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SHAMANISM AND THE WISDOM OF THE BODY

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BODY, SOUL, SPRIT & EGO

Shamanism understands that we are not a single “I” but are instead made up of different “parts-of-self”. As with any tribe, for our inner tribe to be healthy, each of its members needs to be honoured and understood and brought into a healthy relationship, and much of shamanic practice is about doing this. 

In Therapeutic Shamanism and Core Animism, we concentrate on the four primary parts-of-self: as well as honouring our middle-world self (and its different sub-parts), this includes honouring our Body, Soul and Spirit.

In this blog, we will focus on Body and its place in animism and shamanism, its wisdom, and its role in healing.

Before we proceed, let’s briefly recap the four primary parts-of-self, each of which, from a shamanic viewpoint, corresponds to (and is an aspect of) one of the main shamanic realms.

The four main parts are:

OUR UPPER-WORLD SPIRIT

This aspect of ourselves corresponds to the shamanic Upper-World. It is pure consciousness, a fragment of Father Sky (or “God”, if you like), in the same way that a water drop is part of the ocean, or that a spark is part of a fire. It seeks to soar and transcend, gaining a broader perspective; to rise above things and see the bigger picture

One of the reasons people often experience positive benefits from having a regular meditation practice is that, in meditation, we are connecting to and cultivating this part of us. To have a healthy connection with this part requires us to live ethically, morally, and with kindness and compassion. Neglecting these values deteriorates our well-being and weakens our connection with Spirit.

This part of us corresponds to the shamanic Lower-World. Our Lower-World Soul is our true Self-identity. Our Soul is our truest Self, our true nature. It is a part of us that is wild and free; part of nature; part of Human, of Animal, a sibling to Plant and Stone, and a child of Mother Earth. It is both who we truly are deep down, and the blueprint for what we are meant to grow into and become in the world.

Soul needs us to live a life that is authentic, a life that is true to our Soul. It needs to express itself in the world and be allowed to blossom and thrive. It must be connected to nature. Without connection to nature, it withers and weakens. Sadly, though, since we domesticated ourselves and turned our back on the Lower-World and nature, these days it is a part of themselves that most people do not even know exists.

This part of us corresponds to the shamanic Middle-World. It is both a personal and a collective construct. It is made of the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, and of the stories society tells us. It is the domesticated, socialised part of us. It is also the part that most people identify with as being who they are – the ego or ‘self-identity’. 

Take me for example.
Amongst being many other things, I am ‘Paul Francis’. I am ‘male’. I am the ‘son of a vicar’. I am a ‘teacher’. I am ‘British’. Now let us look at these. All are human-made stories. ‘Paul Francis’ is just a name – a collection of letters when written, a sound when spoken, a series of gestures in sign language. It does not have any objective meaning or identity other than the stories and ‘identity’ that I (and others) give to it. What does being ‘male’ mean? Aside from biology, it is a whole miasma of socially-defined concepts, and notoriously hard to define and for people to agree on. ‘Son of a vicar’ is a whole web of stories that I bring to it. What does it mean to be ‘a teacher’? ‘British’ is a human construct, and again notoriously hard to define and for people to agree on what being ‘British’ even means.

This part of us corresponds to the physical Middle-World. It needs to have its physical needs met – clean water, warmth, healthy food, fresh air and shelter. It also needs to know that it is safe from harm, and to have somewhere it can rest and sleep. In addition, it needs to be allowed to do what it was designed to do, which is to move around (instead of sitting at a desk, or in a car or on a sofa, for most of the day).

In our modern-day culture, we usually think of the body as not ‘us’ but some ‘thing’ that we inhabit, a ‘vehicle’ for the soul, a kind of biological car that we drive around in. The body is far more than just a vehicle though. Remember, in shamanism, everything has a soul, is alive and conscious, and can be communicated with. Everything has its own unique qualities and gifts, and that goes for the body, too. Our bodies are a conscious part of us; a part of us that has its own wisdom and intelligence. 

In contrast to our middle-world Ego, that can (and usually does) make up all sorts of stories, believe things that are not necessarily true, and has an amazing capacity to screen out and ignore what does not fit its narratives, body knows the truth, keeps the score, and never lies. 

THE ROLE OF THE BODY

In the modern era, we have become very disconnected from our bodies. We live up in our heads and often neglecting our bodies. Or, if we do pay attention to our bodies, it is usually to try to master them in some way. This includes much of contemporary spirituality, which often sees the body as lesser, lower, just a vehicle, or something that needs to be controlled or disciplined. This perspective is profoundly different from animist teachings about the body. 

ANIMISM AND THE BODY

Animists knew that the body never lies and knows the truth. They knew how to be grounded and centred in their bodies; how to be comfortable in their own skins. Far from viewing their bodies as just a vehicle, a ‘meat sack’ they inhabited, original animists revered their bodies. They understood that the body is sacred and full of its own profound intelligence and wisdom. They listened closely to their bodies and trusted its deep wisdom and guidance. In particular, they understood that the body is deeply connected to Soul and to the Lower-World, and to Mother Earth herself.

