John Norseman was invited by Female First magazine to write an article  which they entitled “Top 10 Takeaways from the Life of a Shaman”. As we are asked this question so many times, here is the answer. The article is reproduced below. John and Leigh are pictured on the left while visiting British Columbia in Canada.

1. Role of the Shaman. The role of a Shaman is to teach, guide and facilitate self-help, spiritual healing and spiritual leadership. Points 2 to 8 below outline the tangible ways a Shaman helps people improve their lives.
2. Learning to say NO and meaning it. It is essential to recognize people or situations that are negative and to learn to say NO from the heart. This puts out the energy that you truly reject all negative control by others.
3. Overcoming the negative effects of abuse and building self-esteem and self-confidence. Sadly, a huge percentage of the population suffers from emotional or physical abuse at some stage of their lives. This has the effect of lowering self-worth and self-confidence. Once one learns to say NO, one will attract positive people and situations into one’s life, which will start the process of establishing self-worth and self-confidence.
4. Close doors before moving forward. When making changes in one’s life, one has the close the door on a situation that no longer serves one’s best interest before moving on and opening new doors for opportunities.
5. Walking away from all negativity. Negativity drains energy and cannot be placated. It is important to walk away from all negativity.
6. Turning personal weaknesses into strengths. By facing personal weaknesses and fears and finding the determination to face them, one transforms weaknesses/fears into strengths. One then experiences self-actualization and a feeling of empowerment.
7. Following one’s heart instead of one’s head. Create a balance between logic and emotion. Love is the most powerful positive energy in the universe. Love comes from the heart.
8. The only thing stopping one from achieving what one wants is the blocks in one’s own mind. Beliefs instilled by others or oneself create blocks in one’s own mind. By overcoming such blocks the way is then clear to apply determination and effort into achieving goals and aspirations.
9. Spiritual healing. The areas of spiritual healing that are facilitated by a Shaman include soul-retrieval, lifting damage from past lives that have come through to the current life, and releasing trapped souls into the light.
10. Spiritual leadership. Spiritual leadership provides inspiration and direction needed to positively empower people and reveal how dreams and determination can help them achieve the impossible.