When I sat down to write this, I thought “where do I start?”

Let’s start by getting rid of the notion that you can’t Journey.

Everyone journeys.

Whether you remember or not, at night when you go to sleep, your subtle energy body travels to different realms of consciousness ie Journeying.

So now that you know you are NOT the one person in the world who can’t Journey (because everyone journeys) let's break things down even further.

What is Journeying?

I typed this question into google and got SO many varying answers.

Here’s two that I came across that I liked:

“The shamanic journey occurs by shifting awareness or consciousness in order to allow part of your soul to leave the body.” Shaman Links | The Shamanic Journey

“Also known as a ‘soul flight’, the shamanic journey is when a shaman leaves their body intentionally and enters the spirit realms in order to gain insight, retrieve lost souls, and interact with shamanic spirits.” Centre of Excellence | What is Shamanic Healing?

Simply put, to Journey is to shift your attention from this physical world to the energy/spirit world.

Once you shift your attention, the practice becomes shifting your awareness.

(No, attention and awareness aren’t the same. Check out this article.)

Attention is like the compass.

It points you in the direction of the place you want to perceive or gather data from your senses.

The inner processing of your perception is called awareness.

Once you’re able to go into a trance state at will, i.e. shift your awareness, i.e. Journey, you will have the ability to fully explore the depths of the non-ordinary realms and the multidimensional Self.

So the question is not whether you can Journey, it’s how.

Keep reading…

Attention

Journeying is the shifting of your awareness according to your attention. But how do you shift your attention?

You must learn to slow your mind down. More specifically, your brain waves.

Brain Waves

According to healthline.com our brain waves are:

“...the evidence of electrical activity produced by your brain. When a group of neurons sends a burst of electrical pulses to another group of neurons, it creates a wave-like pattern.”

The speed of these pulses is measured in hertz or cycles per second.

In our most focused moments, our brain waves can be over 35 Hz. These are Gamma waves

Most people are alert and consciously functioning at the Beta level around 12 - 35 Hz.

When we slow down to around 8 - 12 Hz, we are said to be deeply relaxed. These are called Alpha waves.

Once you go below 4 Hz, you are in a deep sleep, or Delta state. This is where you want to be to heal and regenerate.

The Journeying “sweet spot” is 4 - 8 Hz, also known as the Theta state.

This is also the state that we are in during REM, the state in which we experience dreams. When your brain waves oscillate at this frequency, your body is completely relaxed but your mind is able to access the deeper mental and emotional programs that are running in your consciousness. It is here that we are said to create our reality.

Traditionally, the theta state is induced with repetitive beats around 4 beats per second using drumming or rattling. Bringing your attention to the rhythms created with the drums slows down your brain waves bringing you into the trance state.

Controlling the Breath

Another way of entering theta state is through control of the breath.

We can see these breath practices in many different cultures including the Okinaga breathing technique and Pranayama.

The method of breathwork that I practice comes from the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition and is called Hampikamayoq Breathwork.

With all of these different methods, the common thread is learning how to not only slow the breath down but also pair it with intention.

Intention

Intention is the goal of the Journey. This is the question you want clarity about or the destination you want to visit, etc.

While you can have a great Journey without an intention, it tends to be all over the place.

The intention is the target of your attention and awareness.

The more clearly defined and specific it is, the more clear and specific your answer will be.

Being too broad can sometimes lead to a hodgepodge of information that is difficult to piece together.

Setting an intention is synonymous with putting your destination into the GPS.

Attention is you following the directions given by the GPS.

Awareness is you taking in all of the landmarks, road conditions, and other sensory information that is not provided by the GPS and directions.

Still with me? Perfect.

So you’ve set your Intention and Attention. Let’s talk about your awareness.

Awareness

We all perceive and process spiritual information in different ways.

Enter the Clairs...

Clairvoyant(seeing), Clairsentient(feeling), Clairaudient(hearing) and Claircognizant (knowing)

Here’s an article that gives simple explanations for all 4 Clairs.

In our regular waking life, we utilize our 5 senses all of the time to give us a full “scope” of our environments. The act of essentially taking snapshots of our surroundings and processing them internally is an oversimplified definition of awareness.

To shift our awareness from the physical world into the spiritual or non-ordinary realms is to learn how to bring the spiritual environment “snapshots” into our conscious mind.

One of the ways I train myself to process these higher senses is through guided journeying.

Prompts to draw your attention to those “snapshots” of the non-ordinary environment get you into the practice of sensing beyond your physical environment.

Writing it all down.

It's always a good idea to keep a journal next to you during the journey.

Documenting the little details of the Journey help in the recall of the experience.

Over time it also becomes your personal manual on how you receive and perceive spiritual information.

Reading back through these experiences can also be very powerful in self-healing.

Is this all it takes to Journey?

Pretty much.

There are some other things that can affect the journey though.

Diet

I have found that being dehydrated, eating lots of sugar, being exhausted, and drinking alcohol can dull the journeying experience.

I personally don’t indulge in plant medicine for journeying but there are plenty of people who do. Exercise caution and/or work with a professional healer when using hallucinogens.

Also be mindful of the kinds of movies, music, games, etc that you “ingest” prior to journeying. Remember, you are going to the level of creation. The visual images that you take in DO impact the visual aspects of the journey, which leads me to the next point…

Creating Sacred Space

Energetic “vermin” sometimes lurks in the media that we watch. Be mindful of the things that you keep in your immediate environment. Creating a space that you keep energetically charged and clean would be the best spot to perform your journeying.

Reducing distractions

I think this goes without saying, but limiting the amount of ‘noise’ in your space while journeying will allow for a deeper more enriching experience.

It is often recommended to journey in the dark or using a blindfold.

Think sensory deprivation…

Reducing the awareness of the senses in the physical world allows you to more fully engage with the senses in the non-ordinary realm.

Last but not least is…

confidence

One of the biggest yet most overlooked components of a successful journey is knowing that you can and WILL receive valuable information during the journey.

If you go into the journey thinking that you can’t and won’t, that becomes your silent intention, and GUESS WHAT??

That is where your attention and awareness will land.

DO go into every journey with an open mind. Every journey will not be AMAZING just like every day isn’t amazing.

But even a “fail” can teach valuable lessons about you, and what your optimal journeying conditions are.

If you’re reading this, congrats. You made it to the end. Let’s sum up all I just said…

5 steps for a successful Shamanic journey

#1. Prepare for your Journey by:

Creating an energetically clean and charged sacred space
Abstaining from physical and energetic toxins such as simple sugars, lack of sleep, alcohol
Reducing distractions