Calendar
Original Medicine Earth-Based Intensive Retreat in Santa Cruz Mountains, CA
Original Medicine Earth-Based Intensive Retreat
With Carol Cano, Imee Contreras, Janet Roos, Jenn Biehn, Ramón Honea, Carmen Alvarez, Mario Castillo, Kimber Simpkins-Nuccio, & Jonathan Relucio
Saturday, May 11, 2024 - Friday, May 17, 2024 (6 nights In-person)
Arrival Time: 3:00 - 5:00 pm
Departure Time: 12:00 pm
Location: Ben Lomond Quaker Center on Awaswas Land (Santa Cruz Mountains, California)
Retreat Description
Since 2014, we’ve continued to offer our Original Medicine program guiding hundreds of participants towards personal healing through deepening connection with nature as nature itself and cultivating relationships with our beloved ancestors and the Earth. We are thrilled to host the first ever Original Medicine Residential Retreat welcoming participants of all backgrounds to experience the very essence of this unique yearlong healing crucible mindfully distilled into an immersive in-person land experience.
Braiding together the teachings of the Buddha and Indigenous wisdom co-creates a foundation of truth, trust, and love. During this intensive retreat, we will explore ways of coming into the core of who we are, our own Original Medicine, and enhance our personal growth and purpose with nature as our teacher. Held by the magic of the Redwood forest, we will learn and experience contemplative practices that include mindfulness meditation, earth walks, and embodied mindfulness movement.
We will begin our mornings in the sweet territory of silence as we explore our inner landscape while the afternoons provide space for deepening through collective ritual and connection with sacred community. Each day, there will be periods for reflection, rest, and stillness. During our evening sessions there will be wisdom talks and further interactive work together. We will practice opening our hearts to each season, the four directions, and the elements while we ground in and develop the capacity of our inner resources. In the spaciousness of our practice, we create opportunities to courageously meet our beloved shadow sides. From this place, we can honestly investigate and address the patterns and habits that get in the way of embodying our deepest Original Medicine. Participants will experience the depth and essence of Braided Wisdom’s one of a kind yearlong healing program refined intentionally into an intensive, restorative, and heart-opening experience that will deepen and widen the nature of who we are… not separate from nature itself.
We welcome all to consider registering, especially those who have been unable to commit to a yearlong journey.
For more information about the retreat, please view the Retreat Information Packet:
Original Medicine Earth-Based Intensive Retreat Info Packet
We ask all registrants to complete the Participant Information Form:
Original Medicine Intensive Retreat Participant Information Form 2024
ABout THE teachers
Carol Cano, M.A.
Lead Teacher
Carol Cano, M.A., began her practice over 35 years ago at Wat Kow Tahm in Thailand and has actively engaged in building communities and teaching Dharma internationally. She is a teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She is a core teacher and a former board member of East Bay Meditation Center. Carol co-founded Philippine Insight Meditation Community in the Philippines.
Her unique teachings are deeply grounded in Basque, Native American and Buddhist influences that braid the Dharma along with Indigenous wisdom and earth-based practices. Her psychology background gives her a unique view into the human condition, which helps her hold community in a compassionate and confident manner. Carol reminds us to keep grounded in our hearts as we uphold spiritual ideals and encourages us to remain balanced within the demands of modern life. To find out more about Carol, please visit www.carolcano.com.
Imee Contreras
Co-Teacher
Imee Contreras, CMT-P, is the founder of Mindfulness Asia. She is co-founder of the Philippine Insight Meditation Community and Nibbāna Forest Refuge. She is a mentor for Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach's Mindfulness Teacher Training Certification Program, where she co-facilitates the Third Space in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility Program. She is the Mindfulness Teacher of Braided Wisdom's Leadership Training Program and a Co-Teacher for the Original Medicine Yearlong Program.
She develops and facilitates innovative mindfulness programs for international companies, schools, and events. She volunteers to teach incarcerated women serving life imprisonment and supports sexually abused women and children.
She spent a large part of her younger years growing up in the United States and is now based in her motherland, the Philippines. She is mixed-race, adopted, and raised by hard-working, lower-middle-class, immigrant Filipinos. She is a mother, an organic gardener, a health and wellness advocate, and a yoga therapist.
Janet E. Roos
Co-Teacher
Janet E. Roos, PMP, CMT-P, has been recognized as an innovator in Business Technology for over 30 years. She has worked coast-to-coast as a highly respected “In-House” and “Consultant” leader for world renown companies. Janet completed the UCLA Mindfulness Certified Training Program and is a certified member of the International Mindfulness Teacher’s Association. She is a co-teacher for Braided Wisdom's Original Medicine Yearlong Program. Janet is a four time “Hall Of Famer” recognized elite athlete who understands the inherent value of employing Mindfulness Practices for competition, sports preparedness, and training. She has sustained a personal meditation practice for over a decade and has attended numerous training and silent retreats. Janet has volunteered with Non-Profit Organizations and currently serves on two non-profit boards.
Jenn Biehn
Mindful Movement Teacher
Jenn Biehn enjoys being a queer elder mentor and movement meditation teacher for the Braided Wisdom Leadership Training Program. She co-facilitates the Braided Wisdom white awakening & healing pod. She co-facilitates Honoring Eldership - Walking the Path Together at East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC). Through Neighbors for Racial Justice, a community based organization in Oakland, she co-facilitates workshops in Transforming White Privilege on the Path to Racial Equity. Jenn’s spiritual practice includes engaging with nature through cross country skiing and backpacking in the High Sierra, where she also takes younger spiritual seekers on side-by-side solo retreats to overcome their fears of the wild. She delights in sharing Tai Chi Chih - Joy through Movement as a circle practice under the redwoods at Oakland’s Dimond Park and continues to embody awareness and healing movement in her life-long journey of building community.
Jenn was an instructor and administrator at City College of San Francisco from 1977-2011, where she mentored, taught, and actively engaged in collaborative and inclusive leadership skills. As a peer-led sangha builder and movement teacher at EBMC for the past 12 years, she co-founded Restorative Practices for Dharma Practitioners Sangha, Midday Sangha, and Dharma in Motion. She also served on the Board of Directors/Leadership Sangha from 2016-2019 and helped to develop EBMC’s strategic plan.
Ramón Honea
Teacher's Assistant
Ramón Honea is a gay, second generation Oakland Latinx native. He served for 20 years as a teacher/administrator in the Oakland Unified School District. Through therapy, Ramon found meditation and the East Bay Meditation Center’s “POC sangha” where he sat on the board, led several groups, and participated on the center’s coordinating committee. Leading meditation since 2009, Ramon obtained a mindfulness teaching credential through the Mindfulness Training Institute in 2018. He is an Assistant Teacher for the Original Medicine Yearlong Program.
Carmen Alvarez
Teacher's Assistant
Carmen is from the Purepecha lands in Michoacan Mexico. Carmen has a master’s degree in Leadership which she has braided beautifully with her Toltec, Purepecha, and her Mindfulness Training Practices providing holistic approaches to healing and personal development. She received her Certification as a Mindfulness Teacher from the Braided Wisdom Leadership Training Program in 2022. She also has completed two Indigenous Master programs, Nahualismo and Curanderismo. Carmen is a practitioner of Mexican Indigenous practices and she is also part of a Lakota centered community. Coaching and training are her passions as she thrives when working with others. Her belief is that we must heal ourselves and by doing so we heal our family, our ancestors, and our communities. Carmen practices and guides mindfulness meditations, leadership coaching, ancestral healing, trauma-based healing, limpias, manifestations, planting dreams, among many other healing techniques. Her intention is for everyone to find their passion and live their best life.
