Asha: Mother Nature doesn’t skip past any of her seasons. She moves through them in those ways, as must we, right? We have to listen to that. So that is the teaching that I love of the medicine wheel, that every season is of equal importance, which can be so hard in the society that says, go, go, hustle, hustle, push through. You almost must be on and shine and be in that summer and the wheel calls us back and says, well, no, of course not, you need to have some letting go and death and rest and hibernation too. So that, those are the teachings that I love about the wheel.
Nancy: Welcome to the Nancy Levin Show. I’m Nancy Levin, Founder of Levin Life Coach Academy, best-selling author, master coach, and your host. I help overachieving people pleasers set boundaries that stick and own self-worth, anchored in empowered action, so you can feel free. Plus, if you’re an aspiring or current coach, you are in the right place. Join me each week for coaching and compelling conversations designed to support you in the spotlight, as you take center stage of your own life. Let’s dive in.
Nancy: Welcome back to another episode of the Nancy Levin Show. I am delighted to be here with my guest, Asha Frost. She is an indigenous medicine woman and the international bestselling author of You Are The Medicine and the Sacred Medicine Oracle. She has guided thousands of people through profound and lasting transformation as a healer, a homeopath and ceremonial guide, and she’s become a prominent speaker in the field of indigenous healing, garnering recognition on both local and international platforms. Asha holds membership at Chippewas of Nawash First Nation is a mama of two boys with whom she walks gently upon the earth. She loves sharing her medicine in powerful ways through ceremonies, teachings, and speaking events. Through this work. She loves seeing people reclaim their roots, find their healing wisdom, and rise to their power.
I am also excited to say that Asha is a Hay House author. So we have, we have Hay House family in common, and it’s my pleasure to welcome you here today.
Asha: Thank You so much for having me. Such a gift.
Nancy: So I like to start at the very beginning and I’d love for you to share with the listeners really what, what brought you here? What brought you to the place where you knew that it was a calling for you, essentially to tap into the energies and the spirits and bring your voice forth.
Asha: I think it was a diagnosis, for my physical body, I was diagnosed with lupus at 17. And at that time, they didn’t know much about that disease, so there wasn’t a great prognosis. And the only options to give me were steroids and some really intense drugs. So my sensitive soul and my sensitive self didn’t do well on those drugs, and I needed to find a different way. Now, I had been, you know, colonized in a way, assimilated into society in a way that I’d been fractured from those indigenous roots and teachings that the land could heal me, plants could heal me. Mother Earth had healing for me. The spirit world had been showing up for me my whole entire childhood and life, but I wasn’t really listening until that diagnosis. And that sent me on a journey of reclaiming and finding a way to heal myself in a way that would be resonant with my sensitive body, my sensitive soul, yhat would help to initiate that spirit connection. And yeah, it set me on this beautiful journey of reclamation, remembering, and through that journey, I had found that spark. That spark that I wanted to return back to my clan teachings, which is the crane clan who, they’re the cranes are the speakers and they’re the teachers. So it all unfolded along the way beautifully in some ways, hard in some ways too, but I returned back to really my original instructions of teacher, speaker, and healer, because I had gone deep inside of my own healing and continue to do that. So the wisdom really comes from that place.
Nancy: And what was the support around you like?
Asha: My mother is very supportive. She’s a very supportive, she broke a lot of generational cycles and had just done a lot of generational healing. So she really was a very support and is a very supportive mother. So I’ve had a, I’m so lucky and blessed to have that. Sometimes I feel guilty saying that because I know that’s not everybody’s situation. And somebody said to me, no, like, embrace that and celebrate that because we had this really strong support. So she’s always been behind me, you know, saying, go, go. You can do this. I believe in you. And I have a sense, it’s also doing this for the ways our ancestors couldn’t or didn’t have those opportunities. And now I do. So I need to listen to that privilege that I have and move forward to all the guidance that comes my way as I step forward and take these leaps.
