When we get this part of the website developed and functioning properly, I will update this protocol to help people navigate this area.
The intent of the Student Lounge is to provide a centralized space for people to chat via text, voice or video as well as share documents, thoughts, questions, concerns or ideas. The ground rules for this lounge are simple:
- No personal or confidential information should be shared here. Treat this space like a regular student lounge at a collage or university. If you need privacy, connect with people directly.
- Anything discussed here should be treated as confidential.
- No abusive behaviours or language will be tolerated within this space or any other space within this school.
- People are allowed to disagree with one another. We are here to challenge ideas and poor behaviours, not people.
We chose Telegram as it allows for fairly good encryption through a distributed network and is capable of doing voice and text messaging. Zoom has been selected for video messaging as it is the platform being used in other areas of the school. Students will have to setup these products on their devices should they want to participate in the Student Lounge. Good sharing everyone!
Protocol for Elders Council
The Elders have not gathered to create a protocol yet. When we do, we will lay out what the protocol is for contacting Elders, how we can help, etc. Until then, White Walking Feather will respond to messages sent to the Elders and we can figure out how to proceed from that point forward.
With the resignation of the Governor General of Canada yesterday, coal leases along the headwaters of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta and a whole bunch of other issues, it was time to confront the Premier and Lieutenant Governor of Alberta on their violence and corruption.
But more importantly, the letter is also an invitation to redeem themselves, reconcile their relationships and bring peace to this land through freedom, respect, honour, love and the highest level of morality and ethics. This is a continuation of the ceremony that started back in October and I will continue to hold as I move forward to return to the land and build a relationship with tawahcâw tawatinaw.
On that note, I read a book that really helped me work on my relationship with myself and the feminine energy in my life. It was a recent gift from a dear friend and sister! Much love and respect for her. Thank you.
Intimate Communion: Awakening your Sexual Essence by David Deida
I share this book because tawahcâw tawatinaw is a powerful feminine energy and I find myself preparing to fully surrender to her energy. It scares me, but yet I also am finding some renewed comfort and love as a result. This book actually helped me with this journey that I’m on, so I recommend it for anyone looking to explore their relationship between the masculine and feminine. I have an interesting exercise for Sacred Heart Circle tomorrow. Hopefully we all can explore these masculine and feminine energies to help facilitate further growth and surrender.
We live in a world that has criminalized certain types of violence, but very much normalized or even legalized vast amounts of covert and overt violence. Through colonization, it is now socially acceptable and even encouraged to engage in violent behaviour while many would argue that it is not violent at all. Rather than dispute the semantics of where people draw the line, I want to share the work that I’ve done over the last 20 years to not only navigate this mine field, but also how I set boundaries to protect myself from slipping back into a covert violent life.
I’ve found over the years that there seems to be a lot of confusion and disagreement with my approach, so I pray that exploring this protocol helps bring clarity to those that struggle with my approach in life. It is also important that I highlight my work to identify violent behaviour that many would consider socially acceptable. It is my view that we challenges these perceptions at every turn of our lives.
Identifying Violence
There is a lot of information out there that covers this topic very well. Aside from the obvious overt violent behaviours, exploring the covert abusive relationships is where it gets a bit more tricky. An individual could easily research the behaviours of psychopaths, sociopaths, narcissists or even drill down into gaslighting, blame-shifting, word twisting and a whole host of other techniques. It matters not whether this is done consciously or not. The trick is to be consciously aware of these techniques when they come to bear in conversations or relationships. The scope of this post will not cover these in detail, but rather leave it up to the reader to do their own research.
For me, it required that I go through extensive painful life experiences and training to acknowledge that I engaged in this type of behaviour and that I surrender to be willing to learn the techniques on how I could change my behaviour in order to end the violence and have healthy relationships instead. It also made me intimately aware of others around me who do engage in these techniques. When presented, I see these behaviours like bright flashing neon signs. While it takes practice, over time we can all learn how to see and feel the signs of covert violence and then take appropriate steps to address the violence.
It matters not whether the individual is your self, an intimate partner, family, friends, co-workers, neighbours or even people wearing uniforms of authority. What I’m about to share applies to everyone and this is where great discomfort comes in for some who study the Pacem Arts with me.
