Conscious Choice: Uncommon Healer

Robin Condro

I am a senior citizen, raised on a farm where we had our own garden, beef and pork, chicken, eggs and raw milk. I no longer live in the country with access to farm-fresh produce so I supplement my diet with good “clean” food, supplements and herbs. I never was a sickly person, and at the age of 79, I take no medications. I have found that in order to stay healthy, one needs to take their own health into their own hands and continually educate one’s self. Drugs do not heal, they force the body to function. But with proper nutrition the body sustains and/or heals itself without medication. Regrettably, pharmaceutical companies can make no profits from natural products, so they do not promote “health with nutrition.” Nonetheless, governmental regulatory agencies (with the support of pharmaceutical companies) should not be able to restrict our health freedoms — making unavailable the natural supplements and herbs that we want to use. Most of the things they have successfully had removed from the market have caused problems for people who did not use according to directions. I believe each individual should take responsibility for their own actions. If we all do that, the pharmaceuticals and agencies like the FDA would have no grounds on which to stand.

September 2004 | Choice Health: Practitioner Profile

Uncommon Healer

Who: Robin Condro, practitioner of shamanic journeying and soul retrieval, clinical social worker and Heart Centered Hypno-therapist.

Quick Take: “Our core belief is that all illness is spiritually based,” Condro said. She placed shamanistic practice among other forms of spirituality. “Praying is talking to God, meditating is listening to God. What I do, as a shamanic practitioner, is more active.” Central to following the shamanic path is an out-of-body experience known as journeying. Sometimes Condro journeys for the client, other times she coaches the client to journey through the spirit world in search of answers to problems ranging from how to deal with an abusive relationship to the best way to get rid of a recurring sinus infection. “We work with transmuted energy in an effort to remove negative elements of the spirit that do not belong and replace vital elements of the spirit that are missing.”

Old vs New: Shamanism’s roots can be traced back to 30,000-year-old societies. Condro and other modern-day practitioners mark the new moon by pounding on drums, chanting and rattling around the fire pit. Condro starts all sessions by cleansing the area and participants of negative energy by burning a “smudge” of wood and/or herbs. Then she calls upon helpful spirits to shepherd patients along their spiritual path.

Knowing the Difference: Condro cautions people to be vigilant when seeking out what she calls a practitioner of shamanism. People looking for a spiritual guide are often vulnerable and the field is full of fraudulent people, said Condro. “If you encounter a person who claims to be a shaman, turn around and walk the other way,” she cautioned. To be a self-proclaimed shaman is a perversion of the practice. Healers such as Condro consider themselves students of shamanism or practitioners.

Biggest Myth: “One of the most common misconceptions is that a shamanic journey is something that happens to you,” Condro said. “Free will is the foundation of shamanism.” The process involves surrendering, but it’s a matter of choice, not force. Shamanism is not the answer for everyone, she said. Condro said she often encounters skeptics who challenge shamanism as a viable form of alternative medicine. “Skepticism is healthy, fear is debilitating,” she said.

Case Study: Condro said she most commonly encounters people suffering from something called “soul loss.” Soul loss is the primary cause of illness, Condro said. “Many people that come to me and say, ‘I have never been the same since my boyfriend and I broke up,’ or ‘When my grandmother died, she took a part of me with her,’ are quite literally missing a part of their soul.” An intensely traumatic experience, such as a vehicle accident or an invasive surgery can also account for a spiritual loss. Soul loss may manifest as personality disorders like bipolarism or schizophrenia, according to Condro. Foreign energies invade the available space, which can also cause cellular changes that lead to pathology, she said. In some cases, Condro practices soul retrieval on behalf of clients. “I travel into non-ordinary reality to recover fragmented soul parts,” Condro said.

Personal File: Condro has been practicing shamanism for almost 13 years. She studied under Michael Harner, founder of the Institute for Shamanic Studies. Condro welcomes patients into her home in Forest Park, which she has dubbed Oak Shade. She recently earned her certification as a hypno-therapist from the Wellness Institute in Seattle, and can be reached at 312-750-1030.

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