Mario Castillo
Teacher's Assistant
Mario Castillo (he/him) resides on the ancestral and unceded land of the Bay Miwok-speaking Saclan people (Orinda, CA). He identifies as a queer, cis man of color on a spiritual path and has been a dedicated Buddhist practitioner in the Theravāda and Vipassanā traditions for nearly 15 years. Mario began attending the East Bay Meditation Center’s Alphabet and People of Color Sanghas in 2009. He later co-founded two peer-led Deep Refuge Groups in 2010: Alphabet Brothers of All Colors and Alphabet Brothers of Color. Mario is a graduate of EBMC’s Commit to Dharma Program with Larry Yang (2012) and EBMC’s inaugural Spiritual Teacher and Leadership Training with Noliwe Alexander, Carol Cano, JD Doyle, and Amana Brembry Johnson (2023). Mario practiced as a Buddhist monk in Thailand with Venerable Acharn Tippakorn Sukhito before returning to the Bay Area to complete his graduate training. Mario received his Ph.D. in sociology from UC Berkeley in 2023. His research focuses on organizational diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
Kimber Simpkins-Nuccio
Teacher's Assistant
Kimber Simpkins-Nuccio (she/they) is a white, cis, queer mom and writer who taught yoga and mindfulness in the San Francisco Bay area for more than twenty years, bringing a body love and social justice perspective to her teaching and learning. She has completed the Dedicated Practitioner’s Program at Spirit Rock, teacher training at the Mindfulness Training Institute, racial justice facilitation training with Holistic Resistance, the Spiritual Teacher and Leadership Program at EBMC, Mindfulness Mentor Training with Banyan and is a visiting teacher at Spirit Rock, EBMC, New York Insight, and more recently, Insight Santa Cruz. She is currently learning the Kwan Yin dharmas in the 2 year Dharmapala training and is a member of the 2024 cohort of Braided Wisdom’s Original Medicine program. As a practitioner, Kimber values the intersection of social justice, self-knowledge, and decreased reactivity within Buddhist practice and appreciates how these skills help us increase our ability to connect deeply. Undermining white supremacy internally and externally is a core component of her work. She has witnessed first hand how the practice of mindfulness has brought more compassion and joy to her relationships and life.
Jonathan Relucio
Teacher's Assistant
For a decade, Jonathan Relucio was a Senior Trainer for Niroga Institute, teacher trauma-informed yoga, meditation, and mindfulness in urban schools, mental health clinics and juvenile detention centers. Currently, he teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and East Bay Meditation Center. Jonathan also facilitates transformation in social justice movements as a Trainer for Rockwood Leadership Insitute; integrates mindfulness with restorative circles for healing and racial equity as co-founder of AllThriveEd.org; and serves on the Healing Advisory council for Filipino Advocates for Justice.
With over 20 years of experience in social services, community organizing, training, and leadership development, Jonathan values yoga, dharma, meditation, Indigenous medicine, martial arts, dance, and DJing as practices for liberation that heal us from the impace of oppressive systems.
Sacred Reciprocity
As we build towards a restorative economy, one important way to ensure continued growth and engagement with our communities is through the practice of sacred reciprocity. Sacred reciprocity is a loving and joyful practice that invites you to consider your relationships with the community around you including the earth. This intentional practice invites you to make a contribution that's aligned with your ability and capacity, exploring your unique needs and meeting yourself exactly where you are, with the least amount of harm. Please consider contributing according to your ability and to the greatest extent that feels personally meaningful for your circumstances, with the benefit of others in mind.
In this practice, we also ask you to consider supporting the participation of current and future participants who may not have the same capacity. We recognize most mainstream events and programs like ours are priced at levels far out of reach for many in our community. As a result, we have made our events and programs accessible to all by inviting participants to practice sacred reciprocity to share support with others on the path.
For this Original Medicine Earth-Based Intensive Retreat in May 2024, we welcome the following tiers of contribution to consider:
Benefactor Tier: $2,100
Benefactor tier supports full contribution for you and a fellow community member.
Spiritual Friend Tier: $1,575
Spiritual Friend tier supports full contribution for you and partial for a fellow community member.
Supporter Tier: $1,050
Supporter tier supports you and most of the gathering costs.
Community Builder Tier: $525
Community Builder tier supports the basic costs.
Please note, the increase in requested contributions for each tier thoughtfully accounts for the rising inflation costs of goods, services, and food, which have gone up considerably in the past 12 months. Additionally, there is no grant funding to support the expenses of the gathering. We are actively seeking long-term funding to support this retreat moving forward. With that said, we believe these tiers remain accessible and honor the needs of our community's diverse needs and circumstances. However, if you need other support or arrangements, please don't hesitate to reach out to info@braidedwisdom.org. No one is turned away for lack of funds.
We believe liberation is a collective path that thrives on meaningful relationships and mutual sustainability and sacred reciprocity. We appreciate your collaboration to expand these offerings to more beautiful beings in our community! Thank you for your consideration and continued support.
Braided Wisdom Cancellation Policy
There will be a no-refund policy in effect by Saturday, April 27th, 2-weeks before the first day of the retreat. As you know, there needs to be advance notice to make all the necessary arrangements for someone to take your place. This would greatly impact our community. We create these reciprocity contribution tiers to make this retreat accessible to everyone in our community. There is a $60 non-refundable deposit for retreat registration.
***For people who cancel early on, please consider the practice of sacred reciprocity by donating your contribution. Braided Wisdom is an IRS approved tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations are tax deductible as allowed by law. Our EIN is 85-0813884.***
Let’s Practice Together with Carol Cano
Let’s Practice Together with Carol Cano
This offering calls in curious practitioners desiring a deeper understanding of their meditation practice in community. It's an opportunity to be in inquiry and to ask a seasoned teacher questions about one's practice that everyone can learn from. Each session will include collective meditation practice and time for Q&R (question and reflection). Please join us if you're interested in deepening your practice while cultivating connection with a sangha.
Sessions will be recorded and shared with all registrants. During the session, practitioners who don't wish to be recorded may offer their questions in the chat.
Sincere and dedicated practitioners of all levels are welcome.
ABout THE teacher
Carol Cano, M.A.
Lead Teacher
Carol Cano, M.A., began her practice over 35 years ago at Wat Kow Tahm in Thailand and has actively engaged in building communities and teaching Dharma internationally. She is a teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She is a core teacher and a former board member of East Bay Meditation Center. Carol co-founded Philippine Insight Meditation Community in the Philippines.
Her unique teachings are deeply grounded in Basque, Native American and Buddhist influences that braid the Dharma along with Indigenous wisdom and earth-based practices. Her psychology background gives her a unique view into the human condition, which helps her hold community in a compassionate and confident manner. Carol reminds us to keep grounded in our hearts as we uphold spiritual ideals and encourages us to remain balanced within the demands of modern life. To find out more about Carol, please visit www.carolcano.com.
Introduction to Cross-Cultural Mindfulness - July 2024
Introduction to Cross-Cultural Mindfulness
We are facing a time in humanity of great division and despair as we witness the unfolding of a dying ecosystem. We are experiencing the challenges of a world in crisis, pandemic, war, racial inequality, economic disparity, displacement, and climate devastation. We need a framework for building up ourselves and each other - together.
Cross-Cultural Mindfulness is a framework that brings together universal principles common across many cultures to help us integrate with our most primordial selves.
"Primordial comes from the Latin words primus, meaning 'first' and ordiri, 'to begin.' So it is easy to see that this adjective means 'first of all, original.' When something is primordial, it has existed since the earliest time, like the primordial mud some scientists believe was the source of all life on Earth."
This framework centers on the foundations of mindfulness that are grounded on the breath, body, heart, and mind. Cultures from all four corners of the world understand this framework to be fundamentally necessary to connect with our direct experience of the ever changing flow of life itself, which is essential to how we hold ourselves and each other in this very difficult time for humanity. In this course, participants will:
Cultivate stillness, deep listening, and the ability to pay attention to present moment experience with a quality of mind that is alert, open, aware, and fully alive.
Explore Earth-Based Practices to experience the truth that can be revealed through being in direct relationship with Nature.
Practice ways of tracking what is present for us, the visible and invisible.
Learn how to witness the mirroring of our internal and external realities through a self-assessment tool that explores how we are surviving and thriving.
Learn the distinction between Cross-Cultural Mindfulness and secular mindfulness.
Every time we practice mindfulness meditation, we are actively engaging with life itself internally and externally. Our internal landscape is a full living ecosystem no different from our beloved Earth, deeply connected to one another with no separation of other living beings, seen and unseen. Hence, this is why we honor the form and the formless as we acknowledge those who have come before us and after us. Our ancestors are living through us and the acknowledgement of our cultural roots is vital for a deeper understanding of our freedom beyond this body, this culture, this identity and this world. We open ourselves to this precious life shared with so many and embody the knowing that we are not separate from any of it. This practice is a vital antidote to the divisive patterns being amplified in our declining ecosystem worldwide.
