The Eternal Song

Brenna is a founding member of Saint Isidore Catholic Worker Farm, an intentional community rooted in prayer, hospitality, and nonviolent action. She co-founded Catholic Truth and Healing and works with the Honor Native Land Fund, supporting research, transparency, and land return as essential steps toward racial and ecological healing.

Byrde Nez is a Diné mother and great-grandaughter to Little Singer. She was raised in the small community of Birdsprings, where she continues to provide service in various capacities from coaching to faith-based volunteer. Byrde is working on her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Grand Canyon University, with the intent to serve in the educational system upon completion of her dissertation.

Carlie (Caroline) Atkinson is a Bundjalung and Yiman woman and an accredited Social Worker with a PhD (Charles Darwin University, 2009). Associate Professor Atkinson is an international leader in complex and intergenerational trauma and culturally informed strengths-based healing approaches in Indigenous Australia. She is the CEO of her family organisation, We Al-li, designing and coordinating the delivery of Culturally Informed Trauma Integrated Healing Approaches (CITIHA) training and resource development for organisations and communities across Australia focusing on systems transformation and implementation and an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne and a Chief Investigator or 6 separate National research projects. She is also the founder of the Northern Rivers Community Healing Hub, an Indigenous Framework response to the catastrophic floods in the Northern Rivers in 2022.

Casey Camp-Horinek, a Councilwoman and Hereditary Drumkeeper of the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma, is a dedicated advocate for Indigenous and environmental rights. A longtime activist, speaker, and author, she has been at the forefront of the global Rights of Nature movement, working to protect the Earth and Indigenous sovereignty. She played a key role in the Ponca Nation’s adoption of the Rights of Nature Statute and a moratorium on fracking. As a board member of WECAN, Movement Rights, and Earthworks, she continues to champion Indigenous-led solutions to climate change, reminding us that “we ARE nature protecting itself.

Cassandra Ferrera is Program Director at the Center for Ethical Land Transition. With a background in activist real estate, she is dedicated to supporting cooperative living, decommodifying land, and fostering reparative justice. Guided by a deep commitment to cultural reunion, Cassandra works to transform real estate practice in service to Land.

Charlene Eigen-Vasquez, J.D., is of Ohlone descent from the village of Chitactac. A mother and grandmother, she pursued law to better serve Indigenous communities. She focuses on land back initiatives, cultural revitalization, and environmental justice, believing they impact health. A trained peacemaker, she uses legal and mediation skills to advocate for Indigenous interests. She formerly led the Healing and Reconciliation Institute and now chairs multiple Ohlone organizations. Charlene is also part of Planet Women’s 100 Women Pathway, supporting diverse women leaders in the environmental movement.

Beverly Kiohawiton Cook is currently serving her third term as an elected Chief on the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council. Beverly is a Family Nurse Practitioner, is a prominent voice in the mind-body medicine approach to restoring wellness, reproductive health and environmental justice for Mohawk people.

John Ridsdale, Hereditary Chief Na’Moks of the Tsayu Clan, Wet’suwet’en Territory is dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of First Nations’ culture, traditions and territories.

Chief Oluwo Obafemi Fayemi Epega is a renowned Babalawo, author, and founder of O.I.D.S.I. Dedicated to restoring African divine sciences, Baba Femi has facilitated global workshops, overseen hundreds of ceremonies, and mentors initiates worldwide. He honors his lineage as a native Houstonian, descendant of slaves, priest, teacher, and healer.

Daniel is a doctor of psychology, experienced ritualist, and the author of Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing. He is a practicing Muslim and initiate in the Òrìṣà tradition of Yoruba-speaking West Africa who has also learned from Mahayan Buddhism and the older ways of his English and German ancestors. Daniel was a U.S. Fulbright scholar in Cairo, Egypt as a student of Arabic language, and he is passionate about generational healing and training leaders and change makers in the intersections of cultural healing, animist ethics, and applied ritual arts. He lives with his wife and daughters near his adoptive home of Granada, Spain in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Darcia Narvaez is Professor Emerita of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. Born in Minnesota, she grew up living around the world as a bilingual/bicultural Puerto Rican-German American but calls Earth her home. Her earlier careers include professional musician, business owner, classroom music teacher, classroom Spanish teacher, and seminarian. She uses an interdisciplinary approach to studying evolved morality, child development and human flourishing. Her most recent books are Restoring the Kinship Worldview, and The Evolved Nest: Nature’s Way of Raising Children and Creating Connected Communities. Her recent short films are Breaking the Cycle, The Evolved Nest, and Reimagining Humanity. She hosts the webpage EvolvedNest.org and serves as president of KindredWorld.org.

