January 10, 2024 • 46 mins
In this episode (Episode 6) of Reconciling Humanity, hosts Eleanor Hayward and Jody Harbour continue their conversation with Indigenous Wholistic Psychotherapist Dennis Windego. Dennis specializes in an indigenous, spiritual approach to healing for mental health issues, addictions, grief and trauma.
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(00:00):
Welcome everybody to Reconciling Humanity. I'm Eleanor Hayward, a holistic facilitator here joined by my co-host, Jody Harmer, co-founder of Grandmother's Voice, and our very special guest, Dennis Windigo.
(00:22):
This is our part two, following from a conversation that we had with Dennis a while back. But I do want to read a land acknowledgement.
I identify as a settler descendant.
And I acknowledge the past and current stewards of this land, the Haudenosaunee, the Wendat Huron, and Ottawa Andoran peoples.
(00:47):
We have the responsibility to honour and respect all of the wonderful elements of creation that exist, including the four directions, the land, waters, plants, animals, and ancestors that walk before us.
This territory of Mississauga, where between Toronto and Niagara Falls area, is subject to the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, which is an agreement between the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy, the Anishinaabe Ojibwe, and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the lands and the relationships around the Great Lakes.
(01:23):
May we live up to this agreement with reverence towards truth and reconciliation. We acknowledge and thank the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation for sharing their traditional territory with us.
And on a personal note, I love the Christmas of the air as we transition from autumn into winter.
(01:44):
Missing some of the animals as they're a little less active, but still enjoying the bounty of our harvest season.
Blessed be.
So Jodie, would you like to introduce Dennis, please?
Oh, and I just want to add to that because I forgot that last time. Here on Reconciling Humanity, we are very grateful to be hosted by Skyward TV and Hopeful Radio with their mission to discuss the spiritual path to mental wellness.
(02:15):
And we are very passionate about creating community and healing and looking at this from an angle of decolonization.
I really respect that decolonization is an institutional issue, a policy issue, but I really feel in my heart that we need to discuss how do we decolonize our minds? What is the mindset? Decolonize our hearts? What's the value systems?
(02:40):
That status quo makeup in this world that is very extractive and very exploitative. How do we how do we heal our bodies? How do we heal our communities? Jodie?
Yeah, well, Eleanor, when you start to talk about the land acknowledgement, I don't know what it is. I get a little uncomfortable and I just try to hold myself steady. But I appreciate it so much because you and I have talked about this position and why we created this together.
(03:16):
So just knowing that we're walking this path together and as Indigenous and non-Indigenous people really showing up to support each other.
And I love when you get that written piece out of the way and then you close your eyes and you just embody who you are as I know you.
(03:38):
And I love that. So I just want to acknowledge that and tell you that that's my favorite part of your opening. So, Jodie?
I'm curious about the discomfort.
Yeah, well, I don't know. I'm just kind of like, oh, really? Another land acknowledgement? That's right. So and I think that we're really we are growing as a nation that understands, I believe, and this is why I kind of wanted to talk with, even just mentioned this to hear what Dennis has to think about land
(04:07):
acknowledgements. But for me, when I'm sharing, when people ask about land acknowledgements and how and what we do with them and how we can support them, it's obviously speaking from your heart and just connection to the land that you're on.
And, and that's the importance, like waking, waking people, people are awakening to where they are in this present moment, our consciousness, like right now, because there's enough this is we're creating history right now in this moment, the three of us.
(04:40):
So, Skeno Jodini-Gasso, my great grandmother was of the Cayuga Nation, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. On my father's side, he, that was his, his mom, or his grandma.
On his dad's side, still learning that the government has his files, his adoption papers, and it's, my uncle said that, you know, it's believed that his father was Ojibwe. And on my mom's side is Romanian and English, and we love this time of year because we're
(05:12):
getting ready and knowing that, you know, it's, it's almost Christmas when we're filming this, acknowledging those people who will join us later at another time, and we're, we're going to have this on for a long time, Dennis, you are going to be on film for a long time and
this was a, you know, and Dennis, I met Dennis, you know, several, four years ago or so now. And, you know, I, when I saw him, I was like, this guy is great, and he's going to heal the world and there's me thinking big and, you know, I, when I see people that have
(05:48):
gifts, doesn't, you know, how big or small or whatever, I just see them for what, what they are and, and it's been a pleasure to meet Dennis and, and just support his journey, sharing knowledge where it needs to be shared to move people towards healing
themselves, and then helping others heal. And to walk with you, Dennis, is amazing. It's changed my life as a mom of two and a wife of 30 years, and an auntie and a great auntie and a daughter and a wife. I'm just, it's, I'm healing.
(06:26):
I'm on a healing journey and I truly sometimes wonder how I got into this circle.
I know I push a little bit, I'm a little forceful, Dennis, but I'm, I'm always honored to introduce you to the space with in the circle and new people and I, I'm excited for this next, next year, together with you and this next 40 minutes or so.
(06:56):
So Dennis, when to go tell the people who are watching who you are, and why we love you so much.
I don't know, I don't know if I can answer that.
Thank you for the introduction. Thank you for inviting me onto this platform.
I'm very pleased to be here today. I would like to welcome everyone that's tuning in here, and, you know, I welcome you into the circle. You just tuned into a circle, a virtual circle.
(07:34):
And it is the sharing circles that we sit in, in life, when we're person to person. So I welcome everybody into this very sacred space, I'm honored to be here.
Beautiful. Thank you, Dennis, I got shivers there I can feel, I can feel the safe sacred space that we're cultivating and co creating with spirit.
(08:01):
We left off our last conversation you were telling us this amazing story about this, this young man who, and his story really touched me, especially I remember you mentioning the the sound of his voice and the look in his eyes and how that transformed with
your your healing facilitation.
(08:23):
You also shared about how you were inspired and and connected through spirit to learn of his, of his spirit name.
And then you receive confirmation from the other elders who are in community with you that they they also received that name and I just love those, those synchronicities and those deep connections.
(08:49):
I would love to hear from you, your perspective on that for anybody who didn't watch the last one so please do.
But there was also an element of self care.
That was missing so can you please share with us because you said specifically that as you were facilitating space for him that you took on some of some of his his trauma, whether it was his grief, or some other energy can you share with us more about how you
(09:18):
how you deal with that in your self care please.
Yeah, I would certainly be happy to share that.
And I think it's very important in any capacity.
When we are involved with other people when we are listening when we are just sitting with someone who might be in some in some anger or sadness or whatever it is in emotional state.
(09:46):
Because we are wired to connect. We are very much wired in every way to connect.
So being in that strong connection with this person, you're sitting in spirit, and it, and it opens the ancestry, our lineage, our link to the past, to the present, to the future.