Finally, as most know, the timeless practice of mindfulness was historically taught by the Buddha. The teachings of the Buddha belong to all living beings. At the same time, Asian descendants whose cultural and ancestral lineages have preserved Buddhism throughout history, have a particular birthright to Buddhism. Known as Heritage Buddhists, these Asian diaspora communities must navigate the complexities and intersectionalities of modern day Buddhism. Many must practice holding the tension of oppressive aspects of patriarchy and traditionalism in Buddhism while also the harms of racism, invisibility, erasure, and cultural appropriation perpetuated by white colonization. Cross-Cultural Mindfulness honors the contributions of Heritage Buddhists to the ongoing preservation and expansion of mindfulness and contemplative practices worldwide while making space for the evolving complexities and unfolding needs facing these specific practitioners.
ABout THE teachers
Carol Cano, M.A.
Lead Teacher
Carol Cano, M.A., began her practice over 35 years ago at Wat Kow Tahm in Thailand and has actively engaged in building communities and teaching Dharma internationally. She is a teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She is a core teacher and a former board member of East Bay Meditation Center. Carol co-founded Philippine Insight Meditation Community in the Philippines.
Her unique teachings are deeply grounded in Basque, Native American and Buddhist influences that braid the Dharma along with Indigenous wisdom and earth-based practices. Her psychology background gives her a unique view into the human condition, which helps her hold community in a compassionate and confident manner. Carol reminds us to keep grounded in our hearts as we uphold spiritual ideals and encourages us to remain balanced within the demands of modern life. To find out more about Carol, please visit www.carolcano.com.
Imee Contreras
Co-Teacher
Imee Contreras, CMT-P, is the founder of Mindfulness Asia. She is co-founder of the Philippine Insight Meditation Community and Nibbāna Forest Refuge. She is a mentor for Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach's Mindfulness Teacher Training Certification Program, where she co-facilitates the Third Space in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility Program. She is the Mindfulness Teacher of Braided Wisdom's Leadership Training Program and a Co-Teacher for the Original Medicine Yearlong Program.
She develops and facilitates innovative mindfulness programs for international companies, schools, and events. She volunteers to teach incarcerated women serving life imprisonment and supports sexually abused women and children.
She spent a large part of her younger years growing up in the United States and is now based in her motherland, the Philippines. She is mixed-race, adopted, and raised by hard-working, lower-middle-class, immigrant Filipinos. She is a mother, an organic gardener, a health and wellness advocate, and a yoga therapist.
Janet E. Roos
Co-Teacher
Janet E. Roos, PMP, CMT-P, has been recognized as an innovator in Business Technology for over 30 years. She has worked coast-to-coast as a highly respected “In-House” and “Consultant” leader for world renown companies. Janet completed the UCLA Mindfulness Certified Training Program and is a certified member of the International Mindfulness Teacher’s Association. She is a co-teacher for Braided Wisdom's Original Medicine Yearlong Program. Janet is a four time “Hall Of Famer” recognized elite athlete who understands the inherent value of employing Mindfulness Practices for competition, sports preparedness, and training. She has sustained a personal meditation practice for over a decade and has attended numerous training and silent retreats. Janet has volunteered with Non-Profit Organizations and currently serves on two non-profit boards.
Jenn Biehn
Mindful Movement Teacher
Jenn Biehn enjoys being a queer elder mentor and movement meditation teacher for the Braided Wisdom Leadership Training Program. She co-facilitates the Braided Wisdom white awakening & healing pod. She co-facilitates Honoring Eldership - Walking the Path Together at East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC). Through Neighbors for Racial Justice, a community based organization in Oakland, she co-facilitates workshops in Transforming White Privilege on the Path to Racial Equity. Jenn’s spiritual practice includes engaging with nature through cross country skiing and backpacking in the High Sierra, where she also takes younger spiritual seekers on side-by-side solo retreats to overcome their fears of the wild. She delights in sharing Tai Chi Chih - Joy through Movement as a circle practice under the redwoods at Oakland’s Dimond Park and continues to embody awareness and healing movement in her life-long journey of building community.
Jenn was an instructor and administrator at City College of San Francisco from 1977-2011, where she mentored, taught, and actively engaged in collaborative and inclusive leadership skills. As a peer-led sangha builder and movement teacher at EBMC for the past 12 years, she co-founded Restorative Practices for Dharma Practitioners Sangha, Midday Sangha, and Dharma in Motion. She also served on the Board of Directors/Leadership Sangha from 2016-2019 and helped to develop EBMC’s strategic plan.
Ubuntu & Brahma Viharas with Nobantu Mpotulo
Ubuntu and Brahma Viharas: Weaving Ancient African Spirituality and Buddhism
This program shares the age-old African Wisdom of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is about inter-connectedness and inter-beingness. This helps us to connect deeply with ourselves, with others, and with Mother Nature. Ubuntu promotes non-duality and uses the heart and the body to connect with all beings seen and unseen. We will explore how to use Ubuntu to bring the Brahma Viharas alive.
Nobantu Mpotulo has been a Buddhist practitioner and a teacher for over 20 years. She is trained in the insight mindfulness practices. She is also an Insight Dialogue Teacher and integrates Insight Dialogue with Ubuntu an ancient African Indigenous Wisdom which emphasizes interdependence and non-duality. Nobantu is also a Diamond Approach student and in her practice of Diamond Approach she uses Enneagram to support her. She is a certified Enneagram Teacher. Nobantu is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leadership Programme (CDL 4 Cohort), she has also completed the Dharmapala Programme under the tutelage of Kittisaro and Thanissara. She is a Trustee at Dharmagiri. Nobantu promotes Afro-dharma in her Buddhist teachings by integrating Ubuntu. Nobantu is an internationally acclaimed coach, mentor, facilitator and leads peace circles.
Her favorite quote is by Victor Frankl,
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom."
The Heart of Cross-Cultural Mindfulness October 2024
THE HEART OF CROSS-CULTURAL MINDFULNESS
“Love is a blessed mystery.
It is like gravity: vast, invisible, the unstoppable force that connects all things.”
--Anonymous---
This four-week class is a continuation of the Introduction to Cross-Cultural Mindfulness taught for the first time last January. We will be deepening our training and practice of Cross-Cultural Mindfulness principles. There is no need to have completed the training of the first class. We will embark on new material and framework that will anchor our connection to our authentic self and each other.
Each week we will practice mindfulness meditation and embodied mindfulness movement to cultivate the exploration of the Four Boundless Qualities through the flow of our own bodies.
This class is open to all levels of mindfulness practice.
Join us on Mondays in April from 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm PT:
April 1
April 8
April 15
April 22
ABOUT THE TEACHERS
Carol Cano (Braided Wisdom Founder/Lead Teacher)
Carol Cano, M.A., began her practice over 35 years ago at Wat Kow Tahm in Thailand and has actively engaged in building communities and teaching Dharma internationally. She is a teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She is a core teacher and a former board member of East Bay Meditation Center. Carol co-founded Philippine Insight Meditation Community in the Philippines.
Her unique teachings are deeply grounded in Basque, Native American and Buddhist influences that braid the Dharma along with Indigenous wisdom and earth-based practices. Her psychology background gives her a unique view into the human condition, which helps her hold community in a compassionate and confident manner. Carol reminds us to keep grounded in our hearts as we uphold spiritual ideals and encourages us to remain balanced within the demands of modern life. To find out more about Carol, please visit www.carolcano.com.
Imee Contreras (Mindfulness Teacher/Co-Teacher)
Imee Contreras, CMT-P, is the founder of Mindfulness Asia. She is co-founder of the Philippine Insight Meditation Community and Nibbāna Forest Refuge. She is a mentor for Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach's Mindfulness Teacher Training Certification Program, where she co-facilitates the Third Space in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility Program. She is the Mindfulness Teacher of Braided Wisdom's Leadership Training Program and a Co-Teacher for the Original Medicine Yearlong Program.
She develops and facilitates innovative mindfulness programs for international companies, schools, and events. She volunteers to teach incarcerated women serving life imprisonment and supports sexually abused women and children.
She spent a large part of her younger years growing up in the United States and is now based in her motherland, the Philippines. She is mixed-race, adopted, and raised by hard-working, lower-middle-class, immigrant Filipinos. She is a mother, an organic gardener, a health and wellness advocate, and a yoga therapist. https://www.mindfulnessasia.com/
Janet Roos (Teaching Assistant)
Janet E. Roos, PMP, CMT-P, has been recognized as an innovator in Business Technology for over 30 years. She has worked coast-to-coast as a highly respected “In-House” and “Consultant” leader for world renown companies. Janet completed the UCLA Mindfulness Certified Training Program and is a certified member of the International Mindfulness Teacher’s Association. She is a co-teacher for Braided Wisdom's Original Medicine Yearlong Program. Janet is a four time “Hall Of Famer” recognized elite athlete who understands the inherent value of employing Mindfulness Practices for competition, sports preparedness, and training. She has sustained a personal meditation practice for over a decade and has attended numerous training and silent retreats. Janet has volunteered with Non-Profit Organizations and currently serves on two non-profit boards.
