270. Transform Your Life with Shamanic Journeys: Expert Tips from Martin Theis

Kara Goodwin: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the meditation conversation, the podcast to support your spiritual revolution. I'm your host, Kara Goodwin, and today I'm joined by Martinte. 

Martin Theis: Hello? Hi.

Thank you.

Kara Goodwin: So Martin is a spiritual coach and teacher who focuses on mental and emotional wellbeing through the art of Shamonic journeys. The mission of his practice Light Trails is to assist others on their journey from suffering to inner peace and joy. Martin lives in Germany, Norway, and Hawaii, and is in the process of building a decentralized network of nonprofit organizations that aim at building sanctuaries.

For people to find [00:01:00] healing and regeneration. So welcome Martin. It's such a joy to connect with you.

Martin Theis: Yes. It's so nice to be here. I mean, we've been waiting, waiting in quotations for this day, quite a while. So it's nice that it's arrived and that we're here.

Kara Goodwin: Yes, it has been on the books for a while, so thank you for your patience. I'd love to just start by learning a little bit more about you and how you came into Shamanism.

Martin Theis: Coincidence. like how I came into it was really just. A person, a friend of mine who recommended after having done a workshop, and I was really interested in what he said and what he experienced. And, so I went, I went down that rabbit hole because someone else had told me about it. So that was my touchpoint with that.

And so my personal story is really just the one that I described in the mission of [00:02:00] Light Trails is, That journey from suffering to inner peace and joy, where I was really struggling with life in general. I didn't know what my purpose was. Like we don't even have to talk about purpose. I didn't know what I'm doing here, basically, so why?

Kara Goodwin: And about how old were you at that time? If I can ask.

Martin Theis: I would say probably from my later teenage years, like adolescence into my mid twenties, so I was really struggling also having to deal with almost like,a depression that was coming and going. So more Yeah, something that was always there. Sometimes more present, sometimes less so, but it was always like even on the back burner.

So that was also really making it hard and coming from this place of really [00:03:00] being. Not good enough. I know very, very many people can relate to this because this seems to be some of the sentences that a accompanies so many people that we feel we are insufficient. We don't, we are not good enough in so many ways.

So that is where I was starting out from. And so after realizing and finding these ways through these semantic journeys, I felt,Because I see so much suffering in the world and not only limited to human beings, but also the whole planet. It just feels if I can support with my work a little bit in, in healing, healing this system that we're all living and healing this planet healing.

All the relations basic,in a shamanic approach. The relations are also what we pray to, right in, in all the organisms and beings that we are. That, is what, what really motivates me, to [00:04:00] just be of service. Dr. Wayne Dyer often said late in his later years, just how may I serve?

if we ask ourselves this question, then that is, because we don't, we can't take any anything with us when we die. So when we leave this physical experience, he said, we're not taking anything with us. So the only thing we can do with our lives is to give it away, is to serve others. And so I really resonate with.

With that perspective.

Kara Goodwin: Mm. Thank you for that. Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about your specific lineage that you practice? when you talk about. Shaman journeying. Is this something that involves plant medicine or drumming? Or can Is, are there any kinds of, things that you can share with us about what that sort of practice is like?

Martin Theis: Yeah, so the first thing you mentioned, the lineage is pretty much. coming [00:05:00] from the Lakota tribe, from the Great Plains, or in the Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming area. So, that is where it's from. My, my mentor and teacher is a German woman, but she learned from natives, and she's passing on that knowledge to us in our circle here in Germany.

And,it is a drumming based traumatic journey. You mentioned that in the Southern American, lineage there's often rattling more so than drumming. So, so I know I've experienced both and I really appreciate both, but I mostly drum and sing sometimes or chant and, it is non-planned. Based or plant medicine based.

So, I know that there is a really great interest about these plant-based medicines. Even,like it, it almost feels like a little boom right now. But, we are journeying with the drum. The drum is the [00:06:00] canoe to non-ordinary reality or that this other reality that we journey to. And,that is my approach.

