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Water Shape Shifting the Stone Tribe on an Oregon beach
Water working magic on the Stone People in a river in Ireland.
A Favorite gathering place in Idaho
Notice the darker stones at left bottom in photo below. They have been oiled while others are only washed and raw. A good days Gathering!
Warm and ready to work
Stones used in Stone Medicine are known as the Stone People or the Stone Tribe. These stones hold the wisdom of the ancient healers and when applied to the body during ceremonial healing rituals, this wisdom is released.
Respect and honor for the Stone Tribe is held as a sacred law for anyone who would attempt to serve wellness through hot and/or cold stone treatment processes. Modern language has offered a new name for Stone Medicine that reflects the science behind these traditions. That name Geothermal Therapy, was coined for LaStone Therapy Inc. who generously shares it with the world.
Science is proving the healing properties of the Stone Nation every day. Cobalt used in cancer treatments, calcium for osteoporosis, copper for relief of arthritis symptoms, iron for anemia and many other minerals are ingested or applied to balance the body in wellness.
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Articles on Stones WHO ARE THE STONE PEOPLE?.................................by Jenny Ray THE DANCE................................................................by Janelle Lakman WALKING WITH THE STONES...........................by Shanna Shultz
WHO ARE THE STONE PEOPLE? by; Jenny Ray We believe the stones of Mother Earth are living beings. They record our history on their bodies by showing geological activities and holding fossilized remains of all flora and fauna from ancient times. Stones are a necessary part of our every day life. Can you imagine not coming in contact with something made of stone each day? You would have no metal items like, cars, silverware, surgical instruments. No pottery ware like china and porcelain or even a wrist watch. Without crystals that watch wouldn't work anyway, nor would this computer. There would be no pavement, no cement or bricks, no electrical wires or pipes for plumbing. The list goes on and on. Of course with out the Stone Nation to feed us the necessary minerals through our food sources we wouldn't be here anyway!!
Everywhere we look the beauty of stone enhances our life while serving in everyway to make it possible for us to live in modern times.
An ancient bridge at the Emperor's Palace in Tokyo Japan, photographed by Jenny Ray in 2007.
Janelle Lakman a Medicine Woman with Cherokee heritage shows students how to harvest stones along Big Creek in Idaho State, USA for use in Stone Medicine treatments.
Jenny says she is embarrassed to admit that for many years she was using her 'judgment eye', to condemn the marketing of stones for the stone massage industry. She had forgotten that she purchases and wears turquoise and silver, she drives a car and lives in a mobile home filled with electronic conveniences. On Jenny's first visit to Tucson, she taught a class in Stone Medicine for Mary Nelson, owner and founder of LaStone Therapy. During this time Mary invited Jenny to Phoenix where she met the family who owned a stone business called AML. Jenny says she entered the building expecting to hear stones screeching under heavy machinery as it was cut into shapes for cold stone massage. She thought there would be the smell of oil and factory pollution in the area with macho men throwing stones on big conveyer belts to sort them for size. Imagine her surprise! The quiet hum of diamond bit blades, spinning under water to cut the delicate marble, offered the sweet smell of fresh rain on dry dirt. As she moved further into the building there was the familiar sweet scent of burning sage that she would discover was coming from the sorting room where Sheila, Mary's sister was gently choosing first one stone and then another to make perfectly matched sets. Sounds of Native flute music could be heard over the gentle rhythm of the stone cutters, who Jenny decided should be called sculptors, after watching them for a while. Sheila's husband T.J. had built the 'rock tumblers' to smooth the basalt stones. Seeing these small and gently rotating machines working the stones with a sound like 'water tumbling stones along a river bed' surprised Jenny further. It began to dawn on her, 'this is exactly what Mother Nature does in her natural waters of the world with the Stone People. Each tumbler is filled with sand and water and with stones of a certain size that are left to gently roll for several days until any rough spots have become silky smooth. Many of the marble massage stones are made from scrap left over from works of fine art. Famous stone carvers and sculptures who live in Arizona have imported a variety of beautiful marble from around the world. The basalt stones come from near by river beds and some are trucked in from ocean beaches. They are hand washed and sorted, smudged and gathered in ceremonial ways that is very much like the old traditions of the Native people. After meeting the family who does this honorable work a vision came to Jenny of women elders sitting on river banks making grinding stones for their corn, young men kneeling to knap an arrow head of flint and old men carving Sacred Pipe bowls for Chanupa Ceremony. It was a gift of recognition that we all use the Stone Tribe to serve our needs and they happily shape shift for us when needed. AML has closed its doors as retirement and changes in the family took over busy lives, but the lessons of how modern times are moving the stones with honor has left a big impression on everyone at Stone Medicine.
