020 | Standing Rock & A Message of Hope with Lyla June Johnston

When I first watched Lyla June Johnston's music video, "All Nations Rise," it gave me  chills and I felt an immediate calling  to interview her for the Rising Women Leaders podcast.   Lyla's video  soon went viral on Facebook, with over 1.6 million views, providing a powerful platform for Lyla to share her message of compassion, peace and prayer during turbulent times.  I spoke with Lyla just days after she returned from Standing Rock last month.   I left this interview feeling filled with so much hope, passion, and devotion to our Mother Earth as well as my own dreams and ambitions.  I hope you will find the same. Please take the time this week to listen to the  full episode, and I encourage you to share it with your friends.   The time has come for us all  to rise together. Love,  Meredith "What you think of as failure is actually a success ...because you tried... Creator doesn't want you to be  perfect, Creator just wants you to try." In this episode Lyla shares: Her experience at Sacred Stone Camp at Standing Rock Her powerful story of overcoming  dark times of drugs, numbing and sexual abuse to find her light and power to be of service in this life A powerful prayer circle where she received clear messages from her guides The message she has for women who believe they have something powerful to share and give in their lives What we can do to cleanse ourselves of fear The role of prayer plays  in moving through turbulent times How the Purification Lodge Ceremony has affected her life A closing prayer in her native language Links in this episode: Lyla's Artist Fan Page Lyla's Music Lyla's Website and Writings Women At Standing Rock Lyla is calling in assistance,  management and administrative support in organizing her performances and speaking opportunities.  If you feel called to learn more, please contact her here. Lyla's Bio: Lyla June Johnston was raised in Taos, New Mexico and is a descendent of Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) lineages. Her personal mission in life is to grow closer to Creator by learning how to love deeper. This prayer has taken her on many journeys and materializes in diverse ways. She is a student of global cycles of violence that eventually gave rise to The Native American Holocaust and the destruction of many cyclic relationships between human beings and nature. This exploration birthed her passion for revitalizing spiritual relationships with Mother Earth and cultivating spaces for forgiveness and reconciliation to occur between cultural groups. She is a co-founder of The Taos Peace and Reconciliation Council, which works to heal intergenerational trauma and ethnic division in the northern New Mexico. She is a walker within the Nihigaal Bee Iiná Movement, a 1,000-mile prayer walk through Diné Tah (the Navajo homeland) that is exposing the exploitation of Diné land and people by uranium, coal, oil and gas industries. She is the lead organizer of the Black Hill Unity Concert which gathers native and nonnative musicians to pray for the return of guardianship of the Black Hills to the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota nations. She is the also the founder of Regeneration Festival, an annual celebration of children that occurs in 13 countries around the world every September. In 2012, she graduated with honors from Stanford University with a degree in Environmental Anthropology. During her time there she wrote the award winning papers: Nature and the Supernatural: The Role of Culture and Spirituality in Sustaining Primate Populations in Manu National Park, Peru and Chonos Pom: Ethnic Endemism Among the Winnemem Wintu and the Cultural Impacts of Enlarging Shasta Reservoir. She is a musician, public speaker and internationally recognized performance poet. Lyla June ultimately attributes any achievements to Creator who gave her the tools and resources she uses to serve humanity. She currently lives in Diné Tah, the Navajo ancestral homeland which spans what is now called New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. She spends her free time learning her engendered mother tongue, planting corn, beans and squash and spending time with elders who retain traditional spiritual and ecological knowledge.