<em><strong>"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."</strong></em>
<strong>-- WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V about 1601</strong>

I had a transformative experience last night, and because of it, the world looks like a very different place today.

I recognize that first sentence might sound a little goofy, but mostly because I am accustomed to looking at life from a very different place. A very boring place. I believe in bank accounts, doctors, medicine, playing by the rules and living by the odds. I trust in things I can see and touch and I'm more cynical than I was when I was younger.

Certainly none of that prepared me for last night.

I've been seeing a psychologist weekly to deal with issues from my past, and we reached a point where he recommended that I try something different. He told me that he had met with a<a title="Shamanism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism" target="_self"> shaman</a> to work to peel away layers of old hurts. It sounded strange to me at first, but I respect my therapist and he told me it had worked for him.

So I met Mary Raymakers of <a title="Children of the Sun" href="http://www.childrenofthesun.com/main.html" target="_self">Children of the Sun Healing Therapies</a>. She explained to me that all of us are surrounded by energy fields, and that the pains and traumas we undergo in life cause "cuts" in those energy fields. Once they're cut, the pains and traumas just sit there and poison your life. Her job is to work with you to remove those poisons and rebuild your energy.

[caption id="attachment_315" align="alignright" width="158" caption="Inca healing"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/shield.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-315" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/shield.png" alt="" width="158" height="160" /></a>[/caption]

The theory comes from the ancient Incans. It certainly sounded strange to me, but she explained that my role in this would actually take a great deal of work. I would have to spend two hours or more remembering various traumas and then breathing in deeply through my nose and breathing out deeply through my mouth.

At first I couldn't imagine it doing me any good.

I was a complete skeptic.

Then I started breathing. I started thinking about the various traumas in my life, breathing in deeply and then expelling the air as strongly as I could. I found myself going from one thing to the next and dealing with them. My arms and legs felt heavy, and I found myself crying more than once.

Strangely, though, I was feeling better.

Once I was past each thing -- issues that had bothered me for years -- I could look back at them dispassionately. It felt as though they had lost the power to bother me.

By the end of the session, after working hard for nearly 2 1/2 hours, I felt different. I felt better than I had felt in years.

It has been nearly 24 hours since the session ended and I feel great. I feel like I'm going to be able to get back to work on my book and finish it, and I don't feel any of the regrets that have bothered me so much the last few years. I can look at the few things I have done really well -- being a good parent, writing my column for five years -- and celebrate them instead of being bothered by the things I didn't do.

I feel good about the future, whether it's another 10 years or another 40 or more. I'm glad to be alive.

All because of something I would never have considered possible until I tried it. There really <em>are</em> more things in heaven and earth than were dreamt of in my philosophy.