(10:10):
So we have all of that in presence.
And so as I was listening and sitting and being with this person in that very spiritual way.
I had no idea intellectually that I was sitting in a space that our ancestors have said and many times since time immemorial.
(10:34):
And to me that's a very, very important concept.
Time immemorial, we've always had that connection.
And we're always going to have that connection with others as human beings.
And I stress that very importantly, human beings, because in the history of colonialism, we haven't been viewed as human beings.
(11:02):
But we are much more than human beings. We are also spirits that are fully developed, fully spiritually developed before we even arrive here.
And when I connected with this young man, I knew he was carrying a lot of pain.
And I could feel where he's carrying it because I'm connected with him, but I'm also connected to the trauma and to the pain and to the depression and everything that he was carrying, carrying inside of him.
(11:36):
Because when we are affected by trauma, it's not only an emotional state of being, an emotional pain.
It's also psychological. It's also physical. And it runs so deep inside of us. It can get stuck in the bones, in the muscles, in the blood, in the cells, in every fiber of our being.
(12:02):
So I could feel all of that. And there were times where I felt overwhelmed by it because at that time, I was just starting out in this field.
And I'm glad I was being guided by spirit and being supported by the women that were there and the elders that were there and their powerful prayers, because that is what lifted me.
(12:25):
That is what took care of me. And I know that is also what took care of this young man, because he had very little experience in having anyone take care of him.
So as I started to do this ceremony with him, it was as if I'm watching someone do a ceremony.
(12:48):
And it's not an out of my body type of experience, but this awareness of this part of me strongly observing this ceremony happening.
And instinctively and spiritually knowing what to do, how to remove that illness and that in what he was suffering with.
(13:12):
And after that was complete, after that was over, he looked like he was so light. His body was moving different. His posture was different. His eyes were different.
The skin color was different. And you could just feel a big difference about him.
(13:33):
But I noticed after he left the room and after he had shared his name that was given by the spirits, by the ancestors through that doorway,
I could feel something inside of me moving. And I knew that I have to release this, because anytime anyone takes care of others,
(13:59):
anytime anyone takes on what others are feeling, what others are being affected by, we have to move it out.
We have to give that up. And I knew that if I was going to hold this, it's not mine. And even if it's not mine, it could harm me if I don't do anything to release it.
(14:24):
So when I told the elders and the women, I'll be right back. I went outside and I went to the land.
And I've seen these rocks. I've seen these trees. I've seen the grass. I could hear the birds singing. I could feel that sunlight as it's warming up my body.
(14:48):
But yet I could feel this stuff inside of me. So it was like I'm making a sacred agreement, a very sacred agreement for the land.
If it can hold what I'm holding in my body, whatever it is that was taken out of this young man and what was harming him,
and what was continuing to harm him, even though what harmed him happened a long time ago.
(15:14):
But it doesn't feel like a long time ago when it's actively playing out inside the body and the bones and the muscles and the whole being.
So I could feel all that and I could just get a sense of what he must have been living with.
So then the rocks and the grass and the water and the trees had made an agreement and they said, we'll hold this.
(15:39):
And I started to release it. I could feel it in my body. It felt like I wanted to vomit.
But I always remember one of my teachers, she would always say, when you're releasing things, be gentle with your body.
You don't want to tear your body apart. You want to honor your body for what it does for you every day.
(16:03):
And so I was gentle with that. And it was a vomit to me.
It indicated that this is an illness I was making this young man sick. And this is how it was living inside of him.
And it doesn't have to live inside of me. So I gave it up because the land is always there to take care of us.
And we have a sacred agreement to also take care of the land.
(16:28):
And that goes back to time immemorial when Creator had placed us here through the whole in the sky, onto this land, onto this part of the earth.
And that sacred agreement is with us still today. And we still honor that.
So I knew the land was going to be OK to hold that. And I was going to be OK in releasing that.
(16:53):
And I did whatever I had to do just to release it.
And to me, this is, you know, when they talk about clinical supervision for therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists,
how you have to do clinical supervision so that you're not carrying the impact of the cases that you've listened to and the details that you went through and everything you felt inside of you about that.
(17:22):
You have to do clinical supervision. You need to have a clinical supervisor.
But to me, it was the land is my spiritual supervisor. It's my spiritual guide. And it's telling me I'm here to carry this with you.
I'm here to carry it beside you. And I'm here to even hold it.
(17:44):
And you're going to know exactly where it is because it's not going to go back and harm that young man.
It's not going to harm you. And it's not going to harm the people that were there to support. So self-care is also very collective.
It takes care of everybody when the person who was conducting the ceremony.
(18:07):
And that's what I come to realize today. There was I was being I was a conductor creator was using me as a conductor to hear to do this healing ceremony and to conduct that.
But I'm responsible for everyone that I asked to be there in that supportive role.
So taking care of me is taking care of this young man that I'm working with and taking care of the people that stay there to support and to take care of the community,
(18:36):
because the community didn't benefit from that intervention, because when we do an intervention,
there's this thing that I refer to as we, I, and we.
So we carry the trauma. We are impacted by the trauma. We feel like this. We experience this around that trauma.
(19:03):
So that's collective. And that's also vicarious.
And when we work through that and we start to separate it and we get to I, there I am.
How much of that pain is really me? How much of that am I carrying for others? How much of that is affecting me that's not even mine?
(19:28):
How much of that did not even originate from me? And then you get to I, wow, it's not 100 percent when it gets to I.
It's maybe only about five percent. So 95 percent or maybe 80 percent of what we carry isn't even ours.
But yet it's affecting us. It's harming us. It's hurting us.
(19:49):
And so when so when I so then we get to I and we take care of I and that and that's what happened with that young man through receiving his name,
expelling and removing the harm that his body was carrying and how deep that trauma gets into the body and and accepting that name and introducing himself and and feeling different because he had to also learn to let go.
(20:20):
He didn't know how to let go. He knew how to hold it. He knew how to breathe it every day.
But now he had to live a different life. And so when when he started to accept that, I started to change.
He started to change. That's what I mean by I.
(20:41):
He started to feel different inside because he found I identity, the self, because then in that moment he realizes I am not the trauma.
The trauma is something that happened to me. Trauma is something that was living and attacking me in my body.
(21:02):
I was able to release it. And it wasn't only my trauma. It was mixed in with my family's trauma and some other people I was in contact with.
So it's very collective and he was able to release all that.
And then because it benefited him and now returns to we, we benefit from this intervention.
(21:24):
We as a community will create this or not create because the elders said these ceremonies happened in the history of their community.
