I am an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Missouri specializing in cognitive anthropology with a focus on altered states of consciousness (ASC) and the visual representation of such states. Over the last 20 years I have studied shamanism worldwide to better understand shamanic and shamanic-like iconography in the American Southwest and Northern Mexico based on various plant medicines. Recently I have started a cross-disciplinary program to explore how ASC are achieved without plant medicines. In particular, I am examining how ritual body postures and sound induction (e.g., rapid beating of a drum) can cause ASC. Furthermore, I seek to understand how body position impacts the visions, messages, and other information received during ASC.