Swimming with Elephants: My Unexpected Pilgrimage from Physician to Healer

Physician Seidelmann shares her personal journey from being practitioner of Western medicine to becoming a shamanic healer in this feel-good spiritual memoir. When “the prescribed and logical ways of navigating the world weren’t working for [her] anymore,” Seidelmann began dabbling in various spiritual traditions. Her search included years with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, an expensive trip to South Africa, and another to India. She recounts her adventures in India—overland journey in a leaking bus, staying in huts, finally meeting with a guru, a ritual cleansing in the Ganges—and throughout is guided by her “spirit animals”—Alice the elephant and Charlotte the brown recluse spider among them. Though there are moments when readers will wonder about issues of cultural appropriation and privilege, Seidelmann’s awareness that some might view her as “some sort of New Age fraud” lends honesty to the text, balancing these concerns and leaving it to the individual to decide. This book will resonate with those yearning to learn more about global spiritual traditions from a fellow Westerner’s perspective. (Oct.)