How a medicine wheel is bringing holistic healing back to Lennox Island

Members of the Lennox Island First Nation are learning more about their culture through teachings by a Mi'kmawelder.

NoelMilliea, fromElsipogtogFirst Nation, N.B., is teaching a course one night a week over 12weeksabout how to use the medicine wheel method of health and healing.

"People have an opportunity to deal with some of the past, how they can use that past in their present to make a better future," Milliea said.

"If you want to call it anything, it could be almost like holistic healing that is addressing the whole self and the medicine wheel splits up the self into four very distinct quadrants all have a very important part to play in our ability to be able to always be in search of balance."

'Better things to come'

He describes the four quadrants as thephysical, mental, emotional and spiritual self. Millieasays it's important to strive for balance among the four quadrants to stay healthy.

This is thefirst time inMilliea's12 years of teaching this program that hehas brought it toa First Nation reserve.

"We feel like it wasn't something that was currently being taught to the community so we wanted to bring him in," saidSarahMyers, project manager for theLennoxIsland Cultural Centre.

Myerssaid the program was open to all members of the LennoxIsland First Nation and they were planning to do another course in the future.

Millieahas taught the medicine wheel methodmore than 30 times throughoutthe traditional Mi'kmaqterritory known as Mi'kma'ki.

"It gives the community a lot of hope that there are better things to come for everybody, not just for the small handful but this small handful canmake a lot of influence in the community just by the changes they make in their own lives," Millieasaid.

'Language is everything'

The medicine wheel is a spiritual tradition across different Indigenous cultures, Millieasaid, and he has adopted his version for healing and self help.

He said hisfocus is less onspiritualityand more on how the medicine wheel can help participantsfind balance.

Millieawas happy to be a part of the efforts that LennoxIsland First Nation was making to strengthen the Mi'kmaqlanguage and culture.

"Language is everything that defines culture and that defines who we are and if we lose that then we've lost who we are as a people," Millieasaid.

"The descriptiveness of the language and the connection to the spirit of who we are as a people is defined by our language and the way that we speak about these things."

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