Learn My Heritage with Me

Episode 12 — The Stories They Tried to Silence

September 30 is a National Day of Remembrance for U.S. Indian Boarding Schools — remembering the children who were taken from their families, those who never returned home, survivors, and the generations still living with the consequences of forced assimilation.

I originally planned for Episode 12 to continue our conversation about traditional Diné wedding teachings. But with September 30 approaching, I felt this conversation needed to come first. The wedding episode will become Episode 13.

In this episode of Learn My Heritage With Me, we're looking beyond the dates and statistics and asking what happened to the transmission of knowledge when Native children were removed from their families.

Within Diné tradition, many stories and teachings have their proper season, with winter traditionally being an important time for storytelling.

When children were sent away to boarding schools, they weren't only removed from home.

They were removed from parents and grandparents.

From language.

From stories.

From songs.

From the seasons and moments when knowledge was traditionally passed from one generation to another.

We also discuss the significance of long hair, the punishment Native children experienced for speaking their languages, the history of Fort Lewis as an Indian boarding school, and how those interruptions continued into later generations.

This history is personal to me.

My father was a boarding-school survivor and was beaten for speaking Navajo. I wasn't raised speaking Diné Bizaad.

It's part of why this podcast matters so deeply to me.

Even though many of these teachings weren't passed directly down to me, I believe they're rooted in me — in my DNA.

As I learn, sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm discovering something completely foreign.

It feels like remembering.

The stories were interrupted. The people were not. We're still here.

🧡 SEPTEMBER 30 REMEMBRANCE SHIRTS

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Wear orange on September 30 — and when someone asks why, tell them.

Continue the journey:

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Coming next: Episode 13 returns to traditional Diné wedding teachings and the lessons of balance represented within them.

If this episode taught you something you didn't know, share it with one person.

Until next time, walk in beauty.

Ahéhee'.

In this episode of Learn My Heritage With Me, we return to the beginning of a sacred Diné story—the story of Asdzáá Nádleehé, Changing Woman, who is also known in some teachings as Yoołgaii Asdzáán, White Shell Woman.

Found as an infant within the mist above Ch’óol’į́’í, Changing Woman is nourished by sunlight, clouds, pollen, plants, and water. She moves rapidly through childhood and into womanhood, embodying the natural cycles of creation.

Her story reminds us that every stage of a woman’s life carries value. The child, young woman, mother, mature woman, elder, and woman entering a new season are not competing versions of one another. Each stage reveals another expression of her sacred and creative power.

We also explore Changing Woman’s connection to Jóhonaa’éí—the Sun—and Water, and the birth of the Hero Twins:

Naayéé’ Neizghání—Monster Slayer
Tóbájíshchíní—Born for Water

Although the twins are born carrying sacred power, they must return to its source before they can fully understand and responsibly use it. Their mother nourishes, protects, and prepares them. Spider Woman provides knowledge for their journey. The Sun provides recognition, instruction, and the power they will need to protect the people.

Their full journey—including the obstacles they face, the Sun’s trials, the lightning weapons, and their battles with the monsters—will be explored in a future episode.

This story begins revealing a balance that will carry us into Episode 12 and the teachings contained within the Diné marriage ceremony:

Women nourish and create.
Men provide and protect.
Creation gives protection something worth protecting.
Protection gives creation room to grow.

Diné teachings have been carried orally through different families and regions. Some teachings understand Changing Woman and White Shell Woman as the same sacred woman at different stages. Others describe them as sisters, complementary sacred women, or different manifestations of sacred feminine power.

I am not here to determine which family’s teaching is the only correct one. I am learning to listen respectfully for what each version carries.

Continue walking with us:

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Learn My Heritage With Me shares my personal journey of reconnecting with publicly available Diné teachings. I am not a medicine person or cultural authority, and I do not speak for all Diné people.

Until next time, walk in beauty. Ahéhee’.

#Diné #ChangingWoman #IndigenousStories #LearnMyHeritageWithMe #Hózhó

What does it truly mean to settle?

In this episode of Learn My Heritage With Me, I continue learning the Diné Settlement story and how the first fork-stick hóóghan became more than a shelter. It became a living center for family, prayer, teaching, responsibility, and a life intentionally created in Hózhó.

The story follows Coyote, the Beaver People, First Man, First Woman, Talking God, and the Holy People as the design and meaning of the hóóghan are brought forward.

Its doorway faces east to welcome the dawn. Its structure reflects a seated human body. Its poles, earth, opening, fire, directions, sacred materials, prayers, and language work together. The teaching is not held within only one element—it lives within the relationship among them.

We also explore the Diné process of Nitsáhákees, Nahat’á, Iiná, and Siihasin: thinking, planning, living the plan, and reflecting upon what has been created.

