SHAMANISM

AND NLP

BY MICHAEL R. DILTS

COPYRIGHT © 2011 BY MICHAEL R DILTS

All right reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced or transmitted in any form,
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including recording or photocopying or by
any information storage retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
 Shamanism and NLP
by Michael R. Dilts

Published by:
Shamancia Press

Copyright © 2011 by Michael R.. Dilts

All rights reserved.

No part of this booklet may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including recording or photocopying or by any information storage retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
Introduction .................................................................................3
Accessing the Field .......................................................................3
Dreams, Science and Reality .......................................................4
Dream Technologists of Siberia ..................................................5
Shamanic Paths to Knowledge ....................................................6
Riding the Drum ..........................................................................9
Rhythms of the Brain ................................................................10
Adventures in Non-Ordinary Reality ........................................14
Conclusion .................................................................................16
About the Author .......................................................................18
Bibliography ...............................................................................19

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Introduction
In his recent book, NLP II: The Next Generation, Robert Dilts discusses the notion of
the “field mind,” which he regards as an essential component of Third Generation NLP.
As Robert defines it, the “field mind” is “a mind that is created by relationships between
multiple minds.” Each individual mind is itself a field, a network of 100 billion neurons
each connected to thousands of other neurons and communicating with one another by
means of electrical impulses. And each mind is in turn connected to other minds to form a
larger mind that extends beyond the consciousness of any single individual. In this sense,
the “field mind” is like the internet, a massive network of computers distributing and
processing information. The internet does not reside on the hard disk of any single
computer - it is the combined total of all of the data on all of the computers. But any
computer attached to the network can, in principle, access all of the information that is
available anywhere.
In Robert’s work on the Strategies of Genius, he found that figures such as Wolfgang
Mozart, Leonardo Da Vinci, Walt Disney and Albert Einstein, each famous for their
almost superhuman achievements in widely different areas, had one thing in common. All
of them were able to tap into a source of creative ideas that was much bigger than their
own individual field of awareness. Robert quotes Mozart as writing of his musical ideas,
“whence and how they come, I know not, nor can I force them.” The act of creation was
not performed by him, or by any of these geniuses. It was performed through them.

Accessing the Field

How exactly does one tap into this “field mind?” How do we plug in our local
computer and log on to the genius network? The answer is that we are already plugged
in. It is just that we are not aware of it. The signal is weak and there is noise on the line. It
is hard to get a clear connection. At night, though, when all is dark and quiet and the
chattering voices in our heads have subsided, the channel comes in loud and clear. There
is no longer any barrier to the flow of information, although its significance is not always
straightforward. The name we give to these spontaneous transmissions from the field is
“dreams.”
In the industrialized Western world, dreams are not given much respect. When not
simply ignored as meaningless nonsense, they are dismissed as accidental residue of
repressed memories and unacknowledged desires. However other cultures, both
contemporary and ancient, have valued them considerably more highly. For example, the

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Achuar and Huaorani tribes of the Amazon rain forest regard dreams not as the flotsam
and jetsam of neurotic complexes but as messages sent by the ancestors to provide
guidance for daily life and advance notice of upcoming challenges. Every morning at
dawn, instead of reading the newspaper or logging on to the internet, each member of the
tribe in turn recounts the previous night’s dreams for the benefit of the community. The
plan for the day’s activities is then based on this information (McTaggart 2008).
In ancient Greece and Rome, dreams were regarded not only as divine dispatches but
as prescriptions for healing diseases. In the temples of the god Asclepius, patients
suffering from various ailments would perform a purification ritual, make a sacrifice and
then take up residence in the sanctuary to await a dream indicating the therapy required
for their recovery. Invalids and devotees of Asclepius were not the only members of
Greco-Roman society who regarded dreams and visions as reliable sources of
information and wisdom. The noted philosopher Parmenides, who figures in one of
Plato’s dialogs and is widely regarded as the “founder of Western logic,” relied on a
visionary experience as the source of his knowledge. In the surviving fragments of only
known work, he describes a journey he took to a place “beyond the threshold of day and
night” guided by the immortal Daughters of the Sun. There he meets a great goddess who
explains to him the true nature of the universe. Another example from among the ranks of
the early philosophers is Pythagoras, the celebrated mathematician. Before establishing
himself as a teacher and spiritual leader, Pythagoras is reported to have gone on a 27-day
vision quest in the utter darkness of a sacred cave underneath Mt. Ida in Crete as part of
an initiation into a secret brotherhood of priests.

