Inner Worlds: Adam’s Vipassana

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During the first interview with Adam he shared the struggles he faced with 4 years of doctors, medications and the side effects that resulted.  He also told us about his amazing feat of cutting off the medications when he decided to attend a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat—a retreat that gave him a technique that helped him stabilize himself.

Hear what Adam’s father learned and observed about this time in Adam’s life.

I had heard how difficult these 10-day retreats were, but what I couldn’t stop thinking about was how meditation was able to help Adam replace the prescription drugs.

It made me wonder what type of nurturing the mentors of the Shamans I met used. How were they able to calm down the young Shamans after their initial crisis?  Could their training have included elements of meditation or mindfulness? And if so, is it possible that meditation could be an alternative treatment for mental illness in some instances?

Inner Worlds: Introducing Adam

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About nine months ago, out of my curiosity and interest in meditation I began interviewing individuals who had been meditating. It just so happens that 2 of the 3 people I interviewed had had ‘psychotic episodes’ similar to the experiences the shamans described to me.

Adam is one of those individuals.

Since my understanding of altered states of consciousness is just beginning and Adam is still in the throws of understanding what has happened to him, I’ve decided to tell this story as it unfolded to me and continues to unfold in a series of blogs.  More on Adam to follow!

Inner Worlds: Shamans, Consciousness and Culture

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In a sense, this new project began long before today. It started while I was interviewing the shaman and living with pre-industrial cultures. These were the experiences and insights that stuck with me, and have now become the catalyst for my current exploration: one that I hope provides a deeper understanding of our Inner Worlds.

In the more than 20 years I spent with these indigenous cultures, what I observed often challenged my reality.

In the Upper Amazon I was with the Huaranai shaman Mengatohue when he went into trance and asked the spirit of the Jaguar to guide his embattled tribe. In Mongolia, I stayed up all night watching Namid, a 70-year-old Darhat shaman, chant and drum until the mountain spirit helped her with the care of a young pregnant mother. In Siberia, near the Amur River, I visited the last four remaining shaman in the Nanai and Ulchi tribes — all women in their late eighties and early nineties who routinely called upon earth spirits to guide them in their work as healers and clairvoyants. These experiences, which you can read more about here on my blog, opened my mind to other spiritual beliefs.

Lindsa, Nanai Shaman

Lindsa, Nanai Shaman

To further provoke my curiosity, I noticed a fascinating shared experience amongst the shaman who I interviewed: the vast majority had suffered what we, in Western culture, refer to as a psychotic break from reality. This ‘break’ typically occurred in their adolescent or teen years. Their symptoms, including hearing voices, seeing visions, and having seizures, were deemed ‘gifts ’ as opposed to illness. Most were then taken aside by an older shaman or elder who mentored and nurtured them to become healers in their community or give guidance to the community at large.

Fascinated by this difference in cultural framing (psychosis vs gift), I was left with many questions that I’m excited to begin exploring today:

• Are these episodes mental disease or spiritual awakenings? If some are spiritual awakenings how does one make a differential diagnosis?
• In our culture, what are the most effective treatments, or supportive communities that an individual can turn to in order to get help?
• Do these individuals have special healing or predictive talents? If so, how could they use their gifts to contribute to our society?

Throughout this exploration we will be interviewing psychiatrists, depth psychologists, mystics, meditators, cultural anthropologists, neuroscientists, spiritual teachers, and shamanic practitioners working in our culture.

I will also be interviewing individuals who have experienced similar psychotic breaks. Next week you will meet one of these individuals, Adam, who had a psychotic episode right after his 20th birthday.

Inner Worlds: Beginning My Discovery

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About two years ago I decided to set aside twenty minutes a day to sit and meditate. I made this commitment simply on the basis of articles I had read that indicated a regular meditation practice is good for health and creativity. I had never taken any formal training but I had heard that one method was to just follow your breath and gently bring your attention back to your breath as your mind wandered.

Three Monk

After a year of practice I began to notice subtle changes. For one I was becoming less reactive to incidents that would usually push my buttons. Out of curiosity I started interviewing people who had been mediating for some time to find out what they were experiencing. What I’ve found has been quite exciting.

Next week we are launching our new website and I’ll start sharing my discoveries of these ‘Inner Worlds’ with you on my blog. Stay tuned!

Janduli Kahn: Shaman of the Kalash

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In July of 2001 I traveled to Pakistan to visit a small group of animists called the Kalash. I was told that the most powerful of the three remaining Kalash Dehars (Shaman) was at a mountain camp where he spends the summer herding his goats.

Janduli Kahn, Kalash Shaman

Janduli Kahn, Kalash Shaman

It took us two long days to hike up to Janduli Khan’s ghost (hut) in the high pastures of the Hindu Kush Range near the Afghanistan border. Janduli Khan was extremely friendly insisting that we sleep in his 8’x10’ hut. Totally mesmerized by the unbelievable number of flies and fleas inside the ghost, we politely refused the offer and slept outside under the stars.