Kara Goodwin: Wow. So through this journey, through this drumming, is it a sense of entering like a, a. the feel that I get is like entering a stream or entering like a flow with the drumming. And then is it dependent on the people that you're with too, or do you do this on your own or, I'm just trying to get a sense of what, I guess set and setting and,

Martin Theis: Yeah, so can you clarify the last part With Do It doing it on my own or with the people?

Kara Goodwin: Is it within in a ceremony type of setting with other people? And then that's part of it too, is the combined energy and consciousness of a group, or is it something that you do on your own or both?

Martin Theis: Yeah. So, I do journey by my, [00:07:00] by myself sometimes if I have some homework or if I have something that comes up that is not necessarily a. That I don't bring to my supervision, to my circle. And it is also, it can be done in a group setting. I mostly work in one-on-ones with my clients, but I have webinars where, or group settings where it's people.

And you probably know that the energy of every person who is present is. Creating, co-creating this space. So it is always a little different probably. I see that in, in a similar way to the music that I play, as a dj. Even though my set that I played was always from the same source material, the way how I played in, how it came out and how it built up and everything is different with every place where I played because the energy of the people is different.

So, [00:08:00] That is pretty much the case here also. So depending on who is showing up in this circle, they are bringing their own stories, their own energy. they are in a way coming with questions and answers that everyone in this circle has, and that's that synergetic space that we are in when we work in circles that maybe someone brings forth an issue or an intention.

And somebody else might not be aware of. And some weeks further down the line, they are in a similar situation. And having been witnessed to that process and to the journey that the person talked about in the circle, they have some kind of, guidance, that they wouldn't have had if they weren't in the circle before.

So I think that is one of the really interesting aspects of this. Work that once we enter this sacred space, that time is really becoming even more relative than it [00:09:00] is already in our lives.

Kara Goodwin: Mm. Yeah. That's wonderful. And so inducing this shamonic state with your clients is primarily the primary method is with the drum.

Martin Theis: Yeah.

Kara Goodwin: Okay. And then, are they able, is it, does it induce like a trance-like state, would you say?

Martin Theis: I would say it's easiest described If we say it's like a sleep. A kind of a dream, not sleep because we don't necessarily have to be aware or dreaming in our sleep, but like a dream in which we are still to a certain degree, connected or aware of our body. It sometimes in a journey I completely lose track of my body.

I don't know that I'm lying there, but we have an added component of awareness, consciousness, and Even control, if you wanna [00:10:00] say that. So one, one part that I feel people feel drawn to the work that I do, in comparison to the medicine journeys, is that added element of I can exit whenever I need.

They don't ever do that, but they know that they could if they wanted to. If I induce. Some kind of ayahuasca or maybe peyote. I know that until this kind of flushes out of my system, I am out of control. Right? And so this element of a little bit, I'm a little bit more in charge than I would be. And, I am more, much more aware than in dreaming.

But the images are similar that come to me and the kind of reality. Is also similar to dreaming, where we can breathe underwater, we can talk to animals, we can listen to what a stone is telling me. Or maybe I'm having a meeting with the deity or someone, some, ascended master, [00:11:00] whoever that is, so that, that is possible.

So it's more aligned with dream, but we're more aware than we would be.

Kara Goodwin: Mm. And then is it, does it take some time to build up to where you actually do journey? does it take some sessions to be able to get clients into that state, or is it. Pretty, I mean like for, if we go back to the ayahuasca discussion, it's like you take ayahuasca, you're pretty sure gonna have a, an experience.

then you know, at that, even if it's your first time. how, what is it like with these types of journeys? Does it take a little bit of training to be able to get to the experience?

Martin Theis: I think it is probably. a very high number of people who are intuitively finding their way into it. So it's probably a really small [00:12:00] amount of people who are very tight in the sense, in maybe afraid that it might not work or with high expectations, some kind of really constricted, Way of approaching this, but it's really rare.

Kara Goodwin: in their minds.

Martin Theis: So it, but it's really in, in having guided so many people through my approach and that's the only experience that I can say. I know that I sometimes get stuck when I'm in, in my class, when I'm a participant in that. it's not a, a guarantee the longer we do it. The smoother it goes because the journey always mirrors us.

