Today I'm talking with Colby Tootoosis about creating conscious, sustainable systems. Colby is a presenter and facilitator of leadership and personal development workshops with Conscious Leadership Coaching, Inc. Colby will share how The Journey process was introduced into his life when his father was ill. He'll be talking about his first experience with process work and the path that led him deep into this calling. We'll be diving into his journey of taking a practitioner program halfway around the world, his experiences with oppression, and how crucial it became for him to use what he learned to process his emotions during his time as an elected official. Listen in to learn more about Colby's journey and how he uses his knowledge and experience to help others.

What to Listen For: 

What it was like growing up with both parents being therapists

Witnessing his parents working with families and communities

Being immersed in personal development, self-work, and proactive problem solving from a young age

Working through generational impacts of residential schools and the oppression of Indigenous peoples

"Growing up with my parents, there were experiences of having to work through things as a family. The generational impacts of residential schools, of the oppression of our peoples, and the attempts of colonization on our peoples.

And that's the narrative and a theme that's often not highlighted. And so I think the greatest thing that my parents have done for us as a family was to create the space and to encourage us to do the work that we needed to do personally so that we can continue the intention of ending the legacy and the impacts of that narrative."

How this set the tone for the way he engages with his family

How The Journey method came into his life

"The Journey method came into our life through the means of a crisis. The crisis was my dad getting physically ill. And he had myelodysplasia, which is the beginning stages of bone marrow cancer, meaning he had to get a bone marrow transplant if he wanted to continue to live life on earth, and it was a scary time. It was a scary time and a challenging time."

Praying with his family for something that would help not just his father, but others as well

His mom's experience with happening upon The Journey by Brandon Bays

His family going to a Journey workshop in Boulder, CO

His resistance to reading the book

"I was very judgmental and critical and turned off by it completely. And my dad was really drawn to it. And at that time, I didn't want to discourage anything. The truth is when you're going through a health crisis like that; you get desperate. You're open for anything. And I was in that space. And so I, with the judgment, was there, and I put it to the side. I encouraged him, and I was supportive."

What happened when his dad came back from his first Journey Intensive workshop

Colby's first Journey method process

"He sat me down in my bedroom, and he gave me my first journey method process, and it rocked my world. It shook the foundation of who I thought I was because prior to that moment, I thought that I didn't have any issues for me to look at, that everything was fine."

What revealed itself in that first experience with process work through the guidance of his father

Wanting more after that first taste of this work

Figuring out how to get to the Journey Practitioner Program in Europe

His dad's incredible recovery

"While I was in their Journey Practitioner Program [my dad] continued to do journey work, and he healed. His brother was a match, and he went through a full bone marrow transplant, and he healed so quickly they put them in a medical journal. He was like a case study in a medical journal. 

I remember the moment because there were people in the same timeframe, in the same ward where they were going through bone marrow transplants as well, they were still in bed and resting.