Dreams, Science and Reality

In spite of its emphasis on materialistic rationalism, modern science has also benefited
from insights brought back from the mysterious realm of dreams. One well-known case is
that of the German chemist August Kekulé, who claimed that he was shown the ring-
shaped structure of the benzene molecule in a dream. Dmitri Mendeleev, who is credited
with devising the periodic table of the elements, is supposed to have selected the best
version of the table from a set of possible alternatives during a dream. Even more
interesting is the experience of Nobel Prize winner Otto Loewi, who woke up at 3:00 AM
on Easter morning in 1921, made notes to himself about an important experiment and
then fell back into a contented sleep. The next morning he found to his disappointment
that his scribbles were incomprehensible. After spending the entire day in anxious efforts
at decipherment, he finally gave up on the project before retiring for the night. At 3:00
AM he awoke again with the whole project clear in his mind, and this time he got out of
bed and performed the experiment immediately. The result was a clear demonstration that

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nerve cells communicate with one another by means of chemical messages (Loewi 1953).
Even Descartes, the primary proponent of 17th century rationalism, decided to give up
his budding military career and devote his life to the pursuit of science because of a series
of vivid dreams. The irony of this incident, which is documented in Descartes’ treatise
Discourse on the Method, is especially poignant when compared with the rationalist
dictum that reason is the only legitimate path to knowledge.
While the practical value of the information derived from dreams in these examples is
indisputable, the same examples also illustrate some of the drawbacks of this mode of
inquiry. The first is their spontaneity. As with Mozart’s musical inspirations, we know not
“whence and how” dreams come, and we cannot “force them.” Secondly, as Loewi
discovered, it is not always a simple matter to remember the exact content of dream
experiences. They recede like the ebbing tide as normal consciousness flows in. Finally,
there is the challenge of interpreting the meaning of the events that have taken place on
the mental movie screen. The dream world has its own logic and often relies as heavily
on symbol and metaphor as an especially dense poetic composition. As the Swiss
psychologist Carl Jung realized, dreams speak the language of archetypes, primal images
and configurations of images which proceed from the shared psychic architecture of the
human race. Jung found enough commonality in archetypal symbols from the myths and
legends of cultures around the world to convince himself that human beings possess a
“collective unconscious.” Dreams are our personal doorways to archetypal reality.

Dream Technologists of Siberia

There is another way, in fact there are many other ways, to find entrance to the
archetypal landscape of the field mind. Some of the more effective techniques have been
known to mankind for millennia and avoid the shortcomings of waiting and hoping for
“what dreams may come.” Ancient cultures around the world each had their own experts
in a process that we might call “deliberate dreaming.” They called these experts by
different names, but many of their techniques were virtually identical, in spite of their
separation in time and space. Western anthropologists have chosen to describe these
techniques by using a word borrowed from a tribe of reindeer herders from Siberia. The
word is “shamanism,” derived from Evenki sama:n, the word for a seer or medium.
The Evenks are an ancient people who probably originated in the region near Lake
Baikal in southern Siberia close to the Mongolian border. Their language belongs to the
Tungusic family and is thus distantly related to the Turkic (Turkish, Azeri, Uzbek, Tatar,
Uyghur, etc.) and Mongolic (Mongolian, Dagur, Buryat, Ordos, Oirat, Monguor, etc.)
language groups. Because of their nomadic lifestyle, the Evenks have spread as far east as
the island of Sakhalin and have also migrated south into Mongolia and Manchuria. Many

