Sandra Ingerman's Blog

Shamanism and the Art of Book Promotion

May 6, 2010 by Steve O'Keefe

One of the things I learned playing piano in a bar: if you want to be heard above the noise, play softer.

I have been helping Sandra Ingerman promote her books for many years. I had the pleasure of interviewing her for an AuthorViews video years ago, and since then I have done online PR campaigns for six of her projects.

It struck me while doing Sandra’s most recent campaign that there is a controversy raging online about the proper way to promote new books. The Long Tail author and Wired magazine editor, Chris Anderson, added fire to the controversy by berating PR people for unsolicited pitches. He added irony when his own publisher used the same techniques to market Anderson’s books.

While these people noisily debate the merits of online PR, Sandra Ingerman’s team has quietly gone about providing a textbook example of how to be heard by playing softer. We sent a five-paragraph pitch to several hundred journalists who cover the same subjects as this blog. More than 50 journalists asked to see Awakening to the Spirit World — a stunning response. One complained and received an apology. Easy and civil.

Tatyana Meshcheryakova at SixEstate Communications then hand-pitched 60 bloggers, asking them to announce the book and offering an excerpt. Thirty of them asked to see the book. Rosemary Herbert and Lisa Trudeau at Weiser Books and Shelly Rosen at Sounds True provided review copies, press kits, and support. Shelly Rosen at Sounds True and Karen Furr at SpiritDrum also helped with Facebook, Twitter, and Sandra’s other sites. Sounds True purchased Google Adwords to reinforce the campaign.

While all this pitching was going on, Pat Hartman, myself, and the research/editing team at SixEstate were covering the news for Sandra Ingerman on this blog. She charged us to report on what others were doing, including her co-author, Hank Wesselman, contributing authors, and even “competing” authors. She asked us to locate and highlight examples of people putting into practice the principles in her books. We have steadily grown to 500 unique readers per week. Your news editor, Pat Hartman, has been nothing short of incredible leading this blog.

We have come to the end of this experiment in right marketing. Tomorrow we will suspend this newsblog and finish out with an excerpt from Awakening to the Spirit World that we hope you will enjoy. We would like to thank all those who have taken time to review the books, announce them on their blogs, or post excerpts. Below is the list so far — still growing. Please use the comments to add any links we missed.

With Thanks for Your Support,
STEVE O’KEEFE
News Director
Sandra Ingerman’s Blog

Thank You to These Sites:
New Age Retailer (Thrive review)
The BodyZone (Thrive review and excerpt)
Lifencompass (Thrive excerpt; Awakening review)
The Messenger (Thrive review)
Spirit Weavers (Thrive excerpt)
Self-Healing Expressions (Announcements and Link, Thrive and Awakening)
Enchanting the Day (Thrive excerpt)
Mind-Body-Spirit Works (Thrive review)
Evolving Beings (Thrive review)
Poet Kitty’s Shaman/Enlightenment Blog (Awakening & Meditations reviews)
BookWeaver (Awakening announcement)
Chet Day: Health & Beyond (Awakening excerpt)
Spirituality & Practice (Awakening review)
Shamanism Canada (Awakening announcement & link)

Source: “Sorry, PR people: you’re blocked,” The Long Tail/Wired, 10/29/07
Image by warrenski, used under its Creative Commons license.

Posted in book reviews, path, right livelihood | Tagged Hank Wessleman, links, Lisa Trudeau, Pat Hartman, reviews, Rosemary Herbert, Sandra Ingerman, Shelly Rosen, Steve O'Keefe, Tatyana Meshcheryakova | 3 Comments »

More on Shamans of the World

April 30, 2010 by Pat Hartman

Arrive
Shamanism is unlike many other topics, in that you get your best information about it from blogs. Although shamanistic practice reaches out to all of Creation, it is also subjective and deeply personal. Scientific minds insist that almost all the “evidence” for the invisible world is “anecdotal.” In their view, nothing matters except lab results, and anything that an actual person says is not valid. What they need to understand is, shamanism is just another word for science they haven’t discovered yet. To the shaman the planet is the laboratory, and all the experiments share one clear intention: the preservation and healing of that planet and her creatures.

