Body Postures & Ecstatic Trance

“I recall going to your class a long, long time ago, and to this day, I love trees (I was a tree and a frog in your class), as I have so much appreciation for trees, and frogs now.  It's amazing how your class has changed my life, literally.  Your teaching of the class feel so very safe, and sacred, and the altered state (as strange as it is, and somewhat a bit scary, ,as I love control), this class does wonders for me.”            
- Sandy Hurst, Toronto


Wednesday Oct. 15 6:30 - 9:30 pm
Thursday Nov. 20 6:30 - 9:30 pm

Free or Donation +/- $25
Bain Co-op Community Centre, 100 Bain Avenue (South of Danforth/East of Broadview - enter from Logan Ave., n. of Bain Ave.)

There are over 75 possible postures & always a new posture in each workshop.

An exploration of specific body postures that act as a biological door, or gateway to the Alternate Reality while in a trance state.  Experience the science of ecstatic body feeling.  Learn from direct experience & raise your immune system.

Possible types of experience:

  • A profound sense of joy and deep love 
  • An increase of energy & immune system boost
  • An absorbing or clearing of emotional and/or physical toxins
  • Receiving a flow of healing energy 
  • A direct experience of being a plant or animal, or 
  • A journey to lower world, middle world or upper world realities, or 
  • Divination - Hearing advice or given images to interpret as advice

Experience the science of Shamanism & ecstatic body feeling. While sitting or standing in a very specific posture, listening to a rattle shake in a steady manner for only 15 minutes, participants enter into a trance state. The rattle allows an "acoustic driving" affect that blocks the verbal left hemisphere of the brain and opens access to the intuitive right hemisphere. The postures act as a biological door, like a gateway in our body to allow us to open up into the ‘Alternate Reality’. It is about learning from direct experience.

There are over 50 known postures labeled in groupings such as: Healing, Divination, Metamorphosis, Spirit Journeys, Initiation: Death and Rebirth, Living Myths, and Celebration.
 
Recommended Reading;  Where the Spirits Ride the Wind, by Dr. Felicitous D. Goodman

Attached is an example of a picture & body posture of the Bear Spirit Posture!

These postures produce a common effect, according to Goodman, because they all share one thing in common - the one thing we all share - the human body, the basic structure and functioning of which has remained unchanged since the time of our most ancient ancestors. The nervous and endocrine systems are, in fact, all much the same as they were 30,000 years ago, a fact which enables modern city dwellers to enter the otherworld just as effectively through the same neural doorways as Neolithic medicine women and shamans throughout history.

Some examples of postures. (Postures are designed for fairly specific purposes.)

The Lady of Cholula posture, for instance, connects one with a grandmotherly presence who gives advice or clarification, whereas the Tennessee Diviner is the preferred posture for specific questions concerning ceremony.

TheBear Spirit posture, dating from around 6,000 BC is widely known as a healing posture.

The Tattooed Jaguar, dated from around 1400 BC, is considered a shapeshifting posture which facilitates a view of reality from the perspective of a Big Cat. In Gore's words, "many individuals become sensitized to the non-human world and grow in rapport with the animals".

The Tennessee Diviner, dating from around AD 700, is a divinatory posture which puts users in touch with a spirit with a penchant for offering advice on ritual. The spirit being contacted can be "short tempered, brief and even cryptic" but "generous with exacting details" concerning specific healing rituals.

The Realm of the Dead posture, from fifth century BC Germany, was designed to mediate experiences of dying and journeys to the land of the dead. "The traveler wanders in desolate areas… but eventually something changes and the journeyer begins to rise into a new form and a new life".

Dr Goodman identified several prerequisites for a successful trance experience:

  1. The establishment of a sacred space - not necessarily a church, an altar or other 'power place', but a place of sacred intent for the individual. Participants must enter the trance state with the expectation or intention of a sacred experience
  2. A repetitive sound must be used as an auditory cue to the nervous system to shift into non-ordinary reality. The rattle or drum is ideal for this and Dr Goodman confirms that a rhythm of about 200-220 beats per minute works best, which is consistent with other shamanic literature on the use of sound by tribal peoples
  3. A method for silencing the inner dialogue of the mind is essential. In the churches where Dr Goodman did her initial research, the minister's instructions to focus on the Holy Spirit and leave the world behind served this purpose. In her experiments, Goodman used a simple meditative breathing exercise instead in order to focus on the breath and slow and quieten the mind
  4. The key factor, however, is that people need a shared approach to the exercise, a belief system to be part of, which acts to shape the trance state into a spiritual experience. The use of ritual body postures provided this common reference by overcoming individual and cultural differences to transform the trance experience into a spiritual one. Trance postures worked for everyone irrespective of their worldview or belief systems.

For more info. or to RSVP reply back to this email or call Ingrid @ 416-656-4444.