Your Sacred Destiny

Meet Dani Burling, the resident shaman at Two Bunch Palms. She started her journey helping people to heal 25 years ago. A woman of many talents, Burling is also a registered nutritionist, herbalist, iridologist, Reiki master, faith healer and hypnotherapist.

Set in the idyllic and majestic landscape of Desert Hot Springs in Greater Palm Springs, Two Bunch Palms is famous for its mood enhancing and therapeutic mineral springs which have been bubbling up to the surface for 600 years.

So what is a shaman?

“A shaman aligns you with your destiny, who teaches you why you are here and helps take you through doors to experience exactly why everything has happened to you,” says Burling. “And that is what I do at Two Bunch Palms. During sessions, I take people to other dimensions so they can understand themselves.”

Burling shared more about the joys of being a shaman.

When did you know that you had to help people with their healing?

My mom had breast cancer and ended up moving in with us. I was taking care of her and became a nutritionist to help her. The cancer kept coming back. I became an herbalist and iridologist. But I still couldn’t help her. She told me, ‘one day if I get better nobody will take care of me.’ I started to realize that if you hold that belief, you’re going to stay sick. The day she passed I could hear her words saying, “Dani, I’m no longer sick. I’m not in pain and I’m going home now.’ That was what started me on that journey.

How would you describe what you do?

I see the shaman as somebody who knows how to make the call to spirit, who knows how to have spirits hear their call. A shaman also knows what it looks like when spirt is answering your call or when spirit is talking to you. Being able to teach that to other people and understanding what that feels like is one of the foundational pieces of the shaman.

Also, nobody knows what is going to happen on the table or what dimension you go into. It is endless and unique. You have to walk that path yourself. I could tell you what a rose smells like but until you actually smell a rose you never know.

When the session is over, how do people usually feel?

People feel different when they get off the table. They understand the light they are inside. They see through these eyes that are bright, beautiful and joyful. If we had more of that in the world, it would make for a whole different reality.

What can people get from working with a shaman?

I believe that we are here to learn lessons. Often when a lesson comes up and we don’t like it, we blame somebody else. The shaman understands that everybody is a mirror. We take that mirror and recognize that it is part of us that needs to heal. Or if we don’t like how somebody is treating us, instead of blaming the other person, we should recognize that we are here to evolve and take responsibility for ourselves.

What inspired you to become a shaman?

Fifteen years ago I met my first shaman. I didn’t think I needed to see a shaman because of all the modalities that I practiced. My best friend said, "just please go with me." I went and met this man with eyes that sparkled and a smile that I’d never seen before. I could see and feel the energy. I had butterflies in my stomach and no idea what was about to happen. The whole experience was unbelievable.

I asked him to teach me everything he knew so I could learn. After practicing all those other modalities, I realized that I knew nothing about myself, why I was here, what my purpose was, why everything had ever happened to me. It opened a whole new door for me. The work I did with this shaman changed my whole life. I discovered how I created success and why I was losing it.

You have been teaching for many years.

I also teach the medicine wheel of the shamans. I am working to put this program together at Two Bunch Palms so people can come to a retreat and learn how to see through the eyes of the shaman.

I also do demos on clearing out and how you repair the chakras, which is so important on your journey of life. If your energy isn’t in the right balance you’re not going to create what you want. Sometimes we feel like we can’t get out of bed in the morning. We don’t want to go to work or we don’t want to make a phone call because we feel paralyzed or numb. That’s a sign that all your chakras are out of balance.