Trish Coates, BSc, PhD: Shamanic Training and Experience

Shamanism is an ancient practice that runs deep in the veins of the Earth and all of the humans who walk it. These ancient whispers called to me as a child, and at age 5 or 6 I had a vision/memory of the pain and torture that can be part of the human condition, which I could not possibly have known from this lifetime. Whether this was from past-life memory or merely a deep insight into humanity from the perspective of the current life is arguable (and probably irrelevant). There were many other experiences that harked to a deep connection with spirit, and knowledge of worlds beyond the purely visible and tangible, but like many a child of these times, I was taught to bury this knowing deep. Bury it I did, but retained the knowledge that in some inexplicable way, all was connected. In the early 80s, at the age of 18 I received a profound vision from spirit (in an encounter with a plant spirit) in which much was revealed to me about the nature of reality, of love, and the human condition. I was shown that love was the fabric of the universe, and the only viable force for change and healing. At the time, I had no idea that this was a shamanic experience, but recognised it as a profound gift from spirit, and it served as a beacon of hope and a yardstick for the way I lived my life.

I was unaware of shamanism as a practice, or as a concept, until synchronicity, in the form of a book lent by a friend, gave me a name for this particular experience, the knowledge I had, the things I'd done with my dreams, and my mind – shamanism. A few years later, in 2000, I formally learned the practice of shamanic journeying, which had an extremely profound effect on my life and personal development. I then set about learning the many and varied tools of the shamanic practitioner. I trained in core shamanic healing practices and in the subtle and deep practices of the Path of Pollen with the Sacred Trust, and in Medicine for the Earth and Healing with Spiritual Light, and the teacher training programme with Sandra Ingerman.

Having been actively pursuing my own psycho-spiritual development since the early 90s, using a variety of techniques such as meditation, visualisations, mining the unconscious through non-dominant hand-writing, inner child work and dream analysis, the quantum leaps that came about through learning shamanic journeying in 2000 means that I have been an avid shamanic practitioner since then. I have been working shamanically on behalf of others since 2004, using the healing techniques of soul retrieval, power animal retrieval, extraction, as well as investigative journeying, seership, divination techniques, house-clearing and teaching journeying skills one-to-one or in groups. (For more information about shamanic practices, please see About Shamanism).

I have been teaching for many years in different ways; my natural instinct is to pass on my knowledge and experience in order to benefit others. Twenty years ago I was teaching skydiving; and, until recently microbiology, biochemistry and statistics as a lecturer at the University of Bradford and in the last decade, in various ways, teaching my passion – shamanic practices, including dreaming practices.