POWER OF THE WEST

An Indigenous Model for Growth after Trauma

Leslie Gray, PhD 

  Photo by Tumay Aslay

POWER OF THE WEST | An Indigenous Model for Growth after Trauma

Leslie Gray, PhD

October 26-27, 2024
10:30 am – 5:00 pm 

Live, In-person Training, at Still Moving Yoga, Portland, Oregon

All proceeds go to Woodfish Institute, promoting sustainability grounded in time-tested indigenous knowledge

Wisdom of the Medicine Wheel

On the wheel of life or the “medicine wheel” the West is the place where we receive vision. That is why some Native people have named this direction the “Looks-Within Place”.

The color associated with this direction is the color of a moonless night, or of the deepest part of a cave; and the Lesson of the West is to embrace the dark rather than fear it.

The elements of this direction are water, rolling thunder and bolts of lightening; and the Gift of the West is the transformation of pain, loss and trauma into new growth and mature perspective.

From the West comes the universal law that what we envision in spirit can take form in ordinary reality. Paradoxically, from this Mysterious Dark comes happiness– and the insistence on joy– for we have the option to choose the words we speak, choose the thoughts we think, choose our actions.

Post-Traumatic Growth

In this workshop Dr. Leslie Gray will first discuss how and why the hidden imagery behind our current social sciences contains a poor model for post-traumatic growth, let alone for joyous thriving. Alternate imagery will then be put forward that contains a greater potential to inspire personal and collective change. A worldview that does not solely locate trauma in the individual, but also in our living environment, will be highlighted. Visionary and ritual experiences historically generated by this worldview will be presented in a narrative, didactic and experiential teaching format.

Together we will explore timeless approaches to empowerment derived from the Sacred Direction of the West and apply them to today’s challenges.

Workshop Topics will include:

• The Hidden Imagery that Shapes the Prevailing Worldview
• The Perennial Imagery of the Wheel of Life
• Traditional Ways to Speak of “Power” in the West
• Images of Transformation: Seasonal, Animal and Elemental
• Bear as Healer, Thunderbird as Protector
• A Kinetic Mystery Approach to Dreams & Daydreams
• Seeing in the Dark: Journeys and Blanket Divination
• Visionary Transformation: Dismembering & Re-membering
• Ecstatic Postures for Pre-viewing One’s Life
• What the Power of the West Can Teach Us About Happiness

Details

Sat-Sun, October 26-27, 2024
10:30 am – 5:00 pm

Live, in-person training.
Still Moving Yoga
Portland, OR 97219

$400 (All proceeds go to Woodfish Institute, promoting sustainability grounded in time-tested indigenous knowledge)

Cancellation/Refund Policy  

Instructor

Dr Leslie Gray is a Harvard trained, 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 taught Eco-psychology, Anthropology of Consciousness and Native American Psychology at numerous Bay Area universities including U.C. Berkeley.  Leslie offers workshops for the general public in the U.S. and abroad, as well as specific trainings for practitioners seeking to blend Indigenous worldview into their work.

Leslie is also the founder/director of The Woodfish Foundation (www.woodfish.org) which promotes sustainability grounded in Indigenous knowledge.  Leslie’s writings on the therapeutic power of incorporating Indigenous perspectives into contemporary organizations can be found in numerous publications, including “Ecological Medicine” (Sierra Club Books) and “Original Instructions” (Bear and Company).  Leslie is an Associate of the Milton Erickson Institute, a Member of the Society of Indian Psychologists, and is Vice President of The Association for Transpersonal Psychology.