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Christina Pratt pounds on a drum as clients meditate during a workshop called ‘Masks of Illusions and the Authentic Self’ at Seven Springs Ranch in Dixonville. Pratt, an author and shaman, recently published An Encyclopedia of Shamanism. She has studied with shamans in Ecuador, Nepal, Tibet and Africa.
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ENLARGE
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Christina Pratt laughs at a joke made by one of the workshop attendees as they paint paper masks of their own faces. The Roseburg native runs the Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing in New York City and another center in Portland, staging classes and workshops around the U.S.
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GLIDE — Christina Pratt walks slowly inside the circle of feet that belong to her students, methodically beating a round flat drum.
The people lying on the hardwood floors of the Loft at Seven Springs Ranch on Buckhorn Road focus, eyes closed, on the intense rhythm, coaxing themselves into another realm.
The Roseburg native had asked them to search for their soul’s purpose during this meditative state. In the world of shamanism – a belief system that involves communicating with the spirit world – the exercise is called journeying.
Doing so is one of the steps Pratt, a shaman, hopes will allow her students to eventually discover their true individual purpose in life.
“There’s a lot of people that feel their life is kind of flat. … That idea that there really is something here that could give their life more joy, more meaning … It’s really exciting to people,” said the 46-year-old, who now lives in Portland.
With their visions in mind, Pratt’s students created masks to reflect their journeys during last week’s workshop called “Masks of Illusion and the Authentic Self.”
Her students had traveled far to absorb her healing techniques in search of some sort of peace and guidance in their lives.
Fellow Portland resident Masha Sanders found the workshop, her first, liberating. She found she could sing, for example, if she sung from her soul instead of her head.
“The week has been an incredible journey of self-discovery,” she said.
The people lying on the hardwood floors of the Loft at Seven Springs Ranch on Buckhorn Road focus, eyes closed, on the intense rhythm, coaxing themselves into another realm.
The Roseburg native had asked them to search for their soul’s purpose during this meditative state. In the world of shamanism – a belief system that involves communicating with the spirit world – the exercise is called journeying.
Doing so is one of the steps Pratt, a shaman, hopes will allow her students to eventually discover their true individual purpose in life.
“There’s a lot of people that feel their life is kind of flat. … That idea that there really is something here that could give their life more joy, more meaning … It’s really exciting to people,” said the 46-year-old, who now lives in Portland.
With their visions in mind, Pratt’s students created masks to reflect their journeys during last week’s workshop called “Masks of Illusion and the Authentic Self.”
Her students had traveled far to absorb her healing techniques in search of some sort of peace and guidance in their lives.
Fellow Portland resident Masha Sanders found the workshop, her first, liberating. She found she could sing, for example, if she sung from her soul instead of her head.
“The week has been an incredible journey of self-discovery,” she said.
So how did a girl from Roseburg grow up to help people answer the ultimate question: Why am I here?
Pratt has a hard time explaining it herself.
After graduating from Roseburg High School in 1979, Pratt, the daughter of Jim and Jacie Pratt, moved to the East Coast to study chemistry. She didn’t want to become a chemist, she just wanted to know how the world works.
She considered medical school, but ended up in New York City to pursue a career in dance, a lifetime hobby.
The Big Apple’s a rough place to gain a foothold, though. She found herself wondering why she was there, why she was auditioning for this or that part.
Then one day, reality broke. Her world seemed to turn upside down. She sensed a spirit testing her, and though she didn’t understand it at the time, she realized something had shifted for the better.
“It changed how I saw myself, changed how I saw the world,” she recalled, unafraid to laugh at herself and her unusual story.
She sort of fell into shamanism after that, learning more about it and understanding how it related to her transformation. Realizing she could help others heal, she began teaching, eventually traveling to Ecuador, where a traditional shaman confirmed her path. She later met with shamans in Tibet, Nepal and Africa.
She’s learned to take ideas from ancient shamanism and meld them with the modern world, the busy lives people have today.
Pratt has a hard time explaining it herself.
