WHAT ARE THE TALKING STICK SERIES AND VOICES FOR FREEDOM?

The Talking Stick Series is a project of Native Ways Institute, a 501(c)(3) non profit organization.  The first offering in this series is VOICES FOR FREEDOM, an on-going, multimedia production to help preserve the spiritual and cultural traditions of the Tibetan and Native American people.

Voices for Freedom is part of a project we are calling "The Talking Stick Series."  This is based on the ancient tradition in some Native American groups to use a stick which is passed from person to person when they gather to discuss important issues.  When one holds the stick, no one can interrupt or argue.  When that person finishes his/her comments, then the next person holds the Talking Stick.  With this in mind, Producer/Director Ven. Bhikshuni Tenzin Yeshe taped long comments from the inspiring leaders in this show.  This provides valuable spiritual/cultural/historical, archival footage, as well as a work which younger viewers can hear from elders, wonderful role models to help guide and motivate.The Producer/Director, Ven. Bhikshuni Tenzin Yeshe (Mary Teal Coleman), is a Buddhist monastic (see BIO section).  She was given rare access to interview Nobel Peace Prize recipient His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama of Tibet.  He spoke at length about what has happened to his people since 1949 when some Chinese officials entered Lhasa, Tibet.  By 1959, the Dalai Lama thought it necessary to leave Tibet, and he escaped to Dharamsala, India, where he still resides today.  You will also see Tibetans speak eloquently about being imprisoned and tortured.

Tenzin Yeshe decided to include issues important to Native American communities in this production for several reasons.  Both the Native Americans and Tibetans have had similar experiences of having their people and cultures nearly extinguished; both face similar challenges today in order to retain their traditions and thrive into the future. Both share  certain similar spiritual views.

Also, although this production includes accounts from Tibetans who were imprisoned and tortured, it is not the Producer/Director's wish to point to some Chinese officials as the only people who seem to have abused others; by including the Native Americans, Tenzin Yeshe reminds us that people in the West have similarly abused others in the past. In addition, it appears (sadly) that many people around the world today abuse each other in various ways, as well as mistreat animals and pollute the environment. Voices For Freedom is a work to promote more compassionate activities around the world so that events of torture and wars are decreased; this work is humanitarian and promotes the preservation, practice and freedom of non-violent spiritual tradition.  It is not intended to increase political polarization.

In this production, you will hear at length from greatly respected Native American leaders such as Ron His Horse Is Thunder (the great-great-great Grandson of Sitting Bull), Winona LaDuke (who is the first Native American to run--twice--for Vice President of the USA), Chief Arvol Lookinghorse (19th generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Woman's Pipe), Woody Kipp, Bob Blackbull (head of the Blackfeet Buffalo Horse Coalition), Neily Anderson, Dennis Hisgun, and many others.

We are also very fortunate to have quite a few musicians as friends who kindly participated as well. Many are Grammy winners, and several are Native American musicians. Some of them are:

• Joanne Shenandoah and Bill Miller, who both won the Grammy for Best Album of Native American Music in 2006, appear several times.
  
  
• Mary Youngblood performs her Grammy-winning song, "Beneath The Raven Moon."
  
  
• Bill Payne, keyboard genius of the great band Little Feat,performs a song "Rainbow Silence" from his first solo CD.
  
  
• Gary Morris (who popularized the song "Wind Beneath My Wings") performs a song from his Grammy-winning soundtrack from "Les Miserables" on Broad way called "Bring Him Home." In this production, we are presenting "Bring Him Home" to express a wish that we can one day bring His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans living in exile home to Tibet (in a manner acceptable to all concerned). We are grateful to Gary Morris for his allowing us to utilize his beautiful performance to support the Tibetans in a true spirit of humanitarian and inter-religious helpfulness. Although Gary is neither Tibetan Buddhist nor Native American, he open-heartedly allowed the use of his performance of "Bring Him Home' with an intention to aid these people; it was filmed in the U. S. S. R. accompanied by classical musicians. In fact, all the musicians appearing in "Voices For Freedom" have approached this project with the same wish to help, and we thank all of them for their contributions. More recently, Gary Morris has produced a new CD in which he recorded songs of religious and inspirational significance called "I Believe." They were especially selected by Gary as a musical gift to his sons.



• Nashville-based singer/songwriter Danny Flowers performs his beautiful original "Prayer Song" in which he is backed up by Bill Miller and music legend Emmylou Harris. This song is from Danny's newest CD called "Tools For The Soul." We were fortunate to produce a lovely music video of Danny's performance of this song especially for "Voices For Freedom."

In Voices For Freedom we are reminded that, ultimately, true freedom has to do with the quality of our thinking and emotions.  All of us, as individuals, improve our lives when we develop greater wisdom and compassion.  We need both.  Freedom, liberation, have to do with what is going on in our own minds.  Even when it sometimes appears we cannot bring greater "freedom" to others, we can establish wisdom, compassion and a peace of mind individually, and extend that out to our family, friends, communities.

In this show, "heavy" issues facing the Native American communities such as sovereignty, financial survival, high suicide rates, health care, and chemical dependency, are included.  Many of these challenges are ones faced not only by Native American people, but also by our society as a whole, and so this production is offered as a contribution to uplifting and inspiring those directly dealing with the apparent difficulties of life.  In this work, we shared wisdom from Native American spiritual leaders who are offering traditional ways of dealing with such concerns; for example, the Producer/Director accompanied Chief Arvol Lookinghorse to Lower Brule Sioux reservation in South Dakota and filmed his talk with young people there after many suicides in that particular school had occurred in a short period of time.  He carried out a fire ceremony also and was told later his visit had greatly helped many of those attending.  Also some Native American healers using so-called modern modalities talk about how they help. The Producer/Director hopes this section of Voices For Freedom will be especially useful to middle and high schools, colleges and universities, hospitals/clinics, and chemical dependency groups, among others, around the country.

Bob Blackbull of the Blackfeet Buffalo Horse Coalition spoke about his work to preserve the "Buffalo Horses" who run wild as they used to do hundreds of years ago, and about his work using the horses to reach young people experiencing problems.  Often, the usual methods of "treating" the young people have not worked, but when they come to the ranch and form bonds with the horses, they find their lives turning around for the better.

The documentary miniseries Voices For Freedom consists of three DVDs. Part I is primarily devoted to the Tibetans' issues (although some of the Native American leaders appear in this Part I briefly). Part II, First Half and Part II, Second Half (i. e. these are two, separate DVDs), mainly focus on the Native American leaders' interviews. The participating musicians perform periodically throughout all the DVDs of this miniseries.

We plan to release this multimedia miniseries to the public on July 6, 2009, the Dalai Lama's 74th birthday. We hope viewers find fascinating speakers in this series and have fun watching the great musical performances!

May this work relieve relative sufferings of various sorts around the world. Ultimately, we wish for the development of wisdom and compassion for all sentient beings without exception.