Winkelman Michael J. Shamanism: A Biopsychosocial Paradigm of Consciousness and Healing

Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2010. — 309 p.This important book examines the nature of shamanism, humanity's oldest and universal expression of religiosity, from fascinating fresh perspectives. It shows consciousness to derive from a blending of bodily, neurological, social and environmental interactions, and the altered mind states of shamanism, specifically, to be adaptations of these causing ancient and modern parts of the brain to function in an integrated manner allowing nonverbal, symbolic and metaphorical mental content to be experienced directly in immersive ways, such as in 'shamanic flight' – the so-called out-of-body experience. The book touches on a considerable range of related topics such as healing, the effects of music on the brain, and, most importantly, it explores how the development of shamanic rituals was a key factor in human evolution.Michael Winkelman, Ph.D. (University of California-Irvine), M.P.H. (University of Arizona) is an Associate Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. He served as President of the Anthropology of Consciousness section of the American Anthropological Association, as was the founding President of its Anthropology of Religion Section. His principal publications on shamanism include Shamans, Priests and Witches (1992) and (with J. Baker) Supernatural as Natural (2015). He has also addressed the role of psychedelic medicines in shamanism in his co-edited Psychedelic Medicine.