After graduating from Roseburg High School in 1979, Pratt, the daughter of Jim and Jacie Pratt, moved to the East Coast to study chemistry. She didn’t want to become a chemist, she just wanted to know how the world works.
She considered medical school, but ended up in New York City to pursue a career in dance, a lifetime hobby.
The Big Apple’s a rough place to gain a foothold, though. She found herself wondering why she was there, why she was auditioning for this or that part.
Then one day, reality broke. Her world seemed to turn upside down. She sensed a spirit testing her, and though she didn’t understand it at the time, she realized something had shifted for the better.
“It changed how I saw myself, changed how I saw the world,” she recalled, unafraid to laugh at herself and her unusual story.
She sort of fell into shamanism after that, learning more about it and understanding how it related to her transformation. Realizing she could help others heal, she began teaching, eventually traveling to Ecuador, where a traditional shaman confirmed her path. She later met with shamans in Tibet, Nepal and Africa.
She’s learned to take ideas from ancient shamanism and meld them with the modern world, the busy lives people have today.
So you know ... Workshop planned
<b>WHO:</b> Shaman Christina Pratt
<b>WHAT:</b> Next Douglas County workshop: “The Art of Crafting Questions.” <b>WHEN:</b> 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sept. 29 <b>WHERE:</b> Umpqua Unitarian Universalist Church <b>PREREQUISITE:</b> Experience with shamanic journeying, or attend a free review of journeying technique from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Douglas County Library in Roseburg. <b>COST:</b> To be announced. <b>INFORMATION:</b> www.shamansense.org |
“How do we still move in that deep way, but do it in a way that can fit into our contemporary life?” she said.
One of her early students happened to be a publisher, who one day in the middle of class asked her to write a book.
Recently, after 13 years of research, writing and editing, Pratt and her publisher released An Encyclopedia of Shamanism, with more than 750 entries describing the major practices and beliefs of the discipline.
“Shamanism is often mystified to make it seem more dramatic than it is, and what people are enjoying about the encyclopedia is things are being explained very clearly,” she said. “But in that clear explanation you start seeing actually how magical it really is.”
Today, Pratt runs the Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing in New York City, started in 1990, and the Portland center, opened in 2001, traveling the country to hold classes and workshops like the one at Seven Springs.
The business is growing, with Pratt starting to hire employees, including someone to help manage her schedule.
Even a shaman can struggle with running a small business.
Ultimately, she hopes to help the people who’ve taken her workshop series make a difference through their soul’s purpose. Creating a healthier world, one in which diversity is celebrated instead of pushed away, for example, is her goal.
“I think our lives could be really interesting if diversity was seen as a good thing,” she said, “if we understood how to listen to each other.”
• You can reach reporter Chelsea Duncan at 957-4246 or by e-mail at cduncan@newsreview.info.
One of her early students happened to be a publisher, who one day in the middle of class asked her to write a book.
Recently, after 13 years of research, writing and editing, Pratt and her publisher released An Encyclopedia of Shamanism, with more than 750 entries describing the major practices and beliefs of the discipline.
“Shamanism is often mystified to make it seem more dramatic than it is, and what people are enjoying about the encyclopedia is things are being explained very clearly,” she said. “But in that clear explanation you start seeing actually how magical it really is.”
Today, Pratt runs the Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing in New York City, started in 1990, and the Portland center, opened in 2001, traveling the country to hold classes and workshops like the one at Seven Springs.
The business is growing, with Pratt starting to hire employees, including someone to help manage her schedule.
Even a shaman can struggle with running a small business.
Ultimately, she hopes to help the people who’ve taken her workshop series make a difference through their soul’s purpose. Creating a healthier world, one in which diversity is celebrated instead of pushed away, for example, is her goal.
“I think our lives could be really interesting if diversity was seen as a good thing,” she said, “if we understood how to listen to each other.”
• You can reach reporter Chelsea Duncan at 957-4246 or by e-mail at cduncan@newsreview.info.
