How would you like to take the helm of experiences you have in life? Do you know that you have the power to guide what unfolds in your life? This ability is found within the power of questions.

I want to give you a precious gift of hard-earned wisdom. There is something to know about how to phrase an inquiry that is critically important. It’s important to understand that what you ask about, and how your phrase the question determines the answer you receive. I’ve talked to thousands of people who struggle with this concept because the words we commonly use don’t accurately convey the thoughts that are within us. We use vague generalities and then expect concise and exact responses.

As we go on the connection journey, we are called to higher forms of excellence in all areas of our life. Using words powerfully means that we need to have our hearts and minds fully connected and communicating. Then we can ask the questions in a way which will give us the answer we seek.

Another gift of...

The Helper's Mentoring Society is dedicated to helping the modern, everyday person become more fully developed through the practice of traditional ceremonies and teachings. We offer online courses, literature, retreats, gatherings, and more to make this mission a reality. For more information about us, click here.

Its been a busy summer for us here at Helpers Mentoring Society. We’ve held live events and seminars around the world and we are still going! I’m actually writing this blog to you all from the airport on my way to the United Kingdom, and from there over to Europe.

As many of you know we hold an annual nature connection camp in South Dakota, USA. The event is called the Language of the Land. This camp is unique in all the work that we do for a number of reasons. The 1^st is that the camp is meant to be a cultural exchange for the participants – for people of diverse backgrounds to meet and spend quality time with the Native American (Lakota) participants. It is an opp...

The Drum is the most versatile of the sacred gifts because of its proclivity to be used as a tool in groups, and is closely related to the Advanced Connection Practice of Song. We can use the drum on its own, but often we use the drum to guide the rhythm or “heartbeat” of a song, especially when in groups. Used in this way, the drum can sync up all the voices and the dancing so that all bodies are moving, breathing, and singing with the rhythm of creation. For us to first appreciate the value of this gift, we have to understand the practices of Song and Drumming, and how these practices are invaluable for developing a connection to creation.

For those of you familiar with the Advanced Connection Practices, you may already understand a bit about the Sacred Song. Song is the way we describe the voice of all things, not only the songs of people. The rustling of the leaves on the trees are part of the trees’ song, the howling of the wolves and yipping of coyotes are a part of their song, ...

The Helper's Mentoring Society is dedicated to helping the modern, everyday person become more fully developed through the practice of traditional ceremonies and teachings. We offer online courses, literature, retreats, gatherings, and more to make this mission a reality. For more information about us, click here, or get started on a Free Course on Gratitude by signing up here.

Canupa: The Sacred Pipe

The Sacred Pipe is known as the Canupa in the Lakota language.  The Canupa is an essential tool of connection.  Of all the tools, it is the one which develops the deepest awareness.  It creates an amplified connection with the intelligence that is commonly known as intuition.  According to legend, the Canupa came to people a long ago in a time of great need.  It was brought to the people to show how to live in right relation with the earth and all of creation.

The Lakota stories of how the Canupa came to the people hold important lessons and contain great wisdom, if one knows how to he...

The Helper's Mentoring Society is dedicated to helping the modern, everyday person become more fully developed through the practice of traditional ceremonies and teachings. We offer online courses, literature, retreats, gatherings, and more to make this mission a reality. For more information about us, click here, or get started on a Free Course on Gratitude by signing up here.

The Native American Sweat Lodge: An Introduction

The Native American Sweat lodge is one of the most profound healing and transformative indigenous ceremonies that I know. At the age of 16 I attended my first traditionally run Sweat Lodge and personally experienced the power and beauty of this ceremony. I’ve repeatedly witnessed this transformative and restorative power of the sweat lodge for over 23 years.

Sweat Lodges Around the World

There are many forms of the sweat therapy found across the world, from the European sauna to the Japanese Sento. Understanding of how sweating in a controlled manner in combin...

The ceremony of the Vision Quest is one of the most universal and ancient means to find spiritual guidance and purpose. A Vision Quest can provide deep understanding to people, helping them to understand their role in life.

Vision Quest of the Past

Vision Quest is one of the original ceremonial techniques, practiced by all people of every culture. In many ancient cultures these types of ceremonies were part of a person’s learning journey in life. The Vision Quest is often used as a Rite of Passage, marking the transition between childhood and full acceptance into society as an adult. A person’s first Vision Quest is typically done during their transformative teenage years. It is when a child’s mind begins to understand complex abstract concepts that this ceremony is the most applicable – and needed. Through a Vision Quest, a young person develops a healthy relationship with this newly forming power of the creative mind. A Vision Quest helps the teenager to access spiritual communicat...

People who took walks among trees saw a 20% increase in memory-functions compared to people who took walks in a city

               What did you do yesterday? This isn’t a trick question, take a moment to think about it. You probably woke up in your own bed and made breakfast in your kitchen, or, if you were really in a rush, picked it up on your drive to work. Maybe a few had some time to exercise, and many of us didn’t. Maybe you picked up your kids or walked your dog, maybe you just watched TV. You may have read a book or finished a crossword puzzle. If we took a survey of 100 people, they would have accomplished thousands of different activities. What’s the one thing that 99 out of 100 people were missing in their lives yesterday?

A connection to nature.

               We know you may have heard this before, perhaps it’s a well-worn trope – but bear with us, we promise it’s worth it. For starters, the facts back us up, and the impact this lack of nature is having on your life is...

For the last article in our “With a Purpose” series, we’re tackling one of the most fundamental and entirely overlooked aspects of our mental and physical well-being. If you’ve been following along with this article series, you know that the focus of all our articles has been on how to add small changes and intentions to our daily routine to help us become healthier, happier people. Writing, walking, and reflection can all be done with specific intentions and can have profound impacts on our lives. But as fundamental and simple as these activities are, there are some of us who won’t be able to relate to at least one of the above. There is one thing even more universal, something every single one of us do every single day of our lives, and that most of us never think twice about. That thing is eating.

               Now, we know that many of us have given at least some thought to our eating habits in the past. Almost everyone has experimented with dieting at least once before, everyone...

Let me know if any of these scenes sound familiar: blaring alarm clock, dragging your body out of bed, shuffling to the shower with slumped shoulders, casting a forlorn glance back to your bed, begrudgingly working to your kitchen for breakfast. For many of us, this is the beginning of many (if not every) day of our lives. But why? Every day is another to experience a life filled with the most beautiful and wondrous things we’ve ever known. We get to experience everything from the wondrous power of the natural world to the small simple pleasures of our daily lives, to the smile of a stranger and the songs of birds. Oddly enough, we human beings find it very easy to take these things for granted. That’s why this week we’re continuing our With a Purpose series to talk about developing a gratitude practice.

First of all, a gratitude practice is so much more than simply saying "thank you" more often. People with a strong sense of gratitude have been shown to have a stronger sense of self-...