The Shaman Within: Channeling Universal Life Force to Heal Your Body

We live in a sea of subtle energies. We can become conscious of them and learn to use them.

Ancient cultures understood that we live in a vast sea of energy. They understood that the planets and stars are conscious beings who communicate with each other. They believed that the trees serve as antennas, which allow natural subtle energies and information to flow up from the Earth to the stars and planets, and from all other celestial bodies into the Earth. They taught that everything and every being has consciousness and channels this energy according to its capabilities, to help facilitate this essential cosmic dialogue. In fact, they understood that all matter, including the physical body, is a gathering of this universal energy. They recognized that our thoughts and emotions are a form of energy, and that when these are in harmony with the living universal energy field, we become clear channels. Then, the life force of the Earth and cosmos flows through us more smoothly and abundantly, guiding our evolution as new perspectives are revealed and advanced abilities are awakened within us. These abilities include heightened creativity, extrasensory perception and the ability to bring about dramatic physical healing. Shamans learn to feel, sense and use this energy without filtering or distorting it. They often refer to this process as becoming a “hollow bone”.

We transmit and receive energy.

This universal sea of energy, called Qi in China and Prana in India, circulates through our bodies, interacts with the electromagnetic spectrum and includes other subtler energies not yet understood by western science.¹ It is the foundation for the practice of acupuncture, where thin needles are used to assist the flow of vital energy through meridians in the body. It is the inner force that advanced martial artists cultivate and direct outward. The Hopis of the American Southwest use the term Kachina to describe the world of subtle energies. They perform rituals and ceremonies to interact with the Kachina in order to attract rain to grow their crops, and to receive healing and other benefits. The Dogon people of Africa call the channel through which the Earth projects energies through us, the Bayuali. They call the channel through which we receive energies from the cosmos, the Yenu. The Dogon believe that it is our responsibility as humans to become clear channels who ease the flow of cosmic energies rather than interfere with or obstruct them.
Although western medicine limits its focus to electromagnetic energies, it does acknowledge that the human body functions as a two-way antenna. Doctors use tools such as ECG’s and EEG’s to determine whether a patient is still alive by measuring the electrical energy being transmitted from within that patient’s body. They understand that our bodies receive information from electromagnetic fields in our environment to regulate circadian rhythms, such as our sleep-wake cycles. ² Scientific studies indicate that the spinal cord (containing cerebro-spinal fluid which is conductive) acts as a natural antenna and that DNA serves as a fractal antenna, capable of operating at many different frequencies simultaneously. ³ It is also interesting to note that the U.S. army demonstrated that trees work as remarkably good antennas for wireless communication and used them for this purpose during the Vietnam War. ⁴

7.83 HZ: The Earth and cosmos exchange energy and information.

Nikola Tesla – the physicist whose inventions laid the foundation for our modern use of electricity and wireless technologies such as alternating current, radio, x-ray, radar and remote control – discovered that the Earth receives, stores and transmits energy. In 1899, he built a lab in Colorado Springs on the summit of Pikes Peak, a site considered sacred by the Hopi and Ute Indians. While running experiments there, he detected extremely low frequency (ELF) waves of electromagnetic energy being naturally transmitted within the cavity between the Earth’s surface and the ionosphere, 80 kilometers above the Earth. He discovered that within these ELF waves, those that vibrated at about 8 cycles per second (8 Hz), flowed more smoothly between the Earth and ionosphere, with less resistance and greater amplitude (force or power). ⁵ He believed it was possible to use this innate frequency of approximately 8 Hz as a carrier wave to transmit information and power without wires, to any part of the world. ⁶ Tesla was deeply interested in preserving the Earth’s natural resources for future generations. He spoke fervently about the need to discontinue the use of fuel as a power source. His goal was to harness “the very wheelwork of nature” by tapping into the natural and renewable storage battery that exists between the Earth and the ionosphere. ⁷ He was unable to obtain sufficient funding to complete projects involving the wireless transmission of power, however his idea of the wireless transmission of information led to the invention of both AM and FM radio. ⁸ Tesla also stated that during his time at Pikes Peak, he recorded radio waves being emitted from the cosmos to the Earth. Countries around the world now use radio waves to analyze the composition of stars and planets. ⁹ In 1952, a physicist named Schumann measured the resonant frequency of the Earth-ionosphere cavity more specifically to be 7.83 Hz (confirming Tesla’s calculations of approximately 8 Hz). The Earth transmits and receives a measurable energetic frequency that surrounds all life on this planet. It has been discovered that the human brain, while in a deep state of meditation, lowers its brainwave oscillations to harmonize with the Earth’s resonant frequency.