This is entirely different from our heads – the part of us that, these days, we live in most of the time. Our head is constantly making things up, telling stories, rationalising, explaining, and justifying. It is not necessarily concerned with the truth. Instead, more important to it is to feel like it understands why someone did something or why they were treated a certain way. So with our heads we create stories to explain our own actions, justify ourselves, and make sense of the world. We get caught up in these invented stories, and believe them to be true. 

The body, however, is incapable of making up stories. It is always authentic and is always trying to tell us the truth. The problem is that, just as we have stopped listening to the other-than-human world – the Animal, Plants and Stone People – we have also stopped listening to our own bodies.

When we are not listening to our bodies, because our head is in charge, a gap opens between what we think the truth is - who we think we are - and what the truth actually is and who we really are.

A key to understanding what this gap is, and how to close it, is what Wilhem Reich called “character analysis”.

OUR CHILDHOOD SHAPES US

WILHELM REICH AND CHARACTER TYPES 

Wilhelm Reich proposed that our early life experiences set the foundation for emotional and behavioural patterns that persist throughout our lives. These patterns, which develop in response to our relationships and environment, influence how we interact with the world and cope with stress. Reich’s theory also shows how unresolved emotional struggles can have lasting effects on both our minds and bodies.

Reich believed that how we process emotions as infants and children shapes the patterns we carry into adulthood.

These emotional struggles are often tied to our interactions with primary caregivers, and if not resolved, they can create lasting patterns that affect our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

stages2
Body Armour: How Trauma Shows Up in the Body

Reich’s concept of “body armour” explains how emotional struggles don’t just stay in the mind – they affect the body too. When we experience emotional trauma, our bodies protect us by creating chronic muscular tension. This tension forms habitual patterns, like tightness in certain muscles, that correspond to the unresolved emotions from earlier stages of life.

For example, someone with unresolved issues from the oral stage might have tightness in their jaw or throat, reflecting emotional withdrawal or disconnection. These muscle tensions can shape our emotional reactions and behaviors as we grow.

If you understand this process, you can often look at someone’s body and discern which developmental stage they got stuck in and are still acting out in their adult life. And so, what their underlying stories, beliefs, strategies, habits, desires, and motivations are going to be.

Our body, in terms of our posture, patterns of muscular tension, facial expressions, and where we hold weight or don’t, is not random or just related to diet. It is a physical expression of the armouring we put on it.

7 SEGMENTS OF BODY ARMOUR

Body armour tends to build around seven key segments of the body:

  • Ocular Segment: This area includes the eyes, forehead, cheeks, and scalp. Emotional expressions such as suspicion, anger, and grief are often stored here, stemming from difficulties in trusting or seeing the world clearly.

  • Oral Segment: This includes the mouth, jaw, and chin. Tension in this segment is connected to feelings of desire, fear, pain, or struggles with communication and self-expression.

  • Cervical Segment: Involving the neck and tongue, this segment is associated with emotional patterns like self-pity, helplessness, fear, and a block in self-expression or creativity.

  • Thoracic Segment: This includes the chest, arms, and shoulders. Emotional blockages here often relate to love, grief, rage, and fear, affecting one’s ability to express heartfelt emotions.

  • Diaphragmatic Segment: The diaphragm and stomach are central to this segment, which holds tension related to the experience of pleasure, pain, and emotional release. Blockages in this area hinder the flow of emotional expression.

  • Abdominal Segment: This includes the muscles around the abdomen, spine, and pelvis. Emotional patterns stored here are linked to trust, fear, and nourishment, often reflecting one’s sense of safety and grounding.

  • Pelvic Segment: The pelvic area, including the genitals and surrounding muscles, holds emotional tension associated with sexual feelings, anger, rage, and fear, as well as struggles with personal power and pleasure.

Each segment relates to specific emotional patterns and unresolved trauma from early development, contributing to the build-up of body armour that restricts emotional and energetic flow.

CHARACTER TYPES

Each stage of early development comes with its own emotional challenges. If these challenges aren’t handled well, they can lead to fixed emotional and behavioral patterns.

As these emotional and physical patterns remain unresolved, they become fixed and solidify into what Reich called “character types.” These fixed patterns, formed from unresolved trauma, continue to influence how we perceive and respond to life, often dictating our relationships and behavior. Over time, these patterns manifest as eight distinct character types, each with its own way of navigating the world:

1. Boundaried (Shitzoid)

  • From conception to 6 months.
  • Body type: small or tall, thin, angular, and disjointed.
  • Key issue is not feeling safe to be here; not feeling welcomed, so never properly arrive on the earth. Feels they don’t belong. Unwanted. Chameleons (nothing feels real, so everything is an act/mask). Feels ‘weird’ and things feel ‘weird’. Difficulty with grounding and making contact.
  • Examples: David Bowie, Lee Evans, Luna Lovegood, Vincent Van Gough. 

