While we're not going to teach you how to "brew", or encourage you to do anything illegal, dangerous or beyond your level of knowledge/comfort, we ARE going to teach you all of the techniques you need to take control of your own healing. There is NOTHING we do that we don't teach. And by the end of your intensive retreat, you will KNOW:

✔   The history, mythology, science, and relevance of shamanic healing as it applies to our modern lives. 

✔   Ancient wisdom teachings and practical modern practices to heal, restore, and revitalize yourself naturally.

✔   The secret to shamanic journey and trancework that will and accelerate healing on every level.

✔  Elemental healing ceremonies and rituals to connect intimately with Mother Earth and align deeply with the natural universe.

✔   Powerful, wholistic methods to connect more fully with your totem animals, spirit guides, and innate intuition

✔   The ancient art of Soul Retrieval – the sacred shamanic approach to HEALING ON A SOUL LEVEL.

✔   How to heal yourself, stay healed, and heal others with these and other traditional shamanic techniques! 

Imagine intuitively knowing when something is out of balance AND how to correct it immediately.

Imagine keeping your mind, body, and subtle energies in a state of renewed wellness ALL THE TIME.

Imagine manifesting your desires effortlessly and living the kind of life you've always dreamed of.

Imagine helping the people you love live this level of wellness and connection.

Imagine having a profound connection with every organ and cell in your body... with every plant, tree, rock, and animal on Earth... with every star in the universe.

These are the kinds of outcomes you can expect when you learn how to work directly with Spirit. This is the aim of Shamanism, and the reason we teach the way we do. You CAN be your own shaman, more easily and joyfully than you ever dreamed... starting RIGHT NOW.

Who can learn Shamanism?

Literally anyone.

Some specific ceremonies - particularly plant medicines - have contraindications for certain conditions or medications. But these are only a small part of Shamanism... meaning there is plenty that you CAN do despite any health concerns. And most Shamanic healing techniques are extremely accessible.

Shamanism is a global phenomena, with cultural variants developing in EVERY early civilization we've yet discovered before the evolution of organized religion. And many modern religions still contain and maintain the influence of early shamanic practices.

Your ancient ancestors very likely practiced their own form of Shamanism... which is still present within you, encoded in your DNA.

What we think of as "Shamanism" today largely emerged through specific cultures who have maintained those practices in their original form. And while those culturally distinct practices have become the most 'popular' or prevalent touchstone for Shamanic healing, they represent only a small fraction of the global mechanism that comprises Shamanism as a universal whole. Thus, while these individual practices may be the easiest to encounter or experience in modernity, they are not the only way.

What About Cultural Misappropriation?

This is an interesting and sometimes complicated topic. At The Meehl Foundation, we strive to draw a clear distinction between culturally specific rituals and the animistic practice of Shamanism. "Shamanism" is not a singular entity, nor is it owned by any one particular group or culture. The culturally distinct rituals, however, DO belong to the cultures from which they arose... and from peoples who have fought long and hard to protect them. The key then, becomes recognizing, honouring, and teaching this difference... as well as how to engage with indigenous wisdom when it is shared.

We do practice and ocasionally teach some culturally specific rituals. In each instance, these practices were passed to us by someone connected to and recognized within the culture who has been given the authority to do so... and who has subsequently granted us permission to do so. This makes a BIG difference.

However, these rituals comprise a very small portion of what we do. On a larger scale, we focus far more on the CORE of Shamanic healing as it has existed around the world... as well as the ancient indo-european practices of our genetic ancestors. When you think Celts...  Vikings... Druids... Avalon... Apalachain Wise Women... all of these people practiced varying forms of very similar shamanism that relies on anism, earth-based spirituality, and spirutal connection. Many of which, you will find bear a shocking resemblance to the 'shamanic' practices you may be familiar with.

Whoever your ancient ancesotrs were, they WERE Shamans and Healers. And while it takes more work to reconnect with their lost forms of shamanism, it's ALWAYS well worth the effort. Because these culturally connected practices give us a doorway to connect with Shamanism in a non-appropriative way that is deeply embedded in and connected to your DNA, your lineage, and your healing.

What Shamanic Techniques Do You Teach?

This is a layered question, as many of the techniques we teach can only truly be grasped through personal experience. But, below you can find a small list of the most common/familiar practices that we incorporate.

Shamanic Journey - We utilize shamanic trance for healing and answer seeking, as both a meditative practice and a an active relational experience, to move beyond the veil and interact with the physical world.

Elemental Magic - We recognize the elements as archetypal powers and as living spirits, calling on them in an array of forms to assist with ritual, ceremony, and day to day life. The Medicine Wheel is ONE of the ways we have been taught, but only one.

Energy Work - We recognize that the visible physical realm is only one layer of our reality. And as such, we rely on a range of energetic techniques to address healing and interacting with the subtle layers of our realms. Reiki is one technique, but there are many... some with long forgotten names.

Soul Retrieval - The reclaiming of one's self is integral to the healing journey. There are many ways in which this can happen, some of which are entirely spontaeneous. However, we teach a simple and reliable method that is applicable to our modern lives.

