Gwilda Wiyaka

Soothing Spirituality

Shaman approaches faith, healing with calm

“Our culture has learned to ignore (our intuitions).”
Gwilda Wiyaka
shamanic healer

FOR MORE INFO
Wiyaka will host a CD preview and lecture titled, “Shamanism: Voice of Reason in an Age of Madness, Path to Wholeness, Abundance and Peace,” 7-9:30 p.m. Friday at Borders Books, Music and Café, 1600 Pearl St., Boulder. For more information, contact True Nature at (303) 775-3431.
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Ever since she was a child, Gwilda Wiyaka knew she was different. “I’m kind of wired a little differently than most people.” Said the shamanic practitioner.
Her soft-spoken manner is a contrast to the vibrant red braids tied behind her neck, but she exudes calm with every word - and essential state of being in her line of work.
“I work with the energetic portion of illnesses, I also help people, through spiritual counseling, find the truth of who they are outside of their patterns and woundings,” said Wiyaka, a Berthoud resident.
Wiyaka’s calmness fits in well at True Nature Spiritual Healing Center, the shamanic healing center she founded in Longmont. With walls painted lavender, True Nature looks more a sanctuary than an office.
And although shamanism is most readily associated with medicine men and women, Wiyaka is nothing like the shamans of “cowboy and Indian” tales.
She uses her own blend of shamanism, borrowing practices from many cultures ranging from the Lakota American Indian tribe to the Celtics.
“It was amazing how she could (spiritually heal).” Said Yvonne Wright of her first appointment with Wiyaka. “I’d been to many other counselors and I wasn’t getting anywhere.”
One visit with Wiyaka, and Wright was hooked.
“My life has changed dramatically since I met Gwilda,” said Wright, who now says she sees Wiyaka once a week for spiritual healings.
Wiyaka said in shamanism, healing happens through retrieval of “soul parts” that have been lost through injuries – physical and emotional – in life.
To begin the healing process, Wiyaka “journeys” through the client’s subconscious searching for the missing soul part. Once found, she returns the part to the client for a conscious reunion and the beginning of healing.
For example, a soul part can go missing when an emotional injury such as a death of a friend happens, and can cause n imbalance in a person’s spiritual state. This can effect that person’s feeling of abandonment, causing them a lifelong struggle of being left by close acquaintances, she said.
By returning the soul part to the person, Wiyaka said she can end the cycle of abandonment and help the person become “whole” again.
In addition to spiritual counseling, True Nature also houses the V.I.B.E. machine. A device designed to raise the vibrational level in a person, the V.I.B.E. machine energizes body cells and helps people recover from daily trauma such as road rage and chemicals in food, Wiyaka said.
Growing up an “oil brat” in what she called an abusive household, Wiyaka quickly learned to adapt to threatening situations in an unusual manner – by reading the thoughts and emotions of people around her.
“I needed to know what was going on around me. I needed to monitor the emotional realm of the unstable people around me in order to stay safe,” Wiyaka said.
While Wiyaka’s views may sound far-fetched to some, she says her abilities are quite ordinary.
“Quite frankly I think that everybody gets these feelings – we’re just taught to ignore them,” Wiyaka said.
She likens shamanism to everyday coincidences. For example, incidents such as receiving a phone call from someone you had been thinking about, or somehow “knowing” you will be called on in class shortly before you are, can both be examples of spiritual intuitions, not coincidences, Wiyaka said.
“Our culture has learned to ignore (our intuitions),” Wiyaka said.
Though most people brush off their own shamanic tendencies as strange coincidences, Wiyaka has learned to harness her ability to help others, she said.
Wiyaka’s True Nature Shamanic Arts School offers classes in soul retrieval, shamanic journey trance, spiritual counseling and more.
“Class is pretty amazing,” said David Zaher, an intern at True Nature. “You have a group of people that are experiencing things that are beyond what normal society can encompass in some ways.”
Since Wiyaka’s own training included much Native American shamanism, and their traditional shamanism involves rhythmic drumming and shamanic songs, she has incorporated both into her own practice.
“(Drumming) is really, really interesting,” Wiyaka said. “It is used shamanically because it puts you in an altered state.”
Besides using it as music to get herself ready for a “journey,” Wiyaka hosts weekly drumming circles in Berthoud.
“Drumming circles are a beautiful community event (where) people can come together with little in common and play music together,” Wiyaka said.