And for the past 80 or so years, they haven't been practicing that because of various circumstances,
(21:48):
whether it's Indian Act policies and laws and things that prevent in the past that prevented us from picking up our ways and practicing our ways and honoring our ways.
We have to do it secretly underground. And I'm very thankful to those elders who held it in that in such secrecy,
(22:12):
because now it gave the community that vision of saying we have to pick these tools up once again, because we've always had it.
We put it away for many years and now we're on this journey to reclaiming what was not valued, what was banished, what was illegal.
(22:38):
Yeah, illegal. It became illegal. And so then they started to go to ceremonies.
And I thought after or, you know, and it took me a couple of years to really start seeing it in these ways.
I was going, I was thinking, I don't know if there's such a thing in for Indigenous people in psychotherapy, if there's such a thing as individual counseling.
(23:06):
I worked with this individual, but it was so collective and vicarious and including since time immemorial, the spirits coming in to help the elders that were there,
that witnessed and that helped the community to create that change because this young man was suffering and he thought he was the problem.
(23:30):
So he's carrying his whole history of not only his life, but the life of his family and his community inside.
So I truly believe it goes through that stage. We feel like this.
And then you have to find an identity, who you truly are.
And then it turns to we, we will now benefit and we will now heal and we will move forward together.
(23:59):
So that's what I wanted to share. And all of that to me is about self-care and healing collectively.
And just, yeah, completely being well conscious and like connected, feeling, being everything that you speak of.
And this was what I saw, like him describing this in, you know, just how he spoke when I originally met you at Wabanow in Ottawa.
(24:27):
But just to be beside you in this space when you are sharing this knowledge, moving people into healing is, it's an amazing space to be in.
And so I just want to acknowledge all of this land work, right? This connection to land.
(24:49):
And I think that's why I do want to ask your opinion about land acknowledgements and connections.
So before we leave this space, because I believe that there are some really great understandings of why, you know,
it was even said to talk about land acknowledgements, because I think that's a big part of our healing nationally to connect people back to the land.
(25:15):
But you are doing a program beginning of January. And this is the Awakened Healing Program that you've been, I guess, you know, I would say, practicing for several years.
And, you know, now we're walking alongside you to bring this program out for Indigenous people that are in these spaces where they're serving and supporting Indigenous people and communities,
(25:48):
but also for non-Indigenous practitioners and people practice, not even just practicing, those in the role of supporting people while they're on their healing journey.
So this program is called Awakened Healing, Weaving Ancient Indigenous Wisdom with Evidence-Based Psychotherapy.
And what you were just speaking about is, is this like the transformative skills, I guess, like the knowledge that participants will, will gain through this 21-day program that you're offering?
(26:26):
Like everything you talked about just made me feel like I was in the room with you, a part of that community.
Is that what people will learn doing this training with you? Like, will you think, how does that work?
I certainly believe that they will gain a lot of valuable skills because they will start to think and be in a different part of their whole being, including in those brain spaces that are just sitting there, waiting to form new pathways
(27:03):
and to be creative at whatever age and to start thinking about issues totally different and connecting to our ancestry.
If we all come from a land somewhere and land has medicine, then we are all land, we all have medicine and whatever we have in there, we tap into that without question, without judgment, without falsely creating it,
(27:34):
but just really having that deep connection within ourselves that is going to connect to our ancient wisdom, our intergenerational powers and wisdom for healing.
And I truly believe all humankind can, has the capacity to do that.
(28:00):
So I will be teaching a very good formats or what can I call them? Is that a format or is it like a system or a framework?
(28:21):
Yeah, just use the word template earlier. Is that what you want? Yeah, to have their template because it's, you know, like what I would do is I would share pieces from my life and from how that a lot of that,
those teachings and ways of healing were handed down to me by my father, also my mother, but also my aunts, my uncles, like people who are very influential in my life and who still are.
(28:57):
And keeping that sacred because they've always told me you cannot share everything about what we know here, it's very sacred.
So I always want to respect the sacredness to anyone's knowledge, because it may come from a very sacred source that comes from their culture, and maybe there's protocols to follow.
(29:27):
But everybody has that. And, and I can use that my own experience and how I've learned and what I learned from people that I've learned and that were influential in my in my life.
And that helped me to get to where I am today because we don't get to these places without people supporting us and having some kind of impact in our lives and it and to me that's very important so people will learn
(30:07):
different ways of listening, different ways of spotting trauma.
How the body is holding that trauma, how it's holding it, how it's sounding, how it's responding, maybe the sounds that needs to hear or whatever it is.
Listening through all of our sensory, listening through sound, listening through many various ways like even little movements that the body might make during some kind of expression of something that might have harmed them.
(30:45):
And sitting beside that and helping people explore that in a very safe and attuned way, so that that person isn't being overwhelmed by something that overwhelmed and traumatized them in the past.
So, it's really about creating that space of calmness, that space of groundedness, where they can start to listen inward and not judge what comes through that process that comes through from from that place.
(31:24):
So, we will also, they will also learn just many different ways, many different things like how to, how to sit beside when a person when they've had grief when they've had a loss or multiple losses because sometimes people don't know what to do when they have
(31:47):
multiple losses, just where do I start with all that. And I think it'll be very good for people to know how to sit and listen to someone who has multiple losses, and they'll know how to sit with that and how to even start providing that grief process and healing
for that person, or someone who has multiple types of traumas, and all the different types of trauma that people go through.
(32:18):
It's just to have all these different ways of sitting with any kind of trauma, without judging it.
You know, just connecting with the person and being able to observe and see that trauma, and how to create some distance, how to create some containment of that so that the person has some power and control in their life to be able to sit with that,
(32:47):
without becoming overwhelmed by, by all that.
And I think a lot of the tools that I described here are very important for any community.
I receive a lot of positive feedback. When people learn, and when they have the, ah ha, what you just talked about is what my friend is dealing with. Now I know how to listen, now I know how to respond to them.
(33:19):
Now I understand, or ah ha, what you just told me about, it helps me to understand my child, because I thought that my child was just acting in a bad way, they're being a bad kid, but I realize now that there's something much more than that, there's something attached to that, and now I can
(33:41):
listen to that differently and see the power of my child, because my child is actually expressing it, but I respond to it
in a disempowering way, so now I know how to be empowered around my children, you know, like just some of the comments that I would get from, from people that learn some of these ways.
(34:05):
But we would get further and deeper into practicing these ways because only through practice and experience can we get better at it, can we get stronger and can we get more accurate in how we're helping people.
And it's the way we listen to people that's going to make us 100% right on in, in getting to what we need to get to, to help them unhook that trauma, help them to see who they are in the present without getting lost in the past or, you know, just all these different ways.
(34:45):
So, and the, and because it is psychotherapy.
