VISION

Our vision is to reimagine how we work with one another, provide space and resources for people to express and heal themselves through art, song, and dance in order to develop rejuvenating and respectful relationships with ourselves and all our relations. Our services are done and honored in ceremonial and traditional ways while maintaining a modern awareness of our ever changing environment.

mission

Our mission is to provide Black, Indigenous, and people of color opportunities to explore and learn wellness modalities through workshops, spiritual retreats, and creative activities. We are aligned culturally with oral traditions and ceremonies.

ABOUT

Indigenous Wellness Collective is a Los Angeles based 501 (c)(3) Non-Profit organization focused on offering support and wellness through a number of modalities for the spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical balance of activist communities. We formed in 2016 upon answering the call to go to Standing Rock. At the time there were 4-10 members and Olivia Perez Biera organized the continued volunteering of servicing programs for and by BIPOC.

IWC was founded in Los Angeles, California located on Tongva Territory, the traditional Indigenous homeland of the Tongva people. We acknowledge the African, Asian, Black, Latinx, and Chicanx labor on which this country is built.

We respect the stewards of this land––past, present, and future––and the knowledge of those who came before us. We offer deep gratitude for the land and the opportunity to learn, work, love, and be in community here. We gather in a way that respects the natural balance of a healthy human being. These activities can include a traditional talking circle, a pot luck to celebrate the change of season. We hold workshops that include painting, music, indigenous calendar systems, storytelling and meditation. We have held free clinics where members who are practitioners of wellness volunteer their services to the community through different frameworks such as the Women's March and Abuelita’s Remedios Event. Our members include elders and children and folks in the surrounding north east la community. All have shown appreciation for the opportunity to gather.

It is necessary for decisions and discussions revolving around health to illuminate the injustices that target vulnerable communities and landscapes as BIPOC are historically excluded and misrepresented in the healing arts. There is a timely need for rest, joy, and love among people sharing oral histories, futures and dreams while respecting the individual experiences guiding us through life.

When approaching Standing Rock in mid November 2016, arriving at such a reality of white anglo folks genuinely doing their best to provide healthcare to those in need at the camp there was an indigenous population there not being served, simply because the trauma accumulated between generations would not allow them the trust necessary for them (Indigenous population) to receive care. There is still that division between non-BIPOC wellness practitioners with BIPOC communities. We've seen high numbers in BIPOC individuals who don’t trust a western or capitalized health care system. For this reason, IWC provides community care as we did in Standing Rock.

Holistic health practitioners through IWC such as: massage therapists, mental health practitioners, nutritionists, healers, wisdom keepers, facilitators, martial artists create a network of specialists who care about the health and wellbeing of their likeness. As a collective we are empowered to help ourselves and the larger community of people seeking trust and understanding in our individual healing journey.

We know Los Angeles is home to the largest population of Indigenous communities and a large variety as such. Many are close to their communities, many are not. Working with the Mountains Recreation and Conservancy Authority (MRCA) at their LA River Center location, IWC provides a space to create a community where people can relate to health and wellbeing from their Indigenous perspective. Where trust can be cultivated and steps towards holistic wellness can be made. Additionally, IWC on a weekly basis holds danza azteca practice at Elysian Park, the frontline of gentrification in the city. Serving the surrounding areas of historically marginalized neighborhoods like Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights, IWC is committed to holding and sharing space with local community members seeking cultural awareness and connection with fellow neighbors.

Indigenous Wellness Collective’s programming has helped shape curriculum in many local smaller community circles by setting the example of including the voices of local Natives and Indigenous identifying presenters. We encourage cycle based programming so collective members find consistency and reliability in care taking.

No Cost Community Clinics (NCCC):

Since 2016 IWC has provided seasonal and special event wellness clinics for the Indigenous identifying community to encounter safe space for healing. Volunteer provided services can and have included Massage, Aromatherapy, foot baths, Iridology, Acupuncture, Counseling, Somatic Experiencing and Cranial Sacral Therapy.

In 2022, IWC partnered with Meztli Projects and Los Angeles Indigenous Peoples Alliance to produce the 2nd annual community wellness event called Abuelitas Remedios. Over 500 participants were served and 300 received community resource material to continue the dialogue.

Breaking Bread

Quarterly, IWC hosts a breaking bread community meal where we honor the transition of the season and share recipes and stories of cultural tradition.

Wellness Workshops

Collective members teach and learn from a variety of health promoting activities and workshop opportunities as listed below.

Body awareness: Mayan yoga, gymnastics, qigong, somatic trauma release, meditation, nutrition.

Indigenous Healing Practices: traditional talking circles, personal altar building, herbal remedies, mesoamerican philosophies, holding space for ceremony, traditional garden practices, and parenting.

Arts: tree of life painting, music of the americas, trauma release through theater, vision board making, regalia making, feather workshops, film showing, cultural presentations and dance percussion and song on a weekly basis.

All inclusive: Elders panel, cultural sharing, safe space holding, all natural toxic free cleaning workshops, men’s circles, women’s circles, spanish, english and ASL translations.

We have just begun inviting wisdom keepers from other regions to share culturally based practices and will budget to have visits on a seasonal basis.

PROGRAMMING