In the late 1960's John Perkins nearly died in the Amazonian Jungle of Ecuador... he was saved by a traditional healer and it changed his life.

In this season finale episode, he shares his story.

John Perkins is a New York Times bestselling author, international speaker, and activist best known for his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and other works including The World Is As You Dream It. A former chief economist at a major international consulting firm, he advised the World Bank, United Nations, Fortune 500 corporations, and governments around the world. His writing explores global economics, indigenous wisdom, and pathways toward a more just and sustainable world. Perkins is also a co-founder of the Pachamama Alliance, which partners with Indigenous communities to protect the Amazon rainforest and advance global sustainability. 

Learn more at https://johnperkins.org/ and https://pachamama.org/ 

To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata

Can plants really teach? 

In this episode, I speak with Francisca Santibáñez, founder of Plant Spirit Talk, about plant communication, and her own journey of healing that reshaped her life. Raised across Brazil, Chile, and California, Francisca traces her lineage to the Tupi-Guarani people of Brazil and has spent over a decade studying plant healing with Shipibo teachers in the Peruvian Amazon, alongside other Indigenous lineages in Peru.

We talk about how a severe health crisis became a turning point that led her into herbal medicine, plant initiations, and a lifelong path of remembrance and healing. Our conversation explores what it means to listen to nature, heal ancestral wounds, and how that listening can restore connection, meaning, and wholeness.

Learn more about her work at https://www.plantspirittalk.com/

To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata

Leonard “Casey” Church is a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, of the Bear and Crane clans. A former U.S. Marine, he is a cultural practitioner, teacher, and spiritual leader who has spent decades working to restore Indigenous ceremony and identity in contemporary life. He’s the author of Holy Smoke and Native American Rites of Passage, and his work explores how ritual and ceremony can foster healing, belonging, and personal transformation.

Today Casey joins us to talk about the role ceremony plays in the lives of indigenous peoples and how "everyone has a native heart."

To learn more go to https://www.gmwgathering.org/

To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata

Lorena Saavedra Smith is the author of the new book, Awaken Your Roots: Reclaim Your Ancestry and Sovereignty by Heeding the Jaguar’s Call.

Lorena is a Pacha Philosopher, an Eco-Psychologist, and a wellness consultant dedicated to helping individuals heal through ancestral wisdom, nature reconnection, and holistic well-being.

She joins the podcast to share Pacha Philosophy, and her ideas on how to reweave the broken soul. 

Connect with Lorena at https://www.lorenasaavedrasmith.com/

To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata

Dr. Damian Costello joins us this week to talk about the role of visions in an indigenous worldview.

Dr. Costello is an international expert on Nicholas Black Elk, a Lakota Medicine Man. Damian is the author of Black Elk: Colonialism and Lakota Catholicism, and holds a Ph.D. in theological studies from the University of Dayton. Currently serving as the Director of Postgraduate Studies at NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community, he focuses on the intersection of Indigenous traditions and Catholic theology, with a career deeply informed by extensive ethnographic research.

To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata

Dr. Stephanie Goins joins the show this week to share what it means to "Walk in a Good Way." Stephanie calls on her research working with former child soldiers in Sierra Leone, her work as a Psychologist, teacher, and more. 

Dr. Goins helps us understand in this episode some of the factors that come into play when we think about living in a good relationship with ourselves, the earth, and others. 

If you'd like to connect with Stephanie, you may email her here or connect with her on Linkedin.

To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata

To learn more about David's leadership & personal work: https://jointherootedway.com/

Original music by Makete and Mad Hellelujah: https://makete.bandcamp.com/

Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley, Ph. D., is a farmer, activist/scholar, distinguished speaker, teacher and wisdom keeper who addresses a variety of issues concerning American culture, faith/spirituality, justice, race/diversity, regenerative farming, our relationship with the earth and Indigenous realities.

In this episode, he talks with us about the Harmony Way of native cultures and how that impacts how we live with one another and even govern.

Learn more about Randy Woodley at https://www.randywoodley.com/ and check out his books here. Randy writes regularly at Substack.com

To hear David's first interview with Randy from September of 2024, click here.

To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata

To learn more about David's leadership & personal work: https://jointherootedway.com/

Original music by Makete and Mad Hellelujah: https://makete.bandcamp.com/

In this episode, David Achata interviews Danny Zacharias & Chris Hoklotubbe's about their new book, Reading the Bible on Turtle Island: An Invitation to North American Indigenous Interpretation. 

Their book explores the historical and systemic dismissal of Indigenous worldviews within Western Christian circles, specifically how colonial practices labeled these cultures as "problematic" and stripped them of their theological value.

Zacharias and Hoklotubbe believe that reasserting the dignity of Indigenous cultures is essential for the modern Church, as these unique interpretations provide invaluable insights into Scripture that a Western-only perspective simply cannot offer.

This episode, Declonizing the Way We See is a rich exploration of the book, and the topics within. Check it out to learn what it would be like if we viewed faith in God and in the Bible through a different lens. 

Purchase their book at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1514007568

Support this podcast at: https://davidachata.substack.com/ 

To learn more about David's work see: https://jointherootedway.com/

Original music by Makete and Mad Hellelujah: https://makete.bandcamp.com/

Help others find this podcast by leaving a review. 

Welcome back to Season 6 of the How People Grow Podcast. 

This season focuses on what indigenous wisdom could teach us today. In this introductory episode, David Achata overviews for us why this conversation is important and what the word "indigenous" means.

David takes us on his own journey of embracing his native roots. He'll take us on a journey to the Andes Mountains, we'll learn from a Lakota Medicine Man, we'll talk about the Doctrine of Discovery and the importance of joining all parts of ourselves together with a little wisdom from Richard Rohr. 

Sound interesting? Join us for this season. Thanks for being here.

To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata

To learn more about David's work see: https://jointherootedway.com/

Original music by Makete and Mad Hellelujah: https://makete.bandcamp.com/ 

Father Len Cowan is a retired priest in the Anglican and Episcopal Churches. Today he runs the Abbey of the Way, a retreat center in Worcester, MA. Learn more about the Abbey here: https://www.abbeyoftheway.us/

In this season five bonus episode, Len shares with us his fascination with the Irish and how he returns to Ireland regularly to learn of the life of St. Patrick and the unique form of Christianity that took root there. 

Len shares what a rooted Christianity looks like and encourages us to adopt practices to form our vision of God, and shape our character as we learn to bless those who live around us. As in the life of St. Patrick, he calls us to make things better where we live and take on the posture of learning to look for God vs. thinking we are bringing him somewhere that he is not. 

This is the last of the Rooted Life series. Stay tuned for Season 6, coming in a few weeks on what Indigenous Wisdom Can Teach Us Today. 

To support this podcast, please leave us a review. You can also join a community that is forming over on our substack page at https://substack.com/@davidachata

To learn more about David's work see: https://jointherootedway.com/