We tune into this cosmic dialogue of energies by adjusting the frequency of our brainwaves.

In Shamanic traditions, drums have long been used to produce rhythmic vibrations that assist the Shaman in attuning his/her mind with the living universal energy field. In this state of altered consciousness, the Shamanic practitioner is able to interact with the non-physical world. They channel and transmit subtle universal energies to help heal themselves and others. They also receive information in the form of vivid imagery, thoughts, words and ideas communicated to them by guides and ancestors from the spirit world. This shamanic tradition has been studied using EEG tests. Results showed that the brainwave pattern of the subjects slowed down into a theta state. ¹⁰ This state is entered when the majority of brainwaves transmitted by the subject, begin oscillating at a frequency of 4-8 cycles per second (4-8 Hz). EEG studies performed on regular meditators revealed that they also enter this theta state during periods of deep meditation. ¹¹ Those who practice a consistent meditation routine often report experiencing a shift in their awareness of surrounding energies, sudden realizations, colorful visions, new abilities and emotional and physical healing. They also report that the more often they meditate, the easier it becomes to access this altered state.
Tesla was aware of this living universal energy field. In his article, Man’s Greatest Achievement, he used Vedic terms such as Prana and Akasha to describe this field, from which all perceptible matter is generated. He said that he accumulated many of his ideas while alone in deep meditation. ¹² He called himself “a sensitive receiver” and reported seeing visions and receiving premonitions, including one that helped him to prevent his friends from boarding a train that later crashed. ¹³ He disclosed that he had a photographic memory and described visualizing his inventions in such detail that he could operate the device in his mind, then make improvements to it and provide precise and correct measurements without ever even drawing a sketch. ¹⁴
A shamanic practitioner explained to me that we all continuously receive and transmit energy and information through this subtle universal field. However we spend much of our time in the higher frequency beta brainwave state (15-30 Hz) associated with alertness, logic, critical reasoning and stress. This distracts us from the subtler energies and inhibits their flow through our bodies. We could compare this to having our car radio tuned into the same station all the time, not knowing that we can adjust the dial. Adjusting our brainwaves to the Earth’s natural frequency of approximately 8 Hz through regular meditation, is like turning the dial on your radio to a new station. While tuned in we receive more life force and information from the universe. At this frequency, we also transmit energy with the benefit of constructive interference. This term, used in physics, describes the increased amplitude (force or power) that occurs when two waves of the same frequency come together. When we harmonize our brainwaves with the natural frequency of the planet, our intentions are transmitted with the force of the Earth behind them, giving them much more power and direction.

New abilities are awakened within us.

In a previous article, Your Cells Are Listening, How Talking to Your Body Helps You Heal, I wrote about a surprising ability that was awakened within me after several months of dedicated meditation. This is the ability to converse with my body through words, and receive dramatic physical responses. As I talked with my leg – where I was experiencing severe pain and partial paralysis caused by a condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy – I suddenly felt scar tissue unwinding under my skin, nerves firing and energy moving along defined pathways through my calf. My calf muscles began to perform flexion and extension exercises independently of my conscious control, as electric-like jolts continued to shoot through the area. Through a series of conversations with my leg, I was able to completely restore function to the muscles. Realizing the broad potential of this mind-body technique, I organized my approach into a system that I could teach to clients, called Antara (Sanskrit for within).

Experiences we have encountered in our lifetime and how we have processed them determines the way our body funnels universal energies.

 

© Cedron Mark Sterling LMP.