This teaching feels especially personal as I reclaim my own life from the domestic violence case. I am not simply trying to return to who I was before. I am intentionally creating, planning, and building my new normal—a life I can flow through, relax into, and feel safe within again.

The hóóghan asks us to consider what we place at the center of our lives, what we welcome through the doorway, what sustains us, and whether the life we have built truly allows our bodies and spirits to rest.

Learn My Heritage With Me follows my personal journey as a Diné woman reclaiming teachings interrupted through assimilation and boarding schools. I do not speak for all Diné people. I share what I am learning so it can root more deeply within me, while inviting you to come sit beside me and learn with me.

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In Episode 9 of Learn My Heritage With Me, I continue exploring Sa’ąh Naaghéí Bik’eh Hózhóón by asking a simple but important question:

How do we actually walk the Beauty Way?

The answer leads us to Tádídíín K’eh Atiin—the Corn Pollen Way.

I have always known that corn pollen is sacred and that it belongs in Diné prayer and ceremony. What I did not fully understand was the depth of what Tádídíín represents.

Pollen is life.

It exists throughout creation—in plants, animals, birds, water, air, and within us. Without pollen, there are no seeds. Without seeds, there are no plants. Without plants, the rest of life cannot continue.

In this episode, I reflect on the teaching that we live in the Yellow World, a world covered with pollen, and what changes when we begin to see the Earth as living, sacred, and connected.

We also explore the Corn Pollen Way as the center path, the Beauty Way, and the prayer path—not a path of perfection, but an intentional path that invites us to return to balance again and again.

One teaching that stayed with me most describes prayer as our umbilical cord to the Holy People. Just as an umbilical cord nourishes and connects us before birth, prayer keeps that connection alive throughout our lives.

The more I learn, the more I understand that reclaiming my heritage is not about becoming someone new. These teachings are helping me remember the identity and connection that were already within me.

Thank you for learning beside me.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Welcome and introduction
01:07 How do we walk the Beauty Way?
01:42 Tádídíín—pollen is life
03:18 The Yellow World covered with pollen
04:18 The center path and Beauty Way
05:31 Prayer as our umbilical cord
06:52 Tádídíín and prayer
07:32 Carrying the teaching into modern life
08:17 How this teaching is transforming me
09:05 One Thing I’m Taking With Me
09:39 Hózhó Path Renewal closing

Continue the Journey

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Please subscribe, share the episode, and join the Hózhó Path Renewal newsletter to continue learning, creating connection, and turning awareness into action.

Until next time, walk in beauty.

Ahéhee’.

What if "walking in beauty" means far more than simply being happy?

In Episode 8 of Learn My Heritage With Me, I continue my journey of reclaiming my Diné (Navajo) heritage by exploring one of the foundational teachings of Diné philosophy: Sa'ąh Naaghéí Bik'eh Hózhóón.

Like many Indigenous people, I grew up disconnected from much of my culture because of generations impacted by boarding schools and forced assimilation. This podcast is my personal journey of learning these publicly shared teachings and reflecting on how they are changing my life.

In this episode, I discover that Sa'ąh Naaghéí Bik'eh Hózhóón is much more than the phrase "Walk in Beauty." It's a philosophy of becoming whole—living in balance with ourselves, our communities, nature, and the universe. We explore the Corn Stalk Philosophy, redefine what success truly means, and ask how these ancient teachings can guide us in our modern lives.

One of the biggest lessons I'm taking away is this: everything we're searching for—purpose, abundance, love, and strength—is already within us. Our journey isn't about becoming someone else; it's about discovering who we've always been.

Whether you're reconnecting with your Indigenous roots, learning about Diné philosophy, or simply searching for a more meaningful way to live, I hope this conversation encourages you to walk your own path with intention.

Thank you for learning alongside me.

Resources & Support

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If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who may be on their own journey of remembering.

Until next time…

Walk in beauty. Ahéhee'.

Before a child learns where they are going, Diné tradition first teaches how they should walk.

In this episode of Learn My Heritage With Me, we explore Kéék'eh Haschíín, the traditional Diné ceremony celebrating a child's first steps. Through the blessing of new moccasins with Tádídíín (Corn Pollen) and a carefully prepared pathway, this teaching reminds us that life's greatest journey isn't defined by our destination—it's defined by how we choose to walk it.

As I researched this teaching, I realized something unexpected. I originally thought this episode would simply be about a baby's first steps. Instead, it became a reflection on all the moments in our lives when we're asked to begin again.

Whether we're healing from trauma, reconnecting with our heritage, navigating grief, changing careers, rebuilding relationships, or rediscovering ourselves, we're all taking first steps.