Shamanism is on the upswing in Korea and Mongolia, and among the Hmong people of Southeast Asia and China. One variety you don’t hear much about is the Jewish shaman. Aaron Askanase is an acupuncturist living in Israel, who studies Judaism and Jewish mysticism. He discusses the seeming conflict of interest, and concludes that there is none, really. He says,

Shaman has come to denote a type of person, not a set of beliefs… The only common belief among all shamans is that there is a physical world and there is a spirit world.

“Why Shaman? A definition and clarification” is such a well-knit, lucid piece of writing, that to summarize it would be almost disrespectful. It is highly recommended.

Short and Sweet

** One of those subjective, anecdotal accounts is “The Osprey, the Condor, and the Shaman” by Michael Watson on his Dreaming the Word blog.

** Sandra brings back Bhola Nath Banstola, the Nepalese shaman whose workshop she has hosted before. He also is a Doctor of Naturopathy and holds an MA in cultural anthropology. Bhola Banstola will be visiting again in June for an experiential, non-residential, two-day workshop. All the details are given in May’s Transmutation News newsletter.

** Have you seen a movie called The Secret Society? In Britain, a plump housewife named Daisy is drawn into an underground affinity group of heavy women who study sumo wrestling and use their weight as a means to empowerment and self-esteem. They wear traditional Japanese outfits and go out in nature for rituals. Daisy is, as the title implies, is sworn to secrecy, and her poor husband is baffled. Although this is basically a silly movie, the training, combat, and ceremonies are presented with dignity.

** Christopher Allan comments on the 2010 Adelaide Biennale of Australian Art for The Australian:

Many of the artists involved have gone well past vague ideas of the spiritual and have launched out into the territory of magic, alchemy and shamanism. Mikala Dwyer, for example, apparently consulted a clairvoyant before making her piece…

** We will close with a poignant quote from Gary Moostoos, a spiritual and cultural advisor at the Boyle Street Community Services in Edmonton, Canada, who helps heal the impoverished community of the local indigenous people by smudging, and through healing circles and sweat-lodge ceremonies:

I will walk with you, but I can’t walk for you.

Source: “Why Shaman?,” Jewish Shaman, 02/25/10
Source: “The Osprey, the Condor, and the Shaman,” Dreaming the Word, 04/18/10
Source: “Transmutation News May 2010,” SandraIngerman.com, 05/2010
Source: “Heaven and Earth,” The Australian, 04/20/10
Source: “Spiritual advisor brings hope to the lost,” Edmonton Journal, 04/13/10
Image by alicepopkorn, used under its Creative Commons license.

Posted in global community, good news, healing the planet, healing the self, invisible world, movie reviews, practice, shamanism, spirituality, teachers | Tagged Aaron Askanase, Bhola Banstola, healing, invisible world, Judaism, practice, shamanism, sumo | 3 Comments »

Sacred Dance: Egypt, Alaska, St. Louis

April 29, 2010 by Pat Hartman

Holland Dance Festival

Christian Science Monitor correspondent Laura Kasinof reports from Cairo, Egypt, that the art of zar has been reduced to only about 25 performers and one public venue, because the hardcore Islamists don’t like it. It’s perceived by them as a form of communion with evil spirits, but this is not so, as Kasinof tells us:

Zar, a song and dance ritual that historically has been used as a healing rite, is the only musical tradition from Egypt in which women hold the most important roles.

Participating in this form of dance is a stress-relieving act for women living in a conservative, oppressive society. Sadly, they are being pressured into abandoning it for more socially acceptable channels, like prescription pharmaceuticals.

