Core Castaneda Workshop

Shamans & Carlos Castaneda

While conducting field research on medicinal plants for his PhD in Anthropology, Carlos Castaneda was introduced to a man who would forever change his life. Unbeknownst to him at the time, Shaman Nagual, Don Juan Matus, selected Castaneda as his apprentice, to learn the ways and wisdom which had been passed down through his lineage for many generations.

Castaneda, starting with The Teachings of Don Juan, wrote a series of books that describe this training with his shaman-teacher, who taught him everything he knew about the world of shamans and how to use it to improve our condition and apply it to our everyday lives.

Those 12 books have sold more than 28 million copies in 17 languages and have become the source for helping millions of people manifest the life of their dreams by bringing the once closely held knowledge and wisdom of the Toltec shamans to anyone who desires an extraordinary life. 

Both mystical and functional, Core Castaneda is a foundational workshop experience, grounding you in these Principles, Teachings and Tools, to help you create and live the life of your dreams. 

Living in Ordinary Reality

“Human beings are perceivers, but the world that they perceive is an illusion: an illusion created by the description that was told to them from the moment they were born." — Carlos Castaneda

From the moment we are born, we are told about our reality. What it is. What it is not. What is possible. What is not. 

We are imbued with an agreed upon description... an understanding of what the world is, who we are and how to navigate within it.

So interwoven into the fabric of our understanding of ourselves and our world, we think, behave and respond automatically based upon what we have been conditioned to acknowledge as reality.

From this single perspective, we have developed our toolkit of how to evaluate our experiences, plan our lives, solve our problems and make decisions in order to successfully navigate our lives.

If you are not living the life of your dreams, then it is because you, your dreams and your toolkit are still held within the realm of the ordinary. You are stuck with the limited resources that your current toolset provides.

In order to build a better toolkit requires freeing yourself from your single perception of the world, which requires venturing into non-ordinary reality.

"As Don Juan says, that there is much more to the world than we usually acknowledge. Our normal expectations about reality are created by a social consensus. We are taught how to see and understand the world. The trick of socialization is to convince us that the descriptions we agree upon define the limits of the real world. What we call reality is only one way of seeing the world, a way that is supported by a social consensus." 

— Carlos Castaneda

Perceiving Non-Ordinary Reality

“If you enter a state of non-ordinary reality… it is only to draw back from it what you need in order to see the miraculous character of ordinary reality. For me, the way to live—the path with heart—is not introspection or mystical transcendence but presence in the world.” — Carlos Castaneda 

With our one perspective… we have problems solving problems. 

Stepping outside of our single reality, even for a moment, provides us with multiple, non-ordinary perspectives. New perspectives produce fresh, new perceptions, which in turn, create more and better options, tools, solutions and opportunities previously unseen by us.

You don't have to be a shaman in order to use these practical principles, teachings and tools to better your life. All you need do is to learn, as Castaneda said, is to live your life with one foot in each world... the ordinary and non-ordinary. 

“Whenever the internal dialogue stops, the world collapses, and extraordinary facets of ourselves surface, as though they had been kept heavily guarded by our words.” — Carlos Castaneda 

A Return To Authenticity

"As I have already said to you," don Juan went on, "sorcery is a journey of return. We return victorious to the spirit, having descended into hell. And from hell we bring trophies. Understanding is one of our trophies." — Carlos Castaneda

Many people believe that they must find themselves. They seek meaning and direction for their lives and may journey far and wide in their attempts to obtain this elusive revelation.

The wisdom of the shamans of ancient Mexico shows us that it is not about searching for ourselves, it is about releasing the accumulation of the artifacts of our single reality. By doing so, we return to our authentic self—the one we were closest to when we first entered this world.

The Core Castaneda 3-Day Workshop Event is a foundational experience to begin or improve your entering non-ordinary reality in order to see and create your ideal life.

“Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls, but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over walls; they don’t demolish them.” — Carlos Castaneda