Wayne William Snellgrove, Standing Bear

Wayne William Snellgrove Standing Bear | Indigenous Spiritual Leader, Author, Musician, and Ceremony Guide

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What happens when a man stolen from his people finds his way back to the fire and remembers who he is? In this episode, Standing Bear shares a life forged through separation, survival, sobriety, ceremony, and prayer. This is a conversation about the Red Road, the healing power of circle, and what it means to live for the next seven generations.

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✦ Holomovement Purpose Lab ✦

🔎 Search the archives: https://www.holomovement.net/purpose

🧭 Take the quiz + find your stage: https://www.lightnet.org/purpose/quiz

📝 Found your purpose? Add your data + insights: https://www.lightnet.org/labs/purpose?view=my-map

📚 Browse the research, books, tools + resources: https://www.lightnet.org/labs/purpose

🌊 Join us at the Holomovement Wave in Portugal: https://www.holomovement.net/wave

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In this episode, Zenka Caro sits down with Wayne William Snellgrove, also known as Standing Bear, during his time in Sedona for the Eagle Condor gathering. Standing Bear reflects on discovering his purpose not in a single lightning-bolt moment, but through prayer, fire, and a deepening relationship with Creator, the ancestors, and the living world.

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He speaks about surviving the Sixties Scoop, growing up disconnected from his people and culture, and how swimming became one of the first places he could feel fully alive. From becoming a two-time USA Swimming National Champion to walking into ceremony for the first time, his life reveals an extraordinary path of healing and return.

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This conversation explores the Red Road, the meaning of becoming a “hollow bone,” the medicine of gratitude, and why purpose is not found in status, achievement, or accumulation, but in right relationship with Earth, spirit, and each other. Standing Bear also shares why everything begins with thank you, why the circle can never be broken, and how listening more deeply may be the doorway back to ourselves.

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About Standing Bear

Wayne William Snellgrove, aka Standing Bear, is a world-renowned Indigenous spiritual leader, author, artist, musician, and cultural educator from the Fishing Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada. A survivor of the Sixties Scoop, he was taken from his community at birth and adopted into a non-Indigenous family in the United States. He later became a two-time USA Swimming National Champion and elite open-water marathon swimmer before reconnecting with his Indigenous identity and spiritual path. Guided by his elder, Grandfather Tony StoneHawk, Standing Bear now shares teachings of healing, resilience, reconciliation, and the Seven Grandfather Teachings through ceremony, music, storytelling, and service.

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Guest links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1AiNYS9pPn/

Intsagram @standingwayne71

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Host links

LightNet: https://www.lightnet.org

Holomovement: https://www.holomovement.net

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Time Codes

0:00 Intro

0:19 Standing Bear and the Eagle Condor gathering

1:06 What is your purpose?

1:49 Finding purpose through the fire

3:02 From swimming champion to spiritual path

5:00 Surviving the Sixties Scoop

6:19 First ceremony and the beginning of the Red Road

7:29 What the Red Road means

8:41 Listening to Earth, spirit, and the elements

9:50 Water, interconnection, and remembering

11:40 Offering his life in reciprocity

12:51 Becoming the “hollow bone”

13:23 We Are the Medicine

14:40 Why the circle can never be broken

17:41 Struggle as opportunity

20:03 Advice for those still searching

24:28 Everything begins with gratitude

25:04 The impact of living in purpose

27:23 What happens when humanity remembers

29:18 Final message of love

30:05 Closing music

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Thank you for joining us today. Our goal is to help you gather the courage to identify your passion and live your purpose for the sake of yourself and for the sake of us all. The Awaken Your Purpose Podcast is a collaboration between Holomovement and LightNet. Through a multi-year research project and 100+ interviews, we are mapping the patterns, stages, and methods that help people discover and live their purpose.

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🎙️ Listen to the "Awaken Your Purpose" Podcast:

🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/awaken-your-purpose/id1746656881

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1MfzpoYO4V0CvcohVNIhg4

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