Shamanism does not exist only during special ceremonies. Nor is it simply a matter of repeatedly traveling to the invisible world and returning to everyday life.
The shamanism I envision is a way of bringing soul, mind, and body together so that we can live in the real world. We notice the separation within ourselves and let prayer and love flow through our daily lives. Nurturing people who will carry out this practice lies at the heart of the Shaman Audition 144 project.
Observing the error programs within
Our consciousness contains ego, traps of the mind, karma that has not yet come to an end, a sense of separation, discomfort, and negative biases. I refer to all of these collectively as “error programs.”
What matters is not trying to eliminate them as enemies. First, we need to look at what we are observing. Where do we feel discomfort? What catches our attention? What kinds of phenomena do we repeatedly create?
We direct our awareness at once toward the object and toward our inner selves, returning to the center of the soul. By bringing greater concentration to that process, we become able to observe anew the programs that had been operating unconsciously. For me, energy work means carefully carrying out this inner attunement.
Not going to another world, but dissolving separation
After a spiritual experience, we may feel that we have been “pulled back into the real world.” Spiritual exploration and money problems, prayer and work, the invisible world and life in a physical body can also appear to be separate things.
I believe, however, that this separation itself reflects our inner state.
Living on Earth in a physical body and touching the spiritual world are not inherently separate. We pray while traveling, bring ourselves into alignment while working, and create harmony with the land and people with every step. Shamanism is not meant to help us escape everyday life. It exists so that we can recover the feeling of the soul within everyday life.
For 24 hours, become empty, pray, and resonate with love
This is how I describe shamanic training:
Live for 24 hours while becoming empty.
Live for 24 hours while praying.
Live for 24 hours while resonating with love.
This does not mean remaining tense all the time. It means being able to bring ourselves back into alignment at any moment.
Before saying something or beginning something, we first attune our awareness inwardly to the soul. Rather than constructing answers with the mind alone, we create space for inspiration to arise. When we notice that the ego or mind has moved to the front, we return once more to the center.
Prayer does not exist only in the time we spend reciting special words. Walking, speaking, and touching someone can all become prayer, depending on where we place our awareness.
Joyful shamanism
During ceremonies, strong physical reactions or realizations connected to emotion may arise. But seriousness alone is not spirituality.
We value a “joyful shamanism” in which we move forward laughing together with the spirits. We open divine embodiment not as something frightening or as a form of authority, but as entertainment filled with joy. I believe this could also become the form of a new shamanism emerging from Japan.
We do not force ourselves to glorify suffering; we confirm what we received from it. We choose the joy of the soul anew and enjoy the story that unfolds next. We live on Earth as though it were a game of learning and creation. For me, this lightness is also an important practice.
Why “144 people”?
144 is 12 times 12.
Perhaps we are now at a stage where it is like singing with only one voice. But if a guitar joins in, then drums, and then people with different talents and vibrations, the world gradually becomes a single ensemble.
Gathering 144 people is not simply about reaching capacity. It means that each person comes to recognize, affirm, train, and practice their own genius, and becomes able to pass what they discover on to others. When those powerful vibrations come together, we want to see what kinds of changes will occur on Earth.
Rather than rushing to manage people coming and going, if there is a period when someone cannot participate, they can simply return again. Everyone can walk at their own pace. What matters is whether each person continues their practice to the end.
It begins with remembering
Shaman Audition 144 is not a competition meant to eliminate anyone.
What did I once know? What talents did I bring with me? What truly brings joy to my soul? This is a project for remembering and nurturing those things, and for giving them a form that can be used in the real world.
There is no need to become an inhabitant of some special world. First, observe what is within. Bring soul, mind, and body into alignment. Return prayer to everyday life. Then connect each person’s path to the harmony of the whole Earth.
This is how I receive God’s plan for 144 shamans to awaken: as a practice of this kind.
This article has been restructured into a readable form based on the content of a training audio broadcast on Stand.fm. Its expressions concerning spirituality and bodily sensation are grounded in my own practice and worldview.
Listen to the original audio on Stand.fm↗