What is, what needs to be seen, acknowledged, and wants to be transcended, if you will, or integrated, So it wouldn't be fair to say the more you do it, the easier it gets or the more intense it gets. It is just like an up and down and depending on my [00:13:00] personal, connection to myself.

And how well I'm able to let go and really, surrender to this process

Kara Goodwin: Yeah, that makes sense. What role does the breath play? Do you have breath practices as part of this too?

Martin Theis: in a way, it, but it's really simple. It's just keep on breathing, feel, breathe, feel what comes up. If there's some stuckness or if we talk about this, I'm lying there and it's just black. I'm not journeying to anything. Then it's resistance and knowing that it's resistance and that we can work with resistance by just breathing, observing.

Seeing how we feel. Maybe the body, there is some energetical change in the body. Maybe there are some energy spots that open up where I can breathe into. So that kind of breath work I do. And I, support and tell and always remember in a [00:14:00] sense. But it's not a special technique, it's just.

Remembering, keep on breathing. feel the emotion if there's emotion that comes up. And, being aware of the breath as a medium for centering and just transformation.

Kara Goodwin: Hmm. Beautiful. So if there are people who are listening and they're like, I wanna have a shamonic journey, now you're in Germany right now and you spend time in Hawaii and Norway, Do you have any tips for people who are not in those places of how they, I don't know if you do these online or if you know how people could find like a trusted guide to be able to experience some of what you're talking about?

Martin Theis: I would say first and foremost, intuition, Just trying things out. whenever I was traveling and I was out of Germany, away from my [00:15:00] circle, I was just using the internet just looking for shamanic journeys or shamanic practices, whatever that is. And so I was looking for places where it could physically go.

That was before we had the great pandemic in the sense of that people opened up to. Zoom and online meetings much more afterwards. So the offer now is different than it was when I started. So I do it also digitally, and so, I aligned myself in my practice because of these time zones that you mentioned, that my free webinar series would start in Hawaii at 8:00 AM in the morning, but it's also possible to join here in Europe, 8:00 PM in the evening, and it would even be possible to join maybe in, in, Russia or one time zone further east, So, it is possible to participate and if we don't know where to start, to just really hold that intention, I would [00:16:00] really like to experience it. And if it's important to experience it live in a circle with people, then to just hold that intention and be. Be, trusting in the process that I can either Google it or maybe somebody tells me of it.

Kara Goodwin: Or maybe you hear the podcast here, you talk to someone and you say, I heard this podcast about traumatic journeys, and maybe there is an input, so it should just trust in the process that if I'm really interested in this kind of work, it will find its way to me, Thank you for that. Do you have any sort of beyond the intuition? Just I feel that shamanism is a term that is used a lot these days and there's not necessarily like. Always it, it might not always be easy to know, is the, is it a trusted person? Is there anything that, through your experience that you would say, like just some [00:17:00] watch outs or some things to be aware of so that people have, like if they're not in this world at all yet, it's like, well, how do I know if I should trust

Martin Theis: Absolutely. And I totally, I think that question is really a good one. It's just almost, it feels to me like a tight rope walk that, My experience is just my experience and I would feel repelled by certain things that other people find might find beneficial, or maybe there's an experience waiting for them that it's not necessarily positive, but it is something that is important to be had.

But what I usually would look out for is,the border land between the esoteric realm where somebody is healing me, where they take on that authority of I am the great guru, I am the shaman, and I will take away your negative energies. I will release that. [00:18:00] So as soon as I get the feeling that someone is. Putting themselves in a certain elevated place in terms of me, then I would feel like maybe that's not the right person for me. I know that there's great people who work energetically who do that kind of work. It's just I feel. It's, there needs to be some more trust in that, and I need to know a little bit more about that because it's just, like you said, it is a big question mark.

How is that person working? And other than that, I would just really look for someone who feels authentic to me. just like someone who walks the walk and talks to talk and, I've been always really intuitive in terms of that, so I, but I am also equipped with the kind of a radar where I, a bullshit detector.

I [00:19:00] fell into some situations that weren't really good and I learned about that afterwards. But oftentimes I feel like I can discern quite easily if this is something that is authentic or if that is something where, There is a little bit of shady business involved, so.