On the bright side, in a village in Alaska, the ban on native dancing has been lifted, says Associated Press journalist Rachel D’Oro in her article for the Native American Times. Indigenous-style dance, although a religious rite to the native people, was considered evil by missionaries in the past, and was forbidden. The article contains a great thought from a pastor named Aurora Sampson:

… [W]e’re going to come to a place in the afterlife where we sing and dance to the Lord. While we are on this earth we might as well practice.

At 17, Alicia Graf moved to New York City by herself and became, as she puts it, “kind of an internationally acclaimed dancer.” After three great years, reactive arthritis in a knee and then an ankle had prevented her from dancing. She didn’t resort to any of the desperate things that people do when their dreams are shattered. Instead, she enrolled in college as a history major, gave her body a rest, had surgery, and eventually came back to join the Alvin Ailey troupe. Graf was a star again, but it didn’t last. When the medical problems returned, she had accepted a marriage proposal and became a dance teacher, who now inspires and motivates a new generation.

Graf came from the interestingly conceptualized planned community called Columbia, in Maryland, a home to about 95,000. Very many people chipped in to help with her early career. For instance, when a competition required six different costumes at a minimum of $1,000 each, they had raised the funds, we are told by Cathleen McGuigan on Smithsonian.com. “Giving back” is a very high priority for Graf, but she’s become a mentor from more than just a sense of obligation. Everything she does is for God. She is also involved in “praise dancing,” a kind of worship that accompanies gospel music. Graf says,

It sounds so cliché but dancing is life to me. It’s my way of praying, and it’s my way of talking to God… It’s my whole relationship to the spiritual world.

Tonight, don’t forget to salute the full moon, and maybe have a look at the blog post titled “Moon Diving; Returning to Self Under the Full Moon” by Sam Crespi on her blog, Women Who Dare, where these words appear:

I give thanks daily to all of those I meet along the way. Those who compel me to dive deeper into forgiveness and compassion and who rejoice with me as we look up and see the full moon has once again appeared.

Source: “Egyptian music: ‘Zar’ tradition…,” Christian Science Monitor, 03/26/10
Source: “Native dancing ban lifted in Alaska village,” Native American Times, 02/22/10
Source: “COCA Welcomes Alicia Graf,” YouTube
Source: “Moon Diving; Returning to Self Under the Full Moon,” WomenDare, 04/01/10
Source: “Show Stopper,” Smithsonian.com, 10/07
Image by Haags Uitburo, used under its Creative Commons license.

Posted in dance, global community, good news, healing the self, path, practice, spirituality, teachers, transformation, Uncategorized | Tagged Alaska, Alicia Graf, Aurora Sampson, Cathleen McGuigan, dance, Egypt, full moon, healing, inspiration, Laura Kasinof, native dance, praise dance, Rachel D'Oro, Sam Crespi, spirituality, teaching, Zar | Leave a Comment »

More Simple Tools

April 28, 2010 by Pat Hartman

Experience Music Project

We often ask ourselves, “What can I do right now, today, for the good of myself, others, the planet?” Luckily, we are surrounded by simple tools that can make life a better place, with very little out-of-pocket expense. Sometimes, all it takes is awareness.

Color Consciousness

One such good tool is color. In “Color Therapy to Reduce Stress and Anxiety,” Beth Lumadue tells us about chromotherapy, or healing with color. If stress is the problem, blue and green are definitely the colors to surround yourself with. Somehow that’s not surprising, since blue and green are, over a large part of the globe, the colors that people see most of. Or did, before the industrial revolution. The point is, the human race has eons of history behind it of people surrounded by sky and growing things, learning over and over again, “Blue — good. Green — good.” No wonder those colors relax us.

Lumadue put in 12 years as an information technology manager before transitioning to a stay-at-home mom and freelance writer. She recommends taking a certain online color test that can identify your particular stress inducers. I’m going to take it right now. Hmm, this is kind of like a Tarot card reading. It starts out by telling your present situation, which in my case is a bit insulting. “Your stress sources” is the next diagnosis. Two of the sentences are way off base. The third sentence isn’t so bad, but the fourth is downright hostile. And this test’s definition of my “desired objective” is totally off the wall. On the other hand, in the section called “Your actual problem,” it pretty much nailed it. Oh no, there’s a “Your actual problem #2.” Nailed that one, too. And then it asks whether I want to share my results with my Facebook friends. No, thanks!

