I’ve been asked to share my experience learning the healer’s path, so I will share my experience. Shamanism is not a path you just learn in a weekend seminar or from a book. It is a lifelong journey that calls upon challenging experiences and connection to a force greater than ourselves, in order to heal oneself, others, and the world. 

For a shaman, his or her wounds are their biggest strength. The very places they have been hurt are where they are able to connect most deeply and find their own medicine. Nature and the flow of life energy are where a shaman’s power comes from. This power is found by opening oneself up to the energy of the world and within.

I don’t know if I can say that there is something that would make one person a shaman and another not. I think that on some level everyone is a healer. We all have our own medicine and ways of caring for ourselves and others, just as we are all teachers and students. 

The path of a shaman is not defined by how many teachers one has studied under or by how many experiences one has encountered but rather defined by the personal relationship the shaman has with themselves and the world or universe. 

I personally do not self-identify with the term shaman. I find it to be limited in its description of who I am. I prefer to just be Hayden, because Hayden is me, all of me. To my parents I’m a son, to my subscribers I’m a You Tuber, to my cat I’m a father and guardian. There are so many different parts and pieces of me, and each part is just as important as the rest. People may see me as a shaman or they may not, but how they see me will say more about what their definition of a shaman is than it will about my own abilities or lack thereof. 

Like I said, being a shaman or not being a shaman is more of a personal journey. No one will understand the depth and intimacy of one’s self-connection or relationship with Spirit. That is a path walked alone.

Hayden Moreau