Dr. Diana is the Director at Te Kurahuna LTD and is of Ngāti Porou descent raised in Porirua under the umbrella of Ngāti Toa. Diana began her journey in the health industry, training first as a nurse and then as a psychiatrist and is a Fellow of the Royal Australia New Zealand College of Psychiatry. Mahi a Atua became the philosophy behind Diana’s ground-breaking work. She and her husband, Mark Kopua, continue to grow a collective of Mataora (change agents who are trained in Mahi a Atua) to indigenise their respective communities.

Diane Longboat, a Mohawk from the Turtle Clan, is a spiritual leader, educator, and advocate for Indigenous knowledge and healing. A ceremonial leader and founder of Soul of the Mother, she has dedicated her life to preserving and sharing Indigenous wisdom. Diane has served as a spiritual advisor to governments and institutions, fostering reconciliation and cultural renewal. She is also a respected speaker and educator, working to integrate Indigenous worldviews into health, education, and leadership. Through her teachings, she helps bridge the gap between traditional wisdom and contemporary challenges, guiding communities toward healing and empowerment.

Dohee Lee is a ritual performance artist who weaves her multiple virtuosities in drumming, dancing, and singing into immersive works of ritual theatre. Born on Jeju Island, Korea, she has trained at the master-level in music and dance styles rooted in Korean shamanism. In 1998, Dohee moved to Oakland, California, to create a new art form. Since then, she has become a traditional and contemporary arts performer, collaborating with Kronos Quartet, Anna Halprin, inkBoat, Degenerate Art Ensemble and many others. Dohee has received numerous awards in recognition of her powerful work which is grounded in the Earth-based ritual practices of Korean Shamanism. In 2014, she founded Dohee Lee Puri Arts, whose mission is to create, practice, and perform art that heals fractured relationships between humans and the land, and between individuals and their communities.

Del Laverdure is an enrolled citizen of the Crow Nation, a member of the Ties the Bundle Clan, and a descendant of the Little Shell Band of Chippewa Indians. Del is an active participant in Indigenous and intergenerational ceremonies and his experience and work is born out of his lifelong relationships with Indigenous families and communities and healing from intergenerational trauma. He served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior from 2009- 2012.

Donna Kerridge (Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Mahuta) is a Rongoā Māori practitioner from Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand. She is an advocate, healer, and leader, passionate about Indigenous practices that focus on healing and restoring traditional wisdom. One of Donna’s gifts is the ability to bridge Western approaches with Indigenous Māori approaches to bring a collective and harmonious way forward. She is an advisor for the New Zealand Ministry of Health and educates people of all ages in Rongoā. Deeply anchored in mātauranga Māori and in her intuition, Donna is a powerful facilitator, helping groups discover their own wisdom, their indigeneity and learn from each other in service of our Earth and future generations.

Dr. Omavi Bailey, President of PROMETRA USA, bridges African traditional healing and Western medicine to address global health challenges. A board-certified physician and somnologist, his journey began under Ugandan traditional healers and led to global collaborations. He advocates for integrative, ancestral-rooted approaches to healing individuals and restoring collective well-being.

Dr. Sekagya Yahaya Hills is a traditional healer, dental surgeon, and passionate advocate for integrative medicine in Uganda. With qualifications spanning dentistry (BDS), public health (MPH), law, and project management, he uniquely bridges traditional and modern healthcare systems. As Director of PROMETRA Uganda and founder of the Dr. Sekagya Institute of Traditional Medicine, he promotes holistic healthcare rooted in ancestral wisdom. Dr. Sekagya has served on several boards, including Uganda’s National Drug Authority, and actively contributes to international forums on Indigenous health. His life’s mission is advancing the integration and recognition of traditional medicine to improve health outcomes globally.

Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, a Dënesųłiné mother from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, is the Executive Director and co-founder of Indigenous Climate Action. She advocates for Indigenous rights and climate justice, bridging movements for social change. A key figure in the Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign, she has led divestment efforts, government lobbying, and mass mobilizations against fossil fuels. She serves on multiple boards, including Bioneers and WWF Canada, and is a founding member of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus. Her writing appears in The Guardian, Yellowhead Institute, and The National Observer, and she’s frequently featured in media and documentaries.