Plant Medicine - We utilize a range of medicines and medicine ceremonies to address the deepest and most intense areas of healing. Some of these are culturally gifted, some are ancenstrally directed, others are simply ecologically provided by the land around us. But each is powerful, special, and uniquely healing. Herbalism is a subtle magick that is suffuse through our animistic practice.

These are only a few of the most recognizable practices we utilize. There are many others which are far more subtle and difficult to put into text... and many that overlap in various ways with the broad descriptions given above. Each practice is unique and deeply sourced with divine guidance and loving devotion.

What Medicines Do You Work With?

Well, that depends on how you define medicine. I suppose, what you really want to know is if we offer Ayahuasca... which we don't. But the use of Plant Medicine goes much deeper and farther than you may realize.

Firstly, nearly everything we do is tied to Plant Medicine in some way. The herbs we use in our curated meals, the 'holy waters' we use for cleansing, the smoke blends that we apply in ceremony... all of these are their own Plant Medicine. And we are careful in our sourcing and crafting of each and every one - many of which are cultivated or wildcrafted directly from the land we live on.

But, to get more to the point, we also incorporate more traditional ceremonial medicines as part of our rituals and healings, such as:

Cacao - cacao is a ceremonial medicine derived from the coco bean in it's purest form. It is a deeply loving, heart opening, and euphoric medicine that unites you with the heart of Mother Earth; opening your heart chakra and elevating your creative consciousness with a feeling of expansive and ecstatic connection.

Kambo - Kambo is a traditional healing ritual that calls on the medicine of giant monkey tree frog to induce a multi-level purification process that  detoxifies and reboots the immune system, releases stagnant emotions, and eradicates negative energy held within your body.

Hapè - Hapè is a medicinal snuff used widely in the amazon for a range of physical, mental, and spiritual ailments. Different varieties have different uses... from openning the heart, to reducing migraines, to making you invisible to dark energy.

Yopo - Yopo is a specific type of Hapè with visionary qualities that is particularly powerful when taken in ceremony. (It's also legal in every state except for Louisiana... don't ask me why.)

Los Niños - Niños are a wild-growing fungus native to all of the Americas, with potent curative properties for the mind, body, and spirit. When taken medicinally, Los Niños induce a deeply introspective healing process that effects every level of your being.

Sananga - Sananga is a unique and powerful healing ally that is applied as eye drops. Shaman's in the amazon insist that Sanaga will heal any and all ocular disorders, as well as increase night-vision, cleanse negative energy, increase good luck, and awaken a person's spiritual insight and vision.

Osha - Also called Lovage or Bear Medicine, Osha is an amazing American medicine that calls on the light and elevations of our sacred moutnains for blessing and protection both physically and energetically. By activating our higher heart, Osha allows us to connect deeply, with out attachment or codependence. It is a beautiful, lifting, and loving medicine that is amazing in or out of ceremony.

Mapacho - Mapacho is a wild sacred tobacco that is used for it's cleansing and grounding properties. Used to 'blow away' heavy or stagnant energies as well as carry out prayers to the ears of Spirit. As a grandfather medicine, Mapacho brings a uniquely compassionate and balancing masculine energy into ceremony.

These represent a small fraction of the medicines we use, but are an integral part of our ceremonies.

Who Are Your Elders?

We have been abundantly blessed to work with a number of Wise Women, Medicine Men, and Wisdom Keepers from a range of tribes, backgrounds, and practices... each of whom has provided a small piece of what has become our core approach and teachings. We give direct thanks and recognition to: Joe Turner (Ojibwe medicine man), Gwilda Wiyaka (Shaman), Bendis Quarry (Bandrui Priestess), Victor Escobar (Kambo shaman and guide), Neal Henegar (Kambo Practitioner), Sangeet Khalsa (Reiki Master), Ted Silverhand (Tuscarora Sagarissa Seer)... with notable gratitude to Alberto Villoldo, Sandra Ingerman, Ted Andrews, Terrence Mckenna, and Michael Harner for their work and contributions to the movement of global shamanism at large.

Additional Bio for Debra Meehl

Debra Meehl, is a plant shaman, specializing in entheogenic medicines and is an international conference speaker for soul-deep, whole-person healing. This includes soul loss and soul retrieval due to childhood and adult trauma and PTSD.

As the president and founder of the Meehl Foundation Spiritual Retreat Center, Debra has been intensively trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), critical incident debriefing, brain SPECT imaging, and is a clinical hypnotherapist. In her quest to bridge the gap between clinical and spiritual healing, she has also received a Doctor of Divinity, she is a Kambo practitioner, and has studied with Shamans and indigenous teachers from across the globe.  In addition, she was trained as a paramedic and was a lead instructor in Emergency Medicine

In total, she has over 20 years of hands of Western clinical and Indigenous spiritual experience in the trenches of trauma and addiction and has witnessed first-hand the unprecedented and unparalleled ability of soul retrieval and other traditional shamanic practices to heal the heart and soul of our most pressing personal and social issues.