Nancy: And so, in the recognition that you are the medicine, that we are our own medicine, what was your experience like when you started to maybe take seriously that this was a path that you wanted to support others on?
Asha: Yeah, I think, well, I had a practice as a homeopath for 15 years. And what I remember is seeing folks sit in front of me and seeing their medicine. So seeing their divine source, their vital force come back to life, like they were remembering by offering them an energetic remedy that matched what was going on, seeing them remember that vital force and that divine spark. That was experience. And I know that, you know this, sitting with people, thousands of people hearing their stories and seeing them transform, it starts to,this co-creation happens and you start to think, oh my goodness, we really are our own medicine and we really do have the capability to heal ourselves in many ways. So it was evidence, based on what was showing up in my life, and then my own life. And there are times where I was not able to walk up the stairs, or I was stuck in bed, or I was in really deep pain physically and homeopathic remedies changed me. So I’d say that energy medicine was a huge catalyst for remembering that I am the medicine. And then sharing that with others, it felt like a huge burst. Like it’s, it feels like a push or a wind from my ancestors that won’t go away. And I can’t quite describe it any other way. It’s like something has been initiated and I guess I could choose to stop that initiation or I could choose to suppress it, but something, something pushes me that’s stronger than that.
Nancy: And so from that place, do you feel like a responsibility?
Asha: A big one. Yeah. And I dunno if that’s in my astrology chart, but I definitely, I’ve worked on that. This ancestral responsibility I hold on my shoulders to first of all maybe be the one to heal a lot of that trauma of the past. I’ve tried to let go of some of that because I can’t do all that work myself and then be a voice for the next generations and or the voice for those who don’t have a voice. I feel that very strongly, it’s a privilege and a gift to have a platform and have a voice to share stories of my people. And they don’t have that space or that platform to share that truth. So I take that very seriously.
Nancy: In what you’re sharing here, what’s coming up for me and listening is the importance and the essential nature of self-trust. I’m wondering where that lives in you or where that lives in this piece of you are the medicine.
Asha: Well, somatically, I can feel that self-trust lives right in my gut. Like I can feel that drop in and perhaps even in my womb, it drops very deeply. And I think when I connect to the land, it’s, I can feel it in my feet too. So it’s like connection to the earth, all of creation supports me, the earth and land support me, and that supports me to trust myself. And I think a lot of the healing work that I’ve done, not that I always trust myself, because I think there’s always been doubts, but there’s something about working through a lot of healing work over my life that has built that muscle. It has been practice of trusting, and it’s been practice of failing forward. That’s the expression, you know, doing the thing and, and making mistakes at times and learning through those mistakes.I think that there’s a lot of courage that it takes to build that self trust.
Nancy: And, you know, being a vessel for the generational healing, you know, for the generational trauma and healing backwards and forwards.
Asha: Yeah, that feels like a big responsibility, but it also feels like an alchemy. Like if I can be the alchemist of that, if I can be that spark of divine energy that alchemizes that, and then blesses the world with medicine, I think we can all do that if we wanted to. But that feels like part of my purpose here.
Nancy: You spoke a few moments ago, you mentioned about being colonized and assimilating.I’m curious for you, what comes up around the patriarchy, the patriarchy and the matriarchy? We can talk about both.
Asha: Yeah. Well, as indigenous people, we are matriarchal societies.
Nancy: Yes.
Asha: And we honored and valued our women so profoundly so I’ve always felt that, like, that lives in my bones and my blood. So I will be honest, the patriarchy actually doesn’t trigger me as much as colonial energy that would trigger me more than, than patriarchal energy because I do feel the power that I hold as a woman, the power that my grandmothers and great-grandmothers and great-great grandmothers, I feel that incredible power and how we are valued in our tribes, in our communities that lives inside of me very strongly.
So if I’m frank, sometimes I’ve said, you know, it’s never me being in relationship with the patriarchy that has made me feel small, sometimes it’s with, it’s often with white women that, that, that’s where I feel that that energy come up. And that has been a challenge at times.