THE DANCE By Janelle Lakman Let’s consider that all things—trees, water, animals, humans, stones, steel, leather, oil, air, everything—have chemical elements made up of cells. These cells interact with each other described as matter and energy. There is a physics law of action will cause a reaction. Some items have more oxygen—some have more hydrogen. Some move fast—some move slow. Water has two parts oxygen to one part hydrogen. Pretty equal but just enough to keep them bumping into each other and making water. Most things have water properties here on earth as far as I understand. I also understand, God, Creator, Wakhan Tankha Tunkashila, Asgaya Galunlati, Universal Energy—whatever you want to call it—“him/her/it” being merely a word in language to hold space for that entity—not using it as differentiating “God” as masculine or feminine, for God is both, and not at all. He is Light and Dark—he is all. Water is in my breath. Water is in my body, my desk, my pen, my glass, these stones, etc. So, if water is everywhere, can it be the manifestation of “God” as we know it? And if that’s the case, then everything is sacred. Without Creator, there is no Creation. That is my belief.
The sweat that is shed during Inipi goes into Ina Maka—Elohino—Mother Earth—with the water we pour on the stones. It goes into the ground and nourishes the roots of the trees that are harvested to bring fire into the stones that are brought into the lodge. In turn, the process starts all over again—the Hoop of Life. That water carries the essence of Creator. Everything is fluid. Some things seem more solid and slower moving than others, but they still are fluid. Consider any object. Science has proven that any object has no exact beginning, and no exact ending. They don’t quite know why molecules of a piece of board don’t fall away but they just hang out with each other—maybe because of the physics of “like attracts like”. Along the edge of anything, there’s the area where you can start invading that objects’ space with minimal change to its properties or movement. (The ripples in the water) A persons’ aura is on the energetic level—that’s not what I’m talking about—but on the physical level, there’s that “fuzzy area”. And when your hand touches your patients’ back, the two items are connected, starting at that fuzzy area. Add a stone to the picture, and now you have three items connected. Connected with fluid. You are one with the other person and with the stone you hold. And instead of “pushing” stones around (you can’t push a cups’ worth of water through a gallon of water), there is fluid movement of the two. This I call “ The Dance”. There is a union of the two. By visualizing this union, you can allow them to communicate on a cellular level and you become the Hollow Bone, and let the healing begin.
Instead of “digging in”, follow the stones—bowing and being with the stones—flow with the water. Go down the back to the lumbar region (with two stones, one in each hand) and do a sun-wise motion with your hands and “pull” down the legs, walking down the right side of the body. Then, walk back up the legs on the left side. When at the lumbar region again, do another sun-wise turn so your back is to their head. “Drag” up the back and follow through with the motion past their head.
