Singing the Shaman's Song

The Healing Power of Shamanic Song

12 & 13 June 1998
Otter Creek Park, Louisville, Kentucky


In this intensive workshop, participants are taught to remove blockages to their true voices that they've built up over years. They'll be given techniques to dust off their soul voices and then allow them to finally gush forth in release. The two-day workshop introduces a variety of shamanic singing techniques that Tracey has learned about both from her own spiritual helpers and shamanic training and through research into the cross-cultural uses of shamanic song.

By utilizing the shamanic journey, drumming, movement, and spending time alone in nature, participants will learn to apply song to heal the self, others and the planet. Therefore, over the course of the weekend, we start with the strictly personal and then gradually move to the more transpersonal. This movement supports the belief that one must heal the self before attempting to heal others, that healing begins with the individual and then extends outward to embrace all that exists, honoring our interconnectedness with all of life. Participants will leave the workshop with their own songs, techniques for healing with song, and ideas for how to manifest healing in their own lives.

If you're interested in attending the June 12 and 13 1998 workshop at Otter Creek Park, please contact

Ilene Bush at (502) 893-0335

for information. The workshop will begin on Saturday morning and run through Sunday afternoon. It is necessary that you already know how to journey shamanically and have successfully contacted a power animal and spirit teacher. However, for those who don't know how to journey, Tracey will conduct an introductory session on how to journey on Friday evening at no additional cost.

What's Required

Shamanic singing does not require any type of musical aptitude. Like toning, it is about tapping into our own soul songs, bringing them up and releasing them without concern for "how it sounds." Many of us were told at early ages that we couldn't sing, couldn't dance, didn't have any rhythm, and have become, as adults, afraid to express our true voices. We may only sing in the car when we are alone for fear of being ridiculed. Tracey feels this is another way we become fragmented from who we truly are, by having our true soul voices silenced, by putting them on a shelf way deep inside ourselves. This workshop can help you open up and sing from your heart.

Tuition and Times

Tuition is $160 and does includes FIVE meals (three on Saturday and two on Sunday). You are responsible for your own lodging (fees and reservations) which is available at the Park's lodge. The workshop will run from approximately 9:00-4:00 on Saturday with a break for dinner and then a night time fire ceremony, and Sunday 9:00-3:00.

What to Bring

Bring whatever you need to make yourself comfortable for sitting and lying on the floor. Also, an eye-covering and notebook are helpful to record your experiences. Wear loose-fitting, comfortable clothing that is practical for walking and sitting out as well as indoors. An optional piece of equipment is a small tape recorder and blank cassette tapes if you would like to record songs you'll learn.

Tracey Besmark

has been studying shamanism for over six years, mainly with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. She will graduate in June from the Foundation's Third East-Coast Three-Year Program in Advanced Shamanism and Shamanic Healing, taught by Michael Harner, author of The Way of the Shaman, who is considered the world's leading authority on shamanism. Tracey teaches English and journalism at Ashland Community College in Ashland, Kentucky and is co-owner of InnerWellness, a center for spiritual wholeness based in Hungtington, WV. In her practice, Tracey conducts private shamanic healing sessions utilizing soul retrieval, extraction and hands-on healing, death and dying work, and divination. She teaches basic and advanced shamanic workshops, and her specialty is shamanic song.

If you would like more information about this workshop, please e-mail me, Tracey Besmark:

traceyb@ramlink.net


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