I think people get pushed away by the term shaman when it comes to martial arts. Originally I thought perhaps it was because it wasn't an asian term and this is primarily asian martial arts on the forum, but a quick webster's dictionary lookup said it's a Siberian term, so it's not that (I always thought it was a South American term).
What people don't realize is that many of the chinese martial arts originate in daoist magic practises and that the root of many (not all) qi gong exercises trace their roots there. So when we begin looking at chinese martial arts we need to consider that the essence of many of the exercises that are intrinsic to the system are in fact 'shamanistic' (if we look at the term as 'works with energy/spirits all around' and less of 'heals cold sores with spirits of animals').
Having worked with plant medicines and a number of other practises, plus my own experiences in 35+ years of training I fully embrace the concept of shamanistic practises and how they are pervasive to many martial arts.
thanks for sharing !