The Intersection of Contemplative Creative Practices and Modern Shamanism

In recent years, a renewed interest in integrative healing approaches has drawn attention to the intersection between contemplative creative practices and nature-based traditions. As my own practice deepened, I became increasingly drawn to the space where contemplative creativity meets nature-based wisdom. Within that space, I’ve discovered a shared language of reverence—an invitation to slow down, to listen, and to remember our interconnectedness with all forms of life.

Contemplative creative practices and meditation invite participants to cultivate awareness through direct experience. They offer a structured way of accessing the embodied mind and its relationship with the living world and cosmos. Modern shamanism, while rooted in ancestral and indigenous wisdom traditions, has evolved into a cross-cultural framework for reconnecting with nature, energy, and collective consciousness.

The Lojong Center’s upcoming programs, Contemplative Bio Training (CBioT) and We Are Earthlings (launching in 2026), emerge from this dialogue between inner and outer eco-biology. Both initiatives explore how contemplative creative methods and bio-spiritual practices can support psychological healing, eco-biological awareness, and embodied mind transformation.

The purpose of this post is to explore how these two approaches complement and enrich one another. By examining their theoretical foundations and practical applications, we can gain a deeper understanding of how a contemplative and earth-centred orientation supports mental health, creative expression, and our sense of belonging to the natural world.

Understanding Contemplative Creative Practices

Contemplative creative practices are structured methods that integrate meditation, mindfulness, and creative expression as pathways toward self-awareness and transformation. These practices are grounded in contemplative science and Buddhist psychology, emphasizing direct observation of the mind, embodiment, and compassionate presence.

Through such modalities, individuals learn to observe, recognize, and name their inner experiences—a process that deepens attention and reduces reactivity.

Research in art therapy, mindfulness-based interventions, and contemplative neuroscience has consistently demonstrated that combining mindfulness and creative processes supports emotional regulation, enhances neuroplasticity, and fosters a sense of coherence among the body, mind, and environment.

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The Contemplative Bio Training (CBioT) developed at The Lojong Center expands on these foundations by introducing the biological and ecological dimensions of practice. Participants explore how the nervous system, breath, and creative expression are interconnected with natural rhythms and elements. The training emphasizes experiential inquiry—learning through embodiment, awareness, and creative engagement with living systems.

The benefits of contemplative creative practices extend beyond personal healing. They offer a framework for relational presence and ecological consciousness, helping practitioners recognize the interdependence between human life and the environment. As mindfulness becomes embodied through creative action, it transforms into an active expression of gratitude and care for all forms of life.

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Understanding Modern Shamanism

Modern shamanism reminds us that the human spirit and the natural world are not separate. Drawing from ancient wisdom adapted for our times, it uses rhythm, movement, and ritual to reawaken our sense of belonging to the web of life.

During a workshop with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, I experienced a profound introduction to this approach. Practices such as divination were presented not as fortune-telling, but as a means of perceiving archetypes of the mind—mirrors that reflect our inner landscape. Through soul songs, participants gave voice to what lies deep within the embodied mind—a cathartic creative expression that unites emotion, intuition, and sound.

The shamanic journey, guided by rhythmic drumming and visualization, felt deeply akin to creative visualization in contemplative practice. It became a method of accessing inner wisdom, meeting symbolic guides, and awakening what in CCT we call the wise mind. This intuitive intelligence knows how to restore balance and meaning.

These experiences highlighted how shamanic practices can complement contemplative creative approaches. Both invite direct experience, self-reflection, and the integration of body, mind, and spirit through creative, embodied awareness.

At The Lojong Center, the upcoming “We Are Earthlings” workshop (2026) explores this approach through meditation, contemplative creative practices, and nature-based rituals. It’s an invitation to slow down, breathe with the Earth, and experience what it means to be fully alive and interdependent.

Modern shamanism, like contemplative practice, teaches us the importance of presence, reciprocity, and care. It bridges the spiritual and the ecological—reminding us that when we heal our relationship with nature, we also heal something deep within ourselves. The intention is not to imitate ancestral practices, but to listen to the embodied mind, the heart, the elements, and the universal energy that moves through all beings.

Both contemplative and shamanic paths invite us to slow down, to listen deeply, and to remember that our healing and the Earth’s healing are one and the same.

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Where They Meet

When contemplative awareness meets shamanic experience, creativity becomes a form of communion. The brush, the drum, the breath—all become instruments of connection. Through contemplative creative practice, we not only express what we feel but also participate in the living dialogue between human consciousness and the natural world. These practices remind us that transformation is a relational process. To care for the Earth is to care for the mind. To tend to the embodied mind is to tend to the planet.

Both Contemplative Bio Training and We Are Earthlings grow from the same seed of understanding: that awareness, compassion, interdependence, and reverence for life are inseparable. Together, they offer a space to cultivate awareness, creativity, and ecological empathy.

If this resonates with you, take a moment today to step outside, breathe with the trees, and offer gratitude for the life that sustains you.

A mantra of gratitude: “I am earling, I breathe with the Earth. We are earthlings, we give thanks for all that sustains life on this Planet.”

To learn more about upcoming programs, visit The Lojong Center or sign up for our newsletter for updates on contemplative and nature-based trainings.

Book: Michael Harner (1980). The Way of the Shaman. Ed. Harper Collins Publishers.