And because it's also about land base.
It doesn't always have to be in an office setting, where some of these healing experiences happen, or intervention experiences happen.
(35:07):
We can be sitting by the lake.
And I remember over 30 years ago when, when I first took this, this training with with my mentor Shirley Turcutt, we were out at a resort.
And she asked to go and practice sessions in a different part of the room. And because you know we just think our own ways, and we didn't even listen to her we ended up go walking up this hill on top of this rock and there's a nice open area there and that's where we sat.
(35:46):
And we had some pretty amazing sessions up there with, you know, with the wind coming in with the leaves around there, the brush, the grass, the rock, the sunlight, it was just so amazing.
And I thought, wow, we're listening into land.
And little did I know that what we were learning in psychotherapy out there on the land.
(36:16):
We would someday come to name it land based therapy.
So it's always been with us it's always been around and we've always done land based therapy.
And we're saying, instead of listening to our instructors saying go and sit in that corner over there and practice instead we went out on the land.
(36:37):
And you say and and I love that you say that, listening because it's not just listening with your ears. Right, it's listening with with everything from your body to your, you know, I just have so much I want to talk to you about more like okay let's just, we're
going to try to keep it to 30 minutes or 45 minutes you just can't Dennis because you're just so engaging.
(36:59):
And, you know what people say about you is so true you just have this beautiful spirit that me, I want I feel healed.
Until I say, leave this.
Until I say leave this space.
And just you know just acknowledging the time that we have here with you. But I would I would like to say is what I've noticed the work that you do engaging the community.
(37:27):
You know you don't just go in and heal or work with healing one person you do really do that work and. And so if you can just share with us when you when you do go into a community where you know that you've been called in to support a community.
And just share what that's like, because people have been asking, you know how how can we support Dennis and, and his work and first I say, take his training, and then second, you know because of the, the beautiful work that you do in communities
(37:59):
and you have time to possibly send some helpers with you into these, into these, you know remote communities that that really do need support so how how do you, how does that happen when you're called into a community.
Do you sit with elders do you sit with community how how does that work, if you can share that.
(38:20):
I would, I would request that we keep that a little bit short for our time because we want to also answer that question about the land acknowledgement.
Dennis but that's, I would love to hear about this too.
Well, it's, everybody has knowledge from the smallest child to the elder.
And I want in between all that we all have knowledge so it's important to speak with knowledge keepers, and those are the community members. Those are the people that were born on the land that live on the land, and that are part of that land base right there.
(38:56):
They know that land they know their culture they know their medicines they know their waterways and everything.
So it's about listening to them, because.
If I go into an Ojibwe community I'm Ojibwe, the Ojibwe community I go into doesn't make me an expert just because I'm Ojibwe, I need to learn their ways and their culture and their differences.
(39:20):
I can look at their similarities and their differences. So it's about getting guidance from the community.
And then I can go forward into whatever it is that they want to change and whatever it is that that they want to do, because it's about knowing all that understanding that and using their own resources to mobilize them into a process of change.
(39:47):
So land acknowledgments, Eleanor I'm thinking like everything that Dennis talked about is, is why we have land acknowledgments, we had to we had to bring the consciousness to the people to to connect to the land.
And to me, it's, it was brilliant. It was like, I feel like there are these elders that were talking about you know how do we connect people, you know in this unconscious, you know, that are living unconsciously, I guess or subconsciously.
(40:18):
How do we bring them to prepare them for where we're going to be in, you know, the next two decades or whatever with everything coming out.
I don't know. Hopefully. Right. I don't know. Am I right, Dennis, I'm hanging around with you a lot so.
Yeah, picking up a few things. Of course you're, you're right on the right track.
(40:42):
And there's many tracks to it so I really appreciate that that land acknowledgments right now, because it's one little baby step in the right direction.
And right now land acknowledgments start to make people feel more comfortable.
But there are some people who are still not comfortable with it because of what it might mean to them. And that's okay.
(41:07):
And I do believe that the more we do land acknowledgments, it gets us, it sets the stage for the next step to understand the history of colonialism and land, and to know the processes that were used.
And to learn about that kind of history and the reality of it because it's all recorded. It may not be taught about in public and in schools and that but it's, it's in, it's written in history it's written on the land it's written in the stars, like, all that information is, is, is out there.
(41:46):
But, are we comfortable enough to talk about the things that happened because of the land, because we, we do need to see and talk about the truth of that.
Not to point any fingers or not to shame anyone but just to have an understanding and to, and to also know that it's very important we always acknowledge land, the land that we come from, the land that we work on, the land that we enjoy, wherever it is that that we might go, that we might be part of.
(42:31):
So, land acknowledgments, a very good step in the right direction, and it helps us to be more comfortable with with that.
Until we get to the next part about what does that mean so now I need to learn about, about land claims I need to know learn about Indian Act and, and even going back as far as the doctrine of discovery and the relationship to land and everything like that.
(43:02):
So, it prepares us it helps us to move forward in those have those conversations at some point.
So, you know, can of worms. Right, I know I'm like that's what I think that's what makes me me think of land acknowledgments like when people are reading it or it's you know that I feel like it's very surface there's just a huge well, you know that you're like, here, let's start pulling it up, we'll get to the bucket soon.
(43:32):
Before we will we move into, you know, thanking you Dennis for being here and our closing.
I feel with all of this talk of land I have to acknowledge an amazing woman who we lost yesterday, and I don't even know what to call her because anytime I called her a grandma and elder she corrected me.
(43:53):
And Terri Lynn brand was a really amazing woman in our, our community tragically lost her. Our environmental community she was a very really important person for environment and traditional knowledge for the people on six nations, and the Mohawk seed keeper keeper.
(44:15):
And so, and Brent, we are thinking of her and and holding her family in our heart, and her community which I know is just trying to manage this loss, and the amazing knowledge that she carried and so graciously shared.
And I know that grandmother's voice was very fortunate to have her mentor, our Mohawk Milton Mohawk seed keepers and I know that there are so many of us that are are sad and and grieving the loss of this amazing woman.
(44:50):
So, this, this video will live on and carry her spirit with it, I'm sure. Remind people of her when they they listen to it so now we're always for your time Dennis now for this space with you Eleanor you're amazing.
And I look forward to every single recording with you so take us out of this circle and send us home.
(45:16):
Thank you and my my heart to Terry Lynn brand and her loved ones.
And thank you, everyone for joining us. We hope that you gleaned a message or two
and anchoring into your body.
As we connect in community for deep healing with the land, as we are the land, we are the medicine.
(45:41):
Blessed be.
Thank you so much Dennis for your your time and your wisdom.
