Inside the Shaman's Mind

Submitted by Mike Williams on Wed, 06/02/2010 - 20:12

Shamanism – a practice by which a person communicates with the spirits – can be found throughout the ancient worlds. Although shamanism takes many and varied forms around the world, what a shaman actually experiences whilst in trance is remarkably uniform. Almost all report leaving their bodies to journey to an otherworld where they meet and interact with spirits. The reason for such similarity lies within the mind itself and the shared neurobiology of every human. In fact, any one of us could have the same experience as a shaman if we put ourselves in trance.

Shamans have varied ways of entering trance but all attempt to slow brain waves from a beta state, the usual rhythm, through an alpha state (which corresponds to light meditation or engrossment in an activity), to a theta state or trance. Whereas some shamans might stay very still and concentrate on breathing or praying, others move about in frenetic dances or whirl like Dervishes. Both types of activity, paradoxically, lead to trance.

Hallucinations start and one of the most common entities to appear is an animal. Scientists call this ‘zoopsia’, whereas shamans call them spirits.

The reason for this paradox relates to the way our brains regulate our bodies. The ‘sympathetic system’ of brain activity reacts to external stimuli. It creates arousal in the body through pleasure or pain. The ‘parasympathetic system’ manages automatic processes such as breathing, sleeping, and digesting. It tends towards quiescence, that is, complete still and calm. The two work in opposition and keep our bodies in balance. Is it possible, however, to push either system to extreme. If we undertake physical activities that lead to hyper-arousal, we load the sympathetic system and the activity completely takes over so that we begin to lose ourselves in a state of flow. Similarly, if we undertake activities that lead to hyper-quiescence, we load the parasympathetic system and the mind begins to empty and turn inward.

Beyond hyper-arousal or hyper-quiescence lies a further state, where one system, usually quite separate, overflows and begins to spill over into the other. With hyper-arousal, this happens when our strenuous activity brings waves of tranquillity and stillness, such as the sensation after vigorous sex. The sympathetic system has overflowed and feelings now arise from the parasympathetic system. Similarly, with hyper-quiescence, there can be a point where deep meditation brings a rush of energy that quite overwhelms us. The parasympathetic system has overflowed and feelings now arise from the sympathetic system. In both cases, when one system overflows into another and our feelings no longer correspond to our actions, we experience an out-of-body sensation that is at the heart of shamanic trance.

The Breakdown Of Self-Identity

Many shamans report that gravity no longer tethers their bodies to the earth and they can fly through the air with little effort. Since the active neurons in the brain at this stage of trance have a spiralling tendency, a tunnel opens up before them, formed entirely within the eye retina itself. Shamans recognise this as a portal to the otherworld and they leave their physical bodies behind to travel down it. Limbs might grow longer or detach from the body as the perception of being in a physical form diminishes. These are the first signs that self-identity is breaking down as the overflow of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems of the brain excludes any outside stimulus. The mind turns entirely inward. This overflow also causes a leaking of imagery from the unconscious mind into the conscious and, as the shaman steps out of the tunnel and enters the otherworld, they find themselves in a startling new reality.

The disintegration of the self continues and some shamanic communities now speak of terrible violence inflicted upon the body. This self-generated fear response stems from the over stimulation of the amygdala, a bunch of neurons that are responsible for orientating the body in space. When a shaman drums and dances with frenzied intensity, the amygadala starts to malfunction and this causes waves of fear, heightening the expectation of violence. Alternatively, with less frenzied activity, it may provoke feelings of religious awe.

Hallucinations start and one of the most common entities to appear is an animal. Scientists call this ‘zoopsia’, whereas shamans call them spirits. Although hallucinations arise from the preconscious part of the brain, there appears to be a definite pattern to them. Jung calls these archetypes and the ‘wise teacher’ seems a particularly prevalent example from many cultures.

The Unconscious Mind

Since the body is losing its self-awareness, it appears to someone in trance that knowledge comes from a point outside the mind. Coupled with zoopsia it is not surprising that many shamans speak of guardian or power animals being a rich source of otherworldly wisdom: the wise teacher. Since the unconscious mind is leaking into the conscious mind, much of this wisdom might also appear novel and new.

It is not always an animal that fulfils the wise teacher archetype but it could also be another human, either living, dead, or entirely mythical. Seeing the dead whilst in trance may reveal the origin of belief in an afterlife and the survival of the soul after death. Many shamans speak of contacting their deceased ancestors whilst in shamanic trance.

As the self breaks down, there is a corresponding sense of unity with the rest of existence; there is no longer any individual identity. This may mean a person merges with whatever appears in front of them, such as their animal guide. Shamans often describe turning into an animal’s form and they call this shapeshifting. Others feel that they are one with the universe, as if all existence connects at this higher level. Everything appears to pulsate with energy and contain its own life force, giving rise to ‘animism’, the shamanic belief that all things are alive.
Eventually, any lingering sense of the self disappears entirely and all thoughts and experience appear to emanate from outside the body. Some discern an ultimate authority at this point; a controlling influence that lies beyond human existence and possibly beyond the world itself. It is not difficult for them to put a name to this supreme being: God.

