May Newsletter

Coyote Healing Camp 2026

When: September 2-5, 2026

Wednesday: 9:30 AM - 5 PM

Thursday: 9 AM - 4 PM, with evening Sound Bath

Friday: 9 AM - 4 PM, with evening Sacred Fire

Saturday: 8 AM - 3 PM

Where: The Nest in Woodstock, NY

Cost: Sliding Scale $185 - $975

Learn more and register HERE.

This four-day workshop is an immersive healing camp at The Nest in Woodstock, NY, co-led by Lewis Mehl‑Madrona, Barbara Mainguy, Peter Blum, and Stefanie Frank, dedicated to personal transformation and the healing of trauma through story, ceremony, and relationship with land and community.

Setting and Intention

The gathering takes place within the forest sanctuary of The Nest on Mount Guardian, a retreat space explicitly devoted to holistic transformation through storytelling, ritual, and earth‑honoring practices. The overarching intention of the four days is to create a safe ceremonial container in which participants can lay down old trauma‑shaped stories and step into renewed ways of living, supported by community, the elements, and Indigenous‑inspired teachings about balance and harmony.

Role of the Guides

Lewis, Barbara, and Peter bring their long‑standing work with Indigenous‑informed healing, narrative, and ceremony—using story, movement, guided imagery, hypnosis, and talking circles to help people find their “inner healer” and reshape the stories that organize their lives. Stefanie, as founder of the ESKFF Nest, weaves in music, sound healing, earth‑based ritual, and nature connection, grounding the work in the land and in the Nest’s community‑centered vision of metamorphosis.

Rhythm of the Four Days

Across the four days, mornings and afternoons are devoted to circles of storytelling, sacred drama, and experiential exercises that invite participants to explore how trauma has shaped their identities and relationships. Through shared meals, gentle movement, time on the land, and small‑group practices, participants will build relational safety and collective energy, preparing for the deeper ceremonial work of all‑night fire and the inipikaga. We will also be gifted by a Thursday evening sound bath by Peter Blum.

Wednesday and Thursday: 

During the first two days of camp, we focus on arriving, connecting, and listening deeply to ourselves and to one another. Through a series of guided exercises and group processes, we begin to understand the unique healing needs each guest brings. Drawing on the expertise of our guides, we’ll work with storytelling, imagery, hypnosis, movement, drumming, mask-making, and sacred play to create a flexible, responsive environment where the direction of the work emerges from the group itself. These days are about building trust, opening imagination, and laying the foundation for meaningful transformation.

Friday Evening: All‑Night Sacred Fire

On Friday, a sacred fire is lit and tended throughout the night as a living center of prayer, reflection, and community presence. Participants will join us in moving between silence and shared song, drumming, storytelling, and quiet time by the flames, using the fire as a place to offer grief, fear, and trauma‑laden narratives, and to call in new possibilities, guidance, and courage. Participants are encouraged to stay by the fire as long as feels right, resting whenever your body calls you to sleep.

Saturday: Inipikaga (Inipi / Sweat Lodge)

On Saturday, those who choose to participate enter an inipikaga, a sweat‑lodge ceremony rooted in Lakota tradition, in which heated stones, steam, and prayer are used for purification and rebirth. Inipi, meaning “they breathe,” is understood as a rite of purification and spiritual renewal; the lodge is experienced as the womb of the universe, a place to release burdens and emerge with a sense of being made new.

Aim: Transformation and Healing Trauma

Throughout the camp, ceremony, narrative work, and the group's relational field are woven together to restore balance, beauty, and harmony in participants’ lives, which, in turn, supports shifts in emotional and physical suffering. By the end of the four days, the combination of story, fire, inipikaga, song, and community at The Nest offers participants a felt experience of “living again”—a deep movement from trauma‑held identities toward more connected, empowered, and life‑affirming ways of being.

Accommodations and Registration

We encourage you to attend this four day event in full. Individual day tickets are also available. Complementary outdoor camping is available, as well as single and shared rooms at reasonable rates. 

Learn more and register HERE. 

Conversations With the Body with Lewis Mehl-Madrona & Barbara Mainguy

Date: Friday, September 18, 2026

Time: 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Location: Melmerby Village Hall, Church Road, Melmerby, Cumbria, CA10 1HB (UK) 

Cost: £125

Register: HERE

Join us for a full-day immersive workshop exploring the wisdom of the body and the ways it communicates when we slow down and listen. Conversations With the Body invites participants into a deeper awareness of how physical sensations, symptoms, and embodied experiences can reflect emotional states, support healing, and spark creativity and insight.

