Sandra Harner

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Biographical Information

"Sandra Harner is co-founder and vice-president of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and is on the international faculty of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. She worked with Dr. Michael Harner in the development of Harner Shamanic Counseling (HSC) and directs the HSC training program for the Foundation.

"As Director of Health Research at the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, Dr. Harner is the author of various publications regarding the psychological and immunological effects of shamanic drumming and journeying on health.

"Since 1964, she has engaged in field research among native peoples of North and South America and the Sami people (Lapp) of the Scandinavian Arctic. She has given talks at a variety of professional meetings, including the Society for Behavioral Medicine, the American Psychological Association, and the World Congress of Psychotherapy, and she has authored or co-authored a number of research publications on the topics of spirituality, psychology, and health. She has been a member of the American Psychological Association, the California Psychological Association, the Marin County Psychological Association, the International Institute of Humanistic Studies (Advisory Board), and the International Transpersonal Association (Board of Directors). In 1994 she was elected to membership in Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. She also has been a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Anthropological Association and the New York Academy of Sciences.

"Dr. Harner earned B.S. and M.A. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a doctorate in psychology from Fordham University in New York. She held a post-doctoral position at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center in the Coronary Heart Disease Reversal Program. She has also served on the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley and the State University of New York. She has received numerous grants from such institutions as UC Berkeley (Faculty Research Grant), the American Museum of Natural History, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.

"For more about the highly effective Harner Shamanic Counseling method, in Sandra Harner’s new book Ema’s Odyssey: Shamanism for Healing and Spiritual Knowledge, follow the journeys of Ema as she explores the spiritual realms under Sandra’s guidance using HSC. Ema enters into a life-changing, personally transformative odyssey over a ten-year period. (Release date January 7, 2014.)

"Sandra has a deep love for the arts and the creative process and has been a textile studio artist for over four decades. She has published a number of articles and reviews of textile art exhibitions. In addition, she is a member of the Textile Arts Council and the Ethnic Textiles Study Group at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco."