Avid Snowboarder | Mystic | Piano player | Laughter Lover |
Jan Engels-Smith
JAN ENGELS-SMITH, ShD., MEd., is a Shamanic Practitioner, Licensed Professional Counselor, Chemical Dependency Specialist, Hypnotherapist, Reiki Master, and author. Through decades of experience as a master teacher and shamanic practitioner, Jan has captured the essence of transformation and well-being.
Her mission is to provide excellence in shamanic education, and to support personal growth for well-being, adapting ancient healing techniques to contemporary life in the 21st century. A leading expert in her field, Jan has performed over 3500 soul retrievals. In 1994, she founded LightSong School of 21st Century Shamanism and Energy Medicine and developed the first energy medicine curriculum of its kind, which allows for those with a curious interest in energy medicine, right through to those that would like to obtain a Bachelors, Masters or Doctorate in shamanism.
She has written two books: Through the Rabbit Hole: Exploring Energy and the Shamanic Journey and Becoming Yourself: The Journey from Head to Heart, which won the readers choice award, writes a monthly article for the Sedona Journal of Emergence, and has authored two CDs: Take Your Body With You, a shamanic drumming CD, and . Awaken~Unburden~Create, a meditation CD package of shamanic healing ceremonies in guided imagery formats.
Jan is a featured author in: Shamanic Transformation: True Stories of the Moment of Awakening, and Shamanism for the New Millennium by best-selling authors Betsy Chasse (What the Bleep Do We Know) and Cate Montana, and is published in “The Journal of Science and Healing.” A case study: Shamanic Healing for Veterans with PTSD.
www.lightsong.net
My 10 Best
(In no particular order)
Creative Visualization
I read this book, which sparked an “aha!” moment, in my early 20s. It made me realize I wasn’t stuck in my life situation—I could change it. I became obsessed with making and eventually teaching the art of “goal board” magic. The proficiencies of manifestation were often spell-binding, a springboard that launched me into exploring myself, what I could create, and discovering the quantum fields as the generator of manifestation.
How to Survive the Loss of a Love
In my 20s, I wrestled with overwhelming grief and despair, desperate to escape the pain. I came to realize that much of my suffering stemmed from my egoic thoughts—I was trying to make someone else wrong to relieve my hurt. This book taught me the profound practice of “loving the enemy,” a shift that unlocked transformative possibilities. I’ve carried this philosophy with me ever since, applying it as a guiding principle in both psychotherapy and shamanic practices. One of the methods I have embodied is sending blessings to those who might seem to be my “enemy.” Sending blessings, feeling love towards them, has led to miraculous outcomes; prayers for another’s good fortune have an astonishing way of bringing opportunities and abundance to both our lives.
Windhorse Woman
My husband gave me this book, and it offered my first glimpse into transformation and spiritual intervention. I was captivated by the story, set in the majestic Himalayas of Nepal—a place I found myself traveling to just months after finishing the last page. Reading it stirred something deep within me, and suddenly, everything aligned to make the journey possible. Arriving in Nepal felt like stepping into the pages of the book itself. Immersed in the vast, serene landscapes and sacred atmosphere, I experienced a spiritual awakening as I interacted with Mt Everest unlike anything I’d ever known. The journey became a pivotal moment in my life, so profound that it found its way into two different books: Becoming Yourself: The Journey from Head to Heart and Shamanic Transformations: True Stories of the Moment of Awakening, edited by Itzhak Beery. Nepal gifted me an awakening that forever altered my spirit, deepened my practice, and transformed my understanding of the journey within.
Future Memory
My son gave me this book for Christmas when he was about 12 years old. This gesture touched me deeply. As a shamanic practitioner, I often struggled to explain my soul retrieval work to my family, feeling misunderstood and somewhat isolated. This gift felt like a quiet affirmation, a sign of acceptance, maybe even a hint of understanding. The book explores the idea of experiencing the future in a vivid, sensory way—an approach that stretches our sense of reality, time, and destiny. It sheds light on creation, consciousness, and the intricate workings of existence. Understanding that multiple realities are unfolding simultaneously and that only our egoic minds tether us to the past or future was profoundly validating. In a shamanic journey, one can move to the future just as easily as to the past—a truth that Future Memory helped me embrace on an even deeper level.
Soul Retrieval
In 1988, I experienced an apparition that changed my life entirely. It took two years—and a move across the country—to find someone to help me understand it. Finally, I connected with an angelic channeler who handed me this book, saying, “This is your life.” Reading it felt like a profound remembering of who I was; until that moment, I hadn’t even known what soul retrieval was. But after finishing the book, I reached out to the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and began my journey in shamanic education. Since then, I have conducted over 3,500 soul retrieval healing ceremonies, dedicating my life to helping others heal. This book set me on an extraordinary path of evolution and discovery, guiding me into a life of service and transformation.
Kryon
One of the Kryon books describes “badges of color” we earn through awakening. We become privy to these badges after we transition out of the physical realm. These badges are much like Boy or Girl Scout badges you earn through intentional participation pertaining to certain topics. This concept resonated deeply with me; in shamanic journeys, I often see vivid bands of color in people’s soul retrievals—colors that are sometimes hidden or eclipsed, causing people to feel fragmented or hurt, which the spirits work to restore. This series has been a powerful validation of what I have witnessed in my healing work. I see these books as spiritual exposés, revealing new layers of healing and illuminating life’s mysteries in profound ways.
The Power of Now
I love this book and often quote it in my shamanic healing classes: “Uncontrollable mind chatter is the cause of ALL your suffering.” When I feel distressed, I return to this quote and reflect on how I perceive the situation. It’s been a profound tool for my work and personal practice.
My Stroke of Insight
As a neurosurgeon who experienced a stroke on the left side of her brain, Jill was thrust into navigating life from the perspective of the right brain. This insight mirrored what my spiritual allies had shown me: shamanic journeying involves tapping in to a place not ruled by the left-brain ego. Her story helped me teach others to move from the “woo-woo” perception to an empowered, whole-brain approach.
Of Water and the Spirit
Malidoma’s story is of being kidnapped at age four, held captive by priests for twenty years, and ultimately finding his way back to his village. When Malidoma returned to his village, he was told he could no longer “see” as he once did and no longer fit in that world. We are all born with an inherent ability to perceive the world as alive and interconnected, yet this capacity is conditioned out of us as we grow. This chasm, this severance from our original way of perceiving, is what I find so astonishing about shamanic journeying. It allows us to bridge the gap and reconnect with our “right brain,” the way we naturally perceive the world at birth. In journeying, we are reclaiming our birthright, something Indigenous peoples have retained and embodied all along.
The Hidden Messages In Water
In a shamanic journey, I asked, “What is something about water that I don’t know?” The answer was that water is entirely programmable. In shamanism, everything has an inherent program except for clear quartz crystals and, I learned, water. This book validated that concept with stunning photographs of water crystals, which changed in direct response to words placed on their containers. Since we are at least 70% water, I realized the power that words hold for all of us. This discovery deepened my understanding of water’s unique potential in shamanic healing and programming, as well as the vast ways that people can change their inner world (of water) through the power of words—What they speak, think, feel, and wear on their t-shirts.