Euphrasia (Efu) Nyaki, born on Mount Kilimanjaro’s slopes, is a healer, educator, and Somatic Experiencing® Legacy Faculty member. With roots in science and ancestral wisdom, she has spent decades offering trauma healing, bodywork, and herbal medicine training across Brazil and the world, fostering community resilience and transgenerational healing.

Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), aka Donald Trent Jacobs, Ph.D., Ed.D., is a renowned scholar and Oglala Pipe Carrier whose main focus is on the intersection of non-binary worldview reflection, Indigeneity, counter-hegemonic education, environmental ethics, animism, and global interconnectedness. Four Arrows has contributed to the discourse on how our pre-colonial worldview and traditional Indigenous knowledge can be integrated into contemporary educational systems to create a more holistic and culturally sensitive approach. He lives with his artist wife by the Pacific seas of Mexico and Canada.

Francis Weller, MFT, is a psychotherapist, writer and soul activist. He is a master of synthesizing diverse streams of thought from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, indigenous cultures and poetic traditions. Author of the bestselling, The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief; The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation, (with Rashani Réa) and In the Absence of the Ordinary: Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty, he has introduced the healing work of ritual to thousands of people.

Gabor Maté MD is a specialist on trauma, addiction, stress and childhood development. After 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, Dr. Maté worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. For his groundbreaking medical work and writings, he was awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown Vancouver. Gabor also created the Compassionate Inquiry™ psychotherapeutic approach, now studied by thousands of physicians, therapists and counselors in over 80 countries.

Birthed from the Anosasu, Laugia and Airade Ancestors, of the Kwara’ae, on the bubunga of Malaita, Solomon Islands.
Shares through Ancestral inspired kana and poetry in Kwara’ae, Pijin and English. Currently, lives and continues to learn and teach on the unceded lands of the Wakka Wakka in so called Queensland, Australia.

Ikimaliq Pikilak is an artist, author, filmmaker and traditional practitioner of Tunniit (Inuit Tattoo from Narsaq). A neurodivergent research nerd, she has been researching Inuit culture since 2016. Her passion about the preservation of Inuit culture is exemplified in the disseminating knowledge through her practice, art, children’s books and films.

Iya Affo is a trauma specialist and founder of Healing Historical Trauma, who brings over two decades of experience in mental health, social services, and community advocacy. Iya’s ancestors hail from the Sacred City of 41 Mountains in West Africa, Barbados, Jamaica and the Bahamas. Affo’s work focuses on empowering individuals and communities to break cycles of trauma through culturally-responsive healing practices. Her approach integrates traditional wisdom with modern therapeutic techniques, emphasizing the importance of reconnecting with cultural roots. She is a sought-after speaker and educator with a mission to facilitate re-culturing and the subsequent healing of indigenous people all over the world.

SGaan Kwahagang James McGuire is of the G̲aag’yals K̲ii G̲awaay Skedans Raven clan and a citizen of the Haida Nation. The lessons of his ancestors inform a balanced way of interacting with the natural world. James expresses this passion through many avenues: as a musician with Haida trio Jason Camp and The Posers; as an award winning production designer and props manager on SGaawaay K'uuna Edge of the Knife, a feature length film in the Haida language; a cultural singer and dancer with Hltaaxuulang Gud ad K’aaju; a member of the Haida Repatriation Committe; a traditional metal worker and a student of Haida oral histories.

Jarmbi is a regional custodian of the Northern Rivers on the east coast of Australia. Deeply committed to community activism and connection to wisdom, he works with both Indigenous and non-indigenous communities, focusing on the intersecting issues of sovereignty, environment, human rights, and trauma healing.

Joe is a proud Wiradjuri/Wolgalu, First Nations Aboriginal man. He forged a successful professional sporting career as a rugby player and boxer, but after struggling with suicidal ideation and Bipolar disorder, he felt his true purpose was to help other people struggling with mental health. Joe is now an accomplished author and motivational speaker, teaching people tools to improve their well-being and in 2019 was named a dual winner of the Australian Mental Health Prize.

Jose Barreiro (Hatuey) is a Taino elder, author, and longtime journalist dedicated to Indigenous advocacy. A former director at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, he led landmark exhibitions on Caribbean and Andean cultures and continues advising Indigenous initiatives across the Americas.