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Evenks still rely on hunting and gathering in combination with pastoralism to support
themselves. Although their culture has been heavily influenced by contact with the
modern world, their traditional spiritual beliefs have been the focus of intense
anthropological study because they seem to provide a living bridge to archaic forms of
religious thought.
Essential to traditional Evenki spiritual life is the notion that the universe is populated
by an enormous variety of spiritual beings. Every object - including rocks, mountains,
tent poles and trees - is regarded as possessing a soul. The role of the sama:n, who can be
female or male, is to be the mediator between the human world and the various groups of
spirits. This mediation is performed by means of journeys conducted by the sama:n, soul
voyages during which the spirits are placated or consulted for advice regarding hunting,
healing, matchmaking, and disputes with neighbors, among other things. While on a
journey, sama:ns leave their physical body behind and travel in one of three directions.
They can travel downward into the “lower world,” where the spirit beings mostly take the
form of animals; they can go the opposite direction and reach the “upper world,” where
human-shaped spirits reside; or they can remain in the “middle world” where they started,
but since they are in spirit form they can then travel many miles in the blink of an eye.
This cosmology divided into lower, middle and upper worlds is not unique to the
Evenks. Similar maps of the universe are found in mythologies and religions around the
world both from cultures with and without written records. These cultures also
acknowledge the existence of sama:n like figures who can travel between the worlds. In
Africa, in North and South America, in Australia and Asia and the South Pacific Islands,
as well as in the classical myths and folklore of Europe, there are traditions of journeys to
the “other world,” a place outside of time and space where wisdom and healing are to be
found for those brave enough to leave the ordinary world behind. Even as far back as the
paleolithic era, there is evidence for a so-called “shamanistic” world-view in surviving
cave art and artifacts (Lewis-Williams and Clottes 1998).

Shamanic Paths to Knowledge

But how, then, does one set off for one of these “other worlds,” assuming that one is
eager to make the voyage? How does one find the path? Where is the gateway and how
can it be unlocked? In the Homeric literature of Ancient Greece, Odysseus, the reluctant
wanderer, discovers that his route home leads through the underworld. It is not a happy
prospect for him or his crew when they set sail with the North Wind behind them. They
must “traverse the waters of Ocean” in search of the entrance to the House of Hades, so
that Odysseus can consult with the shade of the blind prophet Tireseas. Otherwise, he will
never find his way back to Ithaca (Odyssey Book 11). Apparently such journeys were not

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unusual at the time. According to Vergil, the Greek vagabond’s Trojan counterpart Aeneas
had to make a similar haunted detour. Aeneas, however needed to travel no further than
the ancient temple of Cumae on the Italian coast., where he convinced the local sibyl to
serve as his guide (Aeneid, Book 6). In the historical period, ordinary people who were
not legendary heroes could find access to the other world at Eleusis in Greece. Here an
underworld excursion was available for all who wished to obtain initiation into the
mysteries of the goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone. Professional guides
were provided, and candidates were aided in their journey by a sip from a specially
prepared potion called kykeion, which contained barley and various herbs. Some claim
that the barley used for this purpose was contaminated with the fungus ergot, which
generates a naturally occurring form of LSD (Wasson et al. 1978).
In the Celtic countries, and especially in Ireland, the boundary between mundane
reality and the uncanny has always been more permeable than elsewhere. The unwary
traveler trudging home on a moonlit night might just as likely end up in the land of the
people of the sidhe as safely home in bed. A typical tale is that of the hunch-backed
weaver of Cappagh, who was lured by the sound of unearthly singing into the midst of a
fairy circle. In the weaver’s case, things turned out well. The “beautiful people”
appreciated his contributions to their musical efforts and took away his hump. But they
were not always so kind. One was more likely to wake up transported miles away from
where one started or to make one’s way back to the village and find one’s friends bowed
and gray with age, since space and time work so differently in the realm of the sidhe.
Even worse, one might awaken with two humps on one’s back instead of one. Such was
the fate of an unlucky acquaintance of the weaver who tried to repeat this strange
adventure - his attempts at song had not been appreciated by fairy ears (Yeats 1988).
Across the Atlantic Ocean in the plains of North America, the Lakota people were
also well aware of the existence of other worlds. Every adolescent member of the Oglala
and the other affiliated tribes was required to seek the support of the spirit beings as part
of their transition to adulthood. This process, which is popularly known as the “vision
quest,” was by no means as simple as walking along an empty road on the night of the
full moon. An intensive period of preparation was required, which involved fasting for
several days and ritual purification in the sweat lodge. Next the candidate sought an out
of the way place high in the hills for a young man or in a secluded valley for a young
woman. After digging a pit and lining it with sharp stones so that sleep would be difficult,
if possible at all, the initiate would lie under the open sky, completely alone and isolated,
until the spirits took pity and came to his or her assistance by providing a vision. When
properly performed, this experience was a profound one, filled with personal meaning
and powerful symbolism which the initiate incorporated into his or her new life as a full-
fledged adult member of the community. In the course of performing such a vision quest,
the famous Lakota warrior Crazy Horse was given the lightening bolt as a power symbol

