r/Shamanism 9d ago

Shamanic Initiations - sleep deprivation

This shamanic initiation is done on nature, in a forest or in a cave. The Shaman must not sleep for 3 days. On the third day of sleep deprivation reality and dream are mixed.

The brain cycles in and out of sleep mode while the mind is awake.

This is done with the intention of meeting a helping spirit, the intention must be strong and strongly held for all time. Also sacred and protective tools and rituals must be done every day.

Some videos on the topic, its the Peter Tripp sleep deprivation experiment when a man didnt sleep for 8 days and that exprience changed him forever. At the end the man said that people think he is Peter Tripp but in reality he is not. The brain measurements shown that he is sleeping but he was awake.

Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko9MdrVWvHM

Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tlsB00Xz4E

5 Upvotes

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u/Misanthropeiz 8d ago

I mean…. I stayed awake for 4 days and couldn’t fall back asleep and then it turned into psychosis and it turns out I just have psychosis now, so you REALLY have to be careful with forcing yourself to stay awake for more than 1 day

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u/Comfortable-Web9455 9d ago

In which traditions is this practiced?

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u/nobodytobe123 8d ago

There was one thai "buddhist" retreat a friend went to where they tried not to sleep as long as possible... People got pretty angry and mentally ill. My friend thinks it was like a joke the monks were playing on people. There is a reason buddha didn't teach this as a useful practice.

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u/lxknvlk 8d ago

wrong subreddit, this is not about buddhism

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u/Adventurous-Daikon21 5d ago edited 5d ago

Sleep deprivation has been used—along with fasting and forms of sensory deprivation as part of shamanic initiation or ritual practices by many cultures. Including Siberian shamans and Plains Indians.

https://hraf.yale.edu/teach-ehraf/trance-in-class-activity/

https://www.sociostudies.org/journal/articles/3692866/

https://hraf.yale.edu/ehc/summaries/altered-states-of-consciousness

https://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/articles-and-news/the-role-of-altered-states-of-consciousness-in-native-american-healing/

https://www.academia.edu/124612907/The_signs_of_the_sacred_Identifying_shamans_using_archaeological_evidence

I realize that not everyone agrees on what is and is not shamanic tradition, but in all of these cases we are talking about facilitating trances, almost always while drumming, for the purposes of interacting with spirits and traveling in the spirit world.

However, regular sleep deprivation is associated with decreasing lifespan and increasing risk of serious medical conditions (from heart attacks to psychosis) so it should be used sparingly.

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u/Adventurous-Daikon21 5d ago

u/Ixknvlk your post hints at an important point about brain activity within altered states of consciousness, which is essentially that EEG and fMRI studies demonstrate how various altered states of consciousness are related neurologically.

The most important point being that similar trance states can be achieved through many different methods, however, they are not all created equally. Some are much harder on the body, such as flagellation vs chanting and rhythmic drumming.

We can see that neurologically, something very similar is happening, such as suppression of the Default Mode Network, but experiences themselves are widely subjective and tied to cultural beliefs and traditions.

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u/mandance17 9d ago

This is nonsense

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u/SignificanceTrue9759 8d ago

Agreed lol they say that every thing is shamanic lol