Story Medicine Wisdom

Curriculum

Session 1: Orientation. Ancestral Treasure Hunting. In the first session, we will connect with ancestral strengths. Ancestral work can be deep and complicated to traverse. We are journeying to the past with a lens for strengths. Did you know that epigenetic research has shown that we can carry the long ago past within us? There is a long line of ancestors that we have come from and there is a wealth of strength and gifts within that line. Let’s find it! Drink lots of water this month, clearing away what’s no longer needed.         

Session 2: Awakening Play and Imagination. The second session is focused on orienting to the land of stories, childhood and adult heroes, and an introduction to the power of storytelling. It’s about remembering how to play. Did you know that in humans pretend play has been tied to increased cognitive flexibility and social responsivity, as well as improved emotion regulation? It’s opens neural pathways needed for this journey we’re embarking on to awaken something needed. In beginning there is nothing except possibility. Connect with the air element this month. Breath in that which is essential to your being. 

Session 3. The Asking and Archetypes. The third session will continue the hero work, focus on setting personal intentions for the journey, and seeking archetypes through different forms of engagement with a traditional story (expressive arts, pretext, and playback). The group will expand on using experiential exercises to help them explore traditional story elements that are important to their growth and healing journey. The focus is on recognizing key archetypal energies working in our lives, and how they can inform and support our journey. It is here that we can discover something essential to our authentic self. Did you know that an archetype is an original imprint or original patterning. In that patterning is the essence of something that determines what it is? Connect with the earth element this month. Walk and feel into the solidity of the earth to support your good mind. 

Session 4: Traditional Story Wisdom. The fourth session will focus on meeting and spending time experientially with one traditional story to help us remember where we come from and how to have a good mind on the journey to where we’re going. Have you heard Native writer Tommy Orange’s quote, “And so what we could do had everything to do with being able to understand where we came from, what happened to our people, and how to honor them by living right, by telling our stories. She told me the world was made of stories, nothing else, just stories, and stories about stories.” Connect with the element of fire this month. Feel the warmth in your body to ignite something new.

Session 5: Seeking a Traditional Story. In the fifth session, the group will explore their own traditional stories connected to place and manitou. The focus will be on coming into relationship with the story, using a creative process to bring to life particular aspects of the story that resonate with them, deepening their understanding and personal connection to them using various expressive arts mediums such as drawing, painting, mask making, or collage. Did you know Nigerien Storyteller, Ben Okri said, “When you can imagine you begin to create and when you begin to create you realize that you can create a world that you prefer to live in, rather than a world that you're suffering in.” Choose an element to connect with this month, that you need to bring more into your life for balance. 

Session 6: Extracting essence. In the sixth session, the group will share creations and connections to story and learning through synchronicity and essential elements.  The group will reflect on how others' stories impact them and what synchronicities arise from sharing their stories and how this relates to the call to action. Have you heard, Native writer N. Scott Momaday, say, “Anything is bearable if you can make a story out of it?” This month you will integrate all elements, water, air, earth, and fire to support you in your journey forward.