This course has been created by Leo Rutherford and Juanita Puddifoot who is a international transpersonal lecturer, counsellor, a shamanic practitioner and Deep Memory Process (DMP) regression trainer. Both Leo and Juanita have worked together in the UK and internationally. Together, they share a passionate commitment to helping others heal, transform, and resolve the burdens they carry, enabling people to reconnect with the abundance, flow, and creative powers that support a fulfilling life.

Leo Rutherford, MA in Holistic Psychology—once an engineer, now a long-time practitioner of shamanism. Over the past 38 years, my work has evolved into a broad tapestry that ranges from the Medicine Wheel maps of the Universe to Sweatlodge ceremonies, Trance-Dance, Shamanic Journeying, Soul Retrieval, ceremony, the applications of altered states of consciousness, and energy work.

Along the way, I have published five books and several CDs and MP3s, including Drumming for the Shamanic Journey.

My books include:

Principles of Shamanism – first published by HarperCollins/Thorsons, re-published as Thorsons Way of Shamanism, 3rd edition released by Crescent Moon

Shamanic Path Workbook – first published as Your Shamanic Path by Piatkus, current edition by Arima Publishing,

The View Through the Medicine Wheel – O-Books

Spirituality Versus Religion – CreateSpace,

The Book of Games and Warm-ups for Group Leaders – first edition by Gale Centre Publications, second edition by Singing Dragon

My path has taken me across Europe, where I have taught in Belgium, Holland, Germany, Spain, Norway, Turkey, Portugal, and throughout the UK. I have been on pilgrimage to the Hopi lands in Arizona, the Pueblo at Taos in New Mexico, Palenque in Mexico, and many sacred places in Peru. I have co-led three intensive three-week journeys through Peru, visiting the Nazca Lines, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Iquitos, and the jungle—and experiencing its medicine, Ayahuasca.

Over the years, I’ve had the honour of learning from remarkable medicine people: Wallace Black Elk (Lakota), whom I hosted in the UK; Harley Swiftdeer (Métis Cherokee); Sun Bear (Chippewa); Javier Arevalo (Peruvian ayahuasca shaman); as well as many others whose wisdom guided me.

I share all of this because I am, at heart, a middle-class British person who had the good fortune to encounter the shamanic path during a mid-life crisis. What unfolded from that moment has become my life’s work: translating ancient shamanic teachings into a form that Western people can understand, engage with, and experience as genuinely transformative.

Across decades of practice, I have led an array of ceremonies, over 300 sweatlodge's since 1985, including numerous programmes, workshops—from two-year in-depth trainings to weekend retreats and single-day events. My purpose has always been to help others reconnect with the timeless wisdom that once guided human beings everywhere.