Led by Lewis Mehl-Madrona and Barbara Mainguy, this experiential workshop will include a Native American bodywork demonstration, guided visualization, reflective writing and journaling, and time for individual bodywork practice. Participants will also explore how to interpret physical symptoms as meaningful signals, alongside discussion of relevant emerging research.

This workshop is open to anyone interested in deepening their connection to the body—whether for personal growth, healing, or professional practice.

Additional Information:

Tea, coffee, biscuits, and fruit will be provided. Participants may bring a lunch (a kitchen is available) or take advantage of take out options at the the locally renowned Village Bakery nearby. Participants are invited to bring cushions, blankets, or bodywork tables/mats if available.

Come prepared to slow down, listen deeply, and engage with the body as a source of insight, healing, and transformation.

Stories That Heal Us: Celebrating Ten Years of Healing through Story

When: September 21 at 9:00 AM- September 25, 2026 at 8 PM

*Overnight guests may arrive on Sept 20 and leave on Sept 26.

Where: The Gîte du Vent d'Autan in Aveyron, France

Cost: 800€ - includes workshop, overnight accommodations, and meals. A deposit of 400€ is required to hold your spot. 

Reservations and questions: centre.vent.dautan@gmail.com or +33 6 81 13 77 11



Join us for a five-day celebration of story, creativity, and healing, conducted in French, featuring Lewis Mehl-Madrona and Barbara Mainguy. 

This retreat, conducted in a tranquil French setting surrounded by nature, fosters both introspection and playful engagement, guided by rituals, ceremony, and intuitive practices rooted in community-based healing. The event framework recognizes the interplay between mind, body, spirit, and social connection, and explores how storytelling can continually renew compassion, creativity, and well-being in participants’ lives.

The workshop draws on the leaders’ extensive backgrounds in psychotherapy, narrative medicine, and indigenous healing traditions, promising an integrative, experience-rich environment for everyone seeking renewal through story and community.

Each day will weave art, ceremony, and play into lived experience:

• Mask making: create new masks or revisit an old one as an entryway into the parts of self waiting to speak.

• Sacred fire and purification lodge: Honor the elements and renew the body’s and spirit’s balance through traditional ceremony.

• “Your Brain and Stories” game: a playful exploration of how the stories we carry shape perception, emotion, and healing in our brains.

• Healing free-for-all: a spontaneous practice space for hands-on, intuitive, and creative healing exchanges.

• Sacred drama and guided imagery: Step into living storywork where myth, movement, and imagination become medicine.

• Storytelling circles: evenings of laughter, depth, and community: sharing the tales that continue to heal us all.

This program invites both returning participants and newcomers to deepen their connection to self and others. Anyone interested in stories and well being are welcome to attend. 

To make a reservation or ask a question about this event, please email us HERE.

Don’t delay- only 20 spaces are available. A waiting list will be established after the first 20 participants are confirmed. 

Indigenous Hands-on Healing Workshop with Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona & Barbara Mainguy, LCSW

Dates: October 17- 18, 2026

Times: Saturday 9 AM - 5 PM and Sunday 8 AM - 3 PM

Location: Touchstone Co-Housing Common Room in Ann Arbor, MI

Cost: $495: includes lunch both days (Vegan & GF options available)

Register: HERE

In this transformative workshop, journey into the roots of American osteopathy and discover the indigenous healing practices that shaped it. Our path takes us back to the healing wisdom of the Cherokee, Pawnee, and Shawnee peoples, whose hands-on techniques influenced Andrew Taylor Still, founder of osteopathy, who spoke Shawnee and embraced their healing ways. 

Traditional Cherokee people called their techniques of hands-on healing “reading the body,” and in this workshop, we will demonstrate these indigenous techniques, comparing them to American osteopathy and traditional Chinese medicine. We will explore how these indigenous people used various strategies for touching the body, including deep pressure, rocking, shaking, running energy meridians, mobilization, and breath work as a means to restore spirit to all parts of the body.

We’ll guide you through supervised practice with the methods of Cherokee bodywork and offer examples of incorporating imagery and dialogue; the importance of ceremony, ritual, and intent; manipulative medicine as a means of dialogue with the body; Cherokee acupuncture and knowledge of energy meridians and energy medicine; understanding how this form of healing as mind-body-spirit integration takes place in community; and more.

Almost all indigenous cultures had direct, hands-on methods of healing, and the Cherokee were no exception. Learn the Cherokee art of healing touch, a form of bodywork that is rarely encountered today. 

