Meditation and shamanic journeying can support one another. Hollowing-outHollowing-out. The core, lifelong discipline of setting aside the middle-world self, its stories, agendas and preconceptions, so the Guides can work through us. The image: the shaman as hollow bone. Read the full answer is a meditation practice, whilst shamanic trance is defined by contact with the spirit world. It is also possible to meditate within a Lower-WorldLower-World. The realm of Mother Earth: pure, unspoilt, wild nature, with no technology and no agriculture. Home of the Peoples and of our own Soul, and completely safe: feeling threatened in a journey is a reliable sign of not having reached it. Read the full answer journey, as an experiment whose effects the practitioner discovers directly.
What do meditation and journeying have in common? #
Both involve a deliberate change from ordinary consciousness. Meditation practices such as mindfulness, and movement practices such as tai chi and yoga, are trance states entered deliberately. Trance varies in depth, rather than being an all-or-nothing condition.
There are also familiar lighter states, such as daydreaming, painting or listening to music. Altered states may involve a changed sense of time, heightened awareness, or losing oneself in the experience. These variations do not by themselves establish whether something is shamanic.
The distinction comes in the contact involved. “Shamanic trance states are characterised by being in contact with the world of the spirits.” What makes a state shamanic is neither how deep it is nor the means used to enter it.1
What is hollowing-out? #
Hollowing-out is stepping aside from the thoughts, concerns, beliefs and agendas of the middle-world selfMiddle-world self. The everyday self (ego, persona, head-and-heart), made of our stories and experiences. A genuine and needed part of the Inner Tribe: of service, not in command. Read the full answer as much as possible. The practice makes room for Spirit to work through the journeyer. Therapeutic Shamanism is Spirit-led: the Power AnimalPower Animal. The Oversoul of a wild species, met as a single Lower-World being and bonded with in a deep, committed, usually lifelong soul-bond of unconditional love. The practitioner’s first and foremost Guide: Panther, not “my panther”. Read the full answer and GuidesGuides. The Lower-World and Upper-World beings a practitioner works with and learns from, of whom the Power Animal is the first and foremost. True Guides are ethical to their core; the shaman’s power comes from the depth of these bonds, not from the shaman. More about this lead the journeys.
The journeyer’s work includes asking for healing, allowing the Guides to work, and witnessing and remembering what happened. Remembering matters because what is met needs to be brought back into ordinary consciousness afterwards. The emphasis is on the relationship with the Guides, rather than the journeyer’s own power.
How authentic the contact with Spirit is depends on how far the journeyer has hollowed out. It is easy to assume the skill is already there, but a journey can be full of the practitioner’s own issues and agendas, with precious little authentic connection to Spirit.2
Why is hollowing-out a meditation practice? #
“Hollowing-out is a meditation practice.” Many meditations cultivate the ability to watch thoughts without becoming entangled in them. In shamanic terms, these thoughts include judgements, opinions and the everyday issues that concern the middle-world self.
The Aware SelfAware Self. The Witness: not a part of the self but a capacity for awareness, cultivated by hollowing-out, that can watch the flow of thoughts without being caught in them. More about this, or Witness, can notice that flow rather than being wholly caught in it. Hollowing-out develops this ability to step back, much as awareness meditation does: the practitioner watches thoughts as they arise and tries not to get caught up in them.
That first book also compares the discipline with a therapist noticing their own opinions, judgements and other material, and putting it aside in order to meet a client. In both examples, awareness makes it possible to notice what would otherwise interfere with the encounter.34
Is this something that can be completed? #
No. It is lifelong practice. Like meditating, hollowing-out has no point at which someone reaches the end and no longer needs it. “It is a process, not a destination.” People continue to develop it through doing it.
Anything that helps cultivate the Aware Self helps hollowing-out, mindfulness-based meditation included. For anyone not already practising, it is worth exploring mindfulness and taking it up; even a few minutes each day helps shamanic work.
The exercise that follows is given a slight shamanic twist, based on the principle of inter-dependence.5
Can meditation take place inside a journey? #
Yes. Mindfulness practices are generally done in everyday middle-worldMiddle-world. Ordinary physical reality together with its energetic layers: the realm of individuality, separation and mixed intentions, and the only realm where harm is possible. “If there is a hell, then it is the middle-world.” Read the full answer reality, and an interesting variation is to do them in shamanic reality. One such exercise is a breath meditation in the Lower-World with the Power Animal present.
Its purpose is an experiment. The difference is left for the practitioner to discover, rather than anyone telling them what they must feel: “You might have found that it is different, or you might not. You might have found it better, or you might not. It is an experiment.”
In the published exercise, thoughts are expected to arise. The practice includes noticing them and returning attention to the breath, gently and with compassion for oneself when caught up in thought.6
How does meditation relate to simply being in a journey? #
The being-not-doingBeing-not-doing. Roughly half of a mature journeying practice: not accomplishing anything, but resting in the Lower-World, being held, or shapeshifting so fully that separate selfhood softens. Busyness is part of the Fall; being-not-doing un-learns it. More about this practice includes time with the Power Animal or Guides, or experiencing a being whose nature is still, such as Tree or Stone. Its emphasis is on being, rather than accomplishing a list of tasks.
It can be treated as a meditation practice, noticing a wandering mind and bringing awareness back to being. The mind probably will wander. Someone practising mindfulness-based meditation might find expansion journeys not too difficult, though expansion can still be trickier to master.
The example of “Be Kelp” describes a journey in which little happens outwardly but Paul Francis feels profoundly relaxed and transformed. See What is “being not doing”, and what is wide-focus journeying?7
Is the aim to stay permanently immersed in another reality? #
A formal journey means temporarily putting both feet into shamanic reality. Outside the journey, shamanic life involves awareness of ordinary and shamanic reality running alongside each other, and moving attention between them at will.
No. There are times when both feet need to be firmly in ordinary reality. The aim is to bring the experience of the two worlds closer together in everyday life. Journeying is important, but only part of that wider practice.8
What personal patterns can affect the relationship with Guides? #
Familiar human relationship patterns inevitably tend to enter relationships with Guides. Fear of being hurt can make commitment difficult. Feeling undeserving of love could hinder letting their love in, and difficulty asking for help or accepting it could also affect the work. Wanting to stay in control could make following the Guides difficult.
Changing these patterns can be a long process. They are usually deeply ingrained, with origins in childhood experiences, the usually unconscious meanings taken from them, and the usually unconscious ways those meanings shaped the person. Becoming aware of that history is part of hollowing-out.9
