I became consciously aware of the dismissiveness, amounting to outright contempt, that I felt for myself as a child. I saw how I kept trying to shove childhood experience away as something not merely incomplete, from my perspective as an adult, but shameful. I wanted that with a deep hunger, though I had no way to say why, or to know how much it would matter. The central discipline of shamanic work is the spirit journey. This form of inner seeing is usually practiced while lying in a relaxed state, eyes closed.
Someone drums with a steady, monotonous beat.
The rhythmic sound of the drum is a powerful aid in helping the mind make the shift to an altered state of consciousness, in which non-ordinary aspects of reality may be perceived. That first morning, we attempted to journey to the Lower World. When the drumming started, we were to enter the opening. We were to look for a tunnel leading down. If we were able to get as far as the end of the tunnel, we would come out into the Lower World.