The gift of the unconscious and how to travel there
This week’s show is with Ya’Acov Darling Khan, the author of the best-selling Jaguar in the Body, Butterfly in the Heart – the Real-Life Initiation of an Everyday Shaman (Hay House 2017), and Shaman – Invoking Power, Presence and Purpose at the Core of Who YOU Are (Hay House March 2020). Ya’Acov is known for his blend of strength, humility and humour.
He is acknowledged as a practicing shaman by the people who work with him world-wide and by many indigenous elder shamans and communities from the Arctic to the Amazon.
Travelling the world to work with groups delivering Movement Medicine, Ya’Acov has spoken to audiences across the globe at some on the most pre-eminent platforms driving the transformation of world culture and sustainability (California’s Esalen organisation, The Embodiment Conference), as part of line-ups which include our most influential voices of spirituality today including Marianne Williamson and Ken Wilber.
Ya’Acov’s message of Shamanism, and a shift from society’s focus on acquisition to reciprocity, is the key to restoring our universal connection and solving our interpersonal and world issues in the process.
As early as age 7, Ya’Acov, the son of an entrepreneur raised near Liverpool, felt drawn to the down-to-earth connection with the spirit world that shamanism invites.
With age, the calling to explore this world intensified. After struggling for years to come to terms with a perception of life that only traditional Shamanism could explain, it was being struck by lightning on a golf course that proved to be the awakening which was to change the course of his life forever.
So began Ya’Acov’s three decades of study and practise with spiritual teachers and Elder Shamans from the Sami (European tradition), and Achuar and Sápara peoples of the Amazon.
“Along the way I had to carve out a sense of normality and accept that this being’s soul, speaks the language of dance, ritual and prayer. I have come to recognise the fact that reawakening a sense of the magic, potential and splendour of creation in as many people as possible, is the blessing I am lucky enough to call my job!” says Ya’Acov.
His work is inspiring, contemporary and practical, and Ya’Acov’s audience includes people from all walks of life. In a time in which western society has become disconnected from ancestral and natural wisdom, much of his work is about education and removing the unhelpful mystique of the term ‘Shaman,’ meaning traditional healer.
His 33-year marriage and partnership with ‘Movement Medicine Woman’ and wife, Susannah, with whom he is Co-Director of The School of Movement medicine and Co-Author of Hay House published Movement Medicine, forms the loving foundation and union for a life dedicated to the transformation of our world.
“As a species, we are in a crisis. Our work? To reach as many people as possible and support them to know who they really are, find their purpose and live meaningful lives.”
Ya’Acov’s latest book, Shaman – Invoking Power, Presence and Purpose at the Core of Who YOU Are was released in March 2020.
In this show, Ya’Acov and I explored such gorgeously rich ground and so timely for our current rupture of Corona Virus and the events following the murder of George Floyd. We talked about the invitation these events have created to step into the unknown of the unconscious. The reactivity of our nervous systems and how fear gets in the way of us being able to be open in the enquiry of the unknown, and lastly how we can create the embodied safety to journey into that dark but rich territory.
This was one of my favourite shows… Ya’Acov is one wise and grounded man. This was real medicine for me and I hope for you too.
I’d love to know what YOU think about this week’s show. Let’s carry on the conversation… please leave a comment below.
What you’ll learn from this episode:
When we are able to allow ourselves not to know we become open to discover what we don’t know. Culturally that’s not encouraged… we are trained to know, to do the ‘right thing’ but from there very little consciousness and creation is possible.
Most of us will have trauma that is triggered when we feel we’re wrong or don’t know, bringing loving awareness, the archetypal Mama, helps to ease us into allowing what’s in shadow to be seen.
The more we travel the path into our bodies, the more we can create the safety to be in the space of the unknown and the more present, sensitive and grounded we can be.
Resources and stuff that we spoke about
Thank you for listening!
There’s a fresh episode each week, if you subscribe then you’ll get each new show delivered to your device automagically (that way you’ll never miss an episode):
Thank you!
Lian & Jonathan