Phil speaking with Janduli Kahn

Phil speaking with Janduli Kahn

The next morning Janduli Khan insisted on performing a ceremony to bless our journey. I knew that most Kalash ceremonies involved sacrificing a goat and that Janduli Khan had less than sixty in his herd. Not want him to make any sacrifices just for our benefit, I insisted that it wasn’t necessary. He claimed that he had to do it – that he had no choice. After sacrificing a goat, with the assistance of his sons, he poured its blood over smoldering juniper branches and inhaled the smoke until he was deep in trance. Janduli Kahn was normally very outspoken, but after his trance he only had one statement. He informed us that our continued journey would be difficult, but safe.

Janduli Kahn in Trance

Janduli Kahn in Trance

Traveling with my son, Dax who was 16 at the time, we were making our journey back to Peshawar and Dax became seriously ill. He was unable to remain alert and to continue walking. It became apparent to me that he required fluids and medical attention. I became very concerned, as we were located so remotely. To my astonishment, we made it just in time to a small town where we met a doctor from Islamabad there to visit his mother. Fortunately for Dax, the physician had emergency medical supplies including glucose, saline, and an IV drip line. Dax was placed in a bed resting outdoors where he successfully recovered. It was indeed a difficult journey that ended well.

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Dax Receiving Medical Attention

I returned from that trip to Pakistan a few days before the tragedy of 9/11. That event caused me to shift my focus to more ‘grounded’ efforts. Over the next 11 years I started a cross-cultural media program (BRIDGES) connecting teenagers online around the world and directed my personal work to addressing the issues faced by women and girls in the developing world. (Stirring the Fire).

Recently I’m drawn back to my work exploring Shamanism and the individual processes of the indigenous shaman that I began 12 years ago.

Mengatohue: Shaman of the Huaroriani Tribe

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In November of ’99 I made a trip to the headwaters of the Amazon in Ecuador’s Northern Oriente as part of my series on indigenous people and their spiritual mediators—the people we in the west refer to as Shamans.  I traveled with a three man film crew working for the Discovery Channel. My intention was to meet with one of the well respected shamans of the Huaoriani Tribe, a 64 year old man named Mengatohue.  Our guide was Mengatohue’s grandson, Moi, a 35 year old Huaoriani warrior who had learned Spanish and had managed to unite the very independent Huaoriani people in their fight against the Oil Companies that threatened their territory.

Moi, 35 yrs old

Moi, 35 yrs old

Once in the Amazon we met up with Moi who introduced us to the Huaoriani in the very remote village of Bameno.  For a tribe that are known by their neighbors as ‘Savages’ and are feared for their brutality and fierceness in battle I must say that I did not see any aggression or disharmony between people in the tribe.  In fact, I was taken by their fun loving nature and the affection they showed each other.  During our stay we accompanied a few of the men on one of their hunts.  I was amazed at the sensitivity and knowledge these men had about their environment.  They could hear, see, and smell things I couldn’t.  It made me realize how much my senses have been deadened by spending so much time in my head. Armed with blowguns they were able to track and bring down monkeys that were almost 100ft up in the canopy.

Mengatohue, 64 yrs old

Mengatohue, 64 yrs old

Mengatohue became a shaman by taking more and more powerful doses of Auyasca (a plant hallucinogen) until he bonded with his spirit allies.  He was very young when he started this dangerous process—the initiate can go crazy.  Today, every five to seven days Mengatohue goes into trance and his main spirit (the Jaguar) enters his body and gives him guidance in healing patients, and leading his community. Here are some clips taken from the Discovery Channel series.

Lindsa: Shaman of the Nanai Tribe

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Next my exploration of shamanism and culture brought me to the small village of Daerga, on the Amu River of Siberia.  My guide, Nadia, explained to me that all of the shaman in this area are older women, one of which is 87 yr. old Lindsa.

Lindsa-scan

Nanai Shaman, Lindsa

Lindsa had been a Nanai shaman for over 50 years.  She was only one of two remaining among the Nanai people.  Although the Tiger was her main spirit she had over sixty that she called upon. There were several segments to her healing ceremony and after each section the spirits would call for her to take 3 shots of vodka.  Lindsa obliged.

Lindsa about to take the 3 vodka shots after going into trance.

Lindsa about to take the 3 shots of vodka after a healing ceremony.

Shortly before I was asked to give my last TEDx talk I receive a call from Nadia. She happened to be in the area and came over for a visit. Nadia explain to me, now over 10 years later, that Lindsa wasn’t always asked by the spirits to drink vodka after a trance.  According to Nadia, Lindsa had only been taking the shots for a few weeks.  Her spirits had let her know that she was about to die and the vodka was only to ease her transition to the next world.  Lindsa died just three weeks after I photographed her.