Never mind. You will probably have better results. The point is, if you’re stressed, get some blue and green into your line of vision. And meditate. Lumadue says,

Think of soothing colors during meditation, focusing on the color and clearing the mind of all other thoughts. Practice ‘color breathing,’ a meditation that can be performed during times of stress. Keep the color in mind while inhaling and exhaling slowly. See, feel and think the color.

Dream Consciousness

At Dream Interpretation Forums, “Lugus” talks about what a snake dream might mean, and goes into a great deal of detail about the meaning of kundalini-related snake dreams. Especially interesting is the part where the author discusses the shamanistic point of view regarding dreams of power animals. There’s a lot more here to consider, too.

Self-Appreciation

Emotional healer and success coach Aleta St. James challenges us to

[…] imagine how you might feel — and how others might react to you — if you truly loved and appreciated your body. No matter what size you are. If you were able to choose your body and love it and radiate that energy to the world.

Well, we are able to choose, to a very great extent, according to this practitioner. James explains several simple exercises and recommends doing them every day for a week. Then, write a love letter to your body. A really good one, and keep it around where you can read it once in a while for reinforcement.

Walking Meditation

A writer known as “webmann” gives clear instructions for walking meditation at an enlightening website called “Step By Step Tips.”

Laughter Club

As described in “Benefits of Laughter Yoga with John Cleese“– Join one!

Source: “Color Therapy to Reduce Stress and Anxiety,” 1/18/10
Source: “Start the Quiz!,” ColorQuiz.com
Source: “Snakes in Our Dreams,” Dream Interpretation Forums, 02/27/10
Source: ” Write a Love Letter to Your Body,” Huffington Post, 03/10/10
Image by Christine Salek, used under its Creative Commons license.

Posted in dreams, healing the self, new beginnings, practice, shamanism, therapy, transformation | Tagged Beth Lumadue, color, color test, dreams, emotional healing, laughter, meditation, power animals, shamanism, snakes, stress, therapy | 1 Comment »

Let There Be Music!

April 27, 2010 by Pat Hartman

didgeridoo

Who were the first black South African musicians to record a jazz album? The Jazz Epistles, in 1960, headed by Abdullah Ibrahim (whose stage name then was Dollar Brand). Now in his late seventies, Ibrahim is still going strong. We know this because of the terrific interview with him that appears in the online magazine Soka Gakkai International Quarterly, a Buddhist forum for peace, culture, and education. Ibrahim’s big project, which aims to holistically integrate music with other healing methods, is called Furusato.

When asked about the role of the musician in society, Ibrahim makes the point that musicians used to be everybody. In traditional cultures, “musician” wasn’t a separate role, and music performance wasn’t a thing that some people did and other people attended. He says,

All music is healing, all the different kinds of music, because we are all different entities and characters. So what for me might seem like something very esoteric and heart rending, for somebody else can just be plain dumb! The beauty of music is that in all its forms and all its guises it serves all people.

Amazingly, Ibrahim’s music once brought a young girl out of a three-year coma. The doctor in charge of her case had told him so. No wonder it can do so much for smaller problems!

Sounds True is a wonderful company noteworthy for its loving attention to high production values. They bring to the public a multitude of offerings, both in print and audio media. Talk about right livelihood! Just picking a subheading of a subheading at random — Sound Healing — we find 140 possibilities in this area alone. You will not be surprised to learn that Sounds True is the publisher of Awakening to the Spirit World and Shamanic Meditations, which are conveniently available bundled together.