2. Oral (Oral)

  • 6 months to 2 years.
  • Body type: thin, collapsed chest, s-shaped, child-like eyes.
  • Key issue is feeling underfed, unsupported, and starved of love and nurture. Vulnerable. Longing, neediness, dependency. Nothing ever is enough.
  • Examples: Kate Moss – waif-like models with cigarettes and big eyes. 

3. Compensated Oral

  • Has the same issues as Oral, but has responded by denying their neediness.
    Body type is wiry and athletic.
  • Examples: marathon or fell runners and other lone endurance sports-types – proving to themselves that they can survive on their own. 

4. Controlling (Psychopathic) 

  • 2 years to 4 years.
  • Body type: either suave and charming or powerful and dominating.
  • Key issue is it is not safe to be vulnerable; it is essential to be in control and to be top dog.
  • Dominating through charm, persuasion, manipulation and/or bullying. Charismatic. Confident. Narcissistic. Leaders.
  • Examples: Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson, Bill Clinton, John Prescott, Mussolini – most politicians! 

5. Holding (Masochistic) 

  • 2 years to 4 years.
  • Body type: overweight, burdened, rounded shoulders; can look a bit ‘put-on’.
  • Key issue is it is not safe to be assertive. Must behave oneself and do as one is told. Good boy/girl. Duty and responsibility. Enduring. Long-suffering. Low self-esteem and confidence. Must not assert oneself or be fiery. Beast of burden. Self-sabotage. May hide behind being ‘jolly’.
  • Examples: Dawn French, Timothy Spall, Nick Frost. 

6. Thrusting (Phallic)

  • 4 years to 7 years.
  • Body type: rigid, athletic, upright; because of cultural gender norms, tend to be male.
  • Key issue is they feel they are only worth what they achieve. Love is given to them for success and being good at things. It is not safe to collapse and underachieve. Stiff upper lip. Captain of cricket and then of industry. Officers. Pushers and perfectionists.
  • Examples: Richard Branson, David Beckham, public schoolboys, armed forces officers – the people who ‘built’ the British empire.

7. Crisis (Hysteric)

  • 4 years to 7 years.
  • Body type: overtly sexual, exaggerates sexual characteristics; because of cultural gender norms, tend to be female.
  • Key issue is they get attention and self-esteem from being sexual and attention-seeking, but feel conflicted about this. Sexualises most interactions. Needs to be the centre of attention. Drama queen. Goes from crisis to crisis. Dramatic. Exciting. Melodramatic.
  • Examples: most hyper-sexualised female pop-stars, ‘babe’ culture. 

8. Denying crisis type

  • Same issues as crisis type but more conflicted about the attention, so is cooler and unobtainable. Aloof. ‘You can look but you cannot touch’. The Ice Queen.
  • Examples: Meryl Streep, Sharon Stone, Isabella Rossellini, Ingrid Bergman. 

READY TO RELEASE SOME BODY ARMOUR?

Your body holds the echoes of your past - every tension, every bracing, every layer of armour built for survival. But what if that armour is no longer serving you? What if beneath it lies a deeper, more authentic connection to yourself and the world around you?

Embodied Shamanism Course is an invitation to explore exactly that. This course is all about the body – its place in animism and shamanism, its wisdom, and its role in healing. We’ll weave together shamanic and animist perspectives with insights from body-centred psychotherapy, offering powerful techniques, practices, and theory to help you reconnect, release, and remember.

FURTHER-STEPS COURSE:

EMBODIED SHAMANISM:
Somatic Therapy and Shamanic Practices

We will explore:

  • What animism says about our four core aspects – Spirit, Soul, Self, and Body.
  • How modern thinking, including much of modern spirituality, has distanced us from our bodies, and the negative impact this has had on our relationship with ourselves and with the world around us.
  • How emphasising Spirit has led to an ungrounded spirituality, and come at the cost of losing connection with Soul.
  • How instead, traditional animist cultures embraced being embodied, and lived with a deep connection to their bodies, their Souls, and to the Earth, honouring all as sacred.
  • How the Body is, in fact, the gateway to the Soul.
  • Learn how to tune into your body, using the wisdom of character analysis, developed by the founder of body-centred psychotherapy, Wilhelm Reich, to explore your primary ways of coping and being in the world.
  • Discover and release the “body armour” created in early life experiences, freeing you from long-held patterns that no longer serve you.
  • How to use things like Eugine Gendlin’s Focusing practice as a way of tuning into the body’s wisdom, and explore how this can enhance your shamanic practice.
  • Explore how modern trauma-informed therapies, such as polyvagal theory and neuro-regulation, reveal the links between body and mind, and how their insights can be incorporated into shamanic practice.
  • How to develop a personal shamanic practice that is somatic, grounded, and deeply embodied.

Reading time: 18 mins

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