In this workshop, we will explore: 

• Supervised practice of Cherokee bodywork
• Cherokee breathwork techniques, as a means of restoring spirit to all parts of the body
• The incorporation of imagery and dialogue into bodywork
• The importance of ceremony, ritual, and intent in bodywork
• Osteopathic or “manipulative” medicine as a means of dialogue with the body
• Cherokee use of acupressure, energy meridians, and energy medicine

Whether you're a seasoned bodyworker or a beginner simply drawn to healing, join us in rediscovering the indigenous art of healing touch.

Those who have access to a yoga mat or a massage table are encouraged to bring them to the event to work on. 

Register: HERE

Stories from the Body through the Transformative Language Arts Network

Dates: Wednesdays from September 23 - November 11, 2026 

Times: 4:30PM EST - 6PM EST and recorded for those who can not attend real time

Location: Online, through the Transformative Language Arts Network 

Cost: $340 - $395, Scholarships available 

Register: HERE

Stories from the Body is an immersive eight-week course that guides participants in discovering, unlocking, and transforming the stories held within the body. Drawing on the work of Lewis Mehl-Madrona and Barbara Mainguy, this series integrates narrative therapy, somatic awareness, and indigenous wisdom to support healing. Each weekly session blends ceremony and community-building with practical exercises in breath, movement, and mindful listening, creating a safe and welcoming space for personal exploration.

What you will experience:

• Participants learn to attune to the body’s messages, dialoguing with sensations, pain, and tension to uncover hidden narratives beneath conscious awareness.
• Through a combination of journaling, guided imagery, art, and movement, individuals explore how family histories and cultural influences are embodied. 
• The course emphasizes embodied storywork, encouraging re-authoring of old patterns and envisioning new possibilities for growth and well-being.
• Rituals and ceremonies support the communal aspect of healing, while creative modalities, such as drawing and dramatization, help participants express and integrate their stories. 

By the course’s end, each person will have practiced techniques for finding and transforming body-based stories, and will leave with tools for ongoing self-discovery and storytelling.

This course is ideal for those interested in holistic healing, personal narrative, and mind-body integration, providing practical skills and communal support for lasting personal change.

Where and When Does this Online Course Meet?

This is a hybrid online class, conducted through Zoom meetings and the online classroom Wet Ink.



Zoom meetings will be held at 4:30 PM ET / 8:30 PM UT on consecutive Wednesdays beginning 23 September and ending 11 November 2026.  Sessions will be recorded and made available only to registered students.  

Online readings and an asynchronous discussion board will be hosted on the online teaching platform Wet Ink. The day before class begins, you will receive an email invitation from Wet Ink. There are no browser requirements, and Wet Ink is mobile-friendly. The Wet Ink platform allows you to log in and complete the coursework on your own time. At the end of the class, each student will receive an email that contains a link to download an archive of all their content and interactions.

You can find out more about this event and register HERE. 

Week by Week Schedule 

Week 1: Ceremony and Creating Safe Space

• Introductions, course overview, shared intentions.
• Ceremony to open the group; importance of ritual to set context.
• Building radical acceptance and safety as a basis for storytelling.
• Introduction to the body as a source of story.

Week 2: Listening to the Body’s Messages

• Somatic awareness practices: breath, movement, and presence.
• Exercises for attending to physical sensations and symptoms as story clues.
• Journaling: bodily sensations as the start of narrative threads.

Week 3: Eliciting the Story of the Pain

• Techniques for dialoguing with the body.
• Guided imagery and movement to access “body memory.”
• Group and paired work: sharing stories linked to physical feeling.

Week 4: Exploring Family and Cultural Stories in the Body

• Exploring how ancestral, family, and cultural stories live in posture, movement and pain.
• Mapping inherited patterns and their bodily expression.
• Creative exercise: drawing or sculpting “the body’s history.”

Week 5: Transformation Through Embodied Narrative

• Re-authoring: changing perspectives on bodily symptoms through storytelling.
• Breathwork and gentle touch to support safe body-based narrative change.
• Practice: group story-weaving with alternate outcomes.

Week 6: Movement, Art, and Story

• Integration of movement, dance, and art to deepen story from the body.
• Puppetry, drawing, dramatization: other forms to access and express somatic narrative.
• Sharing artwork and movement-based stories in small groups.

Week 7: Healing Ceremonies and Community Storytelling

• Indigenous frameworks for healing circles and communal narrative work.
• Designing and participating in a group ceremony for story-sharing and release.
• The role of witnessing, drumming, and song in embodied storytelling.

Week 8: Integration and Practice Clinic

• Guided “body story” sessions in small groups; practice integrating all techniques.
• Peer and faculty feedback, review of experiences.
• Final ceremony: closing the circle, intentions for ongoing personal work.