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to be painted on his left cheek during battle. Because of this symbol and the other power
objects which were given to him, Crazy Horse was never injured on the battlefield.
In the Amazon jungle of South America, aspiring shamans of the Conibo tribe were
(and still are) helped on their otherworld journeys by the consumption of a powerful
hallucinogenic cocktail prepared from two rainforest plants. One of them is called
ayahuasca, the “soul vine,” and the other is known as cawa. Consumed alone, neither has
any effect whatsoever, but when combined together and boiled into a strong tea, the result
is an extended session of vivid and intense visions. The active psychedelic ingredient in
ayahuasca is N,N-Dimethyltryptamine or DMT, a substance which would normally be
broken down and metabolized by the digestive organs before having a chance to interact
with the nervous system. The cawa plant, however, contains chemicals which slow down
the digestion of DMT so that it enters the bloodstream and reaches the brain intact. There
is an incredible abundance of flora in the Amazon: for example, some botanical experts
claim that every 2.5 acres of rainforest contain something like 700 different species of
tree and 1400 species of other plants. How the Conibo, lacking access to any kind of tools
for chemical analysis, were able to determine the unique recipe for activating the power
of ayahuasca is thus a mystery to modern science. A shaman, of course, only needs to
speak with the spirits of the plants and ask their advice.
Back across the Atlantic at the southern tip of Africa, the rock art of the San people or
Bushmen provides a glimpse into a way of life which existed over ten thousand of years
ago in the Paleolithic era. The Drakenberg mountains, composed of a layer of volcanic
basalt extruded through and mounded up upon an underlying base of sandstone, are
honeycombed with caves eroded into the soft substrate. For generation upon generation,
these caves were used by the San and their ancestors as galleries for sacred paintings.
Various animals are depicted, expertly rendered in shades of red offset by pure white and
black. There are giraffes, birds, snakes, cattle, even rhinoceroses. The most frequent
subjects for these portraits, however, are eland, the largest antelope species of Africa, and
human figures. Some paintings show peacefully grazing eland herds. Others are
obviously hunting scenes, with human figures dashing among galloping quadrupeds.
There are also many compositions which appear to represent communal dance rituals:
crowds of human figures appear in circles and other configurations and assume various
specific poses. Dance ceremonies like those shown in these ancient paintings are still
practiced by San tribes living in the Kalahari Desert, especially after completion of a
successful eland hunt. The active participants stomp around a central fire for hours on end
while the rest of the community keeps time by clapping and singing. Eventually the
dancers enter a trance state, collapsing beside the fire while their spirits leave their bodies
behind and set out for the other world. Those who stay behind guard the bodies, keeping
them comfortable and cool until the spirit travelers return.

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Riding the Drum
Returning to Siberia to complete our brief round-the-word tour, we find that the
Evenki sa:man does not prepare for a spirit journey by consuming psychotropic drugs or
by enduring an extended fast or by dancing to the point of exhaustion. Instead, the
practitioner dons a special costume consisting of a long kaftan-like shirt of reindeer hide
along with an apron and a soft hat, all decorated with painted symbols, ribbons, beads and
metal disks which rattle and ring with every movement. As in the tale of the Irish weaver,
there may be a song or a chant to call in the spirits, but the sa:man’s primary tool of the
trade is a drum

An Evenki drum is made of reindeer hide stretched over a shallow wooden frame. It is
oval or round in shape and, like the sacred shirt, decorated with images of helpful spirit
beings. The sa:man picks up a carved baton - it may be made from a mammoth tusk if
available and have images of additional spirit helpers incised and inlaid on its head and
shaft - and begins to strike the drum at a brisk but steady pace. There is no room here for
technical bravado, only for a fixed rhythm which neither increases nor decreases. As the

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drumming continues, the steady beat draws all within hearing range into a light trance.
The sa:man, however, is launched out of the world of ordinary perception and into the
domain of the spirit beings. After a period of time - maybe half an hour or a full hour -
the drumming stops. The sa:man returns to normal consciousness and shares the message
the spirits have helpfully provided.
The American anthropologist Michael Harner, a leading researcher in the field for
over 50 years, has conducted a thorough cross-cultural survey of surviving shamanic
practices around the world. Not content to remain an objective observer, he has
participated fully in many of these traditions, drinking the ayahuasca and dancing the
sacred dances. At the end of this project he was able to establish that drumming or some
other “form of repetitive ‘noise’” is the most common mechanism for shamanic trance
induction worldwide. Of all of the techniques he sampled, he found it to be the most
reliable mechanism, the most effective and the safest for most people. It is perhaps not
surprising that drumming is also one of the oldest form of musical expression used by the
human species, who created the earliest drums from hollowed out logs. Remains of
animal skin drums have been found in graves from the late Paleolithic period
(approximately 40,000 to 10,000 years ago). The owners of these drums have been
identified as “shamans” because of the other grave goods found buried with them
(Tedlock 2005).

