Final answer:
Shamans experience altered states of consciousness to connect with the supernatural during healing sessions, often aided by rhythmic music, dances, or hallucinogens, and aim to identify or remedy physical and emotional ailments.
Step-by-step explanation:
During times of healing, shamans experience a connection with the spirit world, which they navigate to gain insights and perform healings. This connection often involves entering altered states of consciousness through various means such as trance, dance, drumbeat, chants, or the use of hallucinogenic substances, allowing them to engage with supernatural realms and spirits. Shamanic cultures view these practices as a means to address physical and socioemotional distress, which may include invoking spiritual forces for self-healing, as practiced by the !Kung San, or divination to locate wild animals.
In certain cultures, such as among the Chukchi of northern Russia, the role of the shaman is often a special calling, sometimes linked to personality traits or conditions like schizophrenia. This could be due to the vital role of achieving an altered state in shamanic work. Shamans may subsequently perform rituals such as the n/um tchai medicine dance, the laying on of hands, or whirling dances to commune with the divine, reflecting the embedded nature of shamanism within larger religions like Christianity and Islam.