Itzhak Beery - 25 May

To Margalit for the lifelong adventurous journey we embarked on and for Ariel, Tal, and Shira, who make it worthwhile. To Don Jos Joaquin Pieda and Bernardo Peixoto, Ph.D., (Ipupiara Makunaiman) for their generous treasured teachings and open hearts.

SHAMANIC
HEALING

This intriguing book is a call to action and a challenge to integrate shamanic knowledge about health care with modern science. Itzhaks latest contribution to this body of wisdom guides us along that path. I highly recommend it.

JOHN PERKINS, AUTHOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN

Shamanic Healing is an important book for the times we live in, as so many people in the Western world are searching for alternative ways of healing. This book provides a wealth of shamanic healing methods from indigenous cultures that can be integrated into anyones life and/ or their work with clients. Itzhak Beery did a brilliant job bringing this work to us.

SANDRA INGERMAN, M.A., AUTHOR OF SOUL RETRIEVAL AND SPEAKING WITH NATURE

Belief structures tend to put a fence around our consciousness, as Itzhak Beery shows in his new book on shamanic healing. He creates a bridge between ideals that no longer serve us and the ancient, yet current, practices of ancient shamanism up until today. Beerys book offers a new model to transform our sick care into holistic health care.

LYNN V. ANDREWS, AUTHOR OF COMING FULL CIRCLE

In Shamanic Healing, Itzhak Beery has created an extraordinary book that records generous teachings brought to life through his accounts of adventures and healing stories from which readers may extract techniques and insights that may enrich their lives. Itzhak is a medicine man, and he has created very good medicine indeed.

HANK WESSELMAN, PH.D., ANTHROPOLOGIST, AUTHOR OF THE SPIRITWALKER TRILOGY, AND COAUTHOR OF AWAKENING TO THE SPIRIT WORLD

Shamanic Healing supports the ongoing revolution in health, as the modern world discovers alternative methods can be effective for many types of maladiesphysical, psychological, and even spiritual. Itzhak Beerys book provides a clear, coherent introduction and overview of these ancient practices, which are evermore popular.

DANIEL PINCHBECK, AUTHOR OF HOW SOON IS NOW?

Through crisp narrative and excellent storytelling, Itzhak Beery takes on the timely and powerful subject of shamanic healing and its relevance in our modern world. In a world where we find our medical model bankrupt and too often causing illness and death instead of healing, people are seeking alternatives, including the ancient, effective ways of shamanism. Here you will find an excellent and comprehensive introduction to the world of shamanic healing based on South American traditions. His book is a real contribution to shamanic literature.

JOS LUIS STEVENS, PH.D., AUTHOR OF ENCOUNTERS WITH POWER

Izhak Beerys passionate love of shamanism gives us a glimpse at how rich and fulfilling shamanic work can be in ones life. He writes with an urgency to embed shamanic healing practices into our Western world, so we may align all our senses harmoniously with the supportive energies of the Earth and assure the survival of our species. An excellent book for all who seek to deepen their understanding of shamanic healing practices.

TOM COWAN, AUTHOR OF FIRE IN THE HEAD

Itzhak Beery has written a spectacular book. This honest, nonlinear journey into the very heart and soul of shamanism rekindled my hearts flame and strengthened my commitment to the shamanic path that we share.

LINDA STAR WOLF, PH.D., COAUTHOR OF SOUL WHISPERING

Itzhak Beerys heart and compassion encompass all of his teachings, and his fierce commitment to the integrity of this work is an inspiration to all who come in contact with him. His brilliant writing will open you to the beauty and elegance of walking the shamanic path.

MICHAEL STONE, TEACHER, ACTIVIST, WRITER, AND RADIO HOST

Acknowledgments

To all the medicine men and women by many names throughout the world who have kept this age-old wisdom alive despite the obstacles modern life presented them, there are not enough words to thank you. Thank you for showing us the way to the future.

Deep gratitude to Leah De Santo and especially Glori Anne Di Toro and Meghan MacLean for their hard work in making sense of my manuscript and their honest feedback, which contributed greatly to the final book. To my dear friend Ariel Orr Jordan for continually finding the right words to instigate, inspire, and sharpen this books vision.

To Ehud Sperling and all the Inner Tradition team for making this book happen. Credit goes to Joe Kulin, my agent, whose guiding hands and friendship I value a great deal.

Thanks to the core members of the New York Shamanic Circle, which I cofounded and whose backing gave me wings to fly on for the last twenty years. A special thank you to all my clients throughout the world: your trust in me taught me more than I could ever imagine possible and mostly about myself and the great mystery.

Finally, I owe deep gratitude to my big-hearted teachers who I was so fortunate to encounter and work with on this long path of healing. Thank you for your faith in me, especially the yachak Don Jos Joaquin Pieda of Ecuador and the paj Ipupiara Makunaiman of the Brazilian Amazon. Thanks also to Don Alberto Taxo; Don Esteban Tamayo and his two sons, Jorge and Jose; Don Jacho Castilo; Donna Maria Juana and her husband, Don Antonio Yamberla; Don Oscar Santillan; Don Shairy-Jos Quimbo Pechimba; and Susana Tapia Leonwho all come from the high-energy volcanic-charged Ring of Fire of the Andes of Ecuador. Many thanks also to the Amazonian Shuars Uwishin Daniel Guachapa, the Inuit uncle Agaangaq Angakkorsuaq, and Native Americans Lewis Mehl-Madrona and Nelson Turtle, along with John Perkins, Hank Wesselman, Michael Harner, Lynn V. Andrews, Nan Moss, David Corbin, and Tom Cowan, who enriched my world beyond words as well. I thank you all.

Foreword

Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D.

How do you make sense of a magical world infused with energy, spirits, divine beings, restless ancestors, angelic guides, and maleficent forces that can destroy your health?

You cant.

The Western mind is not trained to comprehend the invisible world, the realm that shamans enter in the dreamtime and during waking ceremony in order to heal their clients. And when we cant make sense of something, when it does not fit within our ordinary worldview, we simply determine that it doesnt exist, it cannot exist, because it would shatter our notion of reality.

But our notion of reality is already falling apart all by itself. The reality is that the third leading cause of death in America is hospitals and that if you live to be eighty-five years old you will have a 50 percent chance of having diagnosable Alzheimers. The reality is that one in forty children is diagnosed with autism today, whereas twenty years ago it was only one in ten thousand. Our mind is making us sick. Chronic stress is wreaking havoc on our immune systems, two of three Americans are overweight or obese, and one of three American children will be diabetic.