Hello Beautiful Souls, I found this book at my local bookstore, and I wanted to share it with you. It caught my interest as I’ve been looking into knowing more about Shamanism. I also seek to better my own spiritual journey and deepen my understanding of myself and the information I receive during meditation and journey work. I found this book to be very helpful with learning how to start a journeying process. I have some experience with this already through Hypnotherapy, but many of the Journeys in this book were very helpful for me. This book does a wonderful job of setting down some basics but giving enough information that even those familiar with journey work, or meditations, can gain from her knowledge.
Sandra mentions in her book that she’s giving the reader shamanic practices that can be done in daily life. This book is not about teaching a person how to become a Shaman.
I liked the section “A Shaman in History” in the introduction. “The spirits choose a person who is to be initiated into the path of becoming a shaman for his or her community. It is not a profession you choose; rather it is a part of one’s destiny.” “Walking in the Light is written to teach you how to use the practice of shamanism for your own personal healing, development, and evolution.”
By learning to heal yourself and implementing a daily self-care routine, whether that’s by meditation, journeying, putting healthy food in your body, taking time to be creative or any number of things for your personal self-care, you will then have the strength to carry yourself through any challenges that may come up in daily life and be able to better handle the situations without causing more harm to you or others involved. Also in taking care of yourself first you have the energy to support your family and friends when they call on you for assistance. Self-care is not selfishness. It is a way to keep your body, mind and spirit nourished. It doesn’t have to take up a whole hour, it could be 15 min. Sit outside with a cup of tea and just be with your own thoughts. Take a few minutes to do some deep belly breaths. I’m a massage therapist, and the vast majority of my clients don’t do anything for daily self-care. “I don’t have time” is the number one reason. I say to them, “If you can’t find 15 min in your day to take a pause and do something for self-care there is a major problem with how you’re managing your time.” At least they are pretty good about regular massage which is great for self-care, but I can’t undo months or years of stress and emotions in one massage once a month, if people can even come in that often. I have to mention self-care “homework” for them to do. Color, read, journal, play with your dog, pet your cat, do some yoga, whatever you’d like.
This book will give you a good foundation for learning to do journey work. She mentions how to create a ceremony around your practice by beginning a journey, asking your guides for help. If you don’t know your guides yet, there is a journey for finding that out in the book. You can just ask for a helpful presence to guide you. Then gather the supplies you may want or need, like clothes that make you feel good, maybe put shamanic drumming music on, ground in, and set your intention. Next would be the ceremony of the journeying. There is no right or wrong way to do this. This is where you focus on what you’d like to ask, or what you want to manifest. Finish it up by stating you are done and thanking the guides for helping. This is a good time for writing in your journal while it’s still fresh in your mind. I mention a little on journaling below.
In the section “Gathering your tools for Ceremony”, she has a couple of good points that I really liked and want to point out.
In the subsection of “Intention and Phrasing Questions are Tools”, she says, “When you are journeying on your own personal questions, phrase your questions so that you get the most detailed information possible.”
I know that may seem obvious, but it’s important to keep in mind when you are working with guides. Your guides are not there to just give you a direct answer to any inquiry you may have, although sometimes that may happen as well. They are there to support you, give insights and encourage you to seek out the best answer for yourself. She mentions to steer away from simple yes or no questions. They simply may be the wrong thing to ask. If you asked the same question with more detail and thought behind it, you will most likely receive a more detailed message with the answer given.
Continuing in the same subsection coming to the part about “Keeping a Journal”
“Journaling after you complete a ceremony will help you to return fully to your ordinary state of consciousness. While writing out your experience, you might find insights bubbling up from deep within, as you reflect and review your notes over time, you might find a new deeper interpretation emerging.”
I’ve always kept a dream journal next to my bed and recorded some more intense dreams down. I find it helpful to read back on them later. This is especially important when doing journeying or working with your guides in meditation. This is an essential step to keeping track of your growth and in remembering questions asked and the answers given. Write down everything you can remember. It all plays a part in the messages you’re given. If you see an animal, or an object, a place like a garden, or a smell, it all matters.
