Shiatsu and Shamans: A Journey Into Healing

My Journey Into Healing

Like many kids, I was raised in what might be considered a dysfunctional family; a Pentecostal mother and alcoholic father do not make a good combination. I was witness to "holy-rolling, hell-fire and damnation" preaching as well as speaking in tongues and people dancing in the spirit, banging their knees on the backs of pews oblivious to pain before passing out on the floor, the church elders covering the lower limbs of the ladies to maintain dignity.

As a young child, I watched all these ceremonial proceedings with a detached wonder, not knowing that years later, I would be a willing participant in another type of ancient ritual. I would also learn the healing power of rituals, not only in families and communities, but in modern healthcare.

During high school, I was not the big man on campus. My brother, a cousin, the janitor's boy and I were at the bottom of the pecking order. I was angry and I wanted out. Vietnam was in full swing and I wanted to go in order to vent some of my hostilities. However, my parents would not sign the necessary papers to let me depart in my junior year, but did let me join the National Guard. I attended weekend drills until I became a resident of Fort Polk three days after graduation from high school.

After my initial military training, my foray into healthcare began at the bottom, as an orderly...now known as a "nurse's aide." The one general surgeon in a small town in Louisiana thought I was on track to become a physician and taught me much more than he should have so I wound up perhaps the most highly trained orderly in the world! Another physician provided my first exposure to the healing role of the mind in hypnosis.

Eventually, I wound up in a medical reserve unit after training as a medic. (I tried several times to go back into the regular army and Vietnam but something happened each time to protect me. Even after being out of the reserves for a few years, I interviewed for reenlistment as an officer. My paperwork was lost and I backed out. A few months later, my reserve unit was called up for Desert Storm and spent a year overseas!) I then challenged the California state boards and became a registered nurse...without going to nursing school. Working as a registered nurse was good practice for when I actually entered a program to become a registered nurse!

Like many registered nurses, I focused on "doing things" and became proficient in starting IV's, putting in a variety of tubes and hooking up machines and other equipment. After years in the field, I became more interested in the emotional side of what the patients were going through and completed a masters in psychiatric nursing.

After years in many different areas of nursing, I became very disenchanted with the reductionist approach to Western healthcare as it just didn't make much sense. Western medicine was great for trauma and surgery, but did not have a good record with chronic conditions or psychiatric problems.

I was intrigued with Chinese medicine so became an acupuncture student at the Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin, Texas. It turned out that Chinese medicine was a very complex and theoretical form of medicine even though it viewed the body not as a machine, but as a garden to be cultivated. At the same time, however, I was taking a form of Asian body therapy known as Zen Shiatsu which was taught by the lovely and talented Pam Ferguson. I fell in love with this modality and have had great results, with many clients coming to me after failing to get results from other types of treatment.

One nurse I worked with had injured her shoulder catching a patient who had lost her balance. She missed a month of work and had consulted several doctors, had a battery of x-rays and a CAT scan as well as physical therapy and medications. On her first shift back to work she was crying with pain. With just 15 minutes of touch she was 90 percent better and on the way to a complete recovery.

On a medical mission trip to Mexico, a little old lady develop chest pain. The medical team wanted to take her to the hospital for treatment as they had no nitroglycerin. The lady refused to go as "all they do is stick needles in me and make me lie there." I worked the Heart meridian in her arms and her chest pain went away. She shadowed me the rest of the trip, a diminutive figure beside my 6' 3" frame.

In a children's psychiatric unit, the supervising nurse asked me for help as she was at her wit's end. A seven year old psychotic child was continuing to beat off demons with his pillow even though he had received a tranquilizer over an hour ago. While a mental health tech gently held him in order to prevent injury, I took his feet and held some points that bring energy down from the upper body. In less than a minute the child fell asleep and slept over 11 hours!

In a medical-surgical unit of a hospital a physician wrote orders one morning that his patient who had received vaginal and rectal surgery could be discharged as soon as she had a bowel movement. Her husband was a professional magician and had entertained us with many tricks. I found out about her orders late at night and went in to see if she wanted me to work on her Large Intestine meridians in her arms and legs. I did, and ten minutes later she had a bowel movement and was able to go home. Wish I had known earlier! I could not resist telling her husband, "bet you can't do that!"

Now, I'm a well educated guy and at one time did not think too highly of what I considered "new age, tree huggers." However, when I did Zen Shiatsu without trying to fit it into my western framework, it worked better. It also helped to read articles on Zen Shiatsu written by a German family practice physician who now does more Zen Shiatsu than family practice medicine as he likes it better. Then a few weeks ago, I read where MIT researchers were able to get a light bulb to light up by connecting it to a tree...guess the "tree huggers were feeling something after all!