Kara Goodwin: that's y You've said some really great things here and they've triggered within me remembrances where, You know, I, or hindsight, hindsight of course is 2020 and,you know, I have fallen under the spell of some people where, you know, ultimately like, oh, that was, uh, You know, false. Like, whatever they were doing that was not for my highest good, that was for their good.

You know, like they, and they were taking advantage of things and, but looking back, it's like there were times where it was not. Easy for me to enter, meaning like they'd have some program and I would try [00:20:00] to register for it or pay for it, and I couldn't. I couldn't, like it kept failing, it kept doing, and I was like doing everything I could to reconcile that, where I was like contacting their administrator, doing like, oh, the payment didn't go through.

It's not charging. It's failing. When I get to the screen and banging my head against the wall to try to. Give my money to these people

Martin Theis: Yeah.

Kara Goodwin: because I thought that they were doing great things and then realized later, oh no, they're completely vampires and they're taking everybody's money and energy and so on.

But it's funny to look back and be like, The universe was trying to help me. Like several times it was trying to cut off, like, to be like, no, don't do it. And I'm going, oh my goodness, why is this so hard? Why is this so difficult? But continuing to just peck away at it, I'll make it work, you know? And so it's just funny because you talk about you have this radar, you have the intuition, And maybe if somebody [00:21:00] is feeling like they don't have that developed as, as well yet, pay attention to everything that's happening, where it's are you, do you feel like you're getting blocked?

is it difficult for you to move forward with this? Let's say you find a shaman, you wanna go on a journey with them, and then you're like, for one reason or another, scheduling conflicts are coming up, or you're unable to successfully pay, or whatever it is. That may feel like it's out of your control.

maybe have fresh eyes about what might be trying to happen, where it's not necessarily that you're getting an intuitive hit, but something on the physical realm is happening that's trying to cut it off, know?

Martin Theis: and I love that you say that because of these experiences, I developed a two strike rule for myself where I say if something isn't working twice, If I don't pay attention and it is also if some, if I'm not observant in the traffic with a car and I didn't [00:22:00] look and I entered a, an intersection and there was almost a car hitting me or something, that usually happened twice and if I still didn't pay any attention with a third time something happened where the consequence was.

Less appreciated by me. so those really help me. But I know that it's a rule that I made up for myself, like a play rule. And so maybe that is something, as you mentioned, if I'm trying to pay with a credit card and it's not working the first time, then I do it and then I'm already cautious like now, but then I try a second time.

And if it's not working, then I just let it go. I'm not saying I won't ever try again because there have been instances where I just let it go and it came back, and then I tried it and it went well and everything was fine. But just if something doesn't work twice, I usually step back and say, all right, what's the message here?

So, yeah.

Kara Goodwin: Yeah, I [00:23:00] love that. So can you talk to us a little bit about totem animals? I know that this is another part of your, I don't know if we should say practice or expertise or whatever, but I'm a big animal lover and I really notice I'm a beekeeper also, and I really notice like when animals show up in my dreams or in real life.

but I would love to know more about what, how animals are communicating to us.

Martin Theis: Yeah. So that I, you there, this, I don't know, like I've lost my speech here because,once we start working with animals, either in the spiritual realm or in the physical realm, it's just, it's really magical what they teach us. And I think that is what my definition of shamanism really comes down to.

Reestablishing a connection with nature. Animals, [00:24:00] plants, everything, rocks, like the whole planet is alive. the earth is just one big organism and really learning to be with and learn from each other. the other day on Saturday, I woke up and I had a, had a big bee, just like a bumblebee sized.

Honey bee in my socks. And I didn't notice, and it didn't sting me, but it bit me. And so I had this interaction with the bee, and because I love bees, you can probably relate to that. I just rushed outside, got some honey, fed it because it was really cold, fed it some honey, and then I got warm plate, set it on the warm plate so it could heat up, and then it flew away.

But that interaction to me was just so. Really enriching because it is that bees and for me, bees have something, have this guardianship over the, the flowers and the fruits, and they're really this important [00:25:00] species, that I feel whenever I meet. Or encounter and it, it be in that way that I can support it, that is really, it's almost ridiculous.