Nancy: Hmm. It’s interesting. I’m Jewish.
Asha: Me too, I’m Jewish.
Nancy: I did not know that.
Asha:: Yeah. I converted to Judaism. Yeah.
Nancy: Oh my goodness. I didn’t know that.
So Judaism is also a matriarchal lineage, you know? And, the heritage is, is very matriarchal. And so I resonate also with what, with what you’re saying. So I appreciate you sharing that.
Asha: Yeah. It’s such a beautiful remembering. And if we could, I think that perhaps there’s more of our ancestors that did value that matriarchal potency or medicine. And yes, the patriarchy has been such a huge energy to squash that. So that remembering is so important for all of us at this time.
Nancy: Okay. So now I’m, now I’m like, so when you said I, that you converted to Judaism, so I relate to my Judaism as my heritage as well as a religion. And I’m curious how you relate to your Judaism alongside of being indigenous.
Asha: Yeah. You know, the only thing I can think of to explain this is sitting at Passover dinner and being in ceremony, those dinners have felt like ceremony to me. Those dinners have felt like the ancestors are so present in such a similar way as my indigenous ancestors. So my husband and I have been together for goodness, 24 years. So I’ve experienced a lot of Passover dinners with his family. And tthat’s a similarity. And I understood it. I understood it from my bones, what that meant to be so connected to lineage and heritage and ancestors and prayer and language and all of those things that have been lost. So that remembering is there and it’s so beautiful. So I’d say I connect to my Judaism as ceremonial. And perhaps more than religious because I grew up Catholic, so there’s always gonna be twinges of that. ’cause I went to Catholic school for a very long time. It’s hard to just erase that part of you, right?. And we share similar stories, right?. There’s still that Old Testament and all of those children.
Nancy: Absolutely.
Asha: So I am so grateful to experience, have experienced Judaism in that way, and experience the ceremony of sitting at Passover dinner and all of the things I’ve experienced in my family.
Nancy:I appreciate that so much. Passover is my family’s big holiday of the year. And so, you know, when you shared that about, it really is about storytelling and it is about remembrance. You know, the whole point of Passover is the retelling of the story to the next generation so it is not forgotten. And it is an oral tradition. And so I very clearly see what you’re saying about the intersection.
Asha: Yeah.It’s beautiful. And I love that my children get to experience all of that. Like, that’s that beautiful connection that they carry. And I think somehow it weaves together perfectly.
Nancy: Hi, it’s Nancy interrupting my own show. I’ve got a lot of exciting things coming up in 2024, including a brand new book plus a group coaching opportunity, unlike anything else I have ever offered before. To make sure you are in the know, pop on over to my website now and sign up for my free weekly newsletter at nancylevin.com/newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Okay, back to the show.
Nancy: So we’ve talked a little bit about what it means to be the medicine or to be our own medicine. Share a bit about the medicine wheel, since I know that, you know, it’s a very sort of central part of what you work with.
Asha: Yeah. So there are different teachings on Medicine Wheel. So this teaching comes from Ojibwe teachings, which is my tribe. And of course, different tribes would have different teachings. So we’re not a monolith. So the indigenous medicine wheel that I work with, of course, has a four directions, which we are all familiar with. And that wheel reminds us the, the beautiful teaching that I love about the Medicine Wheels, it reminds us about the seasons. So we work with the directions and they go through the seasons of the earth and how Mother Earth moves through those. And that every season is of equal importance because we can sometimes love that summer energy, right? Or that spring energy of planting seeds and taking leaps of faith and nourishing our dreams that we don’t always love the death part, the letting go, you know, that the fall and then the winter rest is the hardest part for so many people to relate to and to actually take time to do.
But the medicine wheel tells us if you skip past that, that teaching’s gonna come back and ask you to be in that season again. So I love how it invites us into our cyclical nature. That we are nature, we are earth mother nature doesn’t skip past any of her seasons. She moves through them in those ways, as must we, right? We have to listen to that.
