In this episode, I speak with musician, poet, anthropologist, educator, community organizer and public speaker Lyla June.

This discussion with Lyla covers a variety of compelling subjects, including Lyla’s journey of connecting with not only her Indigenous Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) identity and ancestry, but also with her European lineage as well. In connecting with that neglected line, Lyla uncovers and speaks not only to the intergenerational trauma that Indigenous peoples have endured since the colonization of the Americas began, and also to the deep and yet-to-be-reckoned-with trauma European settlers have carried with them to the so-called “New World” (e.g. the Black Death, the enclosure of the Commons, the Witch Hunts, etc.). In addressing this fundamental truth about the underlying trauma that replicates itself up to the present day in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike, solidarity can be forged—potentially serving as a force for healing in our time. Along with this, Lyla also discusses the sacred (and desecrated) roles of the masculine and the feminine within human community, and how our understanding of the nature of these roles (including in the non-binary sense) can allow for another layer of this much needed healing and alignment to take place. We discuss this, and much more, in this discussion.

// Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/lyla-june

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