In Awakening to the Spirit World, José Stevens relates some astonishing experiences with the icaros, or healing songs of the Amazon basin’s Shipibo people. The songs are medicine that is sung into the patient (much friendlier than a hypodermic injection!) One friend compares the book itself to a ceremony where six different shamans “sing medicine” into the reader. In the section about dreams, for instance, we get the benefit of six voices woven together, all their various notes combining into a song of knowledge.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Native American Flute is within the pages of Kokopelli’s Realm, a generous resource where Bob Edgar offers history, instruction, authentic chants, and excursions into other instruments, such as the drums that bring the sun up at dawn. If the name sounds familiar, it may be because Carol Proudfoot-Edgar is one of the contributing author of Awakening to the Spirit World, and also a participant in the upcoming Society for Shamanic Practitioners conference in June.

Quick and Fascinating:

Sacred Harp music is an indigenous form of community singing from the American South. At Online Athens, Allison Floyd tells us about how Sacred Harp is being revived, and there’s a video clip so that you can hear some.

For the story of a retro, Southern California, hippie-era, truly unique instrument, visit Francisco and His Cosmic Beam.

In regard to My Morning Jacket’s song “Gideon,” an anonymous commentator says,

I listened to this song every day when I first started dating my current girlfriend. I was so nervous about making a good impression, I could barely focus on anything. I’d sit in a comfortable chair, put on this song, and let my body and mind float away for three minutes, which is all it took to ground myself again.

Source: “Interview with Abdullah Ibrahim,” SGI Quarterly, 01/10
Source: “Sound Healing,” SoundsTrue.com
Source: “Kokopelli’s Realm,” ShamanicVisions.com
Image by Aaron Jacobs, used under its Creative Commons license.

Posted in global community, healing the planet, healing the self, music, practice, shamanism, spirituality, therapy, transformation, Uncategorized | Tagged Abdullah Ibrahim, Bob Edgar, Carol Proudfoot-Edgar, Furusato, healing, icaros, Jose Stevens, music, shamanism, Sounds True | 1 Comment »

Sounds for Meditation and Journeying

April 26, 2010 by Pat Hartman

Magical Earth “Meditation Guided Music Do’s and Don’ts” is a basic explanation of what guided meditation music (these days generally available on CD) is all about. In many cases it doesn’t stand alone, but functions as the background for the spoken-word directions that provide the guidance. It needs to be soft enough to enable the listener to hear the words, and “light,” not in the sense of being inconsequential, but of being unobtrusive and un-distracting. Author Irwin Myers says,

When you balance music with the guidance of meditation techniques, you will increase the power of your meditative trances and also prepare yourself for more challenging meditations in the future.

Depending on what choices you make, the music and inspirational words don’t necessarily have to be packaged together. If you’re using a meditation CD or tape that comes with words only, of course you can always choose your own background music and play it through a different machine. The key is to keep a balance so that the music and the words both contribute equally to the experience, and the music doesn’t take over. There are many places where music is king, but this isn’t one of them. It’s a case where the music is a background that blends in, not the main show. And then there’s always the option of music alone, for a different kind of meditation session.

Irwin Myers knows about this field, because his own company, Psychic Smarts, offers products to discover and develop the psychic powers. A number of his other articles on guided meditation mantras, guided meditation walking, and even such topics as obsessive-compulsive disorder, are found at his Psychic Smarts blog. Meyers also writes extensively on business matters. He is a living proof that any of us can combine the best of both worlds: the inner, where it’s never too early or too late to raise our consciousness, and the outer, where the mundane chores get done and the bills get paid. That is very inspirational!

Sandra has some favorite and experientially proven recordings that she often recommends for deep relaxation and transfiguration work: Jonathan Goldman’s “Ultimate Om,” and “Wavepool” by Robert Rand, who had spent four months scouting around for the perfect section of Maine coastline that produced just the right sound.

