March 22^nd

Sundays meeting began with me asking Eileen seated next to me how she was. She was upset, and almost angry. I did not ask about what, but I asked if she would like to try a healing process. She agreed, and I taught her the idea of how to breathe the opposite colour into the feeling she was experiencing. She identified later that it worked for her. Before beginning the completion of the sticks, we sat in a circle and each of us talked about the experience of creating our drum. It was interesting as each of us had a unique perspective on the experience. Some it was the smell, another the timing, another the sharing, another the ease, another the past, another the future. As we all told our story there also was a sense of camaraderie that developed as we were sharing some inner thought, or feeling. It was a good experience, and I shall remember it for a long time. I am ready to begin my next drum. The stick was prepared for us by Kevin. He went over to the sweat lodge and selected some old willow near the sweat and said some prayers. He did all of the cutting and preparation and our job was merely to put the blanket, the leather covering and the stick together. It took everyone a few minutes to actually put together the sticks. I had to do mine about four times before I got it the way I wanted it.

We then had lunch and went over to prepare for the sweat. Kevin taught me how to prepare the fire and it is really simple when you know what you are doing. It was a good sweat.

Back home and did some catch-up work before going to bed.