Emeritus Professor Judy Atkinson, is a proud Jiman, Bundjalung, Anglo-Celtic and German woman. She is the author of Trauma Trails – Recreating Songlines The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia and has won many awards for her contributions to the understanding of trauma-related issues stemming from the violence of colonisation and the healing/recovery of Indigenous peoples. Presently she is the co-founder and patron of We Al-li Trust and continues to work across Australia and in Papua New Guinea.

Jungwon Kim is an award-winning writer and cultural worker. She is also a communications leader, organizational strategy consultant, and journalist who has dedicated her professional life to human rights and environmental advocacy. As Head of Creative & Editorial at the Rainforest Alliance, she directed a multimedia team of writers, videographers, and graphic designers. Earlier in her career, she served as the editor of Amnesty International USA’s human rights quarterly that featured the work of award-winning journalists and documentary photographers (circulation 300,000). She began her storytelling career as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and on-air correspondent for nationally syndicated public radio programs.

Katsi Cook is a Mohawk midwife, environmental health advocate, and cultural leader from Akwesasne. She integrates ancestral knowledge with community-based research to support Indigenous women’s health, land stewardship, and cultural revitalization. Her work centers on the belief that women are the first environment, nurturing life and interconnection.

Kristen Burge, JD, MA, CM/F, is Co-Founder of the ACW Foundation and a Certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) Practitioner. With a background in law, mediation, and trauma-informed healing, Kristen serves Indigenous communities and promotes collaborative approaches to conflict resolution, weaving somatic practices and cultural integration into her work for collective wellness.

Kylie Marjambi walks as a living example and interpreter of the ancient way in the context of the next seven generations. She focuses on returning to new old ways of being and seeing through ancient wisdom, connection, and grounding ceremony. Through her work, she honors the old ones and our habitat, Planet Earth.

Linda Thai, LMSW ERYT-200 is a trauma therapist and educator who specializes in brain and body-based modalities for addressing complex developmental trauma. Linda has worked with thousands of people from all over the world to promote mindfulness, recover from trauma, and tend to grief as a means of self care. Linda’s work centers on healing with a special focus on the experiences of adult children of refugees and immigrants. Her teaching is infused with empathy, storytelling, humor, research, practical tools, applied knowledge, and experiential wisdom. She has assisted internationally renowned psychiatrist and trauma expert, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, with his private small group psychotherapy workshops aimed at healing attachment trauma. She has a Master of Social Work with an emphasis on the neurobiology of attachment and trauma.

Dr. Loretta Afraid of Bear Cook is a Lakota elder, ceremonial leader, and cultural knowledge keeper. A first-language speaker and faith-keeper of the Sundance pipe, she teaches traditional lifeways, advocates for food sovereignty, and upholds the sacred legacy of her ancestors through ceremony, land stewardship, and intergenerational healing.

Dr. Lyla June Johnston (aka Lyla June) is an Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages.
Her messages focus on Indigenous rights, supporting youth, traditional land stewardship practices and healing inter-generational and inter-cultural trauma.
She blends her study of Human Ecology at Stanford, graduate work in Indigenous Pedagogy, and the traditional worldview she grew up with to inform her music, perspectives and solutions. Her doctoral research focused on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations shaped large regions of Turtle Island (aka the Americas) to produce abundant food systems for humans and non-humans.

Lynn Murphy is a strategic advisor for foundations and NGOs working in the geopolitical South. She was a senior fellow and program officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation where she focused on international education and global development. She resigned as a”‘conscientious objector” to neocolonial philanthropy. She holds an MA and PhD in international comparative education from Stanford University. She is also a certified Laban/Bartenieff movement analyst.

Makuini Ruth Tai remembers much aroha (love), happiness and a carefree childhood amongst her Mother’s Tuwharetoa and Ngati Awa people. Visits to her father’s Ngati Raka and Tuhoe people ensured she recognized all of her ancestral inheritance. She developed as an adult educator, strategic thinker and systems designer. In 1997 her childhood teacher Nuku (Mother Earth/Nature) was ready to help mature her early experiences of aroha, happiness and freedom. She launched Aroha Insights and Aroha Education websites offering workshops, personal coaching and guiding sacred journeys. Today, Makuini merges all her experiences as a Designer, Consultant, Educator and Practitioner of ‘The Aroha Way’ to spiritually and practically guide people towards freedom, by helping them design for and live their passion.