This episode explores:

• The meaning of Kéék'eh Haschíín
• The significance of blessing a child's first steps
• The Diné philosophy of walking in Hózhó
• Why our ancestors focused on the journey rather than the destination
• How this teaching applies to healing and modern life
• My personal reflections as a Diné woman reclaiming teachings that were interrupted through generations of boarding schools and forced assimilation

One of my favorite realizations from this episode is that perhaps Kéék'eh Haschíín isn't something that only happens once in childhood.

Maybe every time we choose healing…
Every time we reconnect with our culture…
Every time we forgive ourselves after stumbling…
Every time we begin again…

We're taking first steps all over again.

I hope this episode encourages you to pause and ask yourself one simple question:

"How do I want to walk today?"

Learn My Heritage With Me is produced by the Hózhó Path Renewal Foundation, a Diné-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to bringing awareness into action.

Our work is centered around five pillars:

🌿 Reclaim Heritage

💛 Healing & Personal Growth

✋ Community Action & Advocacy

🌱 Future Generations

🪶 Veterans & Mental Wellness (Future Expansion)

Through education, storytelling, advocacy, and community engagement, we are working to preserve Indigenous teachings while creating opportunities for healing, connection, and lasting change.

If this podcast has impacted you, we'd be honored if you would support our mission by subscribing, sharing the podcast, volunteering, attending one of our events, becoming a community partner, or making a tax-deductible donation.

Helpful Links:🔹 Thrill of Success Planner: https://amzn.to/4y6hkYq

🔹 Hózhó Path Renewal Foundation: https://hozhopathrenewal.org/

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Ahéhee' for learning, remembering, and walking this path with me.

Hózhóogo naasháa doo.
May we continue to walk in beauty.

About Hózhó Path Renewal Foundation

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered what our ancestors saw when they looked at those same stars?

In this episode of Learn My Heritage With Me, I explore Diné teachings about the constellations and discover that the stars were never simply lights in the sky. They were teachers, timekeepers, navigational guides, and reminders of our relationship to the world around us.

As a Diné woman reclaiming the teachings that were interrupted through generations of forced assimilation, this episode felt deeply personal. Growing up, I was always drawn to the stars. I loved looking for constellations, but I never understood the deeper meaning they carried. Today, I'm learning that our ancestors weren't simply observing the night sky—they were reading stories, teachings, and instructions for living in balance.

Together we'll explore:

✨ Tsé Ghádi'nídínii (Quartz People) and their role in organizing the stars

✨ Why the stars were placed with purpose rather than viewed as random

✨ The sacred connection between the stars, the Hogan, and the human hand

✨ Náhookǫs (North Star) and the lesson of remaining grounded during life's changes

✨ Náhookǫs Bikǫ’ (The Revolving Male One) and the pathways of the heavens

✨ The story of Coyote scattering the stars and the creation of the Milky Way

✨ How disruption can still lead to beauty

✨ What the stars teach us about Hózhó (balance, harmony, and relationship)

✨ How these teachings apply to our modern lives

One of the most powerful lessons from this episode is that even when life's patterns are disrupted, beauty can still emerge. Just as the stars remained after Coyote scattered them across the sky, our teachings remain—waiting to be remembered.

Whether you're reconnecting with your Indigenous roots, exploring your own heritage, or simply curious about traditional Diné teachings, I hope this episode inspires you to step outside, look up, and remember that you're part of something much bigger than yourself.

Ahéhee' for joining me on this journey of learning, remembering, and returning.

🌌 Hózhóogo naasháa doo.
I walk in beauty.

#LearnMyHeritageWithMe #Diné #Navajo #IndigenousWisdom #Constellations #NativeAmericanHistory #Hozho #ReclaimingHeritage #Storytelling #IndigenousVoices

There is a reason so many spiritual traditions speak about the power of the early morning hours. In Diné teachings, that sacred time is known as Hayoołkááł—the period around dawn when the world awakens, the air is still, and the day has not yet been shaped by distraction, noise, or obligation.

In this episode of Learn My Heritage with Me, I explore the significance of Hayoołkááł and what it teaches us about living in alignment with Hózhó—a life of beauty, balance, harmony, and right relationship.

As a Diné woman who grew up away from many of these teachings, this podcast is part of my personal journey of reclamation. I am learning, reflecting, and sharing these teachings out loud so they can root deeper within me. Along the way, I'm discovering that many of the practices I've been teaching and living for years are deeply aligned with Diné ways of knowing—even when I didn't yet have the language for them.