It's just, again, just like yes, this needs to be more longer show but we're very grateful to Skyward TV and hopeful radio for this platform.
And this path of spirituality towards mental wellness.
(46:04):
Thanks for watching. Catch us next time.
Bye.
Welcome everybody to Reconciling Humanity. I'm Eleanor Hayward, a holistic facilitator here joined by my co-host, Jody Harmer, co-founder of Grandmother's Voice, and our very special guest, Dennis Windigo.
(00:22):
This is our part two, following from a conversation that we had with Dennis a while back. But I do want to read a land acknowledgement.
I identify as a settler descendant.
And I acknowledge the past and current stewards of this land, the Haudenosaunee, the Wendat Huron, and Ottawa Andoran peoples.
(00:47):
We have the responsibility to honour and respect all of the wonderful elements of creation that exist, including the four directions, the land, waters, plants, animals, and ancestors that walk before us.
This territory of Mississauga, where between Toronto and Niagara Falls area, is subject to the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, which is an agreement between the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy, the Anishinaabe Ojibwe, and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the lands and the relationships around the Great Lakes.
(01:23):
May we live up to this agreement with reverence towards truth and reconciliation. We acknowledge and thank the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation for sharing their traditional territory with us.
And on a personal note, I love the Christmas of the air as we transition from autumn into winter.
(01:44):
Missing some of the animals as they're a little less active, but still enjoying the bounty of our harvest season.
Blessed be.
So Jodie, would you like to introduce Dennis, please?
Oh, and I just want to add to that because I forgot that last time. Here on Reconciling Humanity, we are very grateful to be hosted by Skyward TV and Hopeful Radio with their mission to discuss the spiritual path to mental wellness.
(02:15):
And we are very passionate about creating community and healing and looking at this from an angle of decolonization.
I really respect that decolonization is an institutional issue, a policy issue, but I really feel in my heart that we need to discuss how do we decolonize our minds? What is the mindset? Decolonize our hearts? What's the value systems?
(02:40):
That status quo makeup in this world that is very extractive and very exploitative. How do we how do we heal our bodies? How do we heal our communities? Jodie?
Yeah, well, Eleanor, when you start to talk about the land acknowledgement, I don't know what it is. I get a little uncomfortable and I just try to hold myself steady. But I appreciate it so much because you and I have talked about this position and why we created this together.
(03:16):
So just knowing that we're walking this path together and as Indigenous and non-Indigenous people really showing up to support each other.
And I love when you get that written piece out of the way and then you close your eyes and you just embody who you are as I know you.
(03:38):
And I love that. So I just want to acknowledge that and tell you that that's my favorite part of your opening. So, Jodie?
I'm curious about the discomfort.
Yeah, well, I don't know. I'm just kind of like, oh, really? Another land acknowledgement? That's right. So and I think that we're really we are growing as a nation that understands, I believe, and this is why I kind of wanted to talk with, even just mentioned this to hear what Dennis has to think about land
(04:07):
acknowledgements. But for me, when I'm sharing, when people ask about land acknowledgements and how and what we do with them and how we can support them, it's obviously speaking from your heart and just connection to the land that you're on.
And, and that's the importance, like waking, waking people, people are awakening to where they are in this present moment, our consciousness, like right now, because there's enough this is we're creating history right now in this moment, the three of us.
(04:40):
So, Skeno Jodini-Gasso, my great grandmother was of the Cayuga Nation, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. On my father's side, he, that was his, his mom, or his grandma.
On his dad's side, still learning that the government has his files, his adoption papers, and it's, my uncle said that, you know, it's believed that his father was Ojibwe. And on my mom's side is Romanian and English, and we love this time of year because we're
(05:12):
getting ready and knowing that, you know, it's, it's almost Christmas when we're filming this, acknowledging those people who will join us later at another time, and we're, we're going to have this on for a long time, Dennis, you are going to be on film for a long time and
this was a, you know, and Dennis, I met Dennis, you know, several, four years ago or so now. And, you know, I, when I saw him, I was like, this guy is great, and he's going to heal the world and there's me thinking big and, you know, I, when I see people that have
(05:48):
gifts, doesn't, you know, how big or small or whatever, I just see them for what, what they are and, and it's been a pleasure to meet Dennis and, and just support his journey, sharing knowledge where it needs to be shared to move people towards healing
themselves, and then helping others heal. And to walk with you, Dennis, is amazing. It's changed my life as a mom of two and a wife of 30 years, and an auntie and a great auntie and a daughter and a wife. I'm just, it's, I'm healing.
(06:26):
I'm on a healing journey and I truly sometimes wonder how I got into this circle.
I know I push a little bit, I'm a little forceful, Dennis, but I'm, I'm always honored to introduce you to the space with in the circle and new people and I, I'm excited for this next, next year, together with you and this next 40 minutes or so.
(06:56):
So Dennis, when to go tell the people who are watching who you are, and why we love you so much.
I don't know, I don't know if I can answer that.
Thank you for the introduction. Thank you for inviting me onto this platform.
I'm very pleased to be here today. I would like to welcome everyone that's tuning in here, and, you know, I welcome you into the circle. You just tuned into a circle, a virtual circle.
(07:34):
And it is the sharing circles that we sit in, in life, when we're person to person. So I welcome everybody into this very sacred space, I'm honored to be here.
Beautiful. Thank you, Dennis, I got shivers there I can feel, I can feel the safe sacred space that we're cultivating and co creating with spirit.
(08:01):
We left off our last conversation you were telling us this amazing story about this, this young man who, and his story really touched me, especially I remember you mentioning the the sound of his voice and the look in his eyes and how that transformed with
your your healing facilitation.
(08:23):
You also shared about how you were inspired and and connected through spirit to learn of his, of his spirit name.
And then you receive confirmation from the other elders who are in community with you that they they also received that name and I just love those, those synchronicities and those deep connections.
(08:49):
I would love to hear from you, your perspective on that for anybody who didn't watch the last one so please do.
But there was also an element of self care.
That was missing so can you please share with us because you said specifically that as you were facilitating space for him that you took on some of some of his his trauma, whether it was his grief, or some other energy can you share with us more about how you
(09:18):
how you deal with that in your self care please.
Yeah, I would certainly be happy to share that.
And I think it's very important in any capacity.
When we are involved with other people when we are listening when we are just sitting with someone who might be in some in some anger or sadness or whatever it is in emotional state.
(09:46):
Because we are wired to connect. We are very much wired in every way to connect.
So being in that strong connection with this person, you're sitting in spirit, and it, and it opens the ancestry, our lineage, our link to the past, to the present, to the future.
(10:10):
So we have all of that in presence.
And so as I was listening and sitting and being with this person in that very spiritual way.
