I had the honor of learning from Gene Tagaban, Master Storyteller, last week and my biggest takeaways from the Storytelling Sharing (Training) were:
- Thoughtfulness in sharing stories: what story are you sharing, and how to tell certain stories with honor.
- Indigenous way of knowing and learnings through listening and story: this one was a good one to reconnect with. To sit and listen, just listen to what is being shared. We listened for hours and not once did I become restless. I knew at a deep level that knowledge was being shared and time was of no interest.
- I am worthy of being a story keeper.
- The impact of healing through indigenous ways.
- Storytellers are healers. To learn more about this one, because this one is an honorable teaching, I suggest taking a class from Gene as I do not know how to articulate it with the respect this one deserves.
- I am an “Auntie” and need to step into that role, embrace it, and help those who follow.
- Be selfish, not self-centered. You have to take care of yourself, if you do not take care of yourself, you only share a part of yourself in storytelling, and in helping others. I’d like to add to this, being selfish for me as a storyteller also means setting boundaries.
- Stop trying to be perfect, make mistakes. For me, it was more like, quit trying to be perfect for others, and was a good one for me to hear out loud.
- Healing stories. I never gave this type of storytelling much thought, even though I see this happen in the many digital storytelling workshops that I do. I see people see the path of healing when they come to story circle, but I never named it really. This one gives me a lot to ponder on.
It was quite the training and there was so much more that happened during the workshop, including learning from some very young men. The balance between the men and women felt right and I was grateful that I was able to learn from the young men who stuck it out to the end. I was also very privileged to learn from an Elder who decided to drop in and share his knowledge with us too.
For me, it was good to be with Indigenous Storytellers, to be mentored back to ways of knowing and sharing, now it’s my responsibility to step up, embrace, and share what I know with others.
Gunalchéesh for stopping by. Gunalchéesh to Gene and to the Elder who dropped in, for sharing their knowledge and teaching us.
#storytellingraven #nativewellnessinstitute
Resources:
- Gene Tagaban: http://www.storytellingraven.com/
- Rabbit Story by Gene Tagaban: https://vimeo.com/wimzkl/tagaban
- Native Wellness Institute: https://www.nativewellness.com/