The neurobiology of the human mind explains the similarities that underpin shamanism (and possibly all religions) around the world. Shamans see what they do because of their minds. Whether the otherworld and its spirits are merely hallucinations or are actually real is less easy to determine. That, like most other aspects of religion, is entirely a matter of individual faith and belief.

Read 36 comments, or leave your own

About The Author

Mike Willams (follow me:

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Last three pieces by this author:

Taming the Wolf - Domesticating the Dog

Mike Williams has a PhD in archaeology, and is a shamanic practitioner and teacher. He is author of Prehistoric Belief: Shamans, Trance and the Afterlife and Follow the Shaman’s Call: An Ancient Path for Modern Lives.

Comments

Susan Boyes:

I followed the link from the FSS newsletter to read your fine article. I study neurology in the interests of furthering the causes of art therapy as a healing (mind, brain, soul-healing) method. My FSS training goes back to 1990-92, to before art therapy took over as my direction. I am very interested in your work and in learning more about the neurology underlying these experiences. Thank you! my blog: www.artistrees.blogspot.com

Tue, 03-08-2010 13:49

Beadshaman:

Excellent article. I realized as an Infantry soldier in Vietnam that focus produced an altered state allowing me to become nothing, and, in so doing to become everything. This state is the unity you have described in the article. To be nothing is to be everything. Thanks you for a great article, Jim

Tue, 03-08-2010 13:54

D. W. Winnicott:

This article is markedly simplistic, even juvenile. The author talks about the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems' "breaking down" ... as if they were gaskets, or electric blenders ... and then about their "overflowing" into each other, as if they were adjacent coffee-cups. He posits no studyable mechanism, and his text is really just a catalog of metaphors. Further, this article's approach would appear to be entirely materialistic - indeed, the article presumes to attempt a "debunking" viewpoint: there is nothing here that relates to, or can cope with, the synchronicities, and instances of knowledge unobtainable by "ordinary" means, that can occur in (for example) shamanic practice.

In the five or so years leading up to my early teens, about twice each year I would have a dream in which (it would subsequently turn out) I unmistakeably saw a trivial but unpredictable part of my personal future. When the real event arrived, I would remember the dream's image of it, not just because I remembered the dream but because in those years I generally recounted my dreams in the morning to my parents, and so would remember the episode of describing the dream to them as well.

The events foreseen were trivial, but the implications were, for my experience, immense. It has been proved to me that there are some ways in which time and matter have no grip on our psyches. So tell me, author -- when I saw the future, when information about an event arrived at me before Time itself had brought the event, in what way was my amygdala overloading? What was spiraling in my retinas? What was "overflowing"?

Tue, 03-08-2010 20:16

Maggie Macnab:

D.W.: You are suffering from (PMUS) Post-Mechanical-Universe Sydrome, in which the desire to cram concepts too wide and deep for quantification are interpreted through an inadequate system of identification. The point of spiritualism is to give a wide breadth for individual experience: it is beyond our everyday senses and leaks into consciousness in myriad ways, and however it chooses. There is no way to capture this elusive animal and pen it up with human markers. There is no "studyable mechanism". That is its beauty, its mystery and its power.

Thu, 05-08-2010 13:46

D. W. Winnicott:

Well, I'll try stating a few of the same things, but this time very, very simply. In my first paragraph, I basically say "This article is poor because it tries to say something about how the mind works, but all its text really does is offer descriptions of what happens - it does not say how anything happens. What he writes, about things 'breaking down' and 'overflowing', is on the same level as a Natural Philosopher of a few centuries ago, working with suppositions of things like the Four Humors, or Animal Magnetism. It's the same as if you were to read an article about what goes on in a car's engine, and you were to find that all it says is, 'The person sits in the car and the car goes vroom and the wheels turn and away it goes.'" ~~ Now, in the next two paragraphs, we come to the hard part. This is one of those cases where one comment-writer - we'll call him, for example, D.W. - writes something, and then along comes another comment-writer - we'll call her Maggie - and Maggie is so eager to say something, after reading a few sentences and getting a certain impression, that she does not realize that D.W. actually agrees with her. Some of Maggie's neurons get fired up over the phrase where D.W. seems to call for a studyable mechanism. She doesn't notice that D.W. isn't calling for that. In fact, she doesn't notice that, if anything, it's what the *article's title* implies the article might be about. That's right - Maggie's beef ought to be with the article, not with D.W. But Maggie is fired up, at this point, and she does not take in the rest of D.W. is saying, which is that indeed the materialist approach is utterly inadequate, and that there are things "beyond our everyday senses" and that things do "[leak] into consciousness in myriad ways", and "there is [indeed] no '"studyable mechanism'". ~~~ So. Would Maggie like to take a take a second, slower look ...?

Thu, 05-08-2010 19:48

Alien:

D.W. Winnicott - you lose any credibility whatsoever in attacking Maggie Macnab in this way.

I feel that Mr. Williams' intent to give a glimpse and an explanation of what goes on in the Shaman's mind was well-done. As far as I understand it, when one offers an explanation of how something works it makes complete and logical sense to offer description of what happens. The title stands in agreement with what this article is about.