So that is the teaching that I love of the medicine wheel, that every season is of equal importance, which can be so hard in this society that says, go, go hustle, hustle, push through. You almost must be on and shine and be in that summer. And the wheel calls us back and says, well, no, of course not, you need to have some letting go and death and rest and hibernation too. So that, those are the teachings that I love about the wheel.
Nancy: There’s such a nuanced intelligence to what you’re sharing, again, bringing the, for lack of a better word, bringing the power back to ourselves instead of giving our power away.
Asha: Yeah. You know, my biggest teachings in that way have been with the medical system. I think that’s where I had to really assert my power. I remember a doctor telling me when I wanted to have children, you were, you’re, you’re not supposed to have children right now. Your antibodies are too high. This is a no, I give you a red light. And there was something inside of me that felt that that wasn’t true. And not that I don’t believe doctors, but I just felt in my own body, that’s not true. You are going to have children, you’ve always had this vision.
So I’ve learned through some of those relationships with those people in power positions to come back to my own power and, and reflect in my own power. And also, you know, with sometimes with teachers or studies that I’ve taken, where at times I’ve put people in pedestals or I’ve made them somehow know more than me, or I need to get my teachings from them. And realizing as those relationships crumble and fall apart, oh no, the medicine was always here. And we probably all can speak to situations that have been like that in our lives.
Nancy: Yeah. I mean, it, it, for me, it reminds me of, you know, I was backstage at Hay House for 12 years and what the transition was for me to sort of then come out and take the spotlight center stage and trust myself. Because what I saw around me was not so much the teachers, but the audiences, putting the teachers on a pedestal. And it was really clear to me that Wow, when you’re backstage, no one’s on a pedestal.
Asha: That’s right. That’s right.
Nancy: And I feel very happy to know that.
Asha: Yeah me too. And it’s, I, I remember somebody saying it dehumanizes people to put them on a pedestal. And when I heard that, I thought, that’s so true. We are, we are breaking or fracturing a relationship by putting something between us and them. And after I learned that, I thought, okay, yeah, I’m gonna be very mindful of how I do that or when I do that.
Nancy: Yeah, exactly. So then I know that you have another deck coming out with Hay House later this year.
Asha: Yes, yes.
Nancy: Which is huge. I mean, the fact that you’ve had one book and two decks out in a very short period of time, it’s a lot of work. What’s, what’s that process been like for you?
Asha: Busy. It’s been busy. It’s been, it’s been so beautiful. But, you know, I, yes, I knew that when this opportunity came my way, it felt so aligned and I just, I felt, remember I talked about that spark and that wind?
Nancy: Yeah.
Asha: I felt eagle coming behind me and blowing this wind forward to say, this is it, follow that trail and follow that wind. This is the time, this is your time. So I wanted to take that opportunity and take it seriously. It’s a responsibility to me. As the creation came in, I worked really hard, or I’ve worked really hard over the last three years from the beginning of the proposal time to this time to have this creations out that have been dreamed 25 years ago.
Like you speak of your time at Hay House. I was at so many, I Can Do It! conferences, you seeing you introduce people and like, and I saw you in that power. I saw you as powerful. So it’s so interesting how we can perceive different things. I saw your power so clearly. So I’m so grateful we get to have this conversation now because it brings up full circle to me in some way. Mm. And I dreamed of these things 25 years ago, when I was diagnosed with lupus and I was looking for ways to heal, and Hay House was the place to offer those things to me. And of course I soaked them all up. So this is a dream in the making for a very long time. It’s dream come true. And I’ve taken the responsibility seriously in the call to create seriously.
Nancy: And so separate from the call to create, I’m also curious about the call to, to be visible, and not only that, but to actually draw attention to yourself.