Setting Boundaries
I acknowledge that the colonial trauma that we all experience and are working hard to heal, has resulted in multiple generations passing along trauma for thousands of years. We are ALL confronted with trauma but some deal with it in different ways. People naturally would respond to trauma by fighting, fleeing, fawning or freezing. Two of these responses result in a withdrawing into ones self, while the other two results in turning the trauma around and lashing out at others. It is the fighting and fawning people that end up being the primary abusers and engaging in all kinds of violence. Also keep in mind that many of us may fall into more than one category depending on the situation and the other two groups often empower the others, contributing to the problem.
As a result of all these challenges, our feelings, communications, thoughts, assumptions, life experiences, etc all influence how we see the world and interact with it. As I explore relationships from this new paradigm, I acknowledge that everyone has trauma to heal. However, I also acknowledge that free will dictates whether one is willing to do the work or not. So I look for a few things when dealing with people, while also acknowledging that most everyone will engage in some sort of violence in one form or another throughout my relationship with them. What I look for is whether they are willing to learn and willing to change. The attached graphic will highlight this to help with what I’m about to explain.
If an individual has a high willingness to learn and a high willingness to change, chances are high that these individuals are fairly conscious, aware of their shadows, willing to discuss relationship issues openly and explore alternatives or even engage in dispute resolution processes. With these individuals, when a behaviour manifests that causes harm to another, they are the most flexible and also willing to identify the problem, brainstorm solutions and implement them, triggering changed behaviour, growth and further conscious awareness and insight. It is these individuals with whom I like to have in my inner circle, who I call elders and I trust greatly to help me with my own journey. When we engage with one another in an Elders Circle, it is magical, respectful, inspiring, beautiful and amazing. We may slip up from time to time, but everyone involved is quick to gather together to remedy the situation as all involved recognize the value of addressing issues right away as the relationship is far too valuable to let mistakes or errors jeopardize it.
If an individual has a medium willingness to learn and a medium willingness to change, what I look for is their willingness to do the work, to explore, show up, ask questions, put effort in and do their best to figure out life. Let me be very clear on this point: Even though they may engage in violent behaviour from time to time, I tolerate it as they are still open to learning, being confronted and exploring the lessons that those opportunities present for all involved. I forgive them and pray that the experience provides growth and learning through these experiences. This is the spirit of the work that we do in Sacred Heart Circle.
However, if an individual has a low willingness to learn and a low willingness to change, things become dangerous as the will to acknowledge mistakes, work through issues or even hear what others are sharing becomes significantly diminished. When an individual slips into this area, their abuse becomes even more toxic as there is typically nothing anyone can do to stop the violence as it often escalates as a protective mechanism. They have made up their mind and will live their life the way they see fit and if they are violent, there is no way to stop it. There are plenty of articles written about Battered Spouse Syndrome and I’ve even written an article about Battered Citizen Syndrome to highlight how our love for these individuals is not enough to trigger healing within them. Hope, interventions and other extreme activities often don’t result in a shift as free will is a reality of this realm. In my own experience, what I needed to break free from this false ego black hole was to have a life crises which forced me to surrender and make a choice: change or die. I pray people don’t need to go that far in order to make the choice, but I’ve found this to be far more common than not.
It is the violence from this group of people that I’ve chosen to take a zero tolerance approach. The yellow line on the graph is my boundary and also happens to be the threshold between having the will to change or not. If I feel they have lost the will to learn or change, that means there is no way I could have a reasonable chance of being able to resolve disputes or confront them on their behaviour in order to find healing and remedy when they lash out or make a mistake. With all the others, I’ve found that I am willing to tolerate mistakes or some abuse as there are ways to resolve them, heal and strengthen the relationship as a result. But with the people that find themselves in that bottom red square, there is no remedy within my sphere of influence. Instead I’ve usually been met with abuse, gaslighting and other violent responses.
This is where the controversy comes to play as my boundary is to end that relationship. I’ve set that boundary because I love myself and I was not put on this earth to be abused or treated in such deplorable ways. If there is no chance for remedy, then I have no duty or obligation to interact with that individual, no matter what role they have played in my life. It matters not whether they were my spouse, mother, brother, sister, relative, friend or neighbour.
Let me repeat this point: I LOVE MYSELF AND NOBODY HAS THE RIGHT TO VIOLATE ME IN ANY WAY. My boundary is firm on this point and it should be for each and every single individual on this planet!