Rhythms of the Brain

Why, exactly, does drumming work so well? And what, exactly, does it do?
Neurophysiological research provides some insights into these questions. The human
brain is an electrical device. It is composed of a network of approximately 100 billion
tiny cells known as “neurons.” These cells communicate with one another by exchanging
electrically charged particles, or “ions.” When many ions are exchanged at once, the flow
of electrical charge creates a measurable fluctuation of voltage. This fluctuation can be
detected by electrodes placed on the skin of the skull. Continuous recording and display
of the voltage fluctuations produces what is known as an “electroencephalogram” (EEG).
The first EEG for a human brain was produced in 1924 by Hans Berger, a German
physiologist and psychiatrist. Careful observation and analysis of EEGs since that time
has revealed that different patterns of brain activity are correlated with different mental
states or processes.
A one-second encephalogram for a person in who is awake and alert - a so-called
“normal” state of consciousness - might look like this:

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 "

There is a more-or-less regular pattern to the changes in this chart. The voltage levels
appear to move from minimum to maximum values about 29 or 30 times. The frequency
of brain activity in this chart is thus 29 or 30 cycles per second, or 29 or 30 Hz. (hertz).
Because it corresponds to “normal” brain activity, rhythmic changes between this
frequency and around 16 Hz. are called “beta” waves.

"

When the person whose brain voltages are being measured engages in a mental task
that requires more concentration - for example, matching remembered objects sounds or
other sensations, solving mathematical problems or performing tasks which require
advanced motor skills - the primary brain wave frequencies increase considerably,
doubling or even tripling. This frequency range is called the “gamma” range.

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 On the other hand, a more relaxed level of concentration or even keeping one’s eyes
closed for a while tends to produce a lower frequency range, called “alpha.” In fact, any
region of the brain which is not currently being used tends to slow down to the alpha
level. As soon as the eyes are opened again, the frequency returns to beta levels.

"

Deeper states of relaxation are associated with even slower brain wave frequencies.
As an adult or older child begins to fall asleep, brain activity enters the “theta” region.
This is a borderline area between sleep and wakefulness, between normal consciousness
and dream consciousness. It is often called a “hypnogogic state,” a state which leads into
or out of sleep. Since conscious awareness is still present, spontaneously arising dream
imagery may be registered and remembered:

"

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 Experienced practitioners of deep meditation may be able to achieve and prolong the
theta state without complete loss of consciousness. It is interesting that this is the
“normal” frequency range found in the brains of young children. Toddlers wander
through their daily routine in a perpetual half dream.
In both adults and children, the slowest observed brain frequencies, or “delta” waves
are associated with sleep. For babies, however, this is the frequency range associated with
normal waking consciousness as well:

"

Of all of these categories of brain activity, the theta range or hypnogogic state (4 - 7
Hz.), which is the goal of deep meditation and is associated with vivid mental imagery
with retention of conscious awareness, is the ideal state for accessing the archetypal
world of dreams. The theta state is quite literally the gateway to the dreamworld, with its
treasures of creativity, insight and inspiration. Since it is also most closely affiliated with
the shamanic state of consciousness, it is interesting to note that Michael Harner, in his
book The Way of the Shaman, specifies that drumming for the purpose of inducing a
trance should approximate a rhythm of 205 to 220 beats per minute. This translates to 3.4
to 3.7 beats per second or 3.4 to 3.7 Hz., a frequency at the boundary between the theta
and delta range.
Can drumming at a specific frequency produce brainwaves at the same frequency?
The answer is yes. In fact, any significant sensory input can produce this effect. Input
signals from any part of the nervous system results in stimulation of the brain, where all
sensory data is processed, interpreted and stored. This means that stimulation which
occurs at a particular rhythm, whether it is visual, auditory or tactile, causes rhythmic
activity in the brain. Rhythmic activity which lasts long enough can produce brainwaves
at the same rhythm through a process known as the “frequency following response” or
alternatively as “entrainment.” Flashing lights, for example, are known for their ability to

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trigger seizures in people suffering from some types of epilepsy because of their
entrainment effect on the electrical activity of the brain. Drumming at 3.5 Hz., however,
has a more beneficial effect. It encourages the brain to slow down and draws it into a
relaxed and receptive state which induces spontaneous access to the dream state.

