How We Move Through a World Where the Rules of Physics No Longer Apply
The ability to travel to and within the spirit world, and to return to the physical body when the work is done, is fundamental to shamanic practice. It is not a nice extra. It is the practice itself. If you cannot move between the spirit world and the physical world, then whatever is happening, it is not shamanism.
A Different Kind of Space
The upper and lower worlds are entirely non-physical, so to navigate them we have to set aside our ordinary concept of space and time. In flesh reality, we find our way along the surface of the Earth. I am going north. I am turning left. I am heading east. The spirit world does not work like that. It is far more like the fluid space of a dream, where the rules that bind physical reality simply do not apply.
Travel by Intent, Not by Navigation
We move through the spirit world by focusing our intent and asking our benevolent spirit helpers to escort or direct us to where we wish to go. Say I want to check on my mother, who lives five thousand miles away. I do not work out a route from Hawaii to the east coast. In fact, trying to would get in the way, because the moment I start plotting the path, I have dropped back into my logic mind. Instead I simply set the intention: I want to see how my mother is, to make sure she is well. And then I am there. No GPS, no maps, no navigation. Intent carries you.
Do Not Talk Yourself Out of It
Do not be surprised if, during a journey, you find you can fly, or breathe underwater, or move in ways that would be impossible in the physical world. This is a completely normal part of navigating the spirit world. It happens often in my classes that someone will say, I was journeying underwater, and then I thought, wait, I can't be underwater, I need to breathe, and the moment they thought it, the journey ended.
Please do not do that to yourself. Do not think your way out of it. Understand that it is fine. It is your spirit body that is underwater. Your physical body is still in the room, still breathing air, perfectly safe. There is nothing to correct and nothing to fear. Let the journey carry you where it will.
Learning to travel the spirit world by intent, and to return safely, is at the heart of the foundational training in Level 1 - The Fundamentals of Shamanism.