I acknowledge that this is very difficult for some people to do because setting this type of boundary requires that we have the ability to process sadness, mourning, loss and other profound feelings that comes from cutting abusive relationships from our lives. It also requires that I accept and embrace change as these decisions often manifest great disturbance in my life. By embracing change, I have found that I can navigate life easier and with more fluidity. Trusting that Creator will help look after me along this journey also helps tremendously. Many refuse to do this, so they will hold onto those abusive relationships because their willingness to change is low and they struggle as any learning they do conflicts with their unwillingness to change. This, in turn, drives themselves towards the red square.
In my experience there is also a threshold that people go through as they drop down into the red low learning, low change zone. Prior to crossing that threshold, there is still some willingness to hear what people are saying and they are willing to make changes, but it is tough. I’ve used blunt language with these people in the hopes that they can avoid crossing over that threshold. There are many within the tribe that this has helped and I am grateful. It is also my experience that once they cross that threshold, there is no way that I can rationalize with them. By setting the boundary and refusing to spend time with them, I pray that Creator will soften their heart and help them surrender and choose to learn and change once again. This has happened before in my life as well, where I set boundaries, removing myself from their life and they returned years later, apologizing and asking for reconciliation.
The message I work hard to send is clear: violence will no longer be tolerated. Period. Either an individual embraces the work with the will to learn and change or they don’t. This approach is supported by Christ’s teachings, specifically Matthew 18:15-17. Some struggle as they were taught blood is thicker than water, but these are colonial constructs that only perpetuate multi-generational trauma.
Don’t Shoot the Messenger
I’ve also noticed over the years that when I or others stand up to be a witness to the abuser, this ends up being disturbing to all the people associated with the abuser. It is an interesting phenomenon that people don’t like change and when abusers are confronted, it risks GREAT change within the social relationships of the group, whether it be a family, tribe, corporation or even a government. People don’t like change and to some degree, they are willing to tolerate violence so that the social order is not disturbed. I find this actually quit disturbing as it only perpetuates violence and gives violent abusers a sanctuary to continue their abusive ways. It also discourages people from standing up to be a witness to the abuse of others as they are often judged or attacked for their testimony. As a result, the witness ends up receiving the vast majority of the attention which is opposite of what should actually be happening. This happens in the micro as much as it happens in the macro.
In my experience, standing up as a witness to somebodies violence, while they are in a high willingness to learn and a high willingness to change is often met with gratitude, appreciation and full participation to resolve the behaviour. This makes it very easy to tolerate the violence as it often results in growth. For the middle group, I’ve found the ground rules and sacred space of the Sacred Heart Circle to be the most effective means of confronting violence. I do it with gentleness and questions to help guide the individual through the journey of healing, learning, change and growth. Because of this, I am also willing to tolerate violence. In my view, I feel this is a manifestation of my own work on violent behaviour, a testimony to the 20 years of work, growth and healing that I’ve done.
I acknowledge that many still struggle with my zero tolerance with people in the red zone, but this should never be interpreted as me being callus, insensitive, uncaring or unloving. I trust that Creator will help them through their journey and I make it very clear that if they want me as a part of that journey, there is a minimum standard of behaviour that is expected from everyone around me. I’ve worked hard to maintain that minimum standard and it is something that I think we ALL should be establishing. The message to be sent throughout the world is this:Abusive behaviour, whether overt or covert in nature, is no longer tolerated; by anybody.
This is the premise and standards set for the Pacem Arts and ALL my relationships. I acknowledge that I live in a rather abusive and violent world and as such my social circle is really small. However, it is growing because I know in my heart that the people around me acknowledge, appreciate and honour those standards that I’ve set for myself and those that I interact with. These are my standards and boundaries. Nobody has the right to convince or intimidate me to move off of those standards, to do so is a violent act. But for those that honour and respect those boundaries, I have witnessed great love, compassion, growth, empathy, friendship, trust and profound intimacy; exactly what I’m looking for in my life.This all takes a tremendous amount of hard work, profound changes and a willingness to learn new ways of communicating, resolving disputes, having profound conscious awareness, honesty and courage to stand up to those that we love most. This journey produces a tremendous amount of disturbance, but there is no way to get to this peaceful place without going through the pain, turmoil and profound disruption. I pray this helps people process the consequences of my actions as I set boundaries that impacts all those around me. I pray that this helps explain where I am coming from when I do this work.