I feel like this is this small insect and I'm freaking out over this. Other people just really would say, have you lost your mind? But what I wanna say is that through the establishing a connection with animals and learning from animals and being. More of guardians on this earth rather than, exploiters to be honest.

Then we enter a space where life really becomes magical, like where we, telepathically speak with animals or with plants, and we hear the, we hear needs, in, in the shamanic journeys. That I do, the lead questions that I give my clients usually are, is there [00:26:00] something you have for me and is there something you need from me?

And if we interact with animals, either physically or in our shamanic journeys, they always have something to share. And there's always this interaction of,like help towards each other, right? This collaboration. And I think that is, What I take away from animals and going back to your question about totem animals, totem animal is our potential showing up in animal form.

And so one journey that is really, and it's interesting that this journey is so, so gathering so much interest in people. They always want to know. How do I do that totem animal journey? How can I meet my totem animal? So from everything I hear in podcasts and conversations, clients, the totem animal is just like what everybody is really curious about.

So I find that really interesting that we're all so [00:27:00] interested in that because we wanna know about ourselves, right? We want to understand who am I? And the totem animal is like a mirror. That helps us understand that, and to come more and more into our potential to see what does this animal need and where does it live?

What is this an environment? What are maybe, food sources or enemies, and how does it sleep? How does it mate? How is it hunting? And all these things can give us an insight into. Creating a life where we set the surround, the environment or the parameters in a way where we are able to, recall or use that potential in a more flowing, a, yeah, just more aligned way maybe.

Kara Goodwin: Mm. So is the totem animal, is there like one primary animal that's in our [00:28:00] energy field? Throughout our life, throughout our soul's existence, or do they come in and out as circumstances are needed or dictate?

Martin Theis: Yeah, I don't have any real experience with if a totem animal is so bound, so I have not, I mean, I have some, I've done some past life. Journey, like regression journeys where I was in Africa, which would make a lot of sense because my totem animal is a black leopard. So it might be, but it is basically, an animal that accompanies us our whole lives.

It's because I said it's our potential showing up in animal form. There are other ally animals or supporting animals that come and go like more. Depending on the situation or circumstance that we're in, I had a gorilla for a while when I was studying [00:29:00] for a couple of years, and I was really convinced that it was my totem animal.

At some point I realized this gorilla was just an animal helping me to go through these, this, the hardships of this university phase, and once it was over, it relatively quickly after really said it's goodbye. It's still a part of me, but it's not as.

Kara Goodwin: Prominent.

Martin Theis: Yeah. Yeah.

Kara Goodwin: Mm-hmm. Oh, that's fascinating. Yeah. I, a couple months ago had a dream specifically with a Peregrine, which is a type of bird, but I didn't re, I mean, I. I knew enough to know that it was a bird, but I was, it's like a peregrine hawk, I think is what it's called. But in my dream, I was like, oh, it's a peregrine.

And I was like, and I woke up. I was like, how did I know? Like, where did that come from? But it's just funny how these things come in and they can [00:30:00] be so specific like that, not just a bird, but a peregrine hawk, you know?

Martin Theis: Yeah.

Kara Goodwin: But, It's just, it, I find it really fascinating. And the other night I had a dream too where, there was like another worldly animal, like a mammal that was really furry and small and like gray.

But it was like not an animal that we have here on earth, but I was like walking through a forest and it was down by my feet and I knew enough that I knew it was wild and it wasn't like a pet or anything, but it was really close to me. And so it's just the, and that same dream. I also saw a lot of like cattle and livestock and horses and they were working.

So hard, like they, and being separated from their, moms and, I mean, it was just like, there was so, it was so difficult for them and they were like doing a [00:31:00] lot of manual labor of trying to pull something out of the mud, like by their teeth with ropes and things like that. It was just very, it was a very animal focused dream.

And now that we're talking about animals, I'm like, woo, it's all coming back now. But, yeah, it's amazing how they show up and, I suppose the messages or the feelings that they're able to induce within us can be really powerful.

