This is a preview chapter from Robert Shapiro’s latest book, Lost Shamanic Wisdom.

All right. Now, I am woman — you say “shaman.” It’s not our word, but then none of these words are our words. Language, you say. Hmm. So the time in which I lived from your time is about 600 years ago. We lived at times in a flat area — not much of a mountain, you’d say, not even a hill — but it depended on the time of the year. The flat area was [our home] during spring and summer, and during the other time of the year, there was a mountain we were near, a beautiful mountain. But below the mountain, there was a warm, steamy cave, very big, and it stayed very warm all through the winter. Plenty of fresh water in the cave, so [we had] no problem drinking, and we could store the food we had saved during the warm time. This area you would now consider — I’ll give you a location — Colorado. And I believe that some of this (it’s possible) cave is still accessible.

Now, you want to know about knowledge, wisdom. I will share what I did. I was taught by Grandmother. My mother did not do these things, but Grandmother did and knew that her daughter, my mother, was not meant for it. So she was determined [laughs] to stay alive in hopes that a granddaughter would, and I was that person. She taught me about motion and how motion could be used to create answers — not to get answers that you would call words or explanations or advice, you might say, but motions that create. And if a change is needed for a person or a place or a thing or all the people, then certain motions might be able to accomplish that. It is in the motions that things are done — not the motion itself, but the effect of the motion.

Motion Can Transform Fear and Suffering