By holding those in the red zone accountable for their actions, we can help make life uncomfortable enough to surrender and chose to learn and change instead of sitting in a place that is familiar and engage in inappropriate behaviour. That is, in my view, the most loving act we can express to the violent offenders. They deserve healing as well; but it must start with them. We can help by calling them on their shit.What are your thoughts on this topic? Feel free to comment below.
The Sacred Heart Circles have specific ground rules to help create a sacred and safe space for people to do their shadow work. I’m going to highlight the ground rules here, or you can listen to the video and catch them there as well. Please note that the video was done in late 2019 and there have been a few small changes to the circle themselves, but the ground rules remain the same. Most notably, the circle runs for two hours now and the time is currently Saturdays at 6PM MST.
Ground Rules
Treat each other with respect, honour and dignity.
Confidentiality is required, what is said in circle, stays in circle. No sharing on social media, etc.
No recordings.
Turn on your video so that we can see you, helps with communication.
Accept responsibility for yourself and allow others to do the same.
No drugs or alcohol, if under the influence, please don’t enter the sacred space.
Use “I” statements when sharing thoughts or feelings.
One individual talking at a time, no interrupting somebody who is sharing.
Please be on time, don’t be late. Circle gets locked out 5 minutes after we start.
If you accept these ground rules, then you are welcome into the circle. Thank you for helping us all create a space that is sacred and safe for all involved. If anybody turns violent in the circle, I will confront them and if the behaviour continues, that individual will be removed from the circle and potentially even the school. I take a zero tolerance to violence in the circles and school.
Working our physical bodies is an important aspect of finding balance in our lives. This Gym was setup to help people reconnect to their body using protocols from the martial arts. I’ve trained with Grand Master James Lo for 10 years, obtaining a 3rd Dan Black belt in Tae Kwon Do and I also ran my own school for several years. I will be recording warm up exercises, stretching protocols and other techniques that I’ve learned in the martial arts to help students should they be interested in exploring this aspect of life. Martial Arts have been practiced by artists for thousands of years and the knowledge has been handed down from generation to generation. It has also benefited from modern advancements as well. I won’t share the art of war here, but I will explore how we can connect with our bodies using the techniques I learned.
As I say to all new students, take it easy. Listen to your body and don’t try to keep up with the black belts. I don’t want anybody to get hurt and it will take weeks or even months to start conditioning your body so that it can start working out harder, faster and stronger. Ego often results in people getting hurt as they think they can perform like a black belt. It often results in injury and having to withdraw from training. When your body starts to reach the point of proper conditioning to train, we can then slowly push the body, stretch it and teach it how to exceed the capabilities we think it has and find the limits it actually has. This takes years of training. It is a slow process and requires patience, dedication and commitment.
The video was recorded in 2007 when I was testing for my 3rd Dan Black belt. We don’t have new students doing this for several reasons. Firstly, their body has not been trained and conditioned, much like what I just shared with you. The second is even more critical in that the mind has not been trained either. Doubt, fear and anxiety prevent us from achieving these types of results, even though our bodies are capable of performing far beyond what we think it can. Our minds are often the barriers that we have to overcome. This applies to the Martial Arts as much as the Pacem Arts. It is my hope that we can help that process here in the Pacem Arts by using some techniques from the Martial Arts to overcome these self limiting beliefs.
Also note that I’m not there to watch, observe or correct you. So this still requires that you take full responsibility for your training and do your best to be consciously aware of what I’m sharing. It is no replacement for having an instructor or trainer in the room there with you as they can see things you cannot. As such, the gym is setup to be an introduction and I encourage people to go out and find an instructor near you to help. It does not matter if it is Tae Kwon Do, other martial arts, yoga or sports in general. The goal is to get out and move our bodies, connect with them and explore what they are actually capable of performing while we also discipline the mind at the same time.
An introduction to the Pacem Arts
We live in challenging times and it appears that the world is at war. While many are choosing to go to war against others in an effort to address their concerns, there is a small group of people who are realizing that the problems we face runs far deeper than we realized and the solutions rest squarely within each individual. There is no blame, but rather a realization that each of us are 100% responsible and accountable for our actions and our participation in the war that has manifested as a result of our ignorance. When we acknowledge this, we find that the solution is not war against our neighbour, but to find peace, knowledge and conscious, spiritual awareness within our selves.