The following quote from Lindsa has always stuck with me.

She told us  “everything in the natural world has consciousness, and if you are given energy be sure to pass it on – give it away; don’t keep it to yourself”

Sukulen: Shaman of the Samburu Tribe

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Another profound experience I had with Shaman happened in Northern Kenya while I was photographing the Samburu tribe. While I was there my guide let me know that many of the villagers mentioned that their “predictor” had told them that my assistant and I were coming. At first I thought nothing of it, as anyone looking at us could have ‘created’ the prediction on the spot.  As the days went on I learned more details about the prediction that led me to believe otherwise.

My guide, 85 year old, Iparo.

My guide, 85 year old, Iparo.

First, the prediction, which come to find out was made a full two months before we showed up, described one of us as having long white hair. My assistant, Larissa, did have long blond hair – until the day before we left on the trip when she cut her hair and died it with henna.

Second, they told us that I would hide from them when I took my photographs.
Typically I use a wide-angle lens on my Hasselblad and I am less than 2 feet from my subject. But then I remember that I had a new camera with me that I had yet to take out and use.  It just so happened to be a 5×7 view camera that required me to cover myself in a silver cloth while focusing.

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What I look liked photographing with the view camera.

A few days later I met Sukulen the thirty-seven-year old Samburu mother of eight that had made the prediction.  I had taken her photograph before she let us know that she was the one who had ‘seen’ us and that she had been told that ‘we were harmless’.   She told us that she had a vision of us photographing two months before in the manner in which we had just photographed her.  She said that I looked and moved the same as ‘the European’ that she had seen in her vision. Sukulen told us that as a teenager she started having fainting spells and hearing voices.  She thought she was sick and that she might die.  She was very scared until her grandmother took her aside and let her know that she had a unique gift.  I learned later that Sukulen was the most well known ‘predictor’ in the whole Samburu tribe.

Sukulen, 37 years old.

Sukulen, 37 years old.

It was interesting to me to think back to the Tibetan Kuten, who had a similar story in his beginning as a medium for the Tibetan people.  It was my encounters with Thupten Ngodrup and Sukulen that first intrigued me about non-ordinary states of mind and lead me to continue exploring the topic of shamanism, consciousness and culture. Next week I’ll share my travel to Mongolia to meet the Shaman of the Nanai tribe.

The Venerable Nechung Oracle

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My first experience with an altered state of consciousness as a cultural ritual will forever be etched in my mind. In 1994 I traveled to Dharamsala, India to photograph for my book Tibetan Portrait.  While there I met Mick Brown a journalist for the Daily Telegraph in London who had an appointment to interview the State Oracle of Tibet, the Nechung Oracle, who is often consulted by the Dalai Lama on important issues. The Nechung predicted the invasion of Tibet and his consult assisted in the reestablishment of the Tibetan people during the diaspora.

The Nechung Oracle is channeled through a Medium, called the Kuten.  At the time we met him, the Kuten was a 30-year-old monk named Thupten Ngodrup. During our interview Thupten told us his story about becoming the Kuten.  He said, as a young monk he began to hear voices, became sick and disoriented, and thought he was perhaps dying.  An older monk took him aside to tell him he had a gift and could be very useful to the Nechung Monastery.

Oracle During Trance

The Nechung Oracle before going into trance.

We were invited to return to observe Thupten go into trance in a location quite near the Dalai Lama’s residence. In a large room with 50-60 monks, Mick, a friend, and I were the only Westerners present that day. The Kuten was led into the room wearing an ornate ceremonial robe that weighed about 80 pounds. We watched intently as he sat in a ceremonial chair and the monks put a large pointed hat on his head that weighed about 80 pounds. It was so heavy that the monks had to tie it down and he could barely hold his head up.  The monks began chanting and beating drums and as they were beating the drums Thupten stood up, swaying, with closed eyes and began speaking in an entirely different voice from the one he used when we interviewed him. The monks wrote down every word.  After 10 min Thupten slumped over and was carried out of the out of the room.

oracle-HR

The Nechung Oracle right before going into trance

This dramatic experience was one of two events that began my interest in non-ordinary states of consciousness. I was able to briefly interview and photograph Thupten a few days later and he told me that he did not remember what happened after he fell into the trance state. He felt weak and exhausted for several days afterward.

It is now 19 years later and I find myself wanting to re-interview Thupten, the Kuten.  He is nearly 50 now and has experienced many profound years channeling the State Oracle of Tibet.  Looking back there are important questions I neglected to ask him.  Specifically how was he calmed down and nurtured by the older monk after his ‘psychotic break’ or ‘spiritual emergency’ as a boy?  What was he taught in order to become the Kuten?

Next week I share with you the second event that lead me to explore this subject further, the story of Sukulen.