Interest in ancient shamanic practices is growing with every day.  Alarmed by ecological catastrophes, disillusioned in contemporary society, and having accumulated a substantial number of philosophical questions about life, a person looks for answers in his true roots - in living nature.

It is believed that with the help of multiple shamanic techniques, it is possible to  enter the world of one's subconscious, heal disease, and to avoid losses and failures. But is shamanism really as powerful as people say? We decided to ask a man who experienced the mystical "power of nature" in practice - Stanislav Shaposhnikov, physician-psychotherapist, and a student of the singing shaman Nikolai Oorzhak.

-  Stas, explain to us, please, who is a shaman in today's understanding?  After all, even today many people associate shamanism with evil spirits and witchery.

-  Shaman is a searcher who can journey in changed state of consciousness. In a way, shaman is a holonaut (a person who consciously and intentionally enters unusual states of consciousness with the goal of seeking a creative impulse, inspiration or healing - author's note), but at the same time he is a fully adequate, functional person in the context of contemporary life.

-  Is shamanism a philosophy, religion or science?

-  Shamanism is a certain world-view that formulates all the rest. According to this world-view, the worlds that surrounds us is alive and represents a single field.  And here one can see analogies with contemporary quantum physics.

-  Tell us shortly about the shamanic methods that you personally practice, and that you could teach to other people.

-  The foundation of our methods is Nikolai Oorzhak's school Un Khun, which develops a person through  practice of sounds. It is because for every energetic center in a human body there is a definite sound. When a person chants this sound, he resonates with the frequencies of his internal organs, and in this way tunes his organism into healthy vibrations. This approach to healing is called sound therapy; it is very well described in Daniel Goldman's book "Healing sounds". And once the body is tuned, it is possible to go on a shamanic journey to definite regions of shamanic tradition: "Upper", "Middle" and "Lower" world it is possible to visit these worlds with many various aims: to seek power, advice, help, new understanding of a situation, healing, etc.  after returning from such a journey we always make an object of power(mandala, Eeren, a doll, totemic animal), which later serves as a type of "anchor", which then connects us with the resource we located during the journey.

-  They say that by using one of the main shamanic practices - throat-singing - it is possible to learn to find causes of failures and even diseases - is it true?

-  Really, using sound methods it is possible to diagnose muscular and energetic blocks, obstructions in the body, which often serve as causes of many diseases. And then we can remove the cause and bring health.

-  And how because the throat-singing of the chieftains of throat-singing - Tuvans - depends on their boundless love of nature, and the value and beauty of the sound is measured by the ability to impart "living life" by entering into its essence. To what extent is a Ukrainian able to feel this love? Is it really natural to out mentality?

-  Our Ukrainian nation is very musical in its nature and authentic Ukrainian singing often overlaps with song traditions of Turkic people. On the other hand, sometimes the road to the musical stratum of an ordinary person leads through alcohol. But we talk about that and teach how to obtain joy from singing and drumming rhythms without additional stimulants.

-  To see the cause of problems is just half the matter. But can shamanism help in healing somebody who is already sick or to radically change the life of a confirmed loser?

-  For help of this kind it is necessary that the person himself takes personal responsibility for his life. In that case, the shaman will provide energies of light for his life, and will fight with the causes of the disease - in shamanism they are called spirits.

-   How much time is needed to learn some shamanic technique to a useful extent? Can anybody do it?

-  Everybody is different, but on the average it takes 2 - 3 years. It is difficult to take up the call and to go in that direction. The shamanic call can  find an ordinary material person who fell into a depression, or something that is called  being tired of life.  At such a time it is necessary to have confidence, listen to one's own  inner feelings and intuition, and to trust the world. Bu that is sometimes complicated.

-  Is there some universal recipe which lets you be in control of your thoughts in ordinary life, without resorting to shamanism, or is it possible to achieve only by prolonged training?

-  To be in control of your thoughts or feelings? People more frequently ask about controlling their feelings. My advice is to develop your perceptivity. Perceptivity is the "bumper" between the engendering of feelings and thoughts and action. With perceptivity, you get freedom of choice, and you free yourself from automatism. Perceptivity is developed by the simple method of self-observation. You turn on an inner "observer" that is inside and monitors the stream of thoughts, feelings and sensations. When such an "observer' is turned on, it is very much like  surfacing from deep water and taking a breath of air.

-  Nowadays bookstores sell a lot of literature about how to get rich, how to bewitch somebody, how to send a curse, how to make your life better and such things. Newspapers have many advertisements for various esoteric courses. How does one stay safe, how does one winnow out everything redundant and pick the approach that really can help on the path to harmony?

-  The teacher comes when the student is ready. And it really works this way. How will you know if it is  a teacher in front of you or not? The main criterion is the trust you will feel towards him. Would you buy a used car from him? Or would you leave your child with him for several hours? And pay attention to what he looks like, if it corresponds to the teaching that he is presenting. Often a true master looks very simple, just like an ordinary person, you can't understand right away who is in front of you.

-  And in conclusion of our talk, I will pose the main question: what is shamanism - is it magic or just a lot of hard work?

-  Shamanism is joy and energy, it is many friends, it is a united, single world.