Alumni

  Jo Ann Cannon (Teutonic from Germany) – The IM program has been a profound process for me and continues deepening. The Elders and peers I have worked with contain a spirit bond of love, support and continued growth. I can see more clearly that we are living in times when respect for ourselves, each other, our lines of heritage and our common ancestry is critical to the actual remembrance of our mutual roots in the One Great Spirit.
  Kit Cooley (Brutti & Vestini Italic tribes, Romany, Celt, Cherokee, Iroquois, Nordic, Teuton, Gaul) Kit is one of the first graduates of the Indigenous Mind Masters Program. Her Italian ancestors (her maternal line) called her back to the land. Through dreams and research she was able to reconnect with her ancient roots and earth-based traditions in Southern Italy. When she presented her work before the Elders, Auntie Mahilani Poe Poe said, “ You don’ t know how far back you took us.” She continues her ancestral journey, exploring her paternal line, and compiling what she finds in order to give this “ history” back to her family. Since graduating in 2003 she has taught not only as adjunct faculty in the IM Program, but also through workshops in the community. She lives on a homestead with her husband Steve Zukus, and their animals, raising their own food and medicine, and continuing to learn to bridge the gap between preserving the old ways and living in the modern world. She writes about this life adventure on her blog atwww.HenwithPen.com. She is also working on various writing projects, and provides editorial and writing services through her freelance business, Dream Lizard Creations.
  Barbara Dean (Polish, Swedish) – Converting to the Indigenous Mind was difficult, slow and sometimes frightening. Not only did I have to stay conscious in looking, but I also had to let myself see. - In Memoriam
  Bernd Geels (Celtic) – The Indigenous Mind program opened up an amazing path of inquiry for me. I discovered my Celtic tribal origin, underwent a near-death experience in the Netherlands and thereby radically healed my relationship to the All That Is, to the Cosmos.
  Heidi Guttmann (Han & Tibetan, Chinese, European) – I’d always known that I was meant to tell the story of my family’s history, but the task felt so huge, I never knew where to start. I met with Dr. Apela Colorado and told her about the family history research I’d begun doing. She then said the most comforting words I’d ever heard: “I don’t want you doing this work alone.” With the support of Dr. Colorado, the Elders and my fellow students, I now feel I can do the work of telling my story and remembering who I am.
Venus Cerdon Herbito (Bikol and Sugbuano from the Philippines) – Reclaiming one’s indigenous mind is a powerful, healing and truly liberating process. It is a journey towards wholeness or “katibuk-an.” Despite centuries of forgetting and foreign imposition, I discovered that the strength, medicine and wisdom of my ancestors live on. They are accessible through my cellular memory. I give thanks for the gift of cultural re-rooting this path has given me.
  Linda Joslin (Anglo-Saxon, Celtic from Ireland and Brittany, Teutonic from Germany and Switzerland, Iriquois) – Acknowledging deep roots and connection to one’s ancestors brings a profound sense of responsibility to the generations that will follow.
  Teresa MacColl (Celt, Anglo Saxon, Teuton) – By remembering the stories and healing the wounds of our ancestors, indigenous science can help us remember and reclaim a more balanced, holistic, and ecologically sustainable world. I am reclaiming my ancestor’s tradition of bardic storytelling; I am remembering my ancestor’s future.
  Marcela S. Sabin Ponce (Celt from Galicia, Spain, Basque, Saxon from Hanover, Germany, Celt & Lombard from Italy) – I grew up believing I did not have roots. Reconnecting with my ancestors changed how I feel about my self and brought my family and I back into the flow of the generations. It has brought healing to the past for the unresolved things of my ancestors and opened new opportunities of growing for the future generations. This process connects us with our deep self, our family, our community, the earth, and the whole web of life.
  Sulonda Smith (Xhosa-South Africa, Cherokee/Seminole, MacGowan) – Indigenous Mind is more than just a mindful journey, it is a spiritual and physical healing as well. To be in tune with the earth’s changes, this is the time to embrace the truth of our origins.
  Diana Stone (Anglo Saxon) – Living from a state of consciousness of Indigenous or whole mind produces an integrated, whole life.
  Atava Garcia Swiecicki (Slavic, Magyar, Mexica, Diné) - The Indigenous Mind Program created the opportunity for me to discover who I really am; to reconnect to my ancestral roots, stories and traditions and medicine ways. I had the opportunity to travel to my Polish ancestral homeland where I encountered ancient and powerful spirits of the Polish land. I am so grateful for the loving and wise space created by Dr. Colorado and the elders to help me remember. Their teachings continue to guide and inform me to this day.
  Audri Scott Williams (African, Irish, Cherokee) – We are poised at a time in history when returning to our ancient teachings seems to hold the lessons that will assist us through the madness, which seems to have run its course. Without this return, our continued existence on this planet is questionable at best.