I had no idea intellectually that I was sitting in a space that our ancestors have said and many times since time immemorial.
(10:34):
And to me that's a very, very important concept.
Time immemorial, we've always had that connection.
And we're always going to have that connection with others as human beings.
And I stress that very importantly, human beings, because in the history of colonialism, we haven't been viewed as human beings.
(11:02):
But we are much more than human beings. We are also spirits that are fully developed, fully spiritually developed before we even arrive here.
And when I connected with this young man, I knew he was carrying a lot of pain.
And I could feel where he's carrying it because I'm connected with him, but I'm also connected to the trauma and to the pain and to the depression and everything that he was carrying, carrying inside of him.
(11:36):
Because when we are affected by trauma, it's not only an emotional state of being, an emotional pain.
It's also psychological. It's also physical. And it runs so deep inside of us. It can get stuck in the bones, in the muscles, in the blood, in the cells, in every fiber of our being.
(12:02):
So I could feel all of that. And there were times where I felt overwhelmed by it because at that time, I was just starting out in this field.
And I'm glad I was being guided by spirit and being supported by the women that were there and the elders that were there and their powerful prayers, because that is what lifted me.
(12:25):
That is what took care of me. And I know that is also what took care of this young man, because he had very little experience in having anyone take care of him.
So as I started to do this ceremony with him, it was as if I'm watching someone do a ceremony.
(12:48):
And it's not an out of my body type of experience, but this awareness of this part of me strongly observing this ceremony happening.
And instinctively and spiritually knowing what to do, how to remove that illness and that in what he was suffering with.
(13:12):
And after that was complete, after that was over, he looked like he was so light. His body was moving different. His posture was different. His eyes were different.
The skin color was different. And you could just feel a big difference about him.
(13:33):
But I noticed after he left the room and after he had shared his name that was given by the spirits, by the ancestors through that doorway,
I could feel something inside of me moving. And I knew that I have to release this, because anytime anyone takes care of others,
(13:59):
anytime anyone takes on what others are feeling, what others are being affected by, we have to move it out.
We have to give that up. And I knew that if I was going to hold this, it's not mine. And even if it's not mine, it could harm me if I don't do anything to release it.
(14:24):
So when I told the elders and the women, I'll be right back. I went outside and I went to the land.
And I've seen these rocks. I've seen these trees. I've seen the grass. I could hear the birds singing. I could feel that sunlight as it's warming up my body.
(14:48):
But yet I could feel this stuff inside of me. So it was like I'm making a sacred agreement, a very sacred agreement for the land.
If it can hold what I'm holding in my body, whatever it is that was taken out of this young man and what was harming him,
and what was continuing to harm him, even though what harmed him happened a long time ago.
(15:14):
But it doesn't feel like a long time ago when it's actively playing out inside the body and the bones and the muscles and the whole being.
So I could feel all that and I could just get a sense of what he must have been living with.
So then the rocks and the grass and the water and the trees had made an agreement and they said, we'll hold this.
(15:39):
And I started to release it. I could feel it in my body. It felt like I wanted to vomit.
But I always remember one of my teachers, she would always say, when you're releasing things, be gentle with your body.
You don't want to tear your body apart. You want to honor your body for what it does for you every day.
(16:03):
And so I was gentle with that. And it was a vomit to me.
It indicated that this is an illness I was making this young man sick. And this is how it was living inside of him.
And it doesn't have to live inside of me. So I gave it up because the land is always there to take care of us.
And we have a sacred agreement to also take care of the land.
(16:28):
And that goes back to time immemorial when Creator had placed us here through the whole in the sky, onto this land, onto this part of the earth.
And that sacred agreement is with us still today. And we still honor that.
So I knew the land was going to be OK to hold that. And I was going to be OK in releasing that.
(16:53):
And I did whatever I had to do just to release it.
And to me, this is, you know, when they talk about clinical supervision for therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists,
how you have to do clinical supervision so that you're not carrying the impact of the cases that you've listened to and the details that you went through and everything you felt inside of you about that.
(17:22):
You have to do clinical supervision. You need to have a clinical supervisor.
But to me, it was the land is my spiritual supervisor. It's my spiritual guide. And it's telling me I'm here to carry this with you.
I'm here to carry it beside you. And I'm here to even hold it.
(17:44):
And you're going to know exactly where it is because it's not going to go back and harm that young man.
It's not going to harm you. And it's not going to harm the people that were there to support. So self-care is also very collective.
It takes care of everybody when the person who was conducting the ceremony.
(18:07):
And that's what I come to realize today. There was I was being I was a conductor creator was using me as a conductor to hear to do this healing ceremony and to conduct that.
But I'm responsible for everyone that I asked to be there in that supportive role.
So taking care of me is taking care of this young man that I'm working with and taking care of the people that stay there to support and to take care of the community,
(18:36):
because the community didn't benefit from that intervention, because when we do an intervention,
there's this thing that I refer to as we, I, and we.
So we carry the trauma. We are impacted by the trauma. We feel like this. We experience this around that trauma.
(19:03):
So that's collective. And that's also vicarious.
And when we work through that and we start to separate it and we get to I, there I am.
How much of that pain is really me? How much of that am I carrying for others? How much of that is affecting me that's not even mine?
(19:28):
How much of that did not even originate from me? And then you get to I, wow, it's not 100 percent when it gets to I.
It's maybe only about five percent. So 95 percent or maybe 80 percent of what we carry isn't even ours.
But yet it's affecting us. It's harming us. It's hurting us.
(19:49):
And so when so when I so then we get to I and we take care of I and that and that's what happened with that young man through receiving his name,
expelling and removing the harm that his body was carrying and how deep that trauma gets into the body and and accepting that name and introducing himself and and feeling different because he had to also learn to let go.
(20:20):
He didn't know how to let go. He knew how to hold it. He knew how to breathe it every day.
But now he had to live a different life. And so when when he started to accept that, I started to change.
He started to change. That's what I mean by I.
(20:41):
He started to feel different inside because he found I identity, the self, because then in that moment he realizes I am not the trauma.
The trauma is something that happened to me. Trauma is something that was living and attacking me in my body.
(21:02):
I was able to release it. And it wasn't only my trauma. It was mixed in with my family's trauma and some other people I was in contact with.
So it's very collective and he was able to release all that.
And then because it benefited him and now returns to we, we benefit from this intervention.
(21:24):
We as a community will create this or not create because the elders said these ceremonies happened in the history of their community.
And for the past 80 or so years, they haven't been practicing that because of various circumstances,
(21:48):
whether it's Indian Act policies and laws and things that prevent in the past that prevented us from picking up our ways and practicing our ways and honoring our ways.
