Upon entering into Emma's healing space you may notice a
stillness and depth of wisdom that allows for the
truth to be revealed.
This is the spirit of the Owl.
Meet Emma
Emma Howden is a trained and qualified Shamanic Practitioner (spiritual healer, guide, teacher, facilitator) and Counsellor who embodies the shamanic paradigm in every part of her life. Holding a safe healing space for the community is her life work and an expression of who she is at the heart of her soul.
Emma's path to becoming a shamanic practitioner came about from her own search for personal healing. In this search she engaged in and studied a range of mainstream and alternative healing modalities and began to learn about healing and how it works. Emma became intrigued about how each modality moulded her inner and outer experience which eventually led her to study Shamanism where she experienced the most powerful methods for life transformation.
After discovering shamanism in 2015, Emma received much more than she was looking for, experiencing dramatic life transformation, deep healings and a pathway to a life that resonates richness and depth. Emma is deeply passionate about sharing these transformational life practices with anyone who wishes to experience their benefits.
Emma's vision
After finding such a powerful and transformational healing path Emma realised it needed to be shared with the wider community. Emma's offering is to create sacred space to guide & teach this soul medicine to any community members that wish to change their lives. Her vision is to continue to develop ways to share this healing practice and support individuals away from inner conflict, pain and turmoil and towards a bountiful and fulfilling life journey.
Emma's values
Emma values authenticity, integrity, gratitude and reverence for the spirit of life. Acknowledging and getting to know the spirit in nature and in all things nourishes her wisdom and inner stillness and she enjoys a simple life. When she is not working she is often found meditating or sitting in quiet solitude with the bushlands and beaches around the Central Coast in NSW.
Emma's Experience
Meditation
Emma first engaged with meditation in the early 1990s and has been exploring meditation practices from around the world ever since. Meditation has been a key component for building her awareness, consciousness and insight. She has meditated for over 25 years and embodies a hearty daily meditation and spiritual practice.
Reiki
Emma began learning about and practicing Usui Reiki in 2013 and offers Reiki Healing sessions, she also mixes in Reiki energy into her Energy Healings, when it is called into the session.
Counselling
Emma completed a diploma in Holistic Counselling in 2016 and has experience working with carers, disability, ageing, anxiety & CBT, depression, trauma, low self esteem and self worth, women's empowerment, lgbtq+, addictions, sensory processing seeking and avoidance, emotional overwhelm, inner child work, shadow work & health concerns.
Shamanic studies
Experiencing shamanic practices for the first time in 2015, Emma really delved in in 2017 when she completed the Certificate in Shamanic Studies with the Awareness Institute in Sydney. After completing this course and feeling a deep calling from the teachings she sought a teacher to help develop her knowledge, experience and wisdom. Emma then met Vicki Dean who holds a well of wisdom and opened up the shamanic pathway for her. She completed the Certificate and the Diploma in Shamanism and Transformational Mask and the Teacher Training with Vicki. Many of the shamanic teachings Emma has received come from the Americas and also from other cultures around the world. Her work holds a strong influence through the teachings of the land where she lives, nature spirits, ancestors and sacred sites of Indigenous Australia and the guiding spirits. Emma engages in Core Shamanism which is not specific to one lineage but that works through direct revelation and the common threads that run across the indigenous cultures. This provides a flexibility to adapt to the modern world and it's constant changes.
Community Work
Emma has spent her adult life working in many areas of the community from aged care to disability and spent 3 years living in Tanzania working in a community school. She has found her own inner turmoil a very humbling experience and has a natural empathy for all people and the situations they find themselves in. Emma has a very caring nature and loves to help and support others in the community.
What is Shamanism?
Shamanism is a term to describe an ancient survival tradition practiced by indigenous cultures across the earth for thousands of years. The practice involves entering into trance and embodied states to work with spirit beings for the purposes of survival, healing and guidance. It is important to respectfully note here that there are traditional shamans and shamanic practices that are exclusive to certain indigenous cultures. There is also a more generalised use of these practices, outside of their traditional roots, which is evolving and organic and derives from direct revelation with the spirit world. Shamanism is not an organised religion and has no official texts. It embodies realms much more expansive than just the physical word and recognises there is spirit in all things and that everything in nature is an animate being.