Jenn Biehn (Mindful Movement Teacher)
Jenn Biehn enjoys being a queer elder mentor and movement meditation teacher for the Braided Wisdom Leadership Training Program. She co-facilitates the Braided Wisdom white awakening & healing pod. She co-facilitates Honoring Eldership - Walking the Path Together at East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC). Through Neighbors for Racial Justice, a community based organization in Oakland, she co-facilitates workshops in Transforming White Privilege on the Path to Racial Equity. Jenn’s spiritual practice includes engaging with nature through cross country skiing and backpacking in the High Sierra, where she also takes younger spiritual seekers on side-by-side solo retreats to overcome their fears of the wild. She delights in sharing Tai Chi Chih - Joy through Movement as a circle practice under the redwoods at Oakland’s Dimond Park and continues to embody awareness and healing movement in her life-long journey of building community.
Jenn was an instructor and administrator at City College of San Francisco from 1977-2011, where she mentored, taught, and actively engaged in collaborative and inclusive leadership skills. As a peer-led sangha builder and movement teacher at EBMC for the past 12 years, she co-founded Restorative Practices for Dharma Practitioners Sangha, Midday Sangha, and Dharma in Motion. She also served on the Board of Directors/Leadership Sangha from 2016-2019 and helped to develop EBMC’s strategic plan
Reindigenization & Te Ao Māori with Amelia Butler
Reindigenization & Te Ao Māori with Amelia Butler
The fundamental values and beliefs within an indigenous framework have the power to shift our thinking, connecting us in a deeper way with nature, our ancestors, our communities and ourselves. By engaging with an indigenous perspective we can decolonize from a Western colonial mindset and reindigenize our ways of thinking and being in the world. Through Te Ao Māori, the ancient Māori world, we open a doorway to re-discovering our own indigeneity and connection to nature, re-membering the parts of ourselves that we have forgotten. As we embody indigenous culture through song, dance/movement, chant, ritual, prayer/incantation and Māori cultural values & beliefs, we re-discover our connection to our own ancestry and activate the pieces of ourselves that we have disconnected from.
Join us on Saturdays in April from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm PT:
April 6
April 13
April 20
April 27
ABOUT THE TEACHER
Amelia Butler is an indigenous Māori woman, cultural practitioner and Māori cultural consultant from Aotearoa, New Zealand. She is the founder and director of Learn Māori Abroad, a global organization that shares Māori language, culture and performance online and in-person. Amelia moved to Turtle Island (US) in 2009 and has shared Māori language & culture with various groups and organizations in the US including UCLA, University of Hawaii, University of Washington, Pacific Island Ethnic Arts Museum, Warner Bros Studios, Sony, Tourism New Zealand, Penguin Random House, Atlas Obscura and Intel. Amelia's tribal affiliation are Ngātiwai, Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Awa. For more info about Amelia's work visit her website www.learnmaoriabroad.com. Ngā mihi!
The Heart of Cross-Cultural Mindfulness April 2024
THE HEART OF CROSS-CULTURAL MINDFULNESS
“Love is a blessed mystery.
It is like gravity: vast, invisible, the unstoppable force that connects all things.”
--Anonymous---
This four-week class is a continuation of the Introduction to Cross-Cultural Mindfulness taught for the first time last January. We will be deepening our training and practice of Cross-Cultural Mindfulness principles. There is no need to have completed the training of the first class. We will embark on new material and framework that will anchor our connection to our authentic self and each other.
Each week we will practice mindfulness meditation and embodied mindfulness movement to cultivate the exploration of the Four Boundless Qualities through the flow of our own bodies.
This class is open to all levels of mindfulness practice.
Join us on Mondays in April from 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm PT:
April 1
April 8
April 15
April 22
ABOUT THE TEACHERS
Carol Cano (Braided Wisdom Founder/Lead Teacher)
Carol Cano, M.A., began her practice over 35 years ago at Wat Kow Tahm in Thailand and has actively engaged in building communities and teaching Dharma internationally. She is a teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She is a core teacher and a former board member of East Bay Meditation Center. Carol co-founded Philippine Insight Meditation Community in the Philippines.
Her unique teachings are deeply grounded in Basque, Native American and Buddhist influences that braid the Dharma along with Indigenous wisdom and earth-based practices. Her psychology background gives her a unique view into the human condition, which helps her hold community in a compassionate and confident manner. Carol reminds us to keep grounded in our hearts as we uphold spiritual ideals and encourages us to remain balanced within the demands of modern life. To find out more about Carol, please visit www.carolcano.com.
Imee Contreras (Mindfulness Teacher/Co-Teacher)
Imee Contreras, CMT-P, is the founder of Mindfulness Asia. She is co-founder of the Philippine Insight Meditation Community and Nibbāna Forest Refuge. She is a mentor for Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach's Mindfulness Teacher Training Certification Program, where she co-facilitates the Third Space in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility Program. She is the Mindfulness Teacher of Braided Wisdom's Leadership Training Program and a Co-Teacher for the Original Medicine Yearlong Program.
She develops and facilitates innovative mindfulness programs for international companies, schools, and events. She volunteers to teach incarcerated women serving life imprisonment and supports sexually abused women and children.
She spent a large part of her younger years growing up in the United States and is now based in her motherland, the Philippines. She is mixed-race, adopted, and raised by hard-working, lower-middle-class, immigrant Filipinos. She is a mother, an organic gardener, a health and wellness advocate, and a yoga therapist. https://www.mindfulnessasia.com/
Janet Roos (Teaching Assistant)
Janet E. Roos, PMP, CMT-P, has been recognized as an innovator in Business Technology for over 30 years. She has worked coast-to-coast as a highly respected “In-House” and “Consultant” leader for world renown companies. Janet completed the UCLA Mindfulness Certified Training Program and is a certified member of the International Mindfulness Teacher’s Association. She is a co-teacher for Braided Wisdom's Original Medicine Yearlong Program. Janet is a four time “Hall Of Famer” recognized elite athlete who understands the inherent value of employing Mindfulness Practices for competition, sports preparedness, and training. She has sustained a personal meditation practice for over a decade and has attended numerous training and silent retreats. Janet has volunteered with Non-Profit Organizations and currently serves on two non-profit boards.
Jenn Biehn (Mindful Movement Teacher)
Jenn Biehn enjoys being a queer elder mentor and movement meditation teacher for the Braided Wisdom Leadership Training Program. She co-facilitates the Braided Wisdom white awakening & healing pod. She co-facilitates Honoring Eldership - Walking the Path Together at East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC). Through Neighbors for Racial Justice, a community based organization in Oakland, she co-facilitates workshops in Transforming White Privilege on the Path to Racial Equity. Jenn’s spiritual practice includes engaging with nature through cross country skiing and backpacking in the High Sierra, where she also takes younger spiritual seekers on side-by-side solo retreats to overcome their fears of the wild. She delights in sharing Tai Chi Chih - Joy through Movement as a circle practice under the redwoods at Oakland’s Dimond Park and continues to embody awareness and healing movement in her life-long journey of building community.
Jenn was an instructor and administrator at City College of San Francisco from 1977-2011, where she mentored, taught, and actively engaged in collaborative and inclusive leadership skills. As a peer-led sangha builder and movement teacher at EBMC for the past 12 years, she co-founded Restorative Practices for Dharma Practitioners Sangha, Midday Sangha, and Dharma in Motion. She also served on the Board of Directors/Leadership Sangha from 2016-2019 and helped to develop EBMC’s strategic plan
Original Medicine 4-Part Series: The Wisdom of the Mineral Kingdom with Mbali Marais
THE WISDOM OF THE MINERAL KINGDOM
Remembering Our Bigger Earth story
Ben Okri says, “Maybe there are only three kinds of stories: those we live, those we tell, and those that help our souls fly upwards to a greater life.”
In this Mineral Year of 2024, please join us as we excavate the wisdom of indigenous technology in the modern world. We'll explore how the Mineral Kingdom teaches us that our Original Medicine fulfills our deepest longing to know and live our purpose... and how without expression in the world we can never reach our full potential in community.