Mark was raised in Mangatuna, by his old people and is considered a historian by his East Coast tribes of the North Island in New Zealand; Te Aitanga a Hauiti, Ngāti Ira, and Ngāti Porou. He was the master carver for several meeting houses both on the East Coast as well as in the lower North Island. He and a small group of moko artists are responsible for the reinstatement of moko into New Zealand society. He has trained several moko artists and continues to work as a moko artist and design consultant. Mark is a co-director for Te Kurahuna where he uses his skills as a storyteller and keeper of ancient Māori knowledge and whakapapa.

Mays Imad, PhD, is a neuroscientist, educator, and advocate whose interdisciplinary work bridges neuroscience, philosophy, and education. Fascinated by consciousness and the brain’s profound complexity, Mays explores both quantifiable physical laws and metaphysical dimensions of human experience. Her innovative approach blends scientific methodology with relational and phenomenological perspectives to deeply understand life’s intricacies. Passionate about educational reform, she champions inclusive and empowering teaching practices that nurture students’ full potential. Committed to democratic ideals of opportunity, truth, and justice, Mays’s work fosters transformative learning experiences, community enrichment, and meaningful progress toward a more equitable and enlightened society.

Nipun Mehta is a designer of social movements that are rooted in small acts of service and powered by micro moments of inner transformation.
As the founder of ServiceSpace, his work has uniquely catalyzed “many to many” networks of community builders grounded in their localities and rooted in practices of cultivating deeper connection–with oneself, each other and our systems. He was honored as an “unsung hero of compassion” by the Dalai Lama, not long before former U.S. President Obama appointed him to a council for addressing poverty and inequality in the US.

Nuka Alice Lund is one of the pioneers in the revitalization of the Inuit drum dancing and singing in Greenland. Not only is she a keeper of songs that she passes along when she teaches, she also creates her own drum songs. She learned drum dancing from Pauline Lumholt in 2009 and that same year she also created the first of her own drum songs.

Orland Bishop works within a global social network of individuals and agencies engaged with the Ecology of Nature and Human Consciousness within the realms of life and death. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Shadetree Multicultural Foundation, a Los Angeles based social agency focused on youth development and social capital development. Shadetree serves in the development of peace processes for urban conflicts, capacity building for economic enterprises in communities and cities, systemic and collaborative leadership development and creating frameworks for emerging economies.

Since 2002, he has served as the Presiding Priest of the Aquarian Gospel Temple, founded in 1941 in the City of Los Angeles which supports independent Spiritual Science Research within the US, Africa and other countries linked to their global networks. He is passionate about the power of agreements and intentions for a shared reality among Human Communities.

Osprey Orielle Lake is the founder and executive director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), a global initiative dedicated to climate justice, women’s leadership, and Indigenous rights. A passionate advocate for the Rights of Nature, she works to elevate frontline women’s voices in environmental policymaking. Osprey is also an author and public speaker, addressing the intersections of social justice, ecological sustainability, and systemic change. Through WECAN, she collaborates with grassroots movements, policymakers, and global leaders to drive solutions rooted in equity and resilience, ensuring that communities and the planet are protected for future generations.

Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) is a Diné (Navajo) mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. She is a voice for global peace, and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth and global healing. She draws upon the Indigenous sciences of Thriving Life to reframe questions about sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, Women’s Nation and Men’s Nation, in being functional members of the “Hoop of Life” and upholding the honor of being human.

Patty Krawec (Anishinaabe/Ukrainian) is a founding director of the Nii’kinaaganaa Foundation and the author of Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future (2022) and Bad Indians Book Club: Reading At The Edge of a Thousand Worlds (2025), both published by Broadleaf Books. Her work centers on how Anishinaabe belonging and thought can inform faith and social justice practices and has also been published in Sojourners, Rampant Magazine, Midnight Sun, Yellowhead Institute, Indiginews, Religion News Service, and Broadview. She posts podcasts and essays with some regularity on her blog. You can find her online at daanis.ca

Patricia June Vickers is an artist, writer, teacher, and psychotherapist dedicated to grounding mental health in ancestral Indigenous knowledge. With roots in the Heiltsuk, Tsimshian, and Haida Nations, she integrates trauma healing, soul work, and expressive arts. She is a mother of four and grandmother of ten.

