TWO-EYED SEEING

I was recently on an 8 week online course run by Lewis Mehl-Madrona in which a different indigenous healer from around the world was interviewed each week, and there was also opportunity for questions and answers. Lewis is soon to run another course, which I will also be attending. Here is what he says about it and here is the link for joining the course.

 

Two-Eyed Approaches to Healing Trauma

Tuesday Evenings, 6pm to 7:30pm, for 8 weeks, starting 27 October 2020

We had so much fun in our last course that we decided to do another. This time we want to explore approaches to healing trauma in indigenous communities from both indigenous and contemporary neuroscience perspectives. We want to go more deeply in the practices that work and how to apply them

We will meet live for 90 minutes on Tuesdays at 6pm Eastern Time in the USA. Sessions will be recorded for those who cannot attend or are in other time zones.

The Inspiration:

“Two-eyed seeing” is a concept that was originated by Elder Albert Marshall of Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton University to give indigenous epistemology and knowledge equal status with mainstream scientific perspectives and knowledge. In M'iqmaq, the word is Etuaptmunk. In English, it means the idea of explanatory pluralism. Within most indigenous cultures, the mind is not considered separately from body, community, and spirituality, unlike the silos created in the dominant culture. Healing must involve the body, the community, and the spirits. In this nine-part online series, we are going to use the two-eyed seeing concept to explore how to work with trauma from both an indigenous perspective and contemporary neuroscience and psychological research. We are especially interested in the role that trauma plays in addictions and in the so-called “severe mental illnesses,” and how our approach to people in distress must also be trauma informed. We will explore Indigenous approaches to healing trauma related to childhood, historical and ongoing violence, domestic violence, and intergenerational trauma.