"Leaders change when people change. The Feathered Pipe’s ambition and purpose has always been to offer people the teachings and experiences that help them become conscious leaders. That work is more important than ever."
~ India Supera
Dear Friends,
Recently in The Dandelion Effect Podcast Honoring Ancestry And Exploring The Beginner’s Mind, Rodney Yee so aptly describes the Feathered Pipe Ranch as, "An incredible vortex...for Native American meditations, from the Himalayas to meditations from India, all that sort of converging together in this amazing testimony to
the human spirit of love."
The Feathered Pipe Ranch is one of the sacred places in the world where the human spirit of love manifests abundantly and serendipity happens on an ongoing basis.
One such serendipitous meeting was with Linda Kinsey last summer. Our connection was instant. Linda comes from the A'aninin/Gros Ventre tribe who carry the sacred relic of The Feathered Pipe. She says she could immediately feel the sacred energy on the grounds of the Feathered Pipe Ranch. I was drawn to her big heart and kind spirit, which are immediately apparent when talking with her, and we felt we had been destined to meet. (And what better place to fulfill our destiny than the
Feathered Pipe Ranch?)
Linda carries a unique sense of living in balance and is herself a testimony to the human spirit of love. Her parents were an Indian and a Cowboy with opposing political views and different religions. Linda grew up with an appreciation for the inherent value of opposites and shares this with us in our most recent episode of the Dandelion Effect Podcast Healing Historical
Trauma.
My favorite concept she discusses is historic healing, the counterpart to historic trauma. It can be easy to feel despair when we only see trauma. However out of trauma, healing blossoms. It is important to remember that healing—not only for one's self, but also generational healing—is possible. We have already had healing along the way and we can continue to heal. It's a process of awareness and realization and we aren't done yet, but, yes, it is possible. The
acknowledgement of both the reality and of the possibility of healing gives me hope.
Living a Life in Balance
 On a parallel theme, Heidi Goldman—our longtime friend, yoga teacher, and one of the co-founders of Feathered Pipe Foundation—writes about the importance
of a life of balance. We often have developed habits of holding on and sometimes forget that we can let go. Some bad habits are literally stored in our cells. Through yoga, meditation, and practicing awareness, we can create real and lasting change to recalibrate. You can read her full article and learn more about her methods here - Life Is A Balance Of Holding On And Letting
Go.
Even having been born and raised at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, it never ceases to amaze me how much love and serendipity truly converge in its vortex. Yet the love and serendipity don't come out of nowhere, rather they arise from hard work and chaos. Balance is essential. The chaos of a departure day, for example, when one group says good-bye and the flurry of cleaning and preparing gives way to the calm serenity that greets the new group upon their arrival that very same day. The
freshly mowed grass invites you to meander to the bank of the lake, the floor of main room shines and breeze blows through the open windows awaiting the next class, the Feathered Pipe family welcomes you with a smile, the sun shines, and the birds chip as if that serenity was eternally and effortless there.
The balancing and rebalancing of the mind, body, spirit, and heart can and does really happen, maybe not effortlessly, but certainly eternally. The nurturing space of the Feathered Pipe Ranch truly is a testimony to the human spirit of love. We look forward to meeting you there this summer and finding our balance.
With gratitude,
Crystal Water
Executive Director of the Feathered Pipe Foundation
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Dandelion Effect Podcast - Linda Kinsey: Healing Historical Trauma
In understanding how to move forward and break the cycle of historical trauma, we have to ask the question: What does historical healing look like?
That’s the topic of today’s conversation with Linda Kinsey, a member of the A’aninin Nation or the “White Clay People”. She is the Native Connections Director for Helena Indian Alliance, helping secure grants for suicide prevention services for native youth ages 12-24, and she also serves with RISE: Reaching Indian Students Everywhere, to educate people on Native American history and encourage folks to learn who they are by learning where they came from.
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Life Is A Balance Of Holding On And Letting Go – Heidi Goldman
Whether it’s the coming and going of thoughts, the inhale and the exhale of the breath, the contraction and expansions of the muscles of the body, we’re always moving along the spectrum of “holding on” and “letting go.”
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Contact Us |
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Feathered Pipe Foundation
P.O. Box 1682
Helena, MT 59624
(406) 442-8196
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