Rachael Knight is an attorney with expertise in community land tenure security, community natural resource governance, legal empowerment, and community-led conservation and cultural revitalization. She is currently a Senior Associate within the Legal Tools for Citizen Empowerment team at the International Institute for the Environment and Development (IIED). She helped to found Namati, a global legal empowerment organization that helps disenfranchised communities to understand, use, and shape the law. She created Namati’s Community Land Protection Program, then served as its Director from 2012-2017 and as its Senior Advisor from 2018-2019. In this capacity, together with land rights advocates throughout Africa, she co-created an integrated model of community land protection that is now practiced around the world.

Rae Abileah (she/her) is a Jewish faith leader, social change strategist, writer, and facilitator. Rae serves as a trainer at Beautiful Trouble, facilitator and coach with The Nature Conservancy’s Agility Lab, and co-creator of the global Climate Ribbon, an art intervention which was featured at the COP21 and subsequent UN Climate Summits. Rae graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University with a dual degree in Environmental Science and Human Rights and received ordination by the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute. She’s a first-generation American and her Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry informs her work toward dismantling white supremacy and colonialism. Rae lives on the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe on the California coast.

Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, is the creator of Internal Family Systems, a highly effective, evidence-based therapeutic model that de-pathologizes the multi-part personality. His IFS Institute offers training for professionals and the general public. He is currently on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, and has published five books, including No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model. Dick lives with his wife, Jeanne near Chicago, close to his three daughters and his growing number of grandchildren.

A mixed blood woman, Dr. Ruby is the Executive Director of Freedom Lodge, and an international healer, speaker and educator. She has spent her life developing and training others in Somatic Archaeology©, a transgenerational approach to wellness and reclaiming memory. Dr. Gibson is also the developer of Generational Brainspotting™, My Body, My Breath™ and the Historical Trauma Master Class for Native Americans. She is honored to witness the amazing capacity that each person has to reconcile suffering.

Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen, PhD, is a historian of religion and founder of Nordic Animism. Bridging Indigenous perspectives and European heritage, he reimagines old Nordic traditions to inspire sustainable, nature-connected ways of living in response to climate and cultural breakdown.

Rutendo Ngara is a holder of indigenous African knowledge systems and a transdisciplinary researcher. She is a practitioner of a number of physical disciplines, including dance and yoga, and has represented South Africa as an international silver medalist in martial arts (Wushu/Kung Fu/Tai Ji). Rutendo serves on the boards of the Credo Mutwa Foundation, the South African Wushu Federation, and the ASSEGAIA Alliance for protection of sacred sites. She is also an electrical and biomedical engineer, and is pursuing a doctorate in Philosophy of Education. The quest for harmony and healing underpins her diverse endeavors.

Samwel Leiyian Nangiria is a Maasai human rights activist from Northern Tanzania and the founding director of the Ngorongoro NGO Network. He serves as the mentor for the Oltoilo Le Maa Tanzania Hub.

As a passionate advocate for land rights and cultural preservation, Samwel has become a powerful voice for the Maasai people. He emphasizes the profound connection between humans and wildlife in Maasai culture, stating: “”Protection of nature is not a ‘project’ to us – it’s a way of life.”” To the Maasai, Earth and its creatures are not separate—they are one.

Samwel has been outspoken about how the Tanzanian government seeks to remove and erase the Maasai from their lands in Ngorongoro. He counters this by highlighting that the Maasai have always protected nature and consider themselves and their lands to be one and the same.”

Sarah Bradley is a popular educator, community organizer, and Co-Founder of Land Justice Futures. She designs programs and builds strategic movement partnerships rooted in justice and liberation. A co-founder of Nuns & Nones and Open Master’s, Sarah lives on Tewa lands in New Mexico, joyfully tending community, learning, and land.

Sarah Nahar, Ph.D. (she) is a nonviolent action trainer and interspiritual theologian. An emerging expert of Excreta Infrastructure Technologies, her doctoral work centers on ecological regeneration, community cultivation, and discard studies. Previously, Sarah was a 2019 Rotary Peace Fellow and worked at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been the Executive Director of Community Peacemaker Teams, an organization committed to building partnerships to transform violence and oppression worldwide. She attended Spelman College, majoring in Comparative Women’s Studies and International Studies, minoring in Spanish. She has an MDiv from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in her hometown.

Serene Thin Elk, MA, LPC-MH, LAC is a L/Dakota clinical addiction and mental health therapist and mother to four beautiful children. She graduated with her Master’s degree in Expressive Therapies and Counseling from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA in 2008. Her clinical focus and trainings are in trauma based modalities, culturally focused counseling and art therapy. She is a member of the Ihanktonwan (Yankton Sioux Tribe) and currently works as the Director of Indigenous Mindfulness at National Native Boarding School Healing Coalition.Her professional and personal passions focus on intergenerational healing along with educating others about historical traumas and how this translates to the present day experiences of Native people.