Our history is littered with war, violence, colonization, greed, lust, discrimination, theft, hatred and pain. For thousands of years this has been passed down from generation to generation, to the point where most of us are not even consciously aware of why we struggle so much in our lives.
The Pacem Arts / The Art of Peace is designed to help each individual re-connect with their heart space so that the healing journey can begin. The Sacred Heart Circle is a core principle of the school which creates a safe space for people to be vulnerable and do this profound shadow work. When the student is ready, they are welcome to then start the decolonization process where we challenge generations of assumptions, programming, brainwashing and other chains that tend to keep people attached to the war machine.
The goal is to do the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual healing so that we can find peace within ourselves. That is where the true peace is found. Politicians and state bureaucrats will never be able to bring peace to the world because they are the war machine and it is not their job. Their peace requires force, violence and coercion, which is not peaceful. True peace is our job and it is found within, especially when we heal ourselves and fully integrate the four parts of our being to the point of balance and being centered. Spiritual awakening then helps us walk a path of non-violence and peaceful non-compliance as we venture towards an evolutionary shift in consciousness. When we reach this point, self-defense is no longer required. We have walked off the battle field.
The Pacem Arts is a unique and disciplined art form designed to help each practitioner heal their heart, discipline their mind, bring conscious awareness to all their relationships, practice healthy and peaceful communication protocols, study history and explore our dependencies so that we can all work towards true independence and explore the richness and prosperity when we build inter-independent relationships with one another.
Within the framework of this school, we will talk about feelings, traumas, history, relationships, behaviours, boundaries, morality, ethics, spirituality, ceremonies, protocols and even dig into the system and our relationship with it. I would recommend that you start with my book “Graduating Life with Honours”, which is a free download. It lays out the foundation of the school very well. If you want to join, the Sacred Heart Circle is the core of this art form. We cannot do any of the other work without first doing the internal healing work. Others attend the Decolonization Classes at the same time and do well as the content we cover does trigger people, which can then be resolved or discussed in the Sacred Heart Circles.
If you love this work and want to support the school, I graciously accept donations. If you want to support people who cannot afford to train in the school, I’m setting up a sponsorship program to connect practitioners with philanthropists. I also have a public blog, so please feel free to read my public posts to help you get a better feel for what we do here. This school triggers people as we break down the status quo in order to transform ourselves into a new paradigm of life and govern ourselves under the Law of Love. Change is a constant here and it is challenging! If you are up to the challenge, then welcome to the Pacem Arts.
UNPLUG Workshop
In 2017 I performed a number of presentations to help people work through acknowledging our dependencies and what we can do to become independent. I’m offering this presentation to you now to help explain the type of work that we are doing here in the school. Special thank you to Sweetgrass Sitting Bear for his opening prayers, smudge and friendship!
Below is a series of videos that are found on line and covers specific areas to help people through the content being presented on this website. Without comprehending these basics, it may be challenging to move forward with the concepts and principles being discussed in the classes or other videos. This information is here to help people ‘see’ the relationship they currently have with the state and its fictional constructs, so that we can navigate out of it and establish different peaceful relationships.
The Causes and Effects of the 2008 Financial Crisis
This is an example of the unlawful conversions that the financial institutions do to convert promissory notes into asset classes that are traded on the open market. It is also an example of how the original agreement can be question and why asking the original corporation that signed the agreement if they can prove they still owe it or sold it, would go a long way towards making it problematic for them to prove that their claim that the debt payments are owed to them or some other third party that the home owner has no contract, duty or obligation.
I say this is unlawful because usury is a violation of spiritual law. The problem is that the earthly masters have made it ‘legal’ despite its unlawful nature. I personally avoid these people at all costs.
In this guided meditation, we invite Owl to connect with us and share its knowledge and spiritual wisdom. May we connect with the spirit of Owl to help us navigate life and to peer deep into ourselves, but also see past the noise and observe what is really going on around us. Sit back, relax and welcome Owl in this meditation and explore what Owl has to show us.
This picture was taken by me on my birthday in 2019 and owl let me get to within 6 feet. I am honoured and humbled that owl was patient and trusting with me.
