Shaman, Healer, Sage

A complement to the titular bestselling memoir by psychologist and medical anthropologist Alberto Villoldo, Shaman, Healer, Sage takes viewers to the South American sources of Villoldo's formative experiences in shamanic healing. Villoldo describes leaving his regular life and successful practice in the U.S. over 25 years ago to journey to the Amazon and Andes, where he was taught the healing practices of Inca and Q'ero shamans. Under the guidance of masters, Villoldo learned that healing is achieved by integrating physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual components—banishing residual traumatic “imprints” within individuals (which might be built up over several lifetimes). While Shaman, Healer, Sage provides some background on the spread of shamanism from Africa to the rest of the world over the centuries, the main focus is on Villoldo's personal memories of feeling “inauthentic” during his earlier years as a professional, his recollections of frightening times as a child in Cuba, and how he had to be stripped of his persona (violently so, in a vision) before finding his true soul. The most interesting material here involves Villoldo's experiences with mentors, particularly a Peruvian named Antonio, a man with extraordinary energy (at almost 70 years old) who works miracles with individuals at death's door. DVD extras include the featurette “Energetic Interventions,” in which Villoldo demonstrates some of the techniques described in the documentary. Likely to be appreciated by New Age aficionados (and dismissed by skeptics), this is recommended. Aud: P. (T. Keogh)