Indigenous Teachings for Living Well

Chelsy Luger is a writer and health advocate originally from North Dakota, a recording member of the Turtle Mountain Band in Chippewa and a descendant of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. Thosh Collins is a photographer, and On Akimel O’odham, Seneca-Cayuga, Osage, was born and raised on the Salt River Reservation. Chelsey and Thosh are co-founders of Well For Culture, an Indigenous wellness initiative.

Below, Chelsey and Thosh share 5 key insights from their new book, The Seven Circles: Aboriginal Teachings to Live Well. Listen to the audio version – read by Chelsey – in the Next Big Idea app.

1. Native American cultures abound with knowledge of wellness.

If you’re an American who knows anything about wellness or spirituality, chances are you know about some type of wellness or spiritual practice that comes from a remote part of the world. What you probably don’t know is that there is an ancient tradition of wellness that has been practiced by Aboriginal people for thousands of years, right here on this earth that we all stand for.

There are plenty of reasons why you may not know about Native American health. There is much to learn about the history of cultural genocide and spiritual oppression. The truth is, the government, the army, and the church worked in tandem to kill as many Native Americans as possible and…