Asha: Yeah. That’s such a journey, I think. And what I feel, you know, I really could feel it at the Hay House, at the I Can Do It! conference being on the stage because I loved it. And I have been on stages for a long time, but if I would talk about my 15 year ago self, sure I was way more nervous and afraid to do that and I could do it, but it really has been an evolution of practice. And it’s like little minute steps of little almost titrations of practice and having that experience and doing it and then noticing, okay, I can now open up my energy field a little bit more and be seen a little bit more for me at least. Maybe because I’m sensitive. It’s never been healthy for me to have a blast of everything all at once. It’s had to be like little mini titrations of it. And maybe finding safety in my system in that way so that it doesn’t blast it apart. And I’m still continuing to do that because there are practices always as we’re on social media and we have to market ourself and be in all these different platforms, how much do I want to share with myself? What feels safe in my system to do that? And how do I wanna do that authentically? Those are the questions I ask.
Nancy: I so yeah, I appreciate you naming that in my coach training program. We talk a lot about this. That being authentic and being vulnerable doesn’t mean that you have to overexpose yourself and that there is a nuanced fine line between, you know, personal and private and you can share authentically and also be discerning.
Asha: Very much so. And I think that that personal practice of doing coaching work or therapy or whatever that is, helps to process some of that. So then what gets shared, I always love to think of it as what, how is this medicine, how is this medicine when I’m sharing with the world and how is it gonna land?
Nancy: Yeah. What are your own personal practices that you engage in?
Asha: I, mine, are very simple. They are a walk in the forest and a salt bath every day. Those are everything. Salt bath for me is just so important because of the energy work I do and the people I’m around and keeping my energy clear and perhaps even a smudge every day, using some plant medicines to clear. So clearing is a really important practice for me. Somatic work I love, I love shaking and dancing and singing. Those things light up my soul. So I really try to go towards the joy as much as I can because we live this one life and I try to enjoy every moment in that way.
Nancy: So you mentioned Eagle a few moments ago, and I know that your next deck is on spirit animals.
Asha: Yes.
Nancy: Yay! And I’m just, I just wanna talk about this and we’ll see how, we’ll see if you wanna talk about it.
Asha: Okay.
Nancy: So, you know, I’m very aware that the term spirit animal has been appropriated, misappropriated, however we wanna say that, and I wonder if you’re willing to share a bit about what, what spirit animal truly is, how you work with spirit animals from a place so that we can speak about it in the right way.
Asha: I love this question.
Nancy: Okay, good.
Asha: So, I can speak to it from a very different place than I would’ve in 2019.
Nancy: Sure.
Asha: When this was really ripe and in the collective, right?
Nancy: Sure.
Asha: So I think at that time people were using it as a hashtag, or they’re using as a joke, right? They’re using it in, in the way that wasn’t reverent, that wasn’t respectful. I can say that that has changed significantly. I don’t notice that in the same way as it was in 2019 before there was more conversations about these things. And what was harmful at the time was because for indigenous people, I can only speak for myself, but spirit animals or animal beings that come in spirit are relatives, kin, ancestors, like beings that we have a relationship with, it’s very sacred. So it was taking a sacred connection and twisting it into something that was a joke and that felt harmful.But it was also taking it for almost taking it to, for somebody’s own, I guess, I don’t know, I guess for laughter or for visibility for whatever that was. So it just didn’t feel like it was shared in that reverent place. So to me, that relationship is everything. And that’s why I am sharing it with everybody, because first of all, it’s not, I know many cultures have connected to animal spirits and they have connections and teachings in their own lineages. So I’m not claiming this as my own, but indigenous people, we do see those animals as our guardians, our protectors, our kin, our messengers. They are much like angels or the archangels or ascended masters. They are beings that are around us. And I have developed relationships with them where when I need protection, they are there strongly. When I need guidance, they are there. And it’s a nourished and nurtured connection that I pay attention to and pour my capacity into every day. So they’re ceremonial and they come and I tell, I teach a lot of children, and I tell them, all you need to do is like, say hi to them every day, or give them a little offering, or they will become your friend. But it’s like treating them as though you treat your friends and your relatives and your family. So I think that it just comes down to that respect, relationship, and I think that, yeah, I just think that those things are so important. So if we can honor that, when I have my deck come out, of course I want everybody to use it in the way, I don’t have any parameters. I’m not in control of how people are going to use that, but I know that they can be a connector to the spirit world. And I want everybody to connect more with the spirit world and their own spirit and their own connection to a greater force. So if the animals are the vehicle to do that, then please, you know, have a relationship with them. I feel that really strongly.
