Indigenous languages are being lost, traditions are being forgotten or only half remembered, and some of the youth carry feelings of shame for the culture of their parents. Yet, as Matt Magee, (a teacher and practitioner of Kamasqa curanderismo, which is a blend of lineages from Peru) notes, we have moved past a time when indigenous wisdom is being held back. That was necessary for a time, he explains, since you could be killed for openly practicing certain medicine ways, "but now the consciousness is changing, and there has been an almost cross-cultural shift towards bringing out these traditions so that others may learn them."

Native Hawaiians Kupuna Carol Haunani Anamizu and Robert Alcain, Makua o`o, speak about the land that was taken from them as well as their language. Now they are starting to get back their language and their sovereignty. Robert says his people were indoctrinated in Christian thoughts and notes that their traditions are not in tact, but are in pieces, because people have not been practicing. He says that you learn to live comfortably with the pieces of tradition that you can put together.

Anank Nunink Nunkai eagerly speaks about the jungle, home of the Shuar people and animals. He says the jungle purifies them against contamination, but now, his people, language and customs are close to extinction and only a population of around 1,000 Shuar remain. He adds that "the life of the Shuar people is empty, because they have lost the power of their ancestors. Their new life is not like before." He compares it to having a house full of life—"then little by little, the house is empty." He worries because the people have lost their culture and language, and can’t speak Shuar.

White Eagle Star brings teachings from beings called Thunderbirds, that she believes created this planet. They spent the last 40 years giving her these teachings, starting when she was five. "By remembering these ancient ways, we can bring the world and all its’ people back into balance." This tradition used to be indigenous to all the races, now there are only a few indigenous and British tribes that remember it. She draws this knowledge from the earth, and says that the Thunderbird Medicine is recorded in the rocks, in the trees, and in the DNA.

Boe Many Knives Glasschild has pieced together the oral traditions of the Lightning Dance Pathway, which is a combination of several medicine practices. In his forthcoming book, he describes the path of the Lightning Dancer as the path of walking through the maze of life on manual pilot. It is the decision to respond to life instead of reacting. When one begins to operate on manual attention, the personal gifts we carry in this incarnation begin to manifest. He explains that no two Lightning Dancers have the same medicine, attitude, or spiritual energies, but all aspire to be an instrument of healing in their relative capacities. It is just one of many pathways for Spiritual evolution: "The destination is as individually unique as the journey."

Thaayrohyadi of the Olmec Toltec nation, is also working to preserve the traditions of his people by heading an Indigenous University, in Mexico, which has four areas of study. Workshops are offered in traditional medicine, including cosmic healing and shamanic medicine. There is a language study program, in languages such as Otomi, Nahuatl and others. People can study indigenous issues, international treaties, and native rights. They can also study the arts, including indigenous music, crafts, dance painting, literature and poetry. He is currently devoting his time to starting indigenous universities in four cities in the United States.

Indigenous peoples, from all corners of the globe, face similar land-rights issues and have formed foundations to regain their land. Pauline Tangiora, from the Rongomaiwahine Tribe of Aotearoa / New Zealand, has traveled around the world, and visited the office of the Commonwealth Secretary-General and one of the Lords in the British Parliament, regarding indigenous land-rights issues. Her impressive Curriculum Vitae describes her efforts to preserve the environment from a holistic perspective.

Anank from Ecuador also works tirelessly to protect his homeland in the Amazon jungle. He shares that although a lot of his land is designated as a preserve, private interests are encroaching on the preserve. He is trying to create an ethno-biological preserve, completely run by indigenous people, in order to maintain Shuar culture.

After being evicted from the land of their ancestors, representatives of the Kalahari Bushmen came to the gathering in Big Bear, then went to the Southwest where they were hosted by the Hopi and the Navajo, before making presentations at the United Nations in New York. Journalist and author Rupert Isaacson, born in London, but raised by a South African mother, works with the Bushmen in their efforts to reclaim their land rights. He speaks articulately about the Bushmen and their non-violent, healing-based culture, and says that it represents an authentic blueprint of a better kind of human life, which we are now in danger of losing forever. "Colonialization has caused vast amounts of human suffering, on a scale that is impossible to imagine." Rupert Isaacson and founder of Journey to the Heart, Kim Langbecker, along with Bushman Roy Sesana have formed an Indigenous Land Rights Fund.

Rupert remains optimistic and claims that "Things can be healed even against seemingly overwhelming odds. Look at the Xhomani Bushmen. They were down to 30 individuals by the side of the road. They won the largest land claim in Southern African history." He says that it is worth being part of a reconstructive process, because a destructive process can only go so far. "To every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. We’ve had a lot of years of this wanton, profligate mistreatment of indigenous peoples. Now there’s a growing awareness that this is not right…. The tide is turning." Even though the mining companies and logging and petroleum companies are still going in, it’s not quite as easy for them as it used to be. Rupert makes an important point when he asserts that people in the west must learn to substitute other natural products for the ones that require such vast land use and benefit so few people.

.