SLFK 215, October 2, 2003
What kinds of groups practice techniques of ecstasy and/or form sects
As in the disenfranchised
This makes them feel good
What are the techniques that they practice?
Repeat:
Rhythmic motion
Chanting
Repetition
All of these affect breathing
Motion affects balance
Whirling can affect left brain/right brain function
And again balance and equilibrium
Extreme sensory stimulation or deprivation
Pain induced euphoria
Fear induced euphoria &endash; as in the snakes
Or sensory deprivation &endash; sitting in the dark for LONG periods of time
A feeling of euphoria &endash; like a high
Withdrawal of blood from the extremities
So that the fingers are cold &endash; explains snake and fire handling
Trembling of the body &endash; why the contact and the transmission of the state works
Feeling of exhaustion afterwards, deep sleep
These techniques have been around for a long time
The classic example of this and the one that applies to Russian material is shamanism
The Slavs are not shamanic
But their neighbors are
Furthermore, there are all sorts of indications that the Slavs were also at one point
Thompson who wrote the book on Iurodivye argues that they are a remnant of shamanic practices
A shaman is a healer
One who does things like manipulate the body
Massage
Extraction &endash; lancing of boils
Herbal cures, poultices
But other types of healers do that also
The real trademark of the shaman is a séance
Shaman himself or herself goes into an ecstatic state
Puts the patient into one
Techniques:
Chanting
Rhythmic motion
Pain &endash; in the case of the patient, seems to help induce the state
Descriptions of bleeding the patient
In the case of the shaman &endash; wounds self without feeling pain
Also, with no damage to the body
This demonstrates that he or she is in fact in an ecstatic, as in out-of-body state