Lindsay Kolasa

Don’t want to read and would rather listen to some audio on the details of this program?  Check out this 20 min video on Zoom.

Email me at maypop (at) riseup.net if you are interested in this program…

The Nest

For personal healing, we have to create a container…a nest…where our soul feels safe to unravel, reveal, explore and repair. This is what I have been creating for people for some time now when I work with clients and students.

During this program, I will draw on my skills and resources that I have acquired since my own, great unraveling that began in 2001.  I experienced psychosis while living abroad and it took me years to find my footing again.  The lessons, insights, and tools I gathered along the way of my own healing journey became what I offer others.

If you are navigating personal trauma, transgenerational trauma, or depression…this program is for you.  If you feel that your inner compass is spinning or off track, this program is for you.  If you want to simply explore the medicine wheel and see what it has to offer, this program is for you.

The 10-Month Program

Starting February 2020 (just before Spring emerges), I will embark on a sacred journey around the medicine wheel with other willing souls. We will begin in the direction, East…and we will make our way around the medicine wheel — South, West, North, and then Center… It will be a 10-month distance “experiencing” program consisting of small groups that will be in dynamic dialogue with each other as we move through the seasons.

It will require commitment to the process…and, at the same time, everyone can comfortably fit this into their every day lives. You can chose how deep you want to go.

As well, you will need some extra time to go on a vision quest, vipassana/meditation retreat, dream incubation retreat, or pilgrimage; this would happen some time Fall 2020 (depending on your availability this would be a 1-day to a 10-day retreat). There will also be times that we take short fasts from TV, movies, social media…as well as a sugar fast.

Other elements will be one required reading resource (book) per season, dream-work, ancestor-work, a creative project, and food & plant medicine learnings. Everything will culminate in you giving a workshop to your community which would involve one (or more) of your gifts.  At this point, you will also learn how to call in the directions through presence and prayer.

About the Medicine Wheel

The medicine wheel is a way to orient ourselves in the world. It is an archetypal blueprint of the seasons and phases of life. It is a reflection of our life process, which is, ultimately, a creative process. The medicine wheel, in various forms, has been used by numerous peoples on this planet for healing, guidance, and to reconnect a person with their own narrative within the greater current of life.

Teachers, elders, and healers such as Elina Avila, Jeanette Armstrong, Starhawk, and Laura Van dernoot Lipsky inspired my work. As well, I drew from the book, ‘The Sacred Tree,’ which was created to support First Peoples who were dealing with substance abuse issues.

My relationship with the Medicine Wheel

Ever since I learned of the medicine wheel, about 15 years ago, I found it to be so familiar and it drew me in.  The shape — circle.  The four directions.  The psycho-spiritual element.  The way various tribes, peoples, and cultures were guided by the medicine wheel.  It all made sense to me on a level that took me awhile to articulate.  Later, I realized that the medicine wheel speaks through a soul language.

I continued to explore the medicine wheel and started drawing some simple sketches of them.

Then, I experienced how to use the medicine wheel in a council process by an Okanagan elder.  It was powerful.  It was life-changing.

My eagerness to explore the wheel deepened after this moment with the Okanagan elder.  And then, it took on a life of its own.

While living in the mountains of Western North Carolina, I had a dream of another way to use the medicine wheel.  It could be used for deep healing…if we were placed in the center.  The simple rock carvings…the leaf litter…the soft, sunlight of the fall season making its way through the trees…I remember these parts of my dream well.  I also remember the circles that marked the four directions and the healing place in the center; a place where someone could lie down for healing.

So, this is why we will turn the wheel and find center…because this is where the healing will happen…  As we navigate our way to the center, to the heartbeat…we will be transformed in the process.

Lately, I have been pondering various aspects of this program while walking my daughter in her stroller around town.  The times when I am the deepest in thought on the topic, I have come across a compass and the four directions…this has happened in three different locations in some very unlikely spots!

And, just like bread crumbs on a trail…leading me to my destination…I am paying attention to these signs.  To me, it is an affirmation that it is time to move forward and welcome others to the medicine wheel.

How the course will be organized

Each participant will get a medicine wheel bandana for them to keep with them (pictured earlier in this blog post).  I created this art and had it printed on organic cotton with soy-based ink.

As I mentioned above, the course will begin in the East in Feb 2020.  The entire group will meet, using the on-line platform Zoom, once a month as we move through the seasons.  We will meet on the first Sunday of every month (Feb to Dec) at 9 am PST.

The regular talks are the anchor to this program, offering continuity, building trust in the group and the process, and creating community.  Whether you make the call or not, you will have access to the recording.

For each direction there will be contemplations, journal writing, and exercises to explore.  I will send these by email at the beginning of each quadrant of the medicine wheel (see outline below).

There will also be a book to read (one recommended, one optional).  I have carefully selected these books so that the words are congruent with the nature of the big lessons of a particular direction.  These books offer guidance and deeper insight.

At the end of each direction, you will mail me your thoughts about particular direction…what was learned…what was revealed and discovered…in hand-written or typed form.  I will respond back to you by mail as well.

The course will be pretty intuitive once things begin.   I have created a loose structure with breathing room for us all to influence the flow of the course.  I will give you a map and show you the way, but we each will chose how to walk the path.

Here is the basic flow of the course (and I am leaving some things out as to not reveal each and every aspect of journey together):

East (February, March)
Hawk
Where our attention goes
Where we get perspective
Fasting & preparation
Bird wing & feather
Spring weeds
What we can and cannot look at or see

South (April, May, June)
Skunk
Where our childhood wounds reside (blockages)
Creativity
Healthy boundaries
Self-acceptance & self-esteem
Our 7 gifts
Art project

West (July, August)
Snake
Sacrifice of old self
Dream healing & meditation
Decluttering
Quest, pilgrimage, vision quest, or vipassana
Fasting from stimuli, media, etc
Entering the womb, abaton, or cave

North (September, October)
Whale
Where we call on the ancestors
Ancestor-work
Consult higher wisdom
Oral histories, oral traditions, and songs
Mythical consciousness

Center (November, December)
Tree of Life
Community project or offering

Email me to express interest in the program..

I’ve been watering the seeds of this vision for many months and I am ready to move forward now.

Join me, in the safe and sheltered nest, as we turn the wheel and find the heartbeat at the center…………..

Comment below with your email address or email me at – maypop (at) riseup.net – if you are interested.

What will be the cost?

The fee will be a flat fee of $250.  I have space for 15 participants.  A non-refundable deposit of $50 by Nov 1st will secure your spot.  The rest of the $200 is due by Feb 1st.

I have purposefully made this course very affordable so that no one is turned away due to lack of funds.  By the end of the course, if you wish and if you are financially able, you are welcome to leave an additional donation or offering if the program has significantly benefited your life.