisite hearing of the owl and the far-sightedness of the hawk are both metaphors and qualities that we can cultivate to help us live more meaningfully. In this session classical yoga poses (cat/cow, down and up dog, eagle, tortoise, hare) help us learn what the animals have to teach us. The journey to our totem animal brings us into a powerful relationship with the wisdom of our 4-legged family.

Meeting our Spirit Guides. Ever wonder what your guardian angel might look like? This session uses pranayama, posture, and meditation to open the third eye. The journey takes us to the upper world to meet our spirit guides.

Sun, Earth, Wind, and Rain. Ayurveda, yoga's sister science, tells us we're made of earth, air, fire and water. This class works with the elements, with some of the classical Hindu deities, and with moving meditations to celebrate our union with all life. The drum journey takes us into our chakras to bring balance to body and mind.

Ancestral Voices. Our DNA connects us to our grandparents, to species memory, and to the akashic field. This session, uses posture, mudra, pranayama, mantra, and the drum journey to connect us to the ancestral wisdom that lies within us.

Healing through the Chakras. Part of our energetic anatomy, the chakras are important to our health and well-being. This session uses asana, visualization, and sound to stimulate awareness of these wheels of energy and the drum journey to take us inside them. It easily expands to a multi-session program that includes a powerpoint presentation, pendulum diagnostics, and information on how to identify imbalances and what to do about them.

Prices for workshops vary; contact us for specific information.

Shamanic Paths, counseling sessions, personal coaching, and in-depth trainings are also available.