We have to do it secretly underground. And I'm very thankful to those elders who held it in that in such secrecy,
(22:12):
because now it gave the community that vision of saying we have to pick these tools up once again, because we've always had it.
We put it away for many years and now we're on this journey to reclaiming what was not valued, what was banished, what was illegal.
(22:38):
Yeah, illegal. It became illegal. And so then they started to go to ceremonies.
And I thought after or, you know, and it took me a couple of years to really start seeing it in these ways.
I was going, I was thinking, I don't know if there's such a thing in for Indigenous people in psychotherapy, if there's such a thing as individual counseling.
(23:06):
I worked with this individual, but it was so collective and vicarious and including since time immemorial, the spirits coming in to help the elders that were there,
that witnessed and that helped the community to create that change because this young man was suffering and he thought he was the problem.
(23:30):
So he's carrying his whole history of not only his life, but the life of his family and his community inside.
So I truly believe it goes through that stage. We feel like this.
And then you have to find an identity, who you truly are.
And then it turns to we, we will now benefit and we will now heal and we will move forward together.
(23:59):
So that's what I wanted to share. And all of that to me is about self-care and healing collectively.
And just, yeah, completely being well conscious and like connected, feeling, being everything that you speak of.
And this was what I saw, like him describing this in, you know, just how he spoke when I originally met you at Wabanow in Ottawa.
(24:27):
But just to be beside you in this space when you are sharing this knowledge, moving people into healing is, it's an amazing space to be in.
And so I just want to acknowledge all of this land work, right? This connection to land.
(24:49):
And I think that's why I do want to ask your opinion about land acknowledgements and connections.
So before we leave this space, because I believe that there are some really great understandings of why, you know,
it was even said to talk about land acknowledgements, because I think that's a big part of our healing nationally to connect people back to the land.
(25:15):
But you are doing a program beginning of January. And this is the Awakened Healing Program that you've been, I guess, you know, I would say, practicing for several years.
And, you know, now we're walking alongside you to bring this program out for Indigenous people that are in these spaces where they're serving and supporting Indigenous people and communities,
(25:48):
but also for non-Indigenous practitioners and people practice, not even just practicing, those in the role of supporting people while they're on their healing journey.
So this program is called Awakened Healing, Weaving Ancient Indigenous Wisdom with Evidence-Based Psychotherapy.
And what you were just speaking about is, is this like the transformative skills, I guess, like the knowledge that participants will, will gain through this 21-day program that you're offering?
(26:26):
Like everything you talked about just made me feel like I was in the room with you, a part of that community.
Is that what people will learn doing this training with you? Like, will you think, how does that work?
I certainly believe that they will gain a lot of valuable skills because they will start to think and be in a different part of their whole being, including in those brain spaces that are just sitting there, waiting to form new pathways
(27:03):
and to be creative at whatever age and to start thinking about issues totally different and connecting to our ancestry.
If we all come from a land somewhere and land has medicine, then we are all land, we all have medicine and whatever we have in there, we tap into that without question, without judgment, without falsely creating it,
(27:34):
but just really having that deep connection within ourselves that is going to connect to our ancient wisdom, our intergenerational powers and wisdom for healing.
And I truly believe all humankind can, has the capacity to do that.
(28:00):
So I will be teaching a very good formats or what can I call them? Is that a format or is it like a system or a framework?
(28:21):
Yeah, just use the word template earlier. Is that what you want? Yeah, to have their template because it's, you know, like what I would do is I would share pieces from my life and from how that a lot of that,
those teachings and ways of healing were handed down to me by my father, also my mother, but also my aunts, my uncles, like people who are very influential in my life and who still are.
(28:57):
And keeping that sacred because they've always told me you cannot share everything about what we know here, it's very sacred.
So I always want to respect the sacredness to anyone's knowledge, because it may come from a very sacred source that comes from their culture, and maybe there's protocols to follow.
(29:27):
But everybody has that. And, and I can use that my own experience and how I've learned and what I learned from people that I've learned and that were influential in my in my life.
And that helped me to get to where I am today because we don't get to these places without people supporting us and having some kind of impact in our lives and it and to me that's very important so people will learn
(30:07):
different ways of listening, different ways of spotting trauma.
How the body is holding that trauma, how it's holding it, how it's sounding, how it's responding, maybe the sounds that needs to hear or whatever it is.
Listening through all of our sensory, listening through sound, listening through many various ways like even little movements that the body might make during some kind of expression of something that might have harmed them.
(30:45):
And sitting beside that and helping people explore that in a very safe and attuned way, so that that person isn't being overwhelmed by something that overwhelmed and traumatized them in the past.
So, it's really about creating that space of calmness, that space of groundedness, where they can start to listen inward and not judge what comes through that process that comes through from from that place.
(31:24):
So, we will also, they will also learn just many different ways, many different things like how to, how to sit beside when a person when they've had grief when they've had a loss or multiple losses because sometimes people don't know what to do when they have
(31:47):
multiple losses, just where do I start with all that. And I think it'll be very good for people to know how to sit and listen to someone who has multiple losses, and they'll know how to sit with that and how to even start providing that grief process and healing
for that person, or someone who has multiple types of traumas, and all the different types of trauma that people go through.
(32:18):
It's just to have all these different ways of sitting with any kind of trauma, without judging it.
You know, just connecting with the person and being able to observe and see that trauma, and how to create some distance, how to create some containment of that so that the person has some power and control in their life to be able to sit with that,
(32:47):
without becoming overwhelmed by, by all that.
And I think a lot of the tools that I described here are very important for any community.
I receive a lot of positive feedback. When people learn, and when they have the, ah ha, what you just talked about is what my friend is dealing with. Now I know how to listen, now I know how to respond to them.
(33:19):
Now I understand, or ah ha, what you just told me about, it helps me to understand my child, because I thought that my child was just acting in a bad way, they're being a bad kid, but I realize now that there's something much more than that, there's something attached to that, and now I can
(33:41):
listen to that differently and see the power of my child, because my child is actually expressing it, but I respond to it
in a disempowering way, so now I know how to be empowered around my children, you know, like just some of the comments that I would get from, from people that learn some of these ways.
(34:05):
But we would get further and deeper into practicing these ways because only through practice and experience can we get better at it, can we get stronger and can we get more accurate in how we're helping people.
And it's the way we listen to people that's going to make us 100% right on in, in getting to what we need to get to, to help them unhook that trauma, help them to see who they are in the present without getting lost in the past or, you know, just all these different ways.
(34:45):
So, and the, and because it is psychotherapy.
And because it's also about land base.
It doesn't always have to be in an office setting, where some of these healing experiences happen, or intervention experiences happen.
(35:07):
We can be sitting by the lake.