Martin Theis: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Kara Goodwin: So, I would love to talk a little bit about circular economies because I know you're putting a lot of work into this. what is your vision of the future in terms of circular economies?

Martin Theis: So I believe that my utopian dream for the future is that. word circular economy is just almost [00:32:00] redundant, right? We're just, we are and benefit driven. So even if we have,a business, Then it is, we are seeing that as a responsibility. If we look at maybe profits or so, to step away, firstly, to step away from the need to accumulate.

That kind of really I need to have more and more that this is something that we will. Realize is very destructive, right? So, and when that falls away, we really don't need so much. And that is what I realized over the years when my basic needs are met, when I have food and when I have a community in which I feel safe and seen, and where I am loved and can love, and when I have, a place to sleep, then.

I don't need that much. Right? And so to use all that [00:33:00] surplus that we generate in a business to. Go either back to the environment or to social projects be because like I feel like even if we all started integrating circular economy right now, we would have a couple of decades probably where we could invest a lot of money in order to regenerate the earth and to regenerate society and to do these things.

So I feel like. Where it's more of a guardianship of wealth. It is not the wealthy have the,how do we say that? privilege to spend it as a wish, but to really see that wealth is a responsibility to really make sure that everyone in the tribe, if we stay local, everyone in this tribe has. Has enough.

Right. And to be really, I listened to I listened to a really interesting book the other day and it [00:34:00] was about the story of Horse, of really famous in the Western Sense, famous indigenous Lakota, who was most well known for his resistance to the United States. And to that closing in of the.

Of the things that happened in the mid eight, 18 hundreds. And so he was really that guardian who looked after his whole tribe and he was like looking, giving, passing on things that he found or acquired. And just that is the aspect that I feel like is really important in circular economy, where we start looking at our surrounding and knowing that by.

Creating wealth in the totality, we gain much more than by hoarding it for ourselves. And I hope that is a sufficient answer for you. I know we could deep dive into the mechanics and the theory of circular economy much [00:35:00] more, but I, that is what I believe is important to generate some kind of income or some kind of business and to redistribute it into different areas, me being one part of it.

So my needs are being met, but also making sure that I can redistribute it to my surroundings, to all the communities and environment that, that I am placed in or set in.

Kara Goodwin: I love that. And this is more from like an individual or business ownership perspective rather than a governmental, if I'm understanding correctly.

Martin Theis: Yeah, I think it's autonomous probably. it is. Yeah.

Kara Goodwin: Because I know that we see this in some governments and it's, it, the tendency can be to think oh, okay, this is something that the government would do. But it's well, no, it's, this is like at an individual level, like not expecting like some sort of big brother to do it for us, but rather there's [00:36:00] intentionality with it and there's a responsibility, like an individual responsibility part.

Martin Theis: Yeah.

Kara Goodwin: like a somebody do it on my behalf type of thing.

Martin Theis: Yeah. And that's why I said it's utopian because probably if we think it all the way through, it is a very anarchic or non-government structure because as soon as we empower ourselves and we say, well, we are making the decisions and we are looking out for each other. We don't need an external organ to do that for us.

So I feel like that falls away probably in that utopian version. But there's probably also a hybrid possible where the government supports certain things and is making sure that it's going well. But mostly it's probably an in initiative coming from the people as we see at the moment.

There it is a grassroots movement coming from the people.

Kara Goodwin: Yeah. I love that. I love that empowerment piece and I think that's [00:37:00] such an important aspect of it and, yeah, thank you for that. So Martin, it's just been absolutely delightful to talk to you. Can you tell us how people can connect with you and learn more about you?

Martin Theis: Yes, I have a website that is light trails.co and that is where everything comes together. I'm a little bit of a shine. I person when it comes to social media, not shy necessarily in front of the camera. I'm also not using social media as a passive user, so my website is probably the best place to reach me.

If you find an account, social media account, I make sure that I reply or give you attention as soon as I see it. I just don't know when that will be. So my website is the quickest way.

Kara Goodwin: Okay. Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for sharing your time and your insight today, Martin. It's been a joy to connect with you.[00:38:00] 

Martin Theis: Thank you so much.