José Stevens: Belief, Interconnection, and the Courage to Create a New Reality

Aug 12

What if creating a new paradigm begins with changing what we believe is possible?

For José Stevens, belief isn't simply an internal philosophy. It shapes how we experience and participate in creating our reality.

That idea will sit at the heart of José's contribution to The Courage to Be, where he will bring more than four decades of experience in shamanism, indigenous wisdom, psychology, teaching, and consulting into a larger conversation about what it means to create a different way of being.

And he won't only be talking about it. José will guide the entire room through a shamanic journey, inviting participants to move beyond intellectual understanding and experience some of these ideas for themselves.

From understanding the paradigm to experiencing it.

When we first spoke with José about The Courage to Be, we shared our desire to create something different from a traditional conference: not a day of information consumption, but an experience that asks people to examine what they believe, how they lead, and what they are willing to create.

José proposed exploring the transformative power of belief systems in creating a new reality.

In our subsequent speaker gathering, he expanded that conversation further.

Drawing from ancient prophecies across multiple traditions, José spoke about a paradigm shift toward recognizing our fundamental interconnectedness. One of the ideas he offered was that seeing ourselves as "one being with many voices" creates an immediate link between us.

It's a radically different starting point for leadership.

Rather than asking only how an individual, organization, or business succeeds, it raises another question: What changes when we begin from the understanding that we are connected?

Our beliefs shape what becomes possible

José's perspective also introduces an important challenge to the idea of creating a "new paradigm." Before we can build differently, we may have to believe differently.

During our conversations, José spoke about the ways our beliefs influence the reality we experience. That idea found an unexpected counterpart in conversations with other summit guides—from entrepreneurship and organizational design to neuroscience and art.

It is one of the questions we intend to explore together at The Courage to Be: What becomes possible when we stop assuming the limitations of the existing system are inevitable?

For José, this inquiry comes from decades spent at the intersection of ancient wisdom and contemporary life.

Bridging ancient wisdom and modern life

José is president and co-founder, with his wife Lena Stevens, of The Power Path Seminars and School of Shamanism, an international school and consulting firm dedicated to applying shamanism and indigenous wisdom to business and everyday life.

He completed a ten-year apprenticeship with a Wixarika (Huichol) Maracame in the Sierras of Central Mexico and has extensively studied other Toltec traditions as well as traditions from the Amazon, Andes, and Europe.

His work has also deliberately bridged shamanism and Western psychology.

In 1983, José completed his doctoral dissertation at the California Institute of Integral Studies on the interface between shamanism and Western psychological counseling. He has since continued studying cross-cultural shamanism around the world, with a focus on identifying core elements of shamanic healing and practice.

An MSW, life coach, teacher, international lecturer, and consultant, José has spent more than 45 years working with individuals and organizations, including people at the highest levels of government and professional life, to help them better understand their potential and path of service and success.

He is also the author of more than twenty books, including The Shaman's Book of Extraordinary Practices, How to Pray the Shaman's Way, Awaken the Inner Shaman, The Power Path, Secrets of Shamanism, Transforming Your Dragons, and Praying with Power.

An initiation, not simply an event

One of José's contributions to our early conversations about the summit was a different way of thinking about the day itself: as an initiation.

Growth asks us to move beyond what is comfortable and familiar.

José illustrated this through the image of the hummingbird—a remarkably small bird capable of moving in multiple directions, including backward. For him, it offered a metaphor for human potential and our ability to move beyond the directions we assume are available to us.

That idea feels particularly resonant with the question at the center of The Courage to Be:

What happens when we stop asking, "How do I succeed within the old system?" and begin asking, "Who am I here to be—and what am I here to create?"

On October 17, José will help us explore that question not only through conversation, but through experience.

His guided shamanic journey will invite the room to move out of intellectual analysis and into another way of knowing—one piece of a larger day designed around conversation, participation, reflection, creativity, connection, and embodied experience.

Because perhaps creating something new doesn't begin with having all the answers.

Perhaps it begins with becoming willing to question what we've assumed to be true.