About The Original Medicine 4-Part Series
This program is a psycho-spiritual cross-cultural mindfulness approach to the teachings that weave together Indigenous Wisdom, Mindfulness, and Earth-based practices in order to integrate seasons and the transitions between the seasons as cross-cultural mindfulness tools. In Indigenous societies, there are long-standing practices of honoring the sacred, cultivating stillness, embracing silence, being in nature, and conducting rituals to acknowledge the coming changes in the world around them and within themselves.
Prior participation in previous OM 4-Part Sessions not required.
This event registration is for the Original Medicine 4-Part Series - Spring Season on Saturday, March 16 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm (Pacific Time).
A Zoom Link will be sent on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, prior to the event. Please check your spam folder if you do not see our email with the zoom link.
If you have any questions, please email info@braidedwisdom.org.
ABOUT THE TEACHER
Mbali Marais is the founder of Return to Origin NPO/PBO. She was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. She is a descendant of the Khoi Khoi peoples, French Huegenots, Dutch, Portuguese, Bushmen, Shangaan, adopted into the Dagara tribe, and is an initiated stick diviner, as well as the Amaghebe clan of the Xhosa peoples. At 3 years old in 1954, she was taken by her parents to live in London. Through her own challenges, which she now understands was her own rootlessness and a sense of homelessness, she developed a passion which became a mission and fascination in health and healing, via the “other route”.
Mbali's diverse background in the healing arts, integrative medicine, indigenous practices and transformative guidance, provide a sound container for both modern and ancient healing modalities. She is now living in the Eastern Cape surrounded by two rivers and the Indian Ocean.
Follow Mbali Marais on YouTube @waterspirit_mbalimarais and learn more about her work at: https://ourdivinemedicine.wordpress.com/.
Story Medicine Wisdom Seeking Group with Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal
Story Medicine Wisdom Seeking Group with Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal
Indigenous cultures view stories as medicine, and believe that old stories hold wisdom and relevance for our lives today. They recognize that stories are not just entertainment or historical artifacts, but are powerful tools for healing, growth, and connection to the land and our ancestors. When we come into relationship with old stories in a traditional way, we are changed by them. The Story Medicine process is a circle of six sessions over six months that is aimed at helping individuals discover the wisdom and relevance of old stories in their lives today, to facilitate growth and healing.
The program utilizes a range of experiential processes, including embodied mindfulness, expressive arts, writing, and active imagination journeys.
Participants are encouraged to engage with the stories in a personal and reflective manner, to gain insights and understanding that can be applied to their current life situations and the world.
Join us on Wednesdays from 5:00 - 7:00 pm PT:
March 6
April 3 & 24
June 5
July 3
August 7
We request participants attend the whole program to respect the container of the class and Dr. Madrigal. We understand that life happens, and if you know you will miss more than one class, we recommend that you join at a time when you are available for all the sessions. The classes will not be recorded to honor the oral tradition of Indigenous wisdom. Your presence and engagement in the class is essential for the course.
ABOUT THE TEACHER
Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Registered Drama Therapist, Trainer, and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner with over twenty years of experience in the field. She has been featured on the cover of Mindful Magazine and was recognized as a Powerful Woman of Mindfulness in the August 2022 edition.
Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal is also a mentor for the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Mindfulness Awareness Research Center Teacher Training Program, a UCLA Certified Mindfulness Facilitator, certified with the International Mindfulness Teachers Association, a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and a Stanford Certified Applied Compassion Educator/Consultant. She is also faculty at the Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles and California Indian Nations College and is the President of Mindful Practice Inc.
Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal specializes in embodied mindfulness-based practices, which combine mindfulness, somatic therapies, and storytelling to support insight, healing and growth. As a Turtle Mountain Chippewa, her Indigenous heritage informs her work and adds a unique perspective and depth to her approach.
In addition to her work as a clinician, Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal is also a writer and performer. She has appeared in indigenous plays written by her daughters and community theatre and enjoys writing fiction featuring Indigenous female protagonists who save the world. Her book, The Mindful Family Guidebook, has been well-received and listed as a Best Book of Mindfulness 2021 by Mindful Magazine. She is currently working on her next book, Story Medicine.
Original Medicine 4-Part Series with Nobantu Mpotulo
Ubuntu and Brahma Viharas: Weaving Ancient African Spirituality and Buddhism
Join Original Medicine 4-Part Series and guest teacher Nobantu Mpotulo for an introduction to the age old African Wisdom of Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is about inter-connectedness and inter-beingness. Ubuntu promotes non-duality and using the heart to connect with all beings seen and unseen. We will explore how to use Ubuntu to bring the Brahma Viharas alive.
About The Original Medicine 4-Part Series
This program is a psycho-spiritual cross-cultural mindfulness approach to the teachings that weave together Indigenous Wisdom, Mindfulness, and Earth-based practices in order to integrate seasons and the transitions between the seasons as cross-cultural mindfulness tools. In Indigenous societies, there are long-standing practices of honoring the sacred, cultivating stillness, embracing silence, being in nature, and conducting rituals to acknowledge the coming changes in the world around them and within themselves.
Prior participation in previous OM 4-Part Sessions not required.
This event registration is for the Original Medicine 4-Part Series - Winter Season on Saturday, January 20 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm (Pacific Time).
A Zoom Link will be sent on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, prior to the event. Please check your spam folder if you do not see our email with the zoom link.
If you have any questions, please email info@braidedwisdom.org.
Nobantu Mpotulo has been a Buddhist practitioner and a teacher for over 20 years. She is trained in the insight mindfulness practices. She is also an Insight Dialogue Teacher and integrates Insight Dialogue with Ubuntu an ancient African Indigenous Wisdom which emphasizes interdependence and non-duality. Nobantu is also a Diamond Approach student and in her practice of Diamond Approach she uses Enneagram to support her. She is a certified Enneagram Teacher. Nobantu is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leadership Programme (CDL 4 Cohort), she has also completed the Dharmapala Programme under the tutelage of Kittisaro and Thanissara. She is a Trustee at Dharmagiri. Nobantu promotes Afro-dharma in her Buddhist teachings by integrating Ubuntu. Nobantu is an internationally acclaimed coach, mentor, facilitator and leads peace circles.
Her favorite quote is by Victor Frankl,
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom."
Original Medicine Yearlong Program 2024
Original medicine yearlong program 2024
Original Medicine Yearlong Program is a psycho-spiritual cross-cultural mindfulness approach to healing and development. The contemplative teachings weave together Indigenous wisdom, mindfulness, and earth-based practices. This program teaches students how to work with the four seasons as tools of self-awareness, to learn the process of tracking one’s own changes, and to connect to one’s own natural phenomena as a human being. In Indigenous societies, there are long-standing practices of creating the sacred, cultivating stillness, and embracing silence. They cherish being in nature and conducting rituals to acknowledge the coming changes in the worlds within and around them.
Indigenous societies recognize individuals holding our personal power as Original Medicine. The shadow of the false-self is purified as we strengthen our authentic self through the practice of coming home to our truth and power. The teachings of Buddha and Indigenous wisdom build this foundation of truth, trust, and love. Together we will explore ways of coming into our own Original Medicine and enhance our personal growth and purpose.
Introduction to Cross-Cultural Mindfulness - January 2024
We are facing a time in humanity of great division and despair as we witness the unfolding of a dying ecosystem. We are experiencing the challenges of a world in crisis, pandemic, war, racial inequality, economic disparity, displacement, and climate devastation. We need a framework for building up ourselves and each other - together.
Cross-Cultural Mindfulness is a framework that brings together universal principles common across many cultures to help us integrate with our most primordial selves.
"Primordial comes from the Latin words primus, meaning 'first' and ordiri, 'to begin.' So it is easy to see that this adjective means 'first of all, original.' When something is primordial, it has existed since the earliest time, like the primordial mud some scientists believe was the source of all life on Earth."
This framework centers on the foundations of mindfulness that are grounded on the breath, body, heart, and mind. Cultures from all four corners of the world understand this framework to be fundamentally necessary to connect with our direct experience of the ever changing flow of life itself, which is essential to how we hold ourselves and each other in this very difficult time for humanity. In this course, participants will:
Cultivate stillness, deep listening, and the ability to pay attention to present moment experience with a quality of mind that is alert, open, aware, and fully alive.
Explore Earth-Based Practices to experience the truth that can be revealed through being in direct relationship with Nature.
Practice ways of tracking what is present for us, the visible and invisible.
Learn how to witness the mirroring of our internal and external realities through a self-assessment tool that explores how we are surviving and thriving.
Learn the distinction between Cross-Cultural Mindfulness and secular mindfulness.
