Transforming Ancestral Trauma through Nature, Ritual, and Community
Aug 30th, 2021 - Sep 5th, 2021 | Dragonback Springs Ranch, Colorado | Nancy Jane, Bettina Straub
This program provides an opportunity to consciously explore how the shadows of the past remain undigested in our personal and collective lives. To what degree are we aware of their impact on our present day experiences? How does our behavior reflect some trauma or dysfunction from the past? What resilience and wisdom have we inherited through our lineage?
The stories of our ancestors are part of who we are today, but much of their influence remains unconscious. Through immersion in wild nature, supported by ritual and safe community, we can begin a process of healing. When we explore and bring awareness to what is unintegrated in our ancestral line, we create more presence and more vitality in our life that helps with the challenges we face. The journey is both a deeply personal exploration as well as an inquiry into our collective trauma.
Historical events, such as war, the Holocaust, slavery, the genocide of Native Americans, and the Depression, intersect with the traumas in our lineage and are carried across generations. We sit in a sea of influences, both personal and collective, that color how we react, what motivates us, and how much we trust ourselves and others. Through awareness and the courage to face the past, we can bring light to the shame, fear, mistrust, numbness, grief, and other feelings that perhaps lie dormant from “looking away.”
The format of the 7-day program is spacious, to allow for delicate insights to emerge. We will meet daily in sharing councils, with teachings followed by experiential reflection walks on the land, and then further councils in the evenings. The framework of the Four Shields will support and help us map out our exploration of ancestral wounding. Other rituals and practices will enhance our time together. On day 5, participants will undertake a 24-hour solo with optional fasting. Upon return participants will share their stories and have them mirrored by the guides.
This program provides an opportunity to transform the energy we have inherited. In our experience, the deep dive into our genealogy leads to a beautiful liberation of aliveness, inspiration, and gratitude for ourselves and those who came before us.
When we heal our roots, we open up new possibilities for our future.
—Thomas Hubl
Program Overview:
This 7-day program provides an opportunity to transform the ancestral and collective energy we have inherited by consciously exploring how the shadows of the past remain undigested in our personal and collective lives. To what degree are we aware of their impact on our present day experiences? How does our behavior reflect some trauma or dysfunction from the past? What resilience and wisdom have we inherited through our lineage?
Program Questions Contact: Nancy Jane at [email protected]
Submit Waitlist form
This program is full; however, you may add your name to the Waitlist by clicking the Waitlist button below.
Submit enrollment form
Please fill out and submit the enrollment form and then pay the program deposit below. Before you pay the deposit, please read deposit section below, all deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. After your enrollment form is complete, please submit all health and liability forms.
Pay program deposit
Deposits: This deposit signifies your commitment to the program and is deducted from the tuition balance. All deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. They cover the work of the specific course you signed up for, including all communication involved as well as the fee that guides pay to the school administration for the course accounting.
Additional Deposit: Some programs require a second deposit to help us affirm commitments. Last minute cancellations make it hard to fill openings and incur a loss of income to the School and the guides.
Tuition Balance: Balance of tuition can be paid before or upon arrival. Simply deduct any deposits made from the amount you’ve chosen on the sliding scale.
Additional course details & Materials
A logistics letter will be sent upon registration, and there will include additional information about Covid protocols to ensure safety in the field. A gear list, travel instructions, and suggested reading will be included in the logistics letter.
ADDITIONAL FEES: An additional $75 land use fee will be collected from each participant at the time of the program.
You will be responsible for bringing your own food and equipment, though we can provide some gear if needed. We ask everyone to come prepared to live self-sufficiently. You will need to bring shelter and clothing suitable for a full range of inclement weather.
All participants must submit the required health questionnaire and liability form.
If you have questions about the enrollment process contact us at [email protected] or call 760-938-3333.
There is no required reading for this program.
Dragonback Springs is land of the Tabeguache Ute people and other Indigenous tribes who traveled through this area of the Colorado Rockies. The Ute lived and hunted in this abundant land of elk, buffalo, deer, and bear before the white settlers came and forced them toward reservations in southwest Colorado and Utah.
To learn more about our commitment to regenerative relationships please visit Cultural Relations.