By communicating with different tissues in my body, it became clear that changes in the connective tissue called fascia were responsible for unwinding the tension and scar tissue, freeing the impinged nerves, unblocking the acupuncture channels and allowing communication to be restored between my nerves and my muscles. The fascial network is a thin, very strong, three-dimensional net of biological fabric, containing many layers which envelope and infuse every other tissue in your body. Providing both integrity and elasticity, the fascia holds your organs in place and aligns your spine and joints while allowing mobility. It also provides pathways for blood vessels, nerves and lymphatic vessels to travel through, so that nutrients and hormones can be delivered to every cell and toxins can be carried away to be eliminated. The fascia also serves as the supporting physical material for the acupuncture meridian system. Physical trauma can lead to increased tension and the formation of scar tissue within the fascial network. This causes the fascia to shorten and tighten, which can impinge nerves, disrupt the flow of blood, lymph and energy and pull the spine and joints out of alignment.
While applying and teaching this technique, I have observed that emotional trauma also plays a role in fascial tension and scar tissue. According to shamanic belief, physical tissues at the deepest level, are a gathering or concentration of emotional energy. All physical life forms begin with a single emotional impulse. Emotional energy is the trellis that physical bodies grow on. My experience with the Antara method suggests that the fascial network in the body is a physical representation of what I call emotional latticework. Each of us builds our own unique emotional latticework within our body that is formed from the energy of both positive and negative emotions. Stress, unresolved traumas, and suppressed emotions can build a complicated energetic latticework containing disharmonious frequencies that seem to change the tonicity of the fascia and interfere with energy flow. Imagine the fascia as a biological fabric made up of many long threads. Each thread vibrates with life force similarly to how a string on a guitar vibrates when waves of energy travel through it. When you tighten a guitar string by twisting the tuning key, this raises the pitch (the frequency of vibration of the string). When the tonicity or tension of the fascial threads change, their frequency of vibration also changes, and the body becomes an out of tune instrument. This alters the resonance allowance of the body or the range of frequencies that the body naturally channels.
Often while communicating with my own body, I would feel very obvious unwinding sensations in my fascia, and each time that I was able to release a new line of tension or layer of scar tissue, I would experience an intense dream that very same evening. The dreams would usually involve people, relationships or events from my past – usually those that I haven’t thought about in a very long time. Occasionally the dreams would be based on primal fears (or possibly past life experiences) rather than anything I have experienced in this lifetime.
Clients also report being surprised by the unexpected emotions or dreams that surface while they are practicing Antara. This is true in both gradual and sudden onset cases of chronic pain. It seems that the energy of unexpressed emotions can compromise the tonicity of the fascia, and interfere with the normal healing process after injury. At some point the emotion becomes trapped within the tissue. The Antara process unwinds the fascia and releases the trapped energy, then the emotion is experienced as it either easily flows out of the body or is brought to the surface where it can be acknowledged, processed and then released. The newly liberated fascial threads re-integrate with the whole, as the fascial network begins to function like an orchestra playing in harmony again. The life force from the Earth and stars flows more smoothly through the body and the regenerative processes return.

Illness and injury are an opportunity to evolve.

In Shamanic teaching, illness that does not respond to conventional treatment often indicates a spiritual initiation process that leads to the disruption of normal life and withdrawal from the mundane world. The individual undergoes a period of physical, psychological and spiritual trial, where they must feel, understand and integrate the most difficult experiences of their life. By seeking answers to the mysteries of life and by turning inward through meditation, new levels of awareness are reached. The individual gains freedom from self-imposed restrictions and oppressive environments (both of which can manifest as tension in the fascial network that resists energy flow). They realize that every physical challenge, every emotion, and every person that crosses their path has been a stimulant for their own evolution and are able to navigate life with more inner peace and trust in the process. With less interference, they begin to channel universal life force more freely and discover surprising abilities within. This transformation can lead them to a higher purpose or destiny than previously imagined. They are given the opportunity to heal themselves and then share what they have learned while making a lasting contribution to the world. The Antara method is the result of my own experiments with focused intention during deep meditation. While in a brainwave state attuned with the Earth’s natural resonance, my intentions to communicate with my body are transmitted with greater power and direction. With the support of the Earth and Cosmos and the cooperation of my physical body, I was able to manifest dramatic and profound physical healing. We exist in a living universal energy field. Each one of us can become conscious of this field and learn to better cooperate with it in order to overcome challenges, and to fulfill our higher destinies in this life.

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