In the work of documentary filmmakers, explains Nick Polizzi, one cardinal rule is never forget that your job is to document, not participate. But when Nick set out to explore the native outback of the Americas - meeting healers, shamans, and medicine women and tapping their well of ancient wisdom, nearly lost to the rest of the world - he had to bend that rule. As he found his way into highly sacred and often very private shamanic ceremonies, not...

How does one integrate lessons learned from nature in daily life? This feature documentary is an experiential journey into the mystical practices of Japanese mountain asceticism. In Shugendō (the way of acquiring power), practitioners perform ritual actions from shamanism, "Shintō," Daoism, and Tantric Buddhism. They seek experiential truth of the teachings during arduous climbs in sacred mountains. Through the peace and beauty of the natural...

Ms. Taki Kudo says she has been able to connect with deities since she was six or seven years old. Even in modern Japan, mediums like Ms. Kudo are in demand, providing such traditional services as expelling a curse and invoking spirits for health and long life.

Once brutally persecuted under the Soviet regime, Buddhism is back in Buryatia in Southern Siberia. But with a past where lamas were killed in prisons and temples burned to ashes, there are few masters left to pass on the tradition.

A crusty old man and a beautiful young girl live on a fishing boat, which has been floating at sea for over 10 years. The old man plans to marry the 16-year-old on her next birthday, and counts the days down on his calendar. In addition to the girl, the old man also cherishes his bow, which he uses predominantly as a weapon to fight off would-be admirers of his lovely shipmate. However, the bow is also a useful device for shamanistic fortune-telling...

Cremation rites are the most elaborate rites of passage performed by Balinese householders. Poor families may wait years before accumulating enough resources to cremate their dead, who are buried in the meantime. In 1978 many more cremations than usual were carried out because of the great purification cermony, Eka Dasa Rudra, held at Bali's main temple, Besakih, in 1979. Religious officials recommended that all Balinese cleanse the island by cremating...

This film is an exceptionally vivid portrayal of shamanic activity, as well as an exploration of the close connection between politics and shamanism in Yanomamo culture.

12 stories of miraculous healings using shamanistic tools and techniques. One of the pioneers in energy healing and shamanism recounts twelve miraculous stories in which, through the use of shamanic energetic techniques, people experience extraordinary physical and emotional healings. Meet a dancer who could barely walk until a series of sessions with Alberto Villoldo, a businesswoman who is freed from headaches and discovers the benefits of an integrated...

For us to perceive any of the worlds that exist beside our own, not only do we have to covet them but we need to have sufficient energy to seize them. In this revolutionary book, Carlos Castaneda offers readers the key to this energetic conditioning for the first time, revealing a series of body positions and physical movements that enabled various sorcerers, and their apprentices, to navigate their own sorceric journeys. By sharing this centuries-old...

Shamanism is an ancient spirituality rooted in the belief that all matter has consciousness and that accessing the spirit in all things is part of what keeps the world and people healthy and in balance. Spirit beings surround us and are the source of a spirit walker's ability to profoundly influence life events and thrive in difficult circumstances. In Spirit Walking, shamanic practitioner Evelyn Rysdyk shows how we can all connect with the spirit...