By Alina Mikos

My journey with a Shaman happened about six years ago. A friend suggested I see a Shaman following conversations we had regarding the spiritual weight of negative, past experiences that we both seemed to be carrying with us. She referred me to a Shaman who had facilitated her journey towards spiritual healing and based on her positive experience, I made an appointment.

A few days later, the Shaman showed up at my apartment, where I felt a mix of relief and nervousness. Instructing me to lie comfortably on my back, she stood behind me in the center of the room, and called upon the spirits of the four cardinal directions: South, West, North and East.

She first faced South and blew scented water from her palm while summoning the archetype spirit of the southern direction, the serpent. She repeated this process for the West, the jaguar, the North, the hummingbird, and the East, the eagle. She then summoned the Mother Earth, touching the ground, and finally, Father Sky, as she reached to the heavens.

Then she knelt by my head as she floated incense over my body. She explained she was opening my chakras, beginning at the top of my head and descending to the last chakra, at the base of my spine. The Shaman announced that my solar plexus and throat chakras were partially blocked and placed a quartz crystal on my lower stomach and throat. She used an eagle feather on each of my chakras, not quite touching my body. She chanted in a low voice while making arced motions with the feather, as if to 'scoop out' any negative energy blocking my chakras from flowing correctly. After about fifteen minutes, I began to feel 'lighter' inside my body, which is the best way I can describe the effect.

I began crying and the Shaman encouraged me to get it all out, to release the stagnant energy that had built up. Focusing on memories of my father and the negative feelings and emotions attached to him, I attempted to cry out the pain I'd carried with me over the years -- pain that was clogging my energy and chakras. Near the end of our session, the Shaman asked me if I wanted to know about past lives she had seen in my energy. I was very curious. She said she saw me once as a concubine for a king and that my soul deserved to be free in this lifetime. I didn't know how to process this but knew I would ponder on it later.

Finally, she closed up my chakras one by one, thanked the spirits of the four cardinal directions, and had me stand up and stretch. She told me I might feel cramping in my solar plexus chakra since that was where most of my negative energy resided. I did indeed have unusual abdominal cramping, which was very disconcerting to me. It felt like my body was responding to the lack of the 'energy pocket' that had been there for so long. It was a little scary actually, but dissipated after a few days. In the week that followed, I felt lighter in my physical body than I had in my entire life. It was like walking around with my feet barely touching the ground, and I felt somehow physically closer to the air and sky.

To this day, I am so thankful for my Shaman experience and the healing effects of that ancient ceremony. Energy fascinates me as an integral, yet invisible, part of human bodies, and of the world. I logically understand the basic science of energy, but when I encounter those who actively participate in positively affecting and 'healing' another's energies, I am amazed and grateful. It takes courage to take on the role of metaphysical healer in a world so full of skeptics. Just because we can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't impinging upon our lives every single moment. My growing consciousness of energy has lightened my spiritual self and introduced me to a happier, freer connection to the world including the past I once found so painful. Perhaps the truth that will set all of us free is how crucial healthy spiritual energy is.

Have you ever had a Shaman experience? Tell us about it!