Every time we practice mindfulness meditation, we are actively engaging with life itself internally and externally. Our internal landscape is a full living ecosystem no different from our beloved Earth, deeply connected to one another with no separation of other living beings, seen and unseen. Hence, this is why we honor the form and the formless as we acknowledge those who have come before us and after us. Our ancestors are living through us and the acknowledgement of our cultural roots is vital for a deeper understanding of our freedom beyond this body, this culture, this identity and this world. We open ourselves to this precious life shared with so many and embody the knowing that we are not separate from any of it. This practice is a vital antidote to the divisive patterns being amplified in our declining ecosystem worldwide.
Finally, as most know, the timeless practice of mindfulness was historically taught by the Buddha. The teachings of the Buddha belong to all living beings. At the same time, Asian descendants whose cultural and ancestral lineages have preserved Buddhism throughout history, have a particular birthright to Buddhism. Known as Heritage Buddhists, these Asian diaspora communities must navigate the complexities and intersectionalities of modern day Buddhism. Many must practice holding the tension of oppressive aspects of patriarchy and traditionalism in Buddhism while also the harms of racism, invisibility, erasure, and cultural appropriation perpetuated by white colonization. Cross-Cultural Mindfulness honors the contributions of Heritage Buddhists to the ongoing preservation and expansion of mindfulness and contemplative practices worldwide while making space for the evolving complexities and unfolding needs facing these specific practitioners.
Original Medicine Yearlong Program 2024 - Introduction & Overview Evening
Original medicine yearlong program 2024 - Introduction & overview evening
This is a complementary evening event to introduce the Original Medicine Yearlong Program 2024, while meeting the teachers and asking questions.
Original Medicine Yearlong Program is a psycho-spiritual cross-cultural mindfulness approach to healing and development. The contemplative teachings weave together Indigenous wisdom, mindfulness, and earth-based practices. This program teaches students how to work with the four seasons as tools of self-awareness, to learn the process of tracking one’s own changes, and to connect to one’s own natural phenomena as a human being. In Indigenous societies, there are long-standing practices of creating the sacred, cultivating stillness, and embracing silence. They cherish being in nature and conducting rituals to acknowledge the coming changes in the worlds within and around them.
Indigenous societies recognize individuals holding our personal power as Original Medicine. The shadow of the false-self is purified as we strengthen our authentic self through the practice of coming home to our truth and power. The teachings of Buddha and Indigenous wisdom build this foundation of truth, trust, and love. Together we will explore ways of coming into our own Original Medicine and enhance our personal growth and purpose.
Original Medicine Yearlong Program 2024 - Introduction & Overview Evening
Original medicine yearlong program 2024 - Introduction & overview evening
This is a complementary evening event to introduce the Original Medicine Yearlong Program 2024, while meeting the teachers and asking questions.
Original Medicine Yearlong Program is a psycho-spiritual cross-cultural mindfulness approach to healing and development. The contemplative teachings weave together Indigenous wisdom, mindfulness, and earth-based practices. This program teaches students how to work with the four seasons as tools of self-awareness, to learn the process of tracking one’s own changes, and to connect to one’s own natural phenomena as a human being. In Indigenous societies, there are long-standing practices of creating the sacred, cultivating stillness, and embracing silence. They cherish being in nature and conducting rituals to acknowledge the coming changes in the worlds within and around them.
Indigenous societies recognize individuals holding our personal power as Original Medicine. The shadow of the false-self is purified as we strengthen our authentic self through the practice of coming home to our truth and power. The teachings of Buddha and Indigenous wisdom build this foundation of truth, trust, and love. Together we will explore ways of coming into our own Original Medicine and enhance our personal growth and purpose.
Original Medicine 4-Part Series with Amelia Butler - Reindigenizing through Te Ao Māori
Reindigenizing through Te Ao Māori
Join Original Medicine 4-Part Series and Amelia Butler for Reindigenizing through Te Ao Māori
Reindigenization is necessary for us to break through the oppressive and destructive systems that exist within the Western world. By reconnecting to an indigenous worldview we create profound and lasting change in our relationships with nature, our ancestors, our communities, each other, our selves, and, for the world.
In this session we will explore the ancient wisdom of the Māori people, the indigenous people of Aotearoa (New Zealand), as a pathway to our own reindigenization journey. Through looking at the world from a Te Ao Māori (Māori cultural) perspective, participants will experience a new way of connecting with self and the world around them.
About the Teacher:
Amelia Butler is an indigenous Māori woman, cultural practitioner and Māori cultural consultant from Aotearoa, New Zealand. She is the founder and director of Learn Māori Abroad, a global organization that shares Māori language, culture and performance online and in-person. Amelia moved to Turtle Island (US) in 2009 and has shared Māori language & culture with various groups and organizations in the US including UCLA, University of Hawaii, University of Washington, Pacific Island Ethnic Arts Museum, Warner Bros Studios, Sony, Tourism New Zealand, Penguin Random House, Atlas Obscura and Intel. Amelia's tribal affiliation are Ngātiwai, Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Awa. For more info about Amelia's work visit her website www.learnmaoriabroad.com. Ngā mihi!
Introduction to Cross-Cultural Mindfulness - November 2023
We are facing a time in humanity of great division and despair as we witness the unfolding of a dying ecosystem. We are experiencing the challenges of a world in crisis, pandemic, war, racial inequality, economic disparity, displacement, and climate devastation. We need a framework for building up ourselves and each other - together.
Cross-Cultural Mindfulness is a framework that brings together universal principles common across many cultures to help us integrate with our most primordial selves.
"Primordial comes from the Latin words primus, meaning 'first' and ordiri, 'to begin.' So it is easy to see that this adjective means 'first of all, original.' When something is primordial, it has existed since the earliest time, like the primordial mud some scientists believe was the source of all life on Earth."
This framework centers on the foundations of mindfulness that are grounded on the breath, body, heart, and mind. Cultures from all four corners of the world understand this framework to be fundamentally necessary to connect with our direct experience of the ever changing flow of life itself, which is essential to how we hold ourselves and each other in this very difficult time for humanity. In this course, participants will:
Cultivate stillness, deep listening, and the ability to pay attention to present moment experience with a quality of mind that is alert, open, aware, and fully alive.
Explore Earth-Based Practices to experience the truth that can be revealed through being in direct relationship with Nature.
Practice ways of tracking what is present for us, the visible and invisible.
Learn how to witness the mirroring of our internal and external realities through a self-assessment tool that explores how we are surviving and thriving.
Learn the distinction between Cross-Cultural Mindfulness and secular mindfulness.
Every time we practice mindfulness meditation, we are actively engaging with life itself internally and externally. Our internal landscape is a full living ecosystem no different from our beloved Earth, deeply connected to one another with no separation of other living beings, seen and unseen. Hence, this is why we honor the form and the formless as we acknowledge those who have come before us and after us. Our ancestors are living through us and the acknowledgement of our cultural roots is vital for a deeper understanding of our freedom beyond this body, this culture, this identity and this world. We open ourselves to this precious life shared with so many and embody the knowing that we are not separate from any of it. This practice is a vital antidote to the divisive patterns being amplified in our declining ecosystem worldwide.
Finally, as most know, the timeless practice of mindfulness was historically taught by the Buddha. The teachings of the Buddha belong to all living beings. At the same time, Asian descendants whose cultural and ancestral lineages have preserved Buddhism throughout history, have a particular birthright to Buddhism. Known as Heritage Buddhists, these Asian diaspora communities must navigate the complexities and intersectionalities of modern day Buddhism. Many must practice holding the tension of oppressive aspects of patriarchy and traditionalism in Buddhism while also the harms of racism, invisibility, erasure, and cultural appropriation perpetuated by white colonization. Cross-Cultural Mindfulness honors the contributions of Heritage Buddhists to the ongoing preservation and expansion of mindfulness and contemplative practices worldwide while making space for the evolving complexities and unfolding needs facing these specific practitioners.
6-Week Program: Story Medicine Wisdom with Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal
6 week program: Story Medicine WISDOM SEEKING GROUP
Indigenous cultures view stories as medicine, and believe that old stories hold wisdom and relevance for our lives today. They recognize that stories are not just entertainment or historical artifacts, but are powerful tools for healing, growth, and connection to the land and our ancestors. When we come into relationship with old stories in a traditional way, we are changed by them.