Shelly Covert is the Spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe and sits on the Tribal Council. She is also the Executive Director of the Tribally guided non-profit, CHIRP (CA Heritage: Indigenous Research Project). Recently, with efforts to restore federal recognition, her work has taken on a wider scope that includes social, environmental, and racial justice topics that impact the Tribal community and their wellbeing. Undoing the erasure of Nisenan history has been at the forefront of Tribal efforts and a focus for CHIRP. Raising the visibility of the Nisenan through community outreach, public events, and education has been of great importance as the Tribe struggles with the reintroduction of its culture and identity. As Tribal liaison, Shelly works closely with the Elders, Tribal Council, and Tribal members, to identify the areas of greatest need, and then guides CHIRP, to develop and implement projects that have found funding.

Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. But it would probably be more authentic to call her a troubadour animist with a propensity to spin yarns that inevitably turn into love stories. Give her a salamander and a stone and she’ll write you a love story. Sophie was raised by house cats, puff balls, possums, raccoons, and an opinionated, crippled goose. In every neighborhood she’s ever lived in she has been known as “the walker”. She believes strongly that all thinking happens interstitially – between beings, ideas, differences, mythical gradients. Her books include: The Flowering Wand,The Madonna Secret, and The Body Is a Doorway. You can follow her work on Instagram @cosmogyny.

Susan Raffo (she/her) is a writer, cultural worker, and bodyworker based in Minneapolis. Her work explores the connections between community care, healing justice, and abolition, focusing on the impact of generational trauma and oppressive systems. She is a core member of the Healing Histories Project and REP, a Black-led crisis support network. Raffo is the author of Liberated to the Bone and other works. In 2024, she completed a yearlong walk from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Find her writing and work at www.susanraffo.com.

Tāngaroa Ngaropo-Tāwio is a Māori scholar, spiritual practitioner, and cultural leader dedicated to reviving ancestral knowledge. Rooted in Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, and Te Uri o Te Aho Ariki, he leads the reactivation of the ancient Nukutawhiti Whare Wānanga, upholding sacred teachings, spiritual sovereignty, and the living wisdom of his ancestors.

Thomas Hübl, PhD, is a teacher, author, and facilitator known for integrating mysticism and science to address collective and intergenerational trauma. He leads global programs on healing and cultural transformation and is a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Wyss Institute, working at the intersection of wisdom traditions and systemic change.

Tom Kanatakeniate Cook (Wolf Clan Mohawk, Akwesasne) is a food sovereignty leader, educator, and longtime advocate for Indigenous self-reliance. For over four decades, he has cultivated thousands of gardens on Pine Ridge and now leads agricultural revitalization efforts in Akwesasne, uniting tradition, sustainability, and intergenerational empowerment.

Tiokasin Ghosthorse, a member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation, is a lifelong Indigenous activist and advocate. He is the Founder, Host, and Executive Producer of First Voices Radio, which has aired for 30 years in New York City and Seattle/Olympia, Washington. In 2016, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy. He has also been nominated for the Indigenous Music Awards, the National Native American Hall of Fame, and the Americans for the Arts Johnson Fellowship. Tiokasin describes himself as a “perfectly flawed human being.”

Tina Ngata is a Ngati Porou mother of two from the East Coast of Te Ika a Maui. Her work involves advocacy for environmental, Indigenous and human rights. This includes local, national and international initiatives that highlight the role of settler colonialism in issues such as climate change and waste pollution, and promote Indigenous conservation as best practice for a globally sustainable future

Uncle Paul Gordon is a cultural leader and custodian of Aboriginal Lore throughout Australia and has dedicated his life to teaching and connecting stories. He leads camps and workshops for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to reconnect to culture. As a traditional knowledge holder and custodian of Aboriginal lore, he continues to share as part of his obligation to thousands of years of Aboriginal culture.

Known as “Uncle Willy”, an esteemed healer and storyteller who is highly knowledgeable in the wisdom of “Old Hawaii.” His mom was an practitioner of Lāʻau lapaʻau (herbal medicine). His dad was a “ha” healer (using words to heal). Uncle Willy grew up immersed in the traditional ways of healing.