"

Adventures in Non-Ordinary Reality

Among the Evenks, the drum is called “the sa:man’s ferry boat.” It is also known as
“the sa:man’s mount” - the reindeer that carries the sa:man’s spirit out of the world of
ordinary experience and bears it deep into the territory that Michael Harner has termed
“non-ordinary reality.” But can the spirit of a body enmeshed in the net of western
technology hope to escape the distractions of modern life long enough to saddle up and
ride away on the sa:man’s mount? What does the spirit world have to offer a mind which
can just as easily contact a distant friend over a wireless network or spend an evening
gorging itself on digital entertainment? Since training with Michael Harner in the early
1990s, I have hitched a ride on the sa:man’s ferry boat quite a few times myself and I
have also had the opportunity to introduce many others to this well-worn pathway to
dream wisdom. From my own personal experience I know the value of this ancient
technique and I would like to share a few examples of journeys with which I have had
direct involvement.
During my first training session with Michael Harner, we students were asked to find
a partner among the group of participants and to take turns journeying for one another.
We were explicitly instructed to work with a stranger and to avoid sharing any any details

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or information of any kind about the issue we wished to address prior to the exercise.
When it was my turn to journey, and Michael started drumming, I quickly found my way
into the underworld and made a successful rendez-vous with my newly identified power
animal, who happened to be a large green frog. Frogs are not powerful or fearsome
guardians, but since they are amphibians who are comfortable living in two different
worlds, I was grateful to have his assistance navigating through the dark and mysterious
landscape in which I found myself wandering. On this particular visit, my frog friend
kept leading me through a thick stand of cattail reeds which grew on the banks of a slow-
moving creek. He showed me detailed views of slender shafts topped with brown, furry
cylinders and ending in pointed spikes.
When Michael stopped drumming and the journey was over, I shared these images
with my partner. She then revealed that she was an environmental activist in her
community and that she was concerned about contamination in a pond near her home,
due to industrial pollution. The cattails from my journey were a puzzle. Neither of us
knew quite what to make of them at the time. In the evening I did some research, and on
the next day of the training I located my erstwhile companion and eagerly repeated what I
had been able to discover. Cattails, I had learned, are known for their ability to purify
contaminated water. In fact, they are planted in water treatment plants as an inexpensive
and natural detoxification mechanism which is completely chemical-free. After any solid
waste has been filtered out of the water, cattails are very efficient at extracting nitrates,
mercury, ammonium, harmful bacteria and other toxins. Before the exercise, I had never
given the reeds much thought and had known absolutely nothing about their properties or
uses. The surprising relevance of the images from my journey were one of the first clear
indications I had that shamanism can be a valid source of practical information.
Shortly after this training session, I had the opportunity to show my mother, Patricia,
how to ride the drum. Patricia had enjoyed a long remission from metastatic breast
cancer, but was starting to feel an unusual pain in her spine. her fears that lesions had
begun to reappear were confirmed by a bone scan. While we were both visiting my
younger brother I took her on a journey in his living room while sitting in front of a
flickering fire in his fireplace. When she reached the lower world, she found a fox
waiting for her. The spirit fox taught her how to stay very still until she could blend into
the background.
Patricia decided that the fox’s lesson for her had to do with patience and observation.
In many cultures the fox is traditionally a symbol of slyness and trickery. A master of
camouflage, the diminutive predator is a shapeshifter who can disappear into hiding at a
moment’s notice. Patricia accepted the fox as her totem and began collecting vulpine
images and figures as objects of meditation. She was convinced that she could outsmart
the cancer by changing her thought patterns so that the metastatic cells would not
recognize her. This strategy enabled her to experience several more years of relative
health and comfort.