And if we do say so ourselves, the most inspirational spoken-word, two-disk CD set on the landscape right now is Sandra’s own Shamanic Meditations. Just about every spiritual tradition that still exists today has its roots in shamanism, with shamans being the first meditators. Here is a way to experience and incorporate into ourselves the enduring power of these ancient practices for healing, guidance, and awakening. With this CD set as a mentor, we can partake of seven guided meditations or “journeys,” find our spirit teachers and power animals, and so much more. Visit the page of the wonderful and caring publisher Sounds True, where we find both the CD set and the book Awakening to the Spirit World, a true multimedia treasure trove for all the senses.

Source: ” Meditation Guided Music Do’s and Don’ts,” ArticleSnatch
Source: ” Shamanic Explorations Collection,” Sounds True website
Image by alicepopkorn, used under its Creative Commons license.

Posted in healing the self, music, path, practice, shamanism, spirituality | Tagged guided meditation, Irwin Myers, Jonathan Goldman, journeying, meditation, music, Psychic Smarts blog, relaxation, Robert Rand, shamanism, sound, Sounds True, spoken word, transfiguration | 1 Comment »

Earth Day, Continued: Mother Gaia

April 23, 2010 by Pat Hartman

Gaia

“Heal the Earth to Heal Yourself” is a title of Peggy Wheeler’s article about the Gaia Principle on Examiner.com. It just about says it all, but — who is Gaia, and why heal the Earth itself, or herself, as we are fond of saying? Just think of the planet as a sentient being… and don’t do anything to her that you wouldn’t do to your mother.

Wheeler is a spiritual counselor, Reiki Master, Reconnective Healer, and the developer of a new healing modality called Anam Healing, which is based on the awesome power of universal love. She maintains that we can’t heal ourselves without healing the earth, and there’s no time like the present. Reminding us that the urgency we feel about the need to heal the earth is nothing new, she cites examples of the voices that have spoken out over the centuries, from nameless masses of indigenous peoples, who had lived in harmony with nature, to influential individuals like Hildegard von Bingen. Wheeler offers several suggestions for do-it-now actions we can take. She says,

People who strive to live in balance with the natural world, and who vow to live as stewards for our beautiful life-giving planet, are the wisest and most spiritual of all.

In Bolivia, the big Earth Day event is the First People’s World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth’s Rights, a grass-roots response to the violations planetary integrity that go on everywhere. One of the attendees, there to also report on the conference, is Michael Stone, host of KVMR’s Conversations. He tells us these good folks are working on a Declaration of Rights for our mom the Earth! The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change thinks this is a great and timely idea, noting:

The 20th century has been the century of the human rights. First, with the approval of the civil and political rights in 1948, and second, with the approval of the economical, social and cultural rights in 1966. Now, the 21th century has to become the century of the Rights of Mother Earth and all natural beings.

At the Metapsychology website, Russ Seidel reviews Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood. Most of the characters in her novel belong to God’s Gardeners, a group that tries to hang onto sanity in an increasingly technologically corrupted world. It’s a post-apocalyptic dystopia story, and the talks given by Adam One to the members are very instructional. Even better are the songs interspersed throughout. This book cannot be appreciated fully unless the audio version is heard! These neo-tribalists have invented their own holidays, such as the Feast of Serpent Wisdom, along with a whole slew of rituals, practices, and saints (Peter Matthiessen, Karen Silkwood, and Rachel Carson, to name but a few.) In fact, you too can “enroll a Saint,” and benefit non-profit environmental organizations at the same time. Yes, The Year of the Flood is nominally science fiction, but when we’ve got corporations selling stuff that makes us sick, and then selling us the cure, it’s not that far from present reality.

Source: “Heal the earth to heal yourself,” Examiner.com 04/06/10
Source: “LA Eclectic Spirituality Examiner’s Articles,” Examiner.com
Source: “Rights of Mother Earth,” MotherEarthRights.org, 02/21/10
Source: “Review – The Year of the Flood,” Metapsychology, 04/06/10
Source: “Enroll a Saint,” YearOfTheFlood.com
Image by alicepopkorn, used under its Creative Commons license.