Fri, 06-08-2010 13:29

D. W. Winnicott:

"Attacking" ?? ... Please do consult the dictionary. If we're going to talk about "attacks", did I say _she_ was suffering from some made-up, taunting "syndrome"? Did I use any insults? Did I not just stick to the subject - and was not part of the subject, inevitably, that she did a 180-degree misread of what I wrote?

Now as for this part: "As far as I understand it, when one offers an explanation of how something works it makes complete and logical sense to offer description of what happens. The title stands in agreement with what this article is about." The article does offer a "description" that is, as I wrote earlier, on the level of " the car goes vroom and the wheels turn and away it goes." That's the level of description. As for explanation, there is none - the article's title promises one, but there is no delivery: the article's hand-waving about things "breaking down", and "overflowing", can count only (and only very simplistically) as description. The author obviously believes that the title stands in agreement with what the article delivers, but the article falls short. And probably I should state again: it's the *article* that takes a reductionist stance, with these positings that it's all sort of in the amygdala, and in the retina. Hello, folks, hello, your attention *please* ????: __The *author* uses the word "hallucinations."__ Are your shamanic journeys (for whichever of you that applies) "hallucinations"? *I* do not think you would say so. *I* do not say so. What I wrote was to the opposite effect. My dreams in which I saw the future were not hallucinations.

Fri, 06-08-2010 14:27

D. W. Winnicott:

Let's go a little further and put paid to this. Come on, folks, really! The author writes "a tunnel opens up before them, entirely within the eye retina itself." So: according to this, an established shamanic practitioner, who loses in mid-life for some medical reason the orbs of both eyes, could suddenly no longer journey the tunnel to the Lower World?? Nonsense, people - come on!

Or here: "When a shaman drums and dances with frenzied intensity, the amygadala starts to malfunction." I state the following with certainty: if you move in the circles of shamanic acquaintance, then, even if _you_ journey *only* by drumming and dancing, Someone You Know journeys also by (and all this while resting quietly): just drumming; listening to a recording of drumming; listening to rushing water; listening to the wind in tree-branches; listening to classical music; listening to personally-crafted sound-loops; watching the smoke rise from incense; chanting; ringing a bell or gong; sounding a crystal bowl; or (possibly the most ancient of all) just plain silent, physically-motionless "spirit walking". Where, where, are the "waves of fear", and the "heighten[ed] expectation of violence" in these cases?? They are nowhere. Come on, people!

And the most glaring omission, we have not even mentioned yet. What about the huge area of shamanic practice in which people journey by means of ingested plant substances? This article's concepts have not even the beginnings of any means to address this realm. Come on, ladies and gentlemen - this article rates a 5 out of 100.

Fri, 06-08-2010 15:18

Erica Foulkes:

I have to say that I much appreciate D.W.'s comments. I found Mr. Williams' article to be puzzling and simplistic. For one thing, it does have the tone of de-bunking: endeavouring to describe shamanic experiences simply in terms of mechanical events in the human brain ~ i.e., nothing beyond an internal experience. So, I was totally mystified as to why this might be included as a link from the FSS on-line newsletter, as well as to why Mr. Williams would involve himself as a "shamanic practitioner and teacher", if he believes his own article. Also, in this attempt at a scientific viewpoint, there is no provision of scientific references upon which Mr. Williams bases his assertions. The article is, indeed, rife with mere metaphors ~ terms which I never encountered in studying for my own science degree. I've never heard of any part of the nervous system "overflowing" in this way, nor of any "spiralling tendency" exhbited by neurons in the brain. It's also a mark of circular reasoning to interpret shamanic events solely in terms of mechanical brain events in the way in which he does: there's no argument provided, here, for why one should read brain chemistry as causal, rather than just coincidental, i.e., simply occuring in conjunction with externally driven shamanic experiences. I also see no reason to leap to any "leaking of imagery from the unconscious mind into the conscious".

I think, perhaps, 5 out of 100 might be a bit charitable.

Mon, 16-08-2010 20:06

D. W. Winnicott:

Quite so, and *thank you*. And yes, as to why this article would have been linked, in that FSS on-line newsletter -- indeed a mystery, which I didn't have a chance to mention yet -- one can suppose little but that this article has quite a history, by this point, of being skimmed in only the most superficial way.

Tue, 17-08-2010 19:08

Ali Cullen:

Easily the worst article I've ever read on this great site! It's not even close to being scientific... how exactly, for instance, do "active neurons in the brain at this stage of trance have a spiralling tendency" ? The whirl about??? Whither do they spiral? And there are numerous examples of this pseudo-scientific language used here. A disgrace to Heritage-Key's site!

Mon, 27-09-2010 12:49

Betsy Jones:

I for one do not believe in shamans. I think that they sound crazy and probably keep psychiatry jobs very interesting. The idea that all of these things happen to the shamans brain sounds simply unbelievable. Is there any scientific proof that "the active neurons in the brain at this stage of trance have a spiralling tendency, a tunnel opens up before them, formed entirely within the eye retina itself"?

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