Story by Savannah Thomas Arrigo – Camera Staff Writer
Photo by Marty Caivano – Daily Camera
Saturday, September 18, 2004

- Boulder Daily Camera

Healing Harmonies

Gwilda Wiyaka's 'One People - One Nation' an inspirational
collection of songs


LONGMONT - Gwilda Wiyaka's voice carries the whisper of the wind as she sings the ancient songs of the shaman. The music and chants, an amalgam of Native American and Celtic sounds, bring peace and harmony to the listeners. Evoking the spirit of the earth and its people, Wiyaka's newest CD, "One People - One Nation," taps into the mystical bond between nature and mankind through the centuries.
Through song - many of them traditional, some of them original - Wiyaka's dream is to bring the ancient spiritual practices of our ancestors into today's world.
Her music binds the listener to the spiritual energy found in the oral telling of history. "We're becoming very irresponsible with our spiritual energy," says Wiyaka, a shamanic practitioner.
"We're not taught how to deal with this energy, to listen to the messages we get. These spiritual messages give us safe and easy passage in this world."
Wiyaka believes the harmony of the world has been broken and mankind works against, instead of with, the world. "We need to come back to the ancient order so that we can work together as one organism again instead of being polarized. Our fragmentation is indicative of war - like the times we're now in."

Of mixed descent, Wiyaka has embraced the traditions of the ancient shamans. "I'm Bohemian, Irish and Cherokee on my father's side and Dutch and German on my mother's side," Wiyaka says. Her dark, expressive eyes are framed by fiery red curls as she smiles and explains the ways of the shaman.
While most westerners think of shamans as being from Native American tribes, Wiyaka says they come from all cultures, all traditions, from all over the world.
The shaman is a healer who brings together the spirit and the mind, bringing a peace and wholeness, an emotional and physical harmony.
To promote shamanic practices and help people get in touch with their own spiritualism, she has founded a school, True Nature Shamanic Arts School.
"I've created a school that's certified by the state as a trade school to train shamanic practitioners," she says. "Our courses help people access the gifts they have and show them how to use them."
In addition to her music and teaching, Wiyaka also is a healer who helps her clients reconnect with their spiritual energy. "When a person disconnects from the spirit, it is usually because that person has had to deal with something so shocking that he believes he won't survive if he holds onto it," she says. "I help to reconnect and bring about a balance."
As the songs on her CD explain, harmony with nature is the answer. "Nature still holds the blueprint for all of us," she says. "There is a simplicity and a truth in nature that we learn from: The leaf falls from the tree; the ground longs to absorb; the leaf longs to be part of the earth and thus the ground is fertilized to give new life."
The chants and songs also call to mind the wonders of dreams and imagination - two important ways to become one with the spirituality of the world.
"Imagination is where we create; it sinks into our subconscious," she says. "And dreams are our guidepost to life, gifts from the spirit. When we pay attention to our dreams and hand our burdens to the spirit within, even our worst faults and burdens can be transmuted into tools of healing."
Wiyaka has written several songs on the CD, including the title song, "One People - One Nation." Others, such as "Siren's Song" and "Tears of the Phoenix," carry lilting messages of hope and healing.
She recorded the music at PZI Sound Studios, where owner and singer-songwriter Dan Polizzi crafts his music. Polizzi sings backup vocals on some selections and created one of Wiyaka's songs, "Dark Transition."
"I teach drumming circles and like to use rhythm and voice, the oral traditions," she says. "These are songs to inspire people and sometimes they take on a life of their own."
Through her music, Wiyaka urges people to find their internal unity. "Our sacred space is lost," she says. "We've been damaged and the spirit we need isn't there. As we move through life, we have to have enough substance to help us reclaim those parts we're disjointed from. It's a leap of faith between the old ways and the manifestations we can make in our lives today.
"You must follow your joy - but first you have to find it."
Story by Joyce Davis - The Daily Times-Call, LONGMONT, CO
Published October 29, 2004
- Daily Times-Call Longmont, CO