Four Winds Wellbriety Group Meets at Lake Lawtonka

On Saturday, June 22, Four Winds Wellbriety Group held a gathering at Lake Lawtonka.

LaNora Parker participated in the wellbriety group and said it promotes positive living and nurtures each part of oneself.

“So, it's the Indian mindset of living a positive and a healthy lifestyle,” she said.

Parker said it’s important for Native Americans to participate in a wellness program due to historical trauma.

“All the things that happened to us, as in the boarding school, we weren't allowed to speak our language or dance or sing,” she said. “So now, this is more or less a way of reclaiming what was lost and to heal from what was done to our grandparents and our parents. Because their sadness did get passed down to us. And the agony, low self-esteem, it changed us from our original positive spiritual way of life.”

Parker said due to trauma and unspoken pain, many natives became addicted.

“In my generation, there's a lot more Indians now recognizing what happened to us, but what we can do about it,” she said.

Parker said once someone becomes sober, there’s a lot of healing that needs to be done.

She said she may not have been an alcoholic, but her father was, and she realized she was wounded.

“The way I healed, I went to one-on-one counseling. I went to Native American groups. Other tribes were way ahead of Oklahoma tribes in their healing,” Parker said. “You have to literally take responsibility for your pain and look for resources. So, I prayed about it. That was one of my resources. I cried about it. That's part of healing. I talked about it, which helped me release it. And so, I stay active every day to heal. And also, part of recovery is to give it away. And I've been in Wellbriety for 44 years. So, there was nobody around Lawton, no Native Americans, that understood at that time about the historical trauma. And that's why a lot of Indians did not heal because they thought having all those issues and drinking…was just a part of being a Native. But we didn't just wake up one day and say, ‘You know, we're going to be an alcoholic.’ It was our past pain that's being recognized now, and finding out we don't have to heal by ourself. We're doing it together.”

She said she’s never been a happier person.

“One of the things we're doing that gives me the greatest of joy; taking back our language, our songs, our dances, our hair, because we weren't allowed to be an Indian,” Parker said. “And so, we were oppressed. So, now I'm free from a lot of the past pain, and I forgave all that was done to me and my family.”

She said those who are becoming well are in their best life.