"Shapeshifting is a shamanic term — first used by the Celts — that refers to changing one's shape, such as when the ancient Celtic shamans changed into birds or fish or oak trees, or when an Amazonian shaman turns into a jaguar or a bat. Later, I learned that we shapeshift whenever we make a physical or emotional change — when we age, gain or lose weight, become ill or get better," writes Eve Bruce, who maintains a plastic surgery practice in Maryland and also performs shamanic healings. The author's father was a scientist who taught her to look outside the box and her mother, a physician who refused to adhere to the Western medical standard of detached objectivity when working with her patients.
Bruce's work with the Dream Change Coalition, an association of Westerners and indigenous people that promotes reconnecting with the Earth, took her to Ecuador where she opened herself to her inner voice and the power of her dreams. Later she became the first non-Quechua woman to be initiated into the Circle of Yachaks (bird-people shamans of the Andes).
All of this exposure to indigenous ways of healing has had a major impact upon her work as a plastic surgeon — which for her involves shapeshifting. Those patients who imagine the procedure as transforming all aspects of their life and being are the ones who benefit the most from plastic surgery. Inner beauty and self-acceptance for Bruce go hand in hand. Shaman, M.D. is another invaluable testament to the riches of indigenous wisdom and practice for those seeking transformation of the mind, body, and soul.