By engaging with stories in a sacred manner, we are invited into a deeper relationship with the stories themselves, as well as with the land and our ancestors. This can help us to see things from a different perspective, and to gain insight and wisdom that we may not have access to otherwise. In the same way, if we only understand stories through a colonized lens, we miss out on their deeper meanings and significance. This can limit our ability to connect with the land, our ancestors, and our own intuition and ways of knowing.
By recognizing the power of stories and engaging with them in traditional ways, we can tap into a vast tool for understanding ourselves each other, and the world around us. Ultimately, stories have the power to
connect us all. By engaging with them in a respectful and sacred manner, we can access their medicine and wisdom, and use them to support our personal growth and healing, as well as the well-being of our communities and the planet.
The Story Medicine process is a 6-week program that is aimed at helping individuals discover the wisdom and relevance of old stories in their lives today, to facilitate growth and healing. The program utilizes a range of experiential processes, including embodied mindfulness, expressive arts, writing, and active imagination journeys. Participants are encouraged to engage with the stories in a personal and reflective manner, to gain insights and understanding that can be applied to their current life situations and the world.
About the Teacher:
Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal is a Licensed Turtle Mountain Chippewa Clinical Psychologist, a Registered Drama Therapist, the President of Mindful Practice Inc, and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner with over twenty years of experience in the field. She has been featured on the cover of Mindful Magazine and was recognized as a Powerful Woman of Mindfulness in the August 2022 edition.
She is a mentor for the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Mindfulness Awareness Research Center Teacher Training Program, a Stanford Certified Applied Compassion Educator/Consultant, and faculty member at the Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles and California Indian Nations College.
Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal specializes in embodied narrative and mindfulness-based practices, which combine mindfulness, somatic therapies, and storytelling to support insight, healing and growth.
In addition to her work as a clinician, Dr. Dionne Madrigal is also a writer, with an MFA from the American Indian Institute of the Arts (May 2023), and a performer. She has appeared in Indigenous plays written by her daughters and enjoys writing fiction featuring Indigenous female protagonists who save the world. Her book, The Mindful Family Guidebook, has been listed as a Best Book of Mindfulness 2021 by Mindful Magazine. Dr. Dionne Madrigal is currently working on her next books, Story Medicine, and thriller-fantasy Silenced, featuring Indigenous women saving the world.
Earth Based Initiatives For Our Times With Elder Medicine Woman Mbali Marais - Nature
About Nature Session
Nature’s mirror reminds us of truth. It invites us to remove the masks of disingenuity and playing small. It calls us back into the magic and mystery of our life, where change and transformation is essential and it moves us to remember that death and rebirth are a part of life.
About the Series
How do we practice in these times? The real question is how do we not? Amidst the chaos and conflict of the individual and collective fires raging around us, there is an invitation to find our primary call to creativity and tend to the deep self. When we realise we are not all there is, we awaken to the call to find our wholeness in the mystery and the greater earth story of who and why we are here.
In this five part elemental series hosted by Braided Wisdom we explore earth based practices to guide us in this time. These practices are grounded in the 5 elemental cosmology of the Dagara tradition - fire, water, earth, mineral and nature - and cross-cultural ways of knowing. We will draw from the wisdom of intergenerational circles. We will look to the past in order to support us in the present to move forward and leave a legacy of earth stewardship for the next generations. We will return to the age old practices of radical ritual, contemplative practices, reflection, storytelling, ceremony and the arts.
About the Teacher:
Mbali Marais is a descendant of a Khoi Khoi ( Khoi Khoi means -The Real People) peoples on her mother’s side from the Western Cape, South Africa and the Amaghebe clan of the Xhosa peoples on her father’s side in the Eastern Cape. She is mother to a Xhosa boy (who came into her life when he was 9 years old) a sister, daughter, aunt, mother to many. Her lineages include Dagara west Africa (adopted) Bushmen, Shangan, Grique, Khoi Khoi, Dutch, French Hugeunots and Portuguese.
Mbali Marais is the founder of the Return to Origin non-profit organization. www.returntoorigin.org.za an organization that works with young underserved people in South Africa to return them to their origins. She has facilitated the three year Indigenous Knowledge Leadership Program and graduated leaders where inner and outer work are at the heart of transformation.
Original Medicine 4-Part Series with Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal - Connecting with Beauty Through Story
Connecting with beauty through story
Join Original Medicine 4-Part Series and Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal for an introduction to her longer 6-week program in October connecting with beauty through story. Bring an object that you resonate with from the land that you live on.
Life is hard, but it’s also beautiful.
You live in a story whether you know it or not, and that story shapes your physical health and wellbeing into the future. It also shapes the world.
A Story Medicine Quest begins with tapping into ancestral and archetypal strengths so you can begin to find an orientation to yourself, important archetypes, and the world that’s more rooted and aligned with your essential self (that thing that you came into this world with and that you are tasked to manifest). As you connect with your power, you develop a more meaningful life and become more focused and intentional about the story you live. That can change everything. So, what are you waiting for?
A Beautiful Life!
What could you possibly gain?
Greater peace, ease and alignment that comes from being who you truly are.
Internal allies which give you the ability to more effectively meet what shows up in your life.
Better aim to navigate transition, loss, and change more effectively.
A portal to deep connection with yourself, others, and the larger world.
A Story Medicine Quest uses Indigenous wisdom as part of your journey to become a complete human being. While the Story medicine quest takes six months to a year, in the fall we are going to embark on a 6-week journey focusing on gaining wisdom from the archetypes found in the old stories
The Story Medicine Wisdom Seeking Group, which will gather for the 6-week program in October, utilizes a range of experiential processes, including embodied mindfulness, expressive arts, writing, and active imagination journeys. Participants are encouraged to engage with the old stories in a personal and reflective manner, to gain insights and understandings that can be applied to their current life situations and the world around them.
Let’s embark on a collaborative journey to open the portal to the story you were born to live.
Beauty happens - savor it
Struggles happen - grow from them
Lean into your one great life!
About the Teacher:
Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal is a Licensed Turtle Mountain Chippewa Clinical Psychologist, a Registered Drama Therapist, the President of Mindful Practice Inc, and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner with over twenty years of experience in the field. She has been featured on the cover of Mindful Magazine and was recognized as a Powerful Woman of Mindfulness in the August 2022 edition.
She is a mentor for the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Mindfulness Awareness Research Center Teacher Training Program, a Stanford Certified Applied Compassion Educator/Consultant, and faculty member at the Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles and California Indian Nations College.
Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal specializes in embodied narrative and mindfulness-based practices, which combine mindfulness, somatic therapies, and storytelling to support insight, healing and growth.
In addition to her work as a clinician, Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal is also a writer, with an MFA from the American Indian Institute of the Arts (May 2023), and a performer. She has appeared in Indigenous plays written by her daughters and enjoys writing fiction featuring Indigenous female protagonists who save the world. Her book, The Mindful Family Guidebook, has been listed as a Best Book of Mindfulness 2021 by Mindful Magazine. Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal is currently working on her next books, Story Medicine, and thriller-fantasy Silenced, featuring Indigenous women saving the world.
Earth Based Initiatives For Our Times With Elder Medicine Woman Mbali Marais - Mineral
About Mineral Session
We will journey with mineral, the bones of the earth to evoke us to re- remember, re-vision and re-imagine our bigger earth story and the gifts inscribed in our bones. When we claim all that we are and have been, we are alive with purpose.
About the Series
How do we practice in these times? The real question is how do we not? Amidst the chaos and conflict of the individual and collective fires raging around us, there is an invitation to find our primary call to creativity and tend to the deep self. When we realise we are not all there is, we awaken to the call to find our wholeness in the mystery and the greater earth story of who and why we are here.
In this five part elemental series hosted by Braided Wisdom we explore earth based practices to guide us in this time. These practices are grounded in the 5 elemental cosmology of the Dagara tradition - fire, water, earth, mineral and nature - and cross-cultural ways of knowing. We will draw from the wisdom of intergenerational circles. We will look to the past in order to support us in the present to move forward and leave a legacy of earth stewardship for the next generations. We will return to the age old practices of radical ritual, contemplative practices, reflection, storytelling, ceremony and the arts.
About the Teacher:
Mbali Marais is a descendant of a Khoi Khoi ( Khoi Khoi means -The Real People) peoples on her mother’s side from the Western Cape, South Africa and the Amaghebe clan of the Xhosa peoples on her father’s side in the Eastern Cape. She is mother to a Xhosa boy (who came into her life when he was 9 years old) a sister, daughter, aunt, mother to many. Her lineages include Dagara west Africa (adopted) Bushmen, Shangan, Grique, Khoi Khoi, Dutch, French Hugeunots and Portuguese.
