HoloShamanic Strategies

The Shaman’s Heart Program, a structured, self-paced, self-learning method for personal, interpersonal and transpersonal development, is for people deeply interested in authentic personal empowerment and are drawn to explore and develop the capacities of the heart from a shamanic and transpersonal perspective. In addition to being a self-learning program that can be practiced at home and at one’s own pace, The Shaman’s Heart Program is facilitated by Dr. Metcalf in various workshop and group formats, and in individual sessions.

HoloShamanic Integration™ (described in detail below) is a method for spiritual and shamanic healing that is facilitated by Dr. Metcalf for individuals in face-to-face private settings. In these sessions, clients and students of The Shaman’s Heart Program can augment and expand The Shaman’s Heart Program’s exercises, practices and teachings.

Although there are no guarantees of what will happen for each individual, commonly reported benefits include:

* Increased ability to relax deeply and let go

* Freedom from fear, worry and anxiety

* Improved immune system and a reduction of stress
related and psychosomatic illnesses

* Enhanced capacity for intimacy and openness in
relationships

* Increased presence, creativity, mental clarity,
focus and attention

* Freedom from an excessive need for external
approval, respect and recognition

* Self-empowerment, greater confidence in one’s
ability to navigate life’s challenges

* A sense of basic trust in one’s self-healing capacities

* An expanded experience of one’s true self
and true nature

* Spiritual development and maturity.

HSI primarily involves specially developed HoloShamanic variations of journeywork, breathwork, personal inquiry, energy work, and the use of music, sound, and sound healing technologies. Varied aspects of these methods and exercises are incorporated to support each individual client’s level of spiritual understanding and development.

During the course of HSI, activities in which the client engages are strictly voluntary. Clients are invited to experience and use particular methods in their ongoing understanding of themselves. There is no single, specific spiritual state or ultimate goal or final revelation. Each person’s uniqueness is respected and supported as it emerges and unfolds towards its full potentiality. There is no attempt to lead or point the client toward any specific perspective, position, or understanding. During this process, the client is supported and encouraged in discovering their truth in whatever is unfolding in their experience. Much of an individual's progress is a function of their intentionality and inspiration.

An individual HSI session begins with an inquiry and brief centering meditation to get in touch with, and to become aware of what's “alive and present” for you right now – in your immediate experience. Further inquiry into whatever is present and arising usually takes place with some additional guided dialog and questioning.

Next I would invite you to lie down on my specially designed HoloShamanic Sound Healing Table that utilizes state of the art surround sound technology (see the photo section), and typically I will encourage you to do some conscious, focused, and gentle breathing to connect more deeply with the heart center, solar plexus and belly center. The intention at this point is to simply become present with your entire experience – an inquiry into the emotional, physical, mental and energetic bodies and anything else that may be happening. Although most of an HSI session typically involves a significant amount of time on the Sound Healing table, occasionally a client will wish to experience the full session sitting in a chair or on floor pillows or a backjack. If the session tends to involve lots of physical movement and activity, then some or most of the session can occur lying on mat on the floor which allows for more freedom of physical movement. The client’s inner healing wisdom and guidance will always dictate how the session unfolds.

After some initial focused breathing and awareness inquiry, I will begin playing some audio sounds that involve binary-beat (Hemi-Sync) technology. To the ears this sounds like gentle ocean waves but has the effect of balancing right and left hemispheres of the brain, and shifting consciousness in a variety of ways. For example, the sounds may be oriented toward relaxation and letting go, focused attention, deep inner exploration, etc. I will also mix into the sound field different musical selections that can support an infinite range of inner experience, and I will verbally guide and support you in keeping your focus on your present experience. In addition to the music and sound technology, I will play shamanic and sacred instruments (drums, rattles, Tibetan bowls, bells, etc) and use other healing sounds, such as toning and vocalizing that help to expand, deepen and support your experience. The session may also include specific kinds of breathing techniques, energy work, shamanic healing work, and deeper inquiry into the depths of your experience. At different times during the session, we may also verbally communicate about your experience as a means of “checking in” and staying fully aligned with the process. All of the methods I employ are designed to activate and mobilize your own inner healing wisdom and power. You and I fully collaborate to align with, and to follow and support your inner-healer’s process and the soul’s unfolding.

Typically, a HSI session will last from 1 to 2 hours depending on what your soul needs to complete this aspect of its healing and unfolding. As the work nears it's natural resolution, we will verbally process and discuss the session to whatever degree seems appropriate and supportive. I will then suggest exercises and other follow-up support that will assist you in fully integrating your experience.

Most people are led to spiritual practice, shamanic work, and other alternative healing approaches as a result of emotional or psychological pain, or other challenging life circumstances. Some people have experienced poor results with psychotherapy and/or feel that the diagnostic systems, or "medical models," employed in the Western psychological and mental health models are simply not appropriate for them and they wish to explore other approaches that are more holistically oriented and offer more opportunity for self-healing and empowerment. However, the various HoloShamanic Strategies’ programs are not psychotherapy, mental health counseling, the practice of “behavioral health,” or any other kind of therapy as understood by Western psychological models. Unlike mental health counseling and psychotherapy, HSI focuses on energies, emotions, thoughts, and historical and archetypal patterns of the personality, etc., which are always addressed within the context of the individual's deepening understanding and integration of their spiritual unfolding according to their own soul’s wisdom. HSI does not involve the treatment of any specific psychological or behavioral condition and there is no attempt to diagnose, treat, cure, fix, or otherwise therapize the client as currently understood in psychotherapeutic or professional counseling models. Instead, the intrinsic inner-wisdom and the individual soul of the client are supported to develop its own guidance. In the process, exercises and methods are offered to open possibilities that until now have been unconscious or misunderstood. Although benefits such as emotional healing or an enhancement of life circumstances do occur, and sometimes in dramatic fashion, these are considered a natural by-product of the soul’s own wisdom in its unfolding toward spiritual maturity and not the direct effect of a specific method or exercise employed by the HoloShamanic practitioner.