Embodied Witnessing
Native American Wisdom of the Medicine Wheel
The medicine wheel is an ancient symbol which is interpreted in various ways by different Tribes.
Although my Native American ancestry is Chickamauga Cherokee, the interpretation of the medicine wheel which feels directly resonant with my work is the Lakota wheel. I studied and trained with this version of the medicine wheel through my historical trauma recovery with Freedom Lodge. |
The Embodied Witnessing Image / Logo
The Embodied Witnessing image, which draws strength and inspiration from the Native American medicine wheel, references four qualities correlating with the four cardinal directions:
Envisioning the image three-dimensionally, all seven directions are included. In addition to the four cardinal directions:
Expanding the image further, if you imagine you are viewing the image from above, you can envision the center dot is actually a vertical line. The center line correlates with our central channel and what is known as the "river of life" which flows through our spines and flows through time. In Native American teachings, human beings are 14-generational beings. Our presence impacts the past and the future: 7 generations before and 7 generations after. Some teachings suggest an even broader scope of time. For example, Thomas Hübl teaches that our bodies contain millions of years of wisdom accumulated through the life of our Earth.
In the Embodied Witnessing image, the interdependent and overlapping circles of the (multi-dimensional) flower are blooming and becoming through the center, representing our interconnection, interdependence, and inter-being with all of life.
- Wholeness is to the West,
- Compassion to the South,
- Alignment to the North, and
- Creativity to the East.
Envisioning the image three-dimensionally, all seven directions are included. In addition to the four cardinal directions:
- Witnessing connects to Above,
- Embodying to Below, and
- the Inner Direction is represented by the dot in the center.
Expanding the image further, if you imagine you are viewing the image from above, you can envision the center dot is actually a vertical line. The center line correlates with our central channel and what is known as the "river of life" which flows through our spines and flows through time. In Native American teachings, human beings are 14-generational beings. Our presence impacts the past and the future: 7 generations before and 7 generations after. Some teachings suggest an even broader scope of time. For example, Thomas Hübl teaches that our bodies contain millions of years of wisdom accumulated through the life of our Earth.
In the Embodied Witnessing image, the interdependent and overlapping circles of the (multi-dimensional) flower are blooming and becoming through the center, representing our interconnection, interdependence, and inter-being with all of life.
Here's a bit more about each of the concepts which correlate with the 7 Directions in the Embodied Witnessing image:
West: Wholeness
South: Compassion
North: Alignment
East: Creativity
- In the Lakota medicine wheel, West is the direction of the mineral world, earth, and our physical human bodies.
- In Embodied witnessing practices, connecting with our physical bodies has a very practical application: to support nervous system settling and to strengthen an inner ground of safety and availability for authentic connection. As we deepen our grounding, we become more available to sense our inter-connection and our felt sense of innate wholeness.
- Sensing connects us to our somatic experience in the present moment.
South: Compassion
- In the Lakota medicine wheel, South is the direction of the plant world, water, and also our emotions.
- As we befriend our emotions and open inner flow, whatever was previously held apart can re-join movements of inner wholeness, which allows healing, growth, development and connection. Turning towards our emotions with compassion creates intimacy with our emotional bodies and younger aspects of ourselves, which in turn allows intimacy with others.
- Feeling with compassion and curiosity connects us with the flow of life.
North: Alignment
- In the Lakota medicine wheel, North is the direction of the animal world, air, our breath and our thoughts.
- As we compassionately presence our somatic experiences (sensations and emotions) with dignity, respect, generosity, and curiosity, insights emerge which bring understanding and help us integrate our thinking and embodied understanding. Updating our understanding refines our alignment. In the Nonviolent Communication process, we could say understanding manifests by connecting us to the living experience of life energy flowing through: our universal human needs. New narratives emerge to honor where we've been, what is essential for us now, and who we are becoming.
- Allowing our understanding, thinking and beliefs to become updated empowers us to recognize and act on what we need.
East: Creativity
- In the Lakota medicine wheel, East is the direction of the human world, fire, and spirit.
- As our sensations, our emotions, and our thinking become more coherent, we become freer to live in empowered creativity. Recognizing our authentic needs, we build our capacity to intentionally create more connection, abundance, collaboration, shared power, and love. In the Nonviolent Communication process, we could make requests to others that are directly connected with our needs as well as our vision for a world of connection / interconnection.
- Making requests, moving into action, and taking a stand to create the world we want to live in is essentially spiritual: a manifestation of spirit into our lives.
Above: Witnessing
Below: Embodiment
- In Native American teachings, above represents the Sky. It can also represent that which is potential and not yet manifest, and the future.
- Witnessing consciousness is described in ancient traditions as an ascendant (or top-down) practice, where we reside in inner stillness and enough spaciousness to be conscious of experience without getting stuck in reactivity, fusion, or avoidance. Ascendant practices are correlated with the masculine principle, Father Sky, and the capacity for discernment, and can also be understood as opening to what is possible, emergent, and not yet manifest: in other words, our becoming.
- Witessing is connected to spaciousness and the capacity to hold (or develop) a wider view which includes and transcends our embodied experience without dismissing or bypassing.
Below: Embodiment
- In Native American teachings, below represents the Earth. It can also represent our roots, ancestors, and the past.
- Embodying connects us with the fullness of life through our bodies: sensing, feeling, subtle inner movement, and our interconnection with each other and all of life. Embodying includes how we connect and relate interpersonally with each other. Embodiment is a descendant (or bottom-up) practice which is correlated with the feminine principle, Mother Earth, and rooting or grounding.
- Embodying connects us with wisdom from the past: individually, ancestrally, collectively, and historically.
7th Direction - Inner Direction
- The inner direction is a movement of inner connection: a synthesis of being, belonging, and becoming.
- The 7th direction is a mystery which is enfolded within, and unfolds through us, and through time and space.
- Inner connection is related to interconnection. As we engage deeply within, we discover that our inner being is not separate from what is seemingly outside of us. Inner direction includes how we engage in our world and how we engage with the beings we share this experience of being alive with.