EMBODIED WITNESSING
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Native American Wisdom :  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 Cherokee, the medicine wheel teachings which most inform my work come from the Lakota tradition with Dr. Ruby Gibson of Freedom Lodge, which includes a historical trauma recovery model and a Nature-based, body based healing practice called Somatic Archaeology (c).   
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​How the 7 Directions of the Medicine Wheel relate to Embodied Witnessing (overview)

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The Embodied Witnessing image, which is connected with the Native American medicine wheel, references four qualities correlating with the four cardinal directions:

  • 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: 

  • Embodying connects to Below,
  • Witnessing connects to Above,
  • and the Inner Direction is represented by the dot in the center.

If you imagine viewing the image from above, the center dot is actually a vertical line, our central channel and what is known as the "river of life" which flows through the spine 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 planet, Gaia. 
 
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.  

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​How the 7 Directions of the Medicine Wheel relate to Embodied Witnessing (more detail)

West: Wholeness
  • 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 our emotions.
  • As we befriend our emotions and welcome 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 (wind), and our thoughts.
  • As we presence our experiences (sensations and emotions) with dignity, respect, and curiosity, insights emerge which update our thinking, refining our alignment.  Integrating our thinking, feeling, and sensing brings embodied understanding, connecting us to the living experience of life energy flowing through us.  New narratives emerge to honor where we've been, what is essential for us now, and who we are becoming. 
  • Aligning and integrating 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, emotions, and thinking become more coherent, we free and empower our creativity.  We recognize and honor the authentic needs of life.  Integration empowers our agency and builds our capacity to connect, collaborate, share, love, and create.  Our communication emerges from our life energy in service of a vision for a world of connection / interconnection.   
  • Making requests, moving into creative action, and taking a stand for the world we want to live in is a manifestation of spirit. 
Above: Witnessing
  • In Native American teachings, above represents the Sky.  
  • Witnessing consciousness is described in ancient traditions as an ascendant (or top-down) practice, where we reside in inner stillness and spaciousness, which allows us to be conscious of experience without getting stuck in reactivity, fusion, or avoidance. Ascendant practices are correlated with the masculine principle, Father Sky, 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. 
  • Witnessing is connected to spaciousness and capacity for a wider view which includes and transcends our embodied experience without dismissing or bypassing. 

Below: Embodiment
  • In Native American teachings, below represents the Earth.  
  • 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.  

"It is only by participating with all of our body, mind, heart, and soul in the ways of relationship with ourselves, with each other, with the Mother Earth, and with our Spiritual Community, that we continue to be these indigenous peoples, indigenous in the most profound way to/with the Mother Earth. It is imperative that we remember, and guide the generations coming up behind us to know, that intellectual observation and explanation, are not in any way to be confused with participation and embodiment of our way of life and prayer."
--
Woman Stands Shining (Pat McCabe)​

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​Copyright June, 2025. All rights reserved.
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Rhonda Mills
    • SYSTEMIC OPPRESSION
  • Work with me
    • SOMATIC SESSIONS
    • GROUPS
    • TRAINING FOR COACHES
  • EVENTS
  • CONTACT
  • MY MUSINGS