Listening to the Ancestors: Exploring the Living Relationship between Ancestors, Nature, and Self
Embracing an Ancient Dialogue between Humanity and the Earth
I find great comfort in knowing that our ancestors are ever present, that their stories, their struggles, and their wisdom are not lost to time but move through the world around us, waiting for us to listen.
Across many Indigenous traditions, the world is alive with voices. Our ancestors do not exist only in memory; they speak to us through the elements, in the wind across open fields, the rhythm of waves on an ocean shore, and the call of a hawk above a canyon. To listen to the ancestors is to remember that we are part of a living continuum, deeply connected to the Earth and to those who came before us.
While the world of spirit is vast and filled with many unseen presences, the ancestors hold a special place within it. They are those whose lives gave rise to our own, who remain connected to us through lineage and love. Not all spirits are ancestors, yet all may serve as reminders of the greater living mystery that connects us.
In this ancestral worldview, the natural world is not separate from the human story, it is the story. Recognizing these subtle clues requires mindfulness, not as a modern technique, but as an ancient practice of presence. To pause, to breathe, and to open our senses is to enter into a conversation that is always happening, but often goes unheard.
There is this profound connection between ancestors, nature, and the living. This relationship is best understood as a living, continuous dialogue. In my own life, I sense ancestors as active participants in the present world, many times communicating through the natural elements that surround me.
Throughout human history, this listening has been a birthright. For tens of thousands of years, our ancestors lived in intimate dialogue with the land and sky. Every ritual, song, and story was a thread in the great tapestry of connection, reminding each generation that life is shared with the unseen presence of those who came before. This profound awareness anchored communities, inspired guidance, and offered comfort in times of uncertainty.
I remember times I truly listened and how it guided my life. One time I was exploring the woods behind my family home after a summer storm, growing up in central Maine. The air smelled of rain and earth. A soft wind moved through the pine trees, and somewhere in the distance, I heard birds splashing in a nearby marsh. In those moments, I feel something larger than myself, a quiet recognition that I was not alone. I sensed the presence of those who had walked this land long before me, their lives carried forward in the very elements surrounding me. This has led to a lifelong commitment to take time to recognize and listen to the wisdom of the ancestors that surround me.
I also recognize a difference between the world of spirits and the presence of the ancestors. The ancestors are familiar; they carry the resonance of human experience and memory – a continuity of life passed from one generation to the next. The spirit world, however, is vast and multifaceted, a realm of subtle intelligences and creative forces that move through all living things. It holds the essence of transformation, renewal, and mystery, guiding the cycles of nature, birth, and return.
I find this connection amplified through our work with Ritual Postures, as revived by our mentor, the anthropologist Dr. Felicitas D Goodman, who opened this gateway to an expanded sense of reality. Rooted in the study of worldwide Indigenous ceremonial art, these postures create a doorway into the ancestral dimension.
As my wife and co-teacher Laura Lee says, “Felicitas had a few names for the Alternate Reality we enter through the practice of Ritual Postures for Ecstatic Trance. The term Eternal Now best captures that sense we so often have when entering the numinous field beyond time and space as we experience it in everyday waking reality. Here, the past and the present moment become one, slipping the normal bounds of time. Here, the ancestors can speak to us directly – and they have much to share. Their lived experience and hard-won wisdom come through as both cautionary tale and inspiration. It is an invitation to celebrate life in this magnificent universe, and to step into who we truly are. We know we are never alone. Meeting our larger cosmic family is one of the joys, lessons, and rewards of this practice.”
These experiences affirm what Indigenous traditions have long known, our ancestors are not gone, they are here, waiting for us to listen.
In this way, Ritual Postures become a modern expression of an ancient practice. They invite us to slow down, open our senses, and enter into mindful relationship with the larger world. Through this practice, listening to the ancestors is not an abstract idea, it becomes a lived experience, one that fosters connection, humility, and guidance.
As we walk this path, we honor the wisdom of those who came before, carrying it forward into our own lives and actions. Listening to the ancestors reminds us that we are not alone. We are part of a vast and living story – written in wind, water, stone, and stars.
“To listen to the ancestors is to remember that we are part of a living continuum, deeply connected to the Earth and to those who came before us.”
The name “CUYA” carries with it both history and vision. Rooted in our origins as the Cuyamungue Institute, it now also serves as an acronym — C.U.Y.A. — a guiding symbol that unites our mission:
C — Consciousness: The field of shared awareness that arises in Collective Presence, where the “We” awakens beyond the “I” – moving from the “Me to the We.”
U — Unity: Our alignment with the Cycles of Nature and the rhythms of the cosmos, reminding us that we are woven into a greater fabric of reality. This sense of unity reminds us that our awareness is the shared consciousness that connects all living beings.
Y — Your Awakening: The inner journey of Embodiment and Wisdom, where through direct experience the body remembers. At the CUYA Institute, this awakening is nurtured through Ritual Body Postures and ecstatic trance, where the body itself becomes the doorway to wisdom, presence, and transformation.
A — Ancestral Wisdom: Roots. Our connection to Sacred Lineage, honoring those who walked before us and rooting us in belonging and continuity. Our founder, anthropologist Felicitas D. Goodman looked to some of the oldest, most authentic ancestral records we have — the world’s collection of early and indigenous art — and decoded selected artifacts as embodied “ritual instructions.”
Together, the Four Pathways of C.U.Y.A. — Consciousness, Unity, Your Awakening, and Ancestral Wisdom — form a single tapestry of practice. They remind us that awakening is not an abstract idea but something we live: through the body in Your Awakening, through nature’s cycles in Unity, through community in shared Consciousness, and through the guidance of Ancestral Wisdom.
- …. CONTINUE