On Meditation as a Ground for Ecstatic Experiences

In a shamanic journey we travel in spirit from Thisworld to the Otherworld. These experiences are ecstatic, from the Greek ekstasis, (from ek ‘out’ and stasis ‘stand’). They take us out of ourselves. Thus, they can be ungrounding. 

It is therefore important that we start fully grounded and in our bodies before we begin a shamanic journey and that we return to a grounded presence at the end. 

Unfortunately, in our fast-paced techy modern world, few of us are really in our bodies. We’re absorbed in what we see on screens, racing about, planning this, doing that. When we’re not working we’re looking to the future, anticipating, worrying, or ruminating on the past, what we could have done better.

Having a daily meditation practice can help. In this article, I will outline the meditation practices that I use myself on a day-to-day basis and in preparation for a shamanic journey and with clients in shamanic sessions.

Body Awareness

In a body awareness meditation, we shift our attention from the everyday thoughts and worries that are our usual mainstay to our bodies. 

It is easiest to bring our attention to the most dominant physical sensations first – the contact of the feet with the floor, the seat beneath us, our backs against the chair, the touch of clothing on skin and the air upon our faces. 

We might then feel into our whole body and the sensations we are experiencing or shift our attention through the different areas, for example beginning with the feet and working upwards through the lower legs, upper legs, groin, torso, hands, lower arms, upper arms, shoulders, neck and head.  This can be combined with breathing into and relaxing these body parts.

It’s really common to experience tension and discomfort we were formerly unaware of. We often forget about our bodies. We turn to work and even to shamanism to escape our pain and the stress and the trauma we are carrying.*

Body awareness meditation makes us aware of and can help us accept these feelings by witnessing them without judgement whilst in a safe space. 

It helps us to get to know and befriend our bodies as living, intelligent organisms, rather than as cogs in the techno-modern machine. 

Beginning a shamanic journey in our bodies and in good relationship with them makes for a smoother start and for an easier return. It also helps with the integration of spiritual insights and healing into physical reality.

Breath Awareness

Breath awareness meditation can also help us to shift our attention from our everyday thoughts and to build our ability to focus on one thing. The breath is used as the primary focal point in meditation traditions around the world because it is always with us, from life until death, here and now.

In this kind of meditation, we simply sit and observe the breath as it moves in and out without attempting to change or force anything. We might choose a certain point of focus such as the nostrils or the belly or shift our focus around. 

As thoughts arise, we do our best to acknowledge them and let go. This is rarely easy. Most often, before we know it, we’re lost in thinking and some time has passed before we realise. Yet, the more we practice, the quicker we get at catching ourselves. It’s best to remain positive about these moments of recognition rather than beating ourselves up. The more we practice, the better we get at catching ourselves and the longer we can focus on the breath.

Focusing on the breath is good preparation for the shift from the outer to the inner senses when we begin a shamanic journey by visualising our departure point. 

Sensory Awareness

I suggest that clients include this type of meditation in their personal practice if they have difficulties engaging the inner or ‘clair’ senses on a shamanic journey. 

Paying attention to the outer senses in meditation and when engaging in everyday activities can help strengthen the ‘clair’ senses – clairvoyance (clear seeing), clairaudience (clear hearing), clairolfaction (clear smelling), clairgustance (clear tasting), clairsentience (clear feeling) and claircognizance (clear knowing). 

In a sensory awareness meditation we can focus on the whole gamut of experience (open awareness) or upon what we can see, hear, smell, taste or feel. We can attend to each field of sensing as a whole or hone in individual sights, sounds, smells, tastes or feelings and examine them in minuscule detail. Knowing them better we can practice replicating them with our inner senses.

We can consciously keep hold of a memory of a particular place or being and use these memories when we visualise our departure point and spirit guides. Such practices make it easier for the spirit realm to speak to us through the ‘clairs’.

Learning Meditation

These meditation practices ensure we begin and end a shamanic journey present and grounded in the body, improve our ability to focus, and to engage our ‘clair’ senses and receive information from spirit whilst journeying.

All can be learnt alone relatively safely, but instruction and guidance can help. I started learning these kinds of meditation through the Breathe and Flow Expand meditation programme on their yoga channel then went on to do the excellent Introduction to Meditation course at the Mandala Yoga Ashram. Plum Village have some free guided meditations on their Youtube channel and provide introductions to mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition.

My shamanic guidance sessions on building a shamanic practice cover basic meditation (although I should note I am not a qualified meditation teacher).

*It’s important to note that body awareness may not be suitable for some people such as those with a lot of pain, heavy trauma, or who are neurodivergent and cannot stay still or are troubled by bodily sensations.