The Power of Shamanic Vision Quests

WHAT'S A VISION QUEST? The vision quest is a timeless spiritual practice. The traditional quest is one where the questor goes out alone in the wilderness and fasts from all familiar things---food, (sometimes water) and all communication with people for a period of days or weeks. All the great spiritual teachers, such as Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, spent time alone in nature to connect with their higher spiritual self. You've probably heard about Jesus spending 40 days in the desert fasting. That was vision questing. There are many forms of questing from every continent in the world. More common quests are four-day quests. Some consider the "sweat lodge" a form of questing. This ancient practice is becoming lost as there are very few that teach about it today. BENEFITS OF A VISION QUEST Why would people want to put themselves thru this "little death"? The purpose is to quiet the mind and take inner journeys---very possibly the greatest inner journeys one can take. When you spend extended time in nature, your everyday mind (the beta mind state), starts to quiet down. As it quiets down, the higher mind, also referred to as theta and/or delta states of mind,emerges. As you access this higher mind, you connect to a higher force, to the spirit-that-moves-through-all-things. And when that happens, it is life transforming. Many questors get visions during their times of solitude in nature. A quest can help you map out your life's path or what you need to accomplish before you leave this planet. It answers the deepest spiritual questions and helps you to connect with Spirit. It also tests and develops rnyour personal strength. Grandfather, a very powerful wise elder, considered the vision quest an absolutely necessary spiritual practice that could not be substituted. WHO WAS GRANDFATHER? "Grandfather" was an Apache wise man, healer and scout, named Stalking Wolf. By the time he was 20, he was called "Grandfather" by all the elders in his tribe, a sign of great respect for his spiritual and earthly wisdom. By way of several vision quests, he discovered that his path would be to leave his tribe for 60 years, traveling up and down the Americas searching out spiritual truths. At the age of 23, he left his tribe and became a wanderer on a life-long spiritual quest. To see a video on this article, click here.