“If you can’t get in touch with the true power of your own vivid images, your own internal songs of creation, the beauty of the fragrances you wish to smell, the taste of healthy food grown and cooked with love, and the feeling of touching the beauty of life, there’s no power in your creation.”
What are you creating today? What do you want to manifest in your life? What are the things that may be blocking you? Ask yourself these questions or when you read this, what popped into your mind first?
“So many of us feel that we don’t deserve to be happy, or we feel insecure about our gifts and abilities.” “When you love yourself unconditionally, you start to trust yourself. You stop trying to please others and no longer have a need for outside recognition. What becomes important is following what your soul is truly calling you to do that will lead to your ultimate happiness.”
I think we all struggle with these concepts at many points throughout our life. I know I have and still do at times. Let me tell you now in case you don’t know. You deserve happiness. You are amazing. Insecurities will come up, just know that you can do the thing, you can do all the things. Just find that courage, and do the best you can to work through it. You have a light in you, and you are strong enough to share it when you’re ready. Learning to love yourself can be a lifelong struggle, or it could happen early on. Whenever you feel this for yourself, that is the perfect timing. It takes work. Hard work. Work we may not be able to do at times. Learning to love that shadow self and work with her can and will be extremely challenging, but it makes you stronger and happier. It’s not about what others think of you; it only matters what you think of yourself. Find out what brings you joy. What are things you do that give you that happy feeling? Are you happy with your line of work? Does your partner contribute to your happiness and joy? I hope the answers come easily for you. If they don’t, what are the steps you will take to bring in that happiness and joy? How are you going to bring yourself love today?
Moving a bit farther in her book, there are many things in Chapter 10: “Overcoming Obstacles” that I really liked.
Sandra says, “I love to help people get in touch with their destiny, their soul’s purpose, and what they came into this world to manifest. I am dedicated to helping others explore what brings passion and meaning into their lives. I am a dreamer, and my passion is to teach others the shamanic way of dreaming to manifest the life they desire.”
When you first learn of the many tools, like journeying, at your disposal it’s amazing the power you can tap into, but often when you don’t get instant results, doubt can set in and then the “but” happens. That will ultimately cause a block to the creative process and how you would manifest the life you seek. It takes practice, and trusting your intuition, to receive clear messages.
“Dreaming work brings up people’s insecurities about their capabilities to manifest. The work requires us to take a risk, and this can bring up the fear of failure.”
To do this inner journey work, you must first trust your intuition and from there you will begin to get the answers that you seek. You must work with letting go of the ego and self-sabotaging beliefs. Just like with a muscle, you must exercise it to make it strong. Journey work takes practice.
“Nurturing your thoughts. – In shamanic teachings, thoughts are things. When you think something, you are planting a seed in your inner garden. Every thought or seed creates something in the world. Your life is a garden.”
It’s easy to stay in a negative thought pattern. It takes work to be positive and project positive thoughts and energy, but when you consciously work at it, it will become easier to do. You have this power to change the energy around you.
“The creative power of words. – “Words are seeds that grow in your inner garden. You need to focus and be aware of how you speak about yourself, others, and the world.” “Once you find words that contain the power of what you wish to manifest, write them down. Incorporate these words into your daily vocabulary.”
She has a Journey you can do to learn about the power of words, using this journey to examine the power of the words you use. You can also use this journey to find a mantra or discover an affirmation to use in your daily life. This will work your mind into being more positive regularly. To manifest something in your life takes hard work and effort. You can’t just write the phrase down and expect it to just happen. It’s about giving yourself the motivation and setting the energy in alignment with what’s in your highest good.
I really hope you enjoyed this glimpse into Sandra’s book, and it inspires you in some way. I highly recommend you read her book because it really resonated with me on so many levels. I saved so many quotes from her book it was difficult to choose these few I’ve included here today. May you be blessed on your journeying.
Love and Light,
Shara
Sandra Ingerman is the author of many books and has been doing work as a Shaman for over 30 years. Visit her website here.
http://www.sandraingerman.com/aboutsandraingerman.html
Here is the link to her book.
Penny Randall is an amazing Hypnotherapist and Shamanic practitioner. She has been doing this work for over 25 years. Here is her website.
http://circleonehypnotherapy.com/
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Thank you Shara. This is a great review. Very inspiring!