Each session will begin and end with a brief ceremony or mindfulness practice to create structure and honor the themes of ritual and community. This curriculum encourages active participation, creative expression, and respectful witnessing of others’ stories.

Who Should Take This Class?

No prior experience in bodywork or storytelling is necessary—curiosity, openness, and a willingness to participate are the primary requirements. This supportive, nonjudgmental environment welcomes participants of all backgrounds and levels of experience, offering accessible practices for anyone wishing to more fully understand and transform their body’s wisdom and story. Some reasons to take this course are: 

Personal Growth

This course is designed for anyone seeking a deeper connection between body and narrative—well-suited to individuals interested in holistic healing, mental health, creative self-discovery, and personal growth. It will benefit people who sense that their bodies hold unspoken stories or unresolved emotions, as well as those experiencing chronic stress, tension, or unexplained physical symptoms.

Professional Development

Therapists, counselors, bodyworkers, and health professionals will find practical techniques to integrate into their own client work, expanding their understanding of trauma, memory, and healing beyond traditional talk therapy approaches. 

Creative development

Artists, writers, and creative seekers will be supported in exploring new pathways for inspiration, while those with a desire for more community and ritual in their healing journeys will benefit from the course’s emphasis on group ceremony and collective storytelling. 

You can Register HERE. 

The TLA Network offers scholarships based on income as well as some partial scholarships for people living with serious illness and/or disability or people of color. You may apply for a TLA Network scholarship here. 

Did you miss our 2026 conference in January? Don’t worry—you can still catch all the insights, expert sessions, and groundbreaking discussions with Our Fifth Annual Two-Eyed Seeing Conference Recording Course!

Experience every keynote, panel, and workshop at your convenience. Whether you want to revisit your favorite moments or you are tuning in for the first time, these recordings bring the event straight to you.

For just $125, you’ll gain lifetime access to:

• All talk videos
• Full talk transcripts

Explore thought-provoking discussions on Indigenous-informed healthcare solutions, decolonizing wellness practices, and integrative healing and wisdom traditions.

Don’t miss this opportunity to experience three days of transformative discussions at your own pace.



Get your lifetime access here for only $125!

Etuaptmunk Journal Updates

We recently published a new issue of Etuaptmumk: The Journal of Two-Eyed Seeing! Read it now for free by clicking this link.

Summer 2026 Journal Call For Submissions

Summer 2026: Recovery

Do you work with, write about, or think about Recovery? If so, we are looking for Summer submissions to Etuaptmumk: The Journal of Two-Eyed Seeing.

Etuaptmumk: The Journal of Two-Eyed Seeing is a preprint* repository for articles related to Indigenous Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Psychiatry, Holistic Studies, the Humanities and Systems Science. 

Our vision is to foster genuine cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural communication with respect for all perspectives. We welcome articles from ALL disciplines, prioritizing philosophy, the humanities and epistemology over traditional academic divisions. This includes forms of science that may not align with the dominant positivist, empiricist, and rationalist paradigms of contemporary academia. 

Etuaptmumk — the Mi'kmaq word for Two-Eyed Seeing — reflects our commitment to beginning with an Indigenous worldview. We are inspired by Eskasoni First Nation Elders, Albert and Murdena Marshall, who introduced the concept of Two-Eyed Seeing at Cape Breton University in Sydney, Nova Scotia. It is with deep gratitude (woliwon; pilamaye) to Albert, who guided our understanding of Etuaptmumk, that we envision this new path for scholarship. 

Submission Details



We welcome scientific papers, reviews, poems, visual art, fiction, non-fiction and first person accounts. We do not charge any submission fees and are open to interpretations of our ‘theme’.

To be considered, please email your submissions to: etuaptmumk.journal@gmail.com.

Submission deadline to be considered for this issue: June 11, 2026.

Upcoming issues:

Land (Submission deadline: September 11, 2026)

Winter 2027: TBD (Submission deadline: December 11, 2026)

Please note: We accept submissions in any language. If we can’t translate it, we’ll ask you to provide an English translation. We’re open to publishing in any language, when an English translation is available. The articles appearing in the journal have not been peer-reviewed.

*Before making a decision about publishing to preprint servers, it is important to check your target journal's manuscript submission guidelines or policy regarding preprints. For example, posting of preprints will not jeopardize a manuscript's consideration at Nature Research journals as they do not consider preprints prior publications, while journals in the JAMA network will factor preprint postings into their determination of publication.

If you have the means, please consider a donation to Coyote Institute to support our work.

Coyote Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.