While at the Academy of Oriental Medicine, I took a formal class in shamanism as well as a weekend seminar. A friend had also given me a small book titled, So You Want to be a Shaman. After reading Alberto Villoldo's book, Shaman, Healer, Sage as well as some books on the subject written by physicians, and after hearing the prayer for opening sacred space, I took the plunge and enrolled in Alberto's school at the Four Winds Society.

At Alberto's school, there are quite a few physicians as well as psychologists and other healthcare professionals. They are all searching for what Western medicine is lacking...a soul. One physician who also held a Ph.D. in cellular biology told me that he was frustrated with the lack of progress in his patients. Well, we saw some dramatic quick progress during our training!

During our first intensive week of training and after going through a few ancient rituals, I have noticed some changes in my life. My wife may note some also but I feel more compassion towards others; I'm better able to deal with difficult people; I don't care for the taste of Coke (which I was drinking too much of); alcoholic drinks do not like me as much; I don't care for surfing my favorite web sites anymore; I just don't feel like studying anymore Western healthcare so have dropped out of Family Nurse Practitioner school; my joints are not aching as much and I'm finally losing those few pounds that have been resisting leaving for the last few years!

You can bet I can hardly wait for more training!

Note to physicians:  Many of you are vested in living within the p values of a research study and can not see the value of a personal experience. However, all studies, even a double-blind one, have limitations as they do not take into account consciousness.

Shamans see into the invisible world of energy and spirit and recognize that everything is made of light and that it forms matter. Some things are bound very tightly such as trees and rocks, and others are more fluid such as water or sunlight. This has been known for thousands of years. Modern quantum physics confirm that if you look deeply into matter, all you find is vibration and light.

Many cultures throughout the world also talk about energy center, or chakras. Candace Pert, Ph.D., the well known scientist who discovered the opiate receptor and who, along with her husband, Dr. Michael Ruff, discovered Peptide T, says that her work is "beginning to reveal the scientific underpinnings of the chakra system. From this point of view, the chakras are 'minibrains:' nodal points of electrical and chemical activity that receive, process, and distribute information to and from the rest of the bodymind. Physiologically, each chakra is the site of a neuronal plexus-a network of cells dense with neuropeptide transmitters. All are interdependently connected to each other, such that nourishing any one plexus enhances the effectiveness of the entire system. By the same token, trauma or neglect can manifest as a block at one or more nodal points, degrading the performance of all."

So, should one value another's personal experience with illness? If a shaman sees a dark spot in someone's head who is suffering severe headaches, but there is no indication for an MRI...get one. If there is a family history of dying of a heart attack before the age of fifty...do what you can but also remember that the imprint of this generational illness can be changed within generations. If you find that nothing is working for your patient...remember there are options. If my wife's surgeon calls in all the physicians in his office to view my wife's breast because he can't believe the rapid healing after surgery...have a chuckle but don't forget it. When I worked with an orthopedic surgeon during a martial arts class and she tries to explain what is going on with her western mind but who also says, "ok I'll have to give you that one"...don't forget it. If some of your peers go off and become a shaman...don't laugh at them...they just have additional knowledge that can be available to you. And finally, while you may find it difficult to get beyond someone who shakes a rattle or beats a drum...just dig out your textbooks on psychoneuroimmunology and you will recognize what the shaman knew thousands of years ago...the mind affects the body.

Respect those who walk with nature.

Journey Update 8/8/07

Before I left for the West session (part of our core training in Shamanism is the four directions) in Utah, a client who is psychic told me that she could see me part way up a mountain in a hut on stilts and that I would get a "message from the west." I was thinking that I would receive the message in Utah since Utah was in the west. It wasn't until the next day that I remembered that I would be attending the "West" session.

Well, it seems my condo (hut) was partway up the side of the mountain and the pilings under me in the parking garage certainly looked like stilts.

I thought I had received a message after a pretty intense session near the end of class. However, after class was over the next day at noon, I went shopping in downtown Park City, Utah. I walk into this shop and the lady behind the counter said she was expecting me. Turns out she is a shaman from Peru!

We talk for a short time and she does some energy work on me and tells me things not only about me, but also about my son and wife. She gives me a meteorite from Machu Picchu, which now lives in my mesa (sacred altar and healing stones).

After lunch, she closes her shop because, "she just has to work with me." She does a session with me in her shop's dressing room, teaches me a healing exercise, and to make this potentially long story short, this lady cleared up a lot of "trash" I was hanging onto since 2,000 years ago when I started doubting my healing powers because I couldn't heal an Egyptian lady who was also a healer and who was well known at the time.

A few days later when I went to tell her bye, she asked me to come back after work (she was leaving to pick up her kids). So, we go back later to her closed store and she does another session in her "treatment room" and we finish clearing out some "bad guys" that have been holding me back.

Now how cool was that!

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