And I remember over 30 years ago when, when I first took this, this training with with my mentor Shirley Turcutt, we were out at a resort.
And she asked to go and practice sessions in a different part of the room. And because you know we just think our own ways, and we didn't even listen to her we ended up go walking up this hill on top of this rock and there's a nice open area there and that's where we sat.
(35:46):
And we had some pretty amazing sessions up there with, you know, with the wind coming in with the leaves around there, the brush, the grass, the rock, the sunlight, it was just so amazing.
And I thought, wow, we're listening into land.
And little did I know that what we were learning in psychotherapy out there on the land.
(36:16):
We would someday come to name it land based therapy.
So it's always been with us it's always been around and we've always done land based therapy.
And we're saying, instead of listening to our instructors saying go and sit in that corner over there and practice instead we went out on the land.
(36:37):
And you say and and I love that you say that, listening because it's not just listening with your ears. Right, it's listening with with everything from your body to your, you know, I just have so much I want to talk to you about more like okay let's just, we're
going to try to keep it to 30 minutes or 45 minutes you just can't Dennis because you're just so engaging.
(36:59):
And, you know what people say about you is so true you just have this beautiful spirit that me, I want I feel healed.
Until I say, leave this.
Until I say leave this space.
And just you know just acknowledging the time that we have here with you. But I would I would like to say is what I've noticed the work that you do engaging the community.
(37:27):
You know you don't just go in and heal or work with healing one person you do really do that work and. And so if you can just share with us when you when you do go into a community where you know that you've been called in to support a community.
And just share what that's like, because people have been asking, you know how how can we support Dennis and, and his work and first I say, take his training, and then second, you know because of the, the beautiful work that you do in communities
(37:59):
and you have time to possibly send some helpers with you into these, into these, you know remote communities that that really do need support so how how do you, how does that happen when you're called into a community.
Do you sit with elders do you sit with community how how does that work, if you can share that.
(38:20):
I would, I would request that we keep that a little bit short for our time because we want to also answer that question about the land acknowledgement.
Dennis but that's, I would love to hear about this too.
Well, it's, everybody has knowledge from the smallest child to the elder.
And I want in between all that we all have knowledge so it's important to speak with knowledge keepers, and those are the community members. Those are the people that were born on the land that live on the land, and that are part of that land base right there.
(38:56):
They know that land they know their culture they know their medicines they know their waterways and everything.
So it's about listening to them, because.
If I go into an Ojibwe community I'm Ojibwe, the Ojibwe community I go into doesn't make me an expert just because I'm Ojibwe, I need to learn their ways and their culture and their differences.
(39:20):
I can look at their similarities and their differences. So it's about getting guidance from the community.
And then I can go forward into whatever it is that they want to change and whatever it is that that they want to do, because it's about knowing all that understanding that and using their own resources to mobilize them into a process of change.
(39:47):
So land acknowledgments, Eleanor I'm thinking like everything that Dennis talked about is, is why we have land acknowledgments, we had to we had to bring the consciousness to the people to to connect to the land.
And to me, it's, it was brilliant. It was like, I feel like there are these elders that were talking about you know how do we connect people, you know in this unconscious, you know, that are living unconsciously, I guess or subconsciously.
(40:18):
How do we bring them to prepare them for where we're going to be in, you know, the next two decades or whatever with everything coming out.
I don't know. Hopefully. Right. I don't know. Am I right, Dennis, I'm hanging around with you a lot so.
Yeah, picking up a few things. Of course you're, you're right on the right track.
(40:42):
And there's many tracks to it so I really appreciate that that land acknowledgments right now, because it's one little baby step in the right direction.
And right now land acknowledgments start to make people feel more comfortable.
But there are some people who are still not comfortable with it because of what it might mean to them. And that's okay.
(41:07):
And I do believe that the more we do land acknowledgments, it gets us, it sets the stage for the next step to understand the history of colonialism and land, and to know the processes that were used.
And to learn about that kind of history and the reality of it because it's all recorded. It may not be taught about in public and in schools and that but it's, it's in, it's written in history it's written on the land it's written in the stars, like, all that information is, is, is out there.
(41:46):
But, are we comfortable enough to talk about the things that happened because of the land, because we, we do need to see and talk about the truth of that.
Not to point any fingers or not to shame anyone but just to have an understanding and to, and to also know that it's very important we always acknowledge land, the land that we come from, the land that we work on, the land that we enjoy, wherever it is that that we might go, that we might be part of.
(42:31):
So, land acknowledgments, a very good step in the right direction, and it helps us to be more comfortable with with that.
Until we get to the next part about what does that mean so now I need to learn about, about land claims I need to know learn about Indian Act and, and even going back as far as the doctrine of discovery and the relationship to land and everything like that.
(43:02):
So, it prepares us it helps us to move forward in those have those conversations at some point.
So, you know, can of worms. Right, I know I'm like that's what I think that's what makes me me think of land acknowledgments like when people are reading it or it's you know that I feel like it's very surface there's just a huge well, you know that you're like, here, let's start pulling it up, we'll get to the bucket soon.
(43:32):
Before we will we move into, you know, thanking you Dennis for being here and our closing.
I feel with all of this talk of land I have to acknowledge an amazing woman who we lost yesterday, and I don't even know what to call her because anytime I called her a grandma and elder she corrected me.
(43:53):
And Terri Lynn brand was a really amazing woman in our, our community tragically lost her. Our environmental community she was a very really important person for environment and traditional knowledge for the people on six nations, and the Mohawk seed keeper keeper.
(44:15):
And so, and Brent, we are thinking of her and and holding her family in our heart, and her community which I know is just trying to manage this loss, and the amazing knowledge that she carried and so graciously shared.
And I know that grandmother's voice was very fortunate to have her mentor, our Mohawk Milton Mohawk seed keepers and I know that there are so many of us that are are sad and and grieving the loss of this amazing woman.
(44:50):
So, this, this video will live on and carry her spirit with it, I'm sure. Remind people of her when they they listen to it so now we're always for your time Dennis now for this space with you Eleanor you're amazing.
And I look forward to every single recording with you so take us out of this circle and send us home.
(45:16):
Thank you and my my heart to Terry Lynn brand and her loved ones.
And thank you, everyone for joining us. We hope that you gleaned a message or two
and anchoring into your body.
As we connect in community for deep healing with the land, as we are the land, we are the medicine.
(45:41):
Blessed be.
Thank you so much Dennis for your your time and your wisdom.
It's just, again, just like yes, this needs to be more longer show but we're very grateful to Skyward TV and hopeful radio for this platform.
And this path of spirituality towards mental wellness.
(46:04):
Thanks for watching. Catch us next time.
Bye.
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