When I use the term 'shamanism' I refer to the practices that have been taught to me by my teachers which is the embodiment & navigation in trance states and connection of all of life and spirit to heal and evolve. My teachers have been taught by various teachers and shamans from around the world and have passed these practices onto me with the permission to be taught and shared with others. My experience is that these practices are highly effective, which is recognisable by the dramatic life transformation they have created in my own life and the many others I have worked with. Shamanic practices are ultimately experiential and are best experienced and explored by each individual.
What is a Shaman?
A shaman is the healer of an indigenous community that has the ability to enter into and navigate altered states of consciousness (trance) and by working with spirits and the spirit world creates change for the benefit of themselves, other community members and the whole community. A shaman often also has other vocations and skills such as a story teller, herbalist, teacher, artist, actor, social activist, tomato factory worker and takes on many other roles. When healing they enlist the skills of other tribe members to facilitate a holistic approach to healing. A shaman is recognised and appointed the role by the tribal and shaman elders and spirit world based on their natural ability to do the work, respect for life and desire to serve their community. Their training for the role starts in childhood and can run for over 40 years.
I am not a shaman, as this is an indigenous title appointed by an indigenous community. I have been trained in shamanic practices that I use for healing and engaging in the soul's journey and I therefore prefer the term shamanic practitioner.
What makes Shamanic Healing so powerful?
Shamanism is the ancient way of healing used in indigenous cultures before modern technology. This modality was the outcome of trials and tests of healing methods for thousands of years. In situations where sharing of healing knowledge and wisdom was not possible due to mountains, deserts and oceans, the same healing conclusions were found in indigenous tribes across the planet. The conclusions were the same because it is the natural way for human souls (spirit) to heal. Shamanism works within the energetic field (spirit world) and works outside of the limitations of time and space. This allows access to the root cause of all physical manifestations. Therefore, unlike most current therapies, it does not require an individual to process their troubles through the body system but works outside of the body and the confines of cause and effect. It is able to access generational conditions, ancestral trauma and allows distant healings as well as addressing the causes of everyday discomfort and disease.
In our modern day society, the shamanic path not only directs individuals out of the experience of discomfort and suffering but also connects them back with their spirit self and soul calling. The spirit or soul is where all the answers to all the questions in life are held, it also holds the energies of; intuition, gifts, personal power, compassion, wisdom, purpose, insight, clarity, ability to heal yourself, pure consciousness and the list goes on. What is even more compelling with shamanism, and something I have experienced myself, is that when you heal something within yourself, you also heal those around you; your family, community and ancestors, connecting with the ultimate truth we are all one living energy of the same spirit.
Additionally, each and every session is completely unique to suit each unique person and their unique life experiences, genetics, beliefs and soul journey. The shamanic processes derive from a direct guidance from the spirit world to create a unique and individual healing pathway.
Is Shamanic Healing safe?
During a shamanic healing the practitioner comes into a space that is highly conscious and aware. A good practitioner will be able to divide their attention between the spirit world and physical world, ensuring that the person getting the healing is comfortable and protected on both the physical and spiritual planes. The sacred space is also set up in a very protected and safe spiritual container. Shamanic healing, held with integrity, is more safe than the car ride over to the session.
What are the benefits of a Shamanic Healing in our modern world?
In today's world connection with who we really are is needed most as humans have become more disconnected than ever, clearly obvious by the sate of the planet's resources, nature, weather and animal extinction rates. Shamanic healing unravels the discomfort in life and provides valuable insights into individual's life circumstances. People report change in the issue they have come to heal and gain peace, hope and clarity for the next steps in their life.
Shamanism isn't about living in a cave and foraging for food, it's about honouring and being wonderfully compassionate to who you are right now with all your foibles and moving into more of you, your gifts, purpose and passion. It orientates people on their life path and helps connect with soul purpose.