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 A third example comes from the field of corporate coaching. A client of mine was
given the assignment of developing a new product idea. With my assistance, she went on
a shamanic journey in hopes of enhancing her creativity and insight for the project. As I
drummed for her, she encountered two animals in the spirit world, both vying for her
attention. The one closest to her was a gray wolf with huge yellow eyes. The other
creature, who seemed to lurk in the background, was an enormous bear. While the bear
did not appear to be threatening or dangerous, he was an imposing presence and blocked
her path. Even her new friend, the wolf, could not find its way around him. My client’s
impression was that she was being asked to choose between them.
As it turned out, my client’s visit to non-ordinary reality had more to do with her
long-term career path and with her relationship with her husband than with the immediate
project. Unjustly feared and vilified, the wolf is traditionally associated with wildness and
lawlessness, but in its own environment it is a social animal, hunting in coordination with
other members of its pack and careful to observe the hierarchy of the group. The bear, on
the other hand, is a more solitary creature, although it will go to great lengths to protect
its offspring. The bear spends a significant portion of its life hibernating, drifting deep in
winter dreams until it awakens ravenous in the spring. My client worked for a company
which had a strong internal hierarchy. There were rivalries, of course, but employees
always rallied together to defeat threats from outside. She understood the internal politics
of her company very well and had become skillful at negotiating their intricacies, which
produced problems for her when she was asked to think creatively and push aside old
boundaries to arrive at a new product concept.
After I met her husband, I understood that the bear was his spirit helper, not hers. He
was noticeably bear-like in his manner and habits. He was uncomfortable with my
client’s new assignment because it threatened to take her away from the home they
shared. He was very protective of their relationship, and it was clear to me that his envy
of her success was blocking her career progress. As the wolf and bear were trying to tell
her in the spirit world, she needed to choose between them. She could follow the wolf
and blaze her own trail forward by fully accepting the challenge of the new project, or
she could retreat back to the tried and true role with which she was familiar so that her
husband could keep her embraced in his safe but somewhat stifling bear-hug.

Conclusion
As these examples show, the knowledge and wisdom derived from “non-ordinary”
states of consciousness during a shamanic journey are unique in that they seem to come
from a source that is beyond the awareness and experience of the individual seeker and

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yet are at the same time presented in a form which is adapted and molded to suit the
seeker’s specific needs and level of awareness. As in a dream, the universal, archetypal
symbols in which the message is encoded have a profound personal meaning for the
dreamer, connecting individual consciousness with mythological and spiritual traditions
which extend back to the origins of the human race.
In his book NLP II: The Next Generation, Robert Dilts explains the importance of
connecting more fully with our inner selves and with “the larger fields around us.” He
calls for the development of “neurolinguistic tools which help us to connect or reconnect”
with the “field mind.” Shamanic drumming is by no means a new technique - it has been
tried and tested by innumerable generations of shamans. NLP helps us to come to a better
understanding of how and why it has served them so well. The expanded perspective of
Third Generation NLP in particular underscores the continuing importance of shamanism
and other practices and procedures for exploring who we are and how we are connected
with one another and with the world around us.
To find out more about shamanism or to schedule a shamanic coaching session, please
visit my web site: www.Shamancia.com. metaphors and examples you give are often even
more important than which verbal representational systems you pace verbally or how many
chains you have planned in advance.

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About the Author
Michael Dilts holds degrees in Linguistics from the University of California at
Berkeley and Harvard University. He enjoyed a long and productive career in the
computer industry, working for Texas Instruments, Wang Laboratories and Apple, Inc. He
has been awarded seven patents for software design and has published over a dozen
articles in journals and in the proceedings of technical conferences.
At the same time he was pursuing his business career, Michael was conducting a
personal investigation of comparative religion and Shamanism, completing training
courses with Michael Harner and with other instructors. Michael is currently a
Sponsoring Member of Michael Harner’s Foundation for Shamanic Studies. He has also
experienced initiation into several branches of the Western Mystery Tradition.
After retiring from his senior management position in high technology, Michael
devoted himself to full-time teaching and research. He joined with his brothers, Robert
Dilts and the late John Dilts, to provide business creativity consultation and developed
the technique of Shamanic Coaching, which combines ancient and modern approaches to
the heightening of awareness and the expansion of consciousness.
Michael has expertise in a number of ancient languages, including Vedic Sanskrit,
Old Norse, Old Irish, Old English, Middle Welsh, Homeric Greek, Hittite, Akkadian,
Sumerian and Venetic
To find out more about shamanism or to schedule a shamanic coaching session,
please visit www.Shamancia.com.

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Bibliography
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