Native Mindfulness: Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center

Donna LaChapelle, elder in residence for the Nokomis Endaad program at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, (MIWRC), found the answers to her prayers during a casual event. A Native healer, LaChapelle investigated multiple therapeutic paths for years, but something was missing, “in our Native ways, we use smudging, ceremonies, sweat lodges. … But we needed something to understand the psychology of trauma, and get in the mind of the patients: why drug, alcohol…? Watching the women in recovery with no success, I prayed for help.”

That night, her question, “What does it take to get well,” was answered when she met a mind-body practitioner sitting next to her. “Listening to Kathy, It made sense right away that we needed this type of work: in trauma, the mind and the body dissociate. And when the mind is exiled from the body, depression begins,” LaChapelle said.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/03/01/native-mindfulness-minnesota-indian-womens-resource-center-163581