Imagine a beginning of a water source in the mountains. As it gains more water, it tumbles over the rocks, gaining energy and momentum down over the head and smoothing out across the stream bed and into a deep pool at the low back where it swirls and energy is deep and slow but very powerful. Then, it finds its way down the valley and into the river (the legs), and then the ocean (feet) where all the ancestors are and can be called upon (at the heels) to bring harmony to this person. Our goal is not to heal but to Love. To heal may be my agenda. To Love is Creators’ agenda. Keeping this in mind, then we are truly a Hollow Bone. Then bringing that harmony up the legs to the low back and rotate sun-wise around the Medicine Wheel, and follow that energy clear up the back and through the head and to Creator. Like riding a wave. Making a complete circle—another hoop in the big Hoop of Life. No force on your part. No agenda on your part. You are merely a conduit for the Universal Energy in communion with his Creation.
That is how the stones work with me. You will find your own path—your own story that is right for you. Things to remember are to look at things with soft eyes, touch with soft hands, and speak with soft words. We are the vessel in which Creator can heal. Mytakwe Oyasin—a ho Janelle
Walking with Stones: A Native American approach for
Body
Wellness and Earth Healing by Shanna A. Schultz From the June 2008 issue The Edge Magazine: A soft drum beat echoes down from somewhere above your head as you lay on a massage table. The vibrations move around you and resonate deep within your body. You let out a deep sigh as you begin to relax. You smell sage and feel the rush of air as smoke is fanned around your body on the wing of a bird. Your body lets go of one more layer of tension as you allow yourself to be drawn into a healing space.
Warm stones are placed on your belly and around your body, under your tense back and in your overworked hands. Your muscles relax with the soothing heat as you feel stress release. Warm stones placed on the arches of your feet seem to ground you in the energies of the earth.
The therapist applies soothing oil to your dry skin, and the first warm stone is applied to your tense neck and shoulders. You feel the heat spread deep into the muscle, relaxing and bringing fresh circulation to the tight area. Soon after, the therapist tells you to breathe and you feel the cooling sensation of a chilled marble stone on your sore, tight, aching muscles. It is like jumping into a cool lake on a hot day, and your body welcomes the feeling of release that it brings.
This is an example of a typical session of Inyan Pejuta (Lakota language for "Stone Medicine), as practiced and taught by Jenny Ray, a Native American Medicine Woman and an Elder of the Santee Dakota Sioux Tribe.
Stone Medicine involves using heated and chilled stones combined with traditional Native American ceremonies to bring relief and wellness to the body and spirit. Jenny's tribe has passed down this method of treatment for many generations, and according to oral tradition the ancestors of the Native American people have used this method of treatment for more than 10,000 years.
Jenny Ray states on her website: "When an individual is out of balance physically, spiritually or emotionally they are not in harmony with the natural rhythms of Mother Earth, so a reconnection is imperative to restore well-being. When the practitioner offers the Stone People to the body during ceremony they are re-establishing this connection."
This is a wonderful statement to describe the goal of a Stone Medicine treatment. The techniques of Stone Medicine are not just intended to affect the physical body, but the emotions and the spirit as well. In turn, by clearing the body of negative energies and reconnecting it to the healing energies of the earth, the body's ability to heal itself is reestablished.
Jenny also teaches her students the meaning of the Lakota Sioux phrase, "MITAKUYE OYASIN." In English, this translates to "All My Relations." This phrase is central to the way that most Native American tribes look at the world, as an interrelated web. All things are connected to all other things; what hurts one part of the web hurts all. Looking at the world in this way fosters a respect for the Earth and its creatures that many think is missing in today's modern society.
In Native American belief, the Stone Tribe holds the ancient wisdom of the world. They see the stone as our historians, for all of evolution is recorded in fossils and geological activity that is evidenced in the Stone Tribe. Perhaps, through the practice of Stone Medicine, humanity can find a way to tap into some of that wisdom for the benefit of "All My Relations."
Shanna A. Schultz is an instructor at Stone Medicine and a massage therapist and Reflexologist practicing in Lonsdale, MN. She can be reached at Shanna@CreatureComfortsBodywork.com. Copyright © 2008 Shanna A. Schultz. All Rights Reserved.
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