Mbali Marais is the founder of the Return to Origin non-profit organization. www.returntoorigin.org.za an organization that works with young underserved people in South Africa to return them to their origins. She has facilitated the three year Indigenous Knowledge Leadership Program and graduated leaders where inner and outer work are at the heart of transformation.
Community Healing Council - Imee Contreras & Aubrey Gates
In most cultures, the symbol of a circle represents wholeness, and the potential for unity. When we come together as an intentional community, for personal development and healing, we are honoring the sacred. We will cultivate the collective practice of listening, witnessing, and holding space for the whole as we heal ourselves by acknowledging what needs to be healed. We will work with the Seasons, Elements, and Nature as direct mirrors for the healing process. Indigenous cultures recognize that the healing of self is connected to the whole community.
We offer the Community Healing Council as a complimentary and follow-up class to the Original Medicine 4-Part Series. The council is a sacred space where we can practice being in community in an open, authentic, and compassionate way.
Attendance in the Original Medicine 4-Part Series is not a pre-requisite for registration.
**If you do not receive the zoom link in advance, please check your spam folder for an email from info@braidedwisdom.org.**
This event registration is for the last healing circle on Saturday, February 4, 2023 from 4:00pm - 6:30pm Pacific Time. A Zoom Link will be sent the Thursday & Friday prior to and the day of the event.
TBD
Earth Based Initiatives For Our Times With Elder Medicine Woman Mbali Marais - Earth Session
About Earth Session
Being born is validation enough and yet our sense of belonging and home is often sabotaged by our not enough-ness, our need for validation, and a feeling of being lost in the world. We often walk the path of the homeless in scarcity looking for an identity, a recognition, and a place to bring our gifts to our community. As we dig deep into the earth element we may find that abundance is rightly ours and the earth never said you don't belong. We come into sacred reciprocity with the earth. We come home.
About the Series
How do we practice in these times? The real question is how do we not? Amidst the chaos and conflict of the individual and collective fires raging around us, there is an invitation to find our primary call to creativity and tend to the deep self. When we realise we are not all there is, we awaken to the call to find our wholeness in the mystery and the greater earth story of who and why we are here.
In this five part elemental series hosted by Braided Wisdom we explore earth based practices to guide us in this time. These practices are grounded in the 5 elemental cosmology of the Dagara tradition - fire, water, earth, mineral and nature - and cross-cultural ways of knowing. We will draw from the wisdom of intergenerational circles. We will look to the past in order to support us in the present to move forward and leave a legacy of earth stewardship for the next generations. We will return to the age old practices of radical ritual, contemplative practices, reflection, storytelling, ceremony and the arts.
About the Teacher:
Mbali Marais is a descendant of a Khoi Khoi ( Khoi Khoi means -The Real People) peoples on her mother’s side from the Western Cape, South Africa and the Amaghebe clan of the Xhosa peoples on her father’s side in the Eastern Cape. She is mother to a Xhosa boy (who came into her life when he was 9 years old) a sister, daughter, aunt, mother to many. Her lineages include Dagara west Africa (adopted) Bushmen, Shangan, Grique, Khoi Khoi, Dutch, French Hugeunots and Portuguese.
Mbali Marais is the founder of the Return to Origin non-profit organization. www.returntoorigin.org.za an organization that works with young underserved people in South Africa to return them to their origins. She has facilitated the three year Indigenous Knowledge Leadership Program and graduated leaders where inner and outer work are at the heart of transformation.
Balance Restored: Remembering the Indigenous Design of American Democracy - Dr. Leslie Gray
Balance Restored: Remembering the Indigenous Design of American Democracy
It is now manifest that life in the United States in the 21st century is perilously out of balance. Hundreds of years of warnings from Indigenous leaders, as well as roughly 70 years of dire predictions from scientists, social philosophers and artists, have gone unheeded. In this 2 hour presentation Dr. Leslie Gray will elucidate the original, ingenious design of American democracy. She will highlight the deep intelligence and emphasis on personal agency embedded in this design that were intended to be a roadmap for righting oneself in the midst of chaos.
The removal of civics instruction from schools, the proliferation of false narratives on social media, the failure of political leadership to uphold governmental norms and laws —as destructive as these things may be — they are not, Dr. Gray proposes, sufficient to account for the extent of the helplessness, delusions and violence permeating American society today.
To come to terms with our dispiritedness, and to remedy it, Dr. Gray suggests we must first take an “x-ray” of the hidden structure that sabotages American life, and second we must fill in the fundamental gap in our education about democracy. In this way we can reveal basic human (not superhuman) characteristics that drive and sustain a healthy democracy, thereby positioning ourselves to be spirit-warriors who restore the balance.
About the Teacher:
Dr. Leslie Gray, executive director and founder of the Woodfish Institute, is a Native American psychologist who has studied with medicine people and elders from various tribal backgrounds. She advocates (and embodies) a new vision of health care—the integration of ancient healing and modern medicine.
Dr. Gray has a private practice in San Francisco, California, teaches workshops and seminars worldwide, and conducts travel/study programs to ancient sites. She has lectured at various universities including the University of California at Berkeley and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. She consults with individuals and organizations on the practice of ecopsychology, and her work has been featured in such periodicals as East-West Journal and Re-Vision Journal, as well as in the book Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind. Dr. Gray has served on the board of directors of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, and is currently an Associate of the Milton Erickson Institute of the Bay Area.
Restorative Economy Series With Guest Speaker Kimi Mojica
Cultivating Relational Resilience
About Special Guest Kimi Mojica
Kimi Mojica joined Justice Funders in 2018 and currently serves as the Senior Director of Consulting where they guide and support philanthropic institutions in aligning grantmaking practices with social justice values and the Just Transition. In addition to leading Justice Funders’ consulting practice, they lend their talents to support the design and delivery of the Harmony Initiative and other leadership programs. They bring over twenty years of experience as a process strategist, facilitator and trainer working with a broad range of leaders and groups to vision and steward positive change beyond traditional DEI efforts, to transform culture, conflict and practices towards collective liberation.
Kimi works at the nexus of conflict literacy, peacemaking, leadership and organizational development grounded firmly in an equity lens that recognizes how power, structure and systems impact connection, relationships and quality of life. In addition to philanthropy, their career and background spans across sectors having worked in higher education, tech, corporate, as well as community based formations. Prior to Justice Funders, Kimi has worked as the Membership Services Manager at Asian Americans Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) and has served as Board Chair of East Bay Meditation Center and the Astrea Foundation. Kimi’s commitment to racial, gender and healing justice is evident through the dynamic ways they hold space/process with a participatory, experiential, learning-centered, skills-based approach rooted in compassion. Possessing an insatiable desire to explore the complexities of change, resilience and the human condition, Kimi is also an associate trainer at SEEDS and a lead facilitator and curriculum designer at Awaken, in addition to being a coach, mediator and circle keeper.
Born in San Francisco, Kimi currently lives in Oakland, CA/Ohlone Territory. They believe in the power of imagination and can often be found seeking refuge in nature, or in their meditation and Kajukenbo martial arts practices.
Earth Based Initiatives For Our Times With Elder Medicine Woman Mbali Marais
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About the Teacher:
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Original Medicine 4-Part Series With Guest Teacher Dr. Renda Dionne Madrigal
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About the Teacher:
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Restorative Economy Series With Guest Speaker Melissa Crosby
About the Discussion
In this talk, we hear the great wisdom of Melissa Crosby, also known as Crosby, who currently serves as co-director and collective member of Movement Generation. Crosby gives an igniting talk that brings together social justice and political economics. They talk about the second iteration of the Just Transition movement and the effort to address the destructive impacts of the extractive and exploitive economy. They share a compelling perspective on the maturation cycle of our human species, how not all humans have had the same impact on the world, and where we are right now in this cycle. Lastly, we hear about what ecological justice is and how we can shift to a new regenerative economy through building, beloved community, centered on sacred care, greater unity, and cooperation. Learn more about Crosby here.
Additional Resources:
Restorative Economy Series With Guest Speaker Konda Mason
About the Discussion
We launch the Restorative Economy series with guest speaker Konda Mason. Konda is a social entrepreneur, eco-spiritual thought leader, mindfulness teacher and justice advocate. In this conversation, Konda digs into the problem of our existing economy, helps us reimagine a new way, and describes the path forward using evolving frameworks based in solidarity and restorative justice. Learn more about Konda Mason here.
Additional Resources