In this episode, we discuss:

🌅 What Hayoołkááł means and why dawn is considered a sacred time

🌅 The significance of Wii’íígeeh (the colors of dawn) and what they symbolize

🌅 The connection between morning prayer, intention, and abundance

🌅 The Diné philosophy of Sa’ah Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhóón and living in harmony

🌅 The relationship between the four elements—air, water, fire, and earth—and our daily lives

🌅 The role of women and their connection to creation, life, and balance

🌅 How forced assimilation, boarding schools, and loss of language disrupted access to these teachings

🌅 Why many Indigenous people feel a longing for something they cannot quite name

🌅 Practical ways to reconnect with Hayoołkááł in modern life

🌅 How my Thrill of Success Planner supports intentional living through daily morning alignment

One realization that struck me while studying this teaching is that Hayoołkááł isn't simply about waking up early. It's about beginning each day intentionally. Before the emails. Before the stress. Before the demands of life. It's about creating a moment to reconnect with yourself, your values, your purpose, and the world around you.

The more I learn, the more I realize that this is exactly what I've been encouraging others to do through coaching for years. My Thrill of Success Planner was designed to help people start each day with clarity, gratitude, intention, and focused action. Not as a replacement for traditional teachings, but as a modern tool that supports the same principle: beginning each day in alignment rather than reaction.

For many of us, returning to these teachings isn't about perfection. It's not about knowing every word or every ceremony. It's about remembering. It's about reconnecting. It's about recognizing that these teachings may still live within us, even if they were never directly passed down.

If you've ever felt disconnected from yourself, your heritage, your purpose, or your path, I hope this conversation reminds you that every sunrise offers an opportunity to begin again.

The teachings I share here are publicly available. I am not sharing ceremony, and I am not speaking for all Diné people. This is a personal reclamation—spoken out loud so it can root deeper within me.

Ahéhee' (thank you) for learning alongside me.

🎧 Follow Learn My Heritage with Me on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

🌐 Learn more:
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Hózhó Path Renewal Foundation

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Meri Bennett Official Website

#LearnMyHeritageWithMe #Hayookaal #Hayoołkááł #Diné #Navajo #Hózhó #IndigenousWisdom #NativeAmericanCulture #MorningRoutine #PersonalGrowth #HealingJourney #CulturalReclamation #IndigenousPodcast #SpiritualGrowth #IntentionalLiving #DawnPractice #MorningAlignment #ThrillOfSuccessPlanner #SaahNaaghaiBikehHozhoon #DineTeachings

In this episode of Learn My Heritage with Me, I explore Honeeshgish Baa Hashne’ (the Fire Poker Story)—a Diné teaching about fire, balance, and responsibility.

This story isn’t just about how fire began…
it’s about how to create, sustain, and guide energy in our lives.

From the moment fire was introduced as a life-sustaining element by Haashch’éélti’i (Talking God), to the realization that balance—female and male elements working together—was required for it to even start…

This teaching shows us:

• Why balance is necessary for creation
• Why starting something is only the beginning
• And why guidance and responsibility are required to sustain it

Fire is life.
But it can also destroy if misused.

And that same truth exists within us.

✨ This episode connects Diné teachings to modern life—helping us reflect on our emotions, energy, relationships, and how we show up in the world.

Disclaimer:
The teachings shared here are publicly available.
I am not sharing ceremony and do not speak for all Diné people.
This is a personal reclamation—spoken out loud—so it can root deeper within me.

🔥 Reflect with me:
Where is your fire right now?
Are you creating balance… or forcing something?
What is helping you guide and ground your energy?

Subscribe for more episodes as I continue learning my heritage out loud.

#Hashtags (keep tight for YouTube):
#Hozho #Dine #IndigenousWisdom #HealingJourney #PersonalGrowth

In Episode 3 of Learn My Heritage With Me, I’m reflecting on the Diné teaching of Staying Within the Light of Life—and what it truly means to live in alignment, protection, and clarity.

Building from the last episode on Hooghan Alignment, we explore the deeper meaning of the fire—kǫʼ—and how staying close to that “light” is more than symbolic. It’s instruction.

Through this, I share my own realization that the moments I’ve felt most disconnected weren’t random—they were times I had stepped outside of my own alignment… outside of hózhó.

This episode also acknowledges a deeper truth—how forced assimilation disrupted connection to language, teachings, and identity for many of us. And how this journey isn’t just about learning…

It’s about returning.

Returning to what was always within us.

This is a personal reclamation—spoken out loud—so it can root deeper within me. If it resonates with you, you’re not alone in that feeling of something missing… and that pull to reconnect.

The teachings I share here are publicly available.
I am not sharing ceremony.
I am not speaking for all Diné people.

🎧 Listen, reflect, and walk your own path—
Hózhóogo naasháa doo — I walk in beauty.

👍 Like, subscribe, and share to support this journey
💬 Leave a comment—what does “alignment” feel like for you?