The Shaman’s Way: The Way of the Heart

The journey begins . . .

In July, Cusco mornings are brisk and cool. I bundled up and strode out onto the cobbled stoned streets anticipating the first day of the 10-day Incan Shaman retreat. Poised at the top of the world, the temperature ranged from +20 C during the day and +2 C at night. The days are short in the southern hemisphere; it can therefore take several hours for the sun to warm the air. The old historic Cusco streets are extremely narrow; built centuries ago when people and carts were the only traffic. Tourists looking for places to have breakfast and Peruvians on their way to Mass scattered the streets. A couple of times, a brief tentative honk behind me signaled that I needed to hug the stone walls to allow a car to pass. I am amazed that pedestrians and cars could navigate a co-existence in this place.

I wasn’t sure if I was more anxious or excited as I made my way to join the others. I had anticipated this trip for months – a long awaited expedition and spiritual experience that I could strike off my bucket list. I was also experiencing some fear – fear of the unknown, fear of the group dynamics and fear of the physical trials that I imagined were ahead of me.

Eventually, I met the others – a gathering of seekers that I would journey with, get to know, and bond with over the next two weeks.

The Hug

Two young Peruvian men arrived in the hotel lobby. They wore Panama hats with woven bands and alpaca tassels hanging from the back. On their right hip were alpaca yarn hand woven bags with long fringes where they kept their ceremonial objects – coca leaves, Florida water and their mesas, if they carried them. Claudio, one of the shamans that we would work with, and Deborah, our organizer, embraced. It was a unique hug, the significance of which we would discover in a few moments. First Claudio’s right arm wrapped around Deborah’s left shoulder. Then they switched so that his left arm draped over her right shoulder. Then they bowed slightly to each other with their hands on their heart center.

Claudio then turned to us and explained that this hug was part of the ancient sacred tradition to connect to the earth mother with our bodies so that we can feel connected with the earth and with each other.

Then he said “while you are in Peru, we are your family. We are all family. You are each other’s brothers and sisters”; and he asked us to bring the Peruvian hug and connect with each other. “If you are connected in principle of love and family to people around you, you can’t hate or hurt others. We are your ayllu.”

Claudio and Wyra, his colleague and translator, explained that our “ayllu” (pronounced I-u) was the Quechua word for community. It wasn’t just the people but also the living and non-living organisms within a specific time and place. Each individual living in an ayllu experienced a very symbiotic connection with the Earth and with the other members the ayllu, as both Nature and Society were key elements of the community.

This set the tone for the entire trip. The Q’uero shaman believe that we are all connected in love through our heart center and through this center, we are connected to everything.

The Shaman’s Way – The Way of the Heart

The first principle of the Shaman way in Peru is connected to the Heart. Munay in Quechua, the ancient language of the Incas. The energy in the heart is a seed of deep abiding love that connects, is related to everything, and radiates emotional warmth and caring. According to the Peruvian Shaman, when we are firmly in our heart energy, we feel the universal feeling of love and connectedness that permeates all life on the planet. It is a firm expression of the Pachamama.

The way of the heart for the Peruvian Shaman is to clean the heart to heal it of the wounds that are buried there. This requires the letting go of negativity and hurt so that one can live with an open heart and become aligned with the natural order of life. This path calls us to love deeply, to harmonize our thoughts, feelings and actions, and to respect the natural environment. Life is lived from the qualities of thoughtfulness, an appreciation of beauty, gratitude and loving kindness.

Pachamama

The way of the heart is inherent in nature and connected to the Pachamama. She is the Earth Mother, the mother of us all. However, she is not just the physical earth. She is also the energy of the earth that exists outside of the time and space. She reflects that natural order of things, the self-organizing properties of the universe, and the very source of life itself – the cycle of birth and death. Harmony in life comes when we are in right relationship to the natural order of the things.

Perennial Wisdom of the Heart

With all indigenous spiritualities, we are invited to suspend our rational thinking, and access a different way of knowing and perceiving human experience. The practice of shamanism is a mystical form of consciousness that believes in a spirit filled world – that everything is imbued with life energy. This is a perennial wisdom – an expression of universal truth – that is found in all major spiritual traditions and expressed through the heart. Essential to this idea is that the world is the “image and likeness” of Ultimate Reality, and our connectedness with everything calls us to be respectful and compassionate toward all living things.

Of the heart, or munay in Quechua, J.E Williams writes “To experience the heart, we must cultivate it through conscious acts of kindness. Though one can work at clearing the heart, it is impossible to possess munay. When the time is right, munay manifests; like a hummingbird is attracted to blossoms, it comes when the field is fertile. It comes like grace. When munay becomes an integral part of one’s character, it expresses itself spontaneously. For it to exist in this state, however, it is first necessary to clear the heart.”

Questions for reflection

• As we reflect during this third eclipse, what is something you want to let go of and you want to accept into your life in its place.
• The way of the Heart for the Peruvian Shaman is to clean the heart and heal the wounds that are buried there – what is something from the past you wish you could let go of but are struggling to?
• The Incan Shaman retreat was on my spiritual bucket list; what are three experiences on your bucket list and why? Ask yourself, can you truly make one of them happen? What is stopping you?

The association with enlarged prostate symptoms and sexual dysfunction dramatically diminished as http://icks.org/n/data/ijks/1482459755_add_file_4.pdf purchase cialis the age progresses. Nevertheless, it may have important link acquisition de viagra devastating impacts on his sexual life. With resale you will not must manage any aggressive product sales the original source levitra 60 mg pitches, and you may usually conserve greater than 50% off the resort cost. This removes from levitra 5mg the vitality out of the pick-and-roll as Irving.
Christina Becker
August 2018

If you found this blog helpful to your journey, please consider sharing it on your social media by clicking on the social media icons below.  If you have a comment, consider emailing me or leaving a comment below