Shaman Warrior is a blog and podcast hosted by Paul Andrews.
Paul is a long time practitioner of martial arts and shamanic technique.
The aim of Shaman Warrior is to impart knowledge about Shamanism and martial arts, by looking at the experience of where these two things overlap.
Shamanism is a much misunderstood and misrepresented area. In a pure form Shamanism is simply about interaction with nature and learning from that interaction. All of us will have practiced some form of Shamanic technique at some point in our lives, even if we were not aware of it. As we have evolved as human beings we have developed more complex ways of living, hierarchies, rules, social conditioning, as well as direct physical barriers to nature. These barriers we might call "the miasma", a term coined by my guide and mentor Damon Smith. In order to practice pure Shamanism we must look to break down the barriers that exist between ourselves and nature.
Shamanism itself covers a wide range of practices, this blog will focus mostly on those that also concern physical training, movement and martial arts. Other aspects such as divination, healing, and other roles of the shaman such as psychopomp may occasionally be discussed but will not be a main focus of the discussion.
Martial Arts are a wide ranging subject. There are many styles and sub-styles, each tradition has created its own miasma, which must be understood and overcome to truly master the art. In addition, there are many motivations to practice martial arts, some might be context specific, such as methods developed for military or paramilitary use, vocational methods for law enforcement, body guards or security personnel, civilian methods for those that might want to learn to defend themselves, athletic for those wishing to compete as a sport, personal development based for those looking to practice to improve fitness or social connections as a hobby, and historical/cultural for those looking to preserve traditions. And of course personal motivations might have a mix of these and others, creating a complex situation.
Many martial arts traditions have exercises that could be described as shamanic technique. Sometimes these methods might be described in other terminology; meditation, qi gong, nei gong, shen gong, mokuso, and others. They might be understood to be training the mind or the spirit though shamanic methods look to train and understand through a combination of mind, body and spirit.
This blog and podcast hope to explore the experience of practitioners of both shamanism, martial arts, and hopefully both disciplines. To look at common exercises, to find common experience, to seek out the unusual and look to understand rather than dismiss. All with a practical focus.
Paul is a long time practitioner of martial arts and shamanic technique.
The aim of Shaman Warrior is to impart knowledge about Shamanism and martial arts, by looking at the experience of where these two things overlap.
Shamanism is a much misunderstood and misrepresented area. In a pure form Shamanism is simply about interaction with nature and learning from that interaction. All of us will have practiced some form of Shamanic technique at some point in our lives, even if we were not aware of it. As we have evolved as human beings we have developed more complex ways of living, hierarchies, rules, social conditioning, as well as direct physical barriers to nature. These barriers we might call "the miasma", a term coined by my guide and mentor Damon Smith. In order to practice pure Shamanism we must look to break down the barriers that exist between ourselves and nature.
Shamanism itself covers a wide range of practices, this blog will focus mostly on those that also concern physical training, movement and martial arts. Other aspects such as divination, healing, and other roles of the shaman such as psychopomp may occasionally be discussed but will not be a main focus of the discussion.
Martial Arts are a wide ranging subject. There are many styles and sub-styles, each tradition has created its own miasma, which must be understood and overcome to truly master the art. In addition, there are many motivations to practice martial arts, some might be context specific, such as methods developed for military or paramilitary use, vocational methods for law enforcement, body guards or security personnel, civilian methods for those that might want to learn to defend themselves, athletic for those wishing to compete as a sport, personal development based for those looking to practice to improve fitness or social connections as a hobby, and historical/cultural for those looking to preserve traditions. And of course personal motivations might have a mix of these and others, creating a complex situation.
Many martial arts traditions have exercises that could be described as shamanic technique. Sometimes these methods might be described in other terminology; meditation, qi gong, nei gong, shen gong, mokuso, and others. They might be understood to be training the mind or the spirit though shamanic methods look to train and understand through a combination of mind, body and spirit.
This blog and podcast hope to explore the experience of practitioners of both shamanism, martial arts, and hopefully both disciplines. To look at common exercises, to find common experience, to seek out the unusual and look to understand rather than dismiss. All with a practical focus.