Nancy: How old are your boys?
Asha: Seven and 11.
Nancy: Seven and 11. So what, what do you notice about their experience in the world that maybe you created a pathway for, or, yeah, let’s, let’s start there.
Asha: Well, very specifically, my father-in-law just passed away two weeks ago. And he was very…
Nancy: I’m so sorry.
Asha: Thank you. He was a very powerful presence in our lives, especially in my children’s life. And he was my eldest best friend. So on the night before the funeral, I said, well, I think I’m gonna say something and then my eldest said, can I speak too? And I was just kind of shocked and blown away because I never thought he’d wanna speak in front of all these people. So I saw him write a speech and speak at 11 about his best friend, his grandfather. And it was in that moment where I thought, oh my goodness, he’s watched me stand on stages. He’s watched me have the courage to do that. It must be rubbing off. I’m not taking it all. You know, he’s his own self too. But I do think that being brave, being courageous, showing as an indigenous person too, like we, we are worthy of taking up that space. We are worthy too of being, living our dreams as well. There’s something there for them. And I see them being confident in that way and asking for what they want and feeling worthy. So those things are so important.
Nancy: Mm, that’s so beautiful. Yeah. So you become, you become a model of what’s possible for them.
Asha: Yeah.
Nancy: And there’s not sort of a barrier.
Asha: Yeah, and I can think about that because I, I really thought about how my parents’ generation worked through their own intergenerational trauma and what was a result of that, and what they could do and what they couldn’t do. And then my generation and what’s possible for me. And I feel like because I’ve done so much of this healing in my and alchemizing in my own system, they feel a lot lighter of that. I don’t think they carry as much of that. And that is my biggest dream come true. That they don’t have to carry that same trauma in their systems and they can, it’s like I see eagle wings on them both, they can live with their wings and know that they can soar and don’t have to do the healing work I’ve had to do.
Nancy: Wow, that’s really beautiful. It just has me, you know, think that, you know, you are this beautiful conduit from the generation before you to the generation after you. And I think we all are, I don’t have children, so I’m not in the way that you are, but I do feel passionately about being, you know, being the conduit with my teachings or, you know, what I have to offer too. And how beautiful that you have these, these boys that you get to sort of witness in real time stepping into the truth of themselves. You get to see the evolution happening, you know, in a way that you, you may not have been at their age. And you see them now taking, you know, taking the ownership.
Asha: Yeah. I most definitely didn’t at their age. I’m always just like my 11-year-old self could never have done that. So that is such a beautiful blessing to witness and thanks for reflecting that back to me.
Nancy: Hmm, of course, of course. I’m curious these days, how do you, how do you spend your time mostly?
Asha: Oh goodness, that’s a beautiful question. I am really trying to take care of myself. I’ve had some flare ups recently, some chronic health flare ups. So, and I realize how fast I’ve been running and how much I’ve been going, and it really is in speaking about the QuickBook and the deck and all of that. So there’s been many signs to say, it’s time to really care for yourself. So I’m intentionally doing that by walking more in the forest and just more paying attention to my body and just in different ways, resting, sometimes taking naps when I can. But I’ve been traveling a lot and speaking a lot, which is a joy and a blessing, and I love it. So it’s one of those things where I’m balancing trying to take care of myself, but also living my joy and living my dream, which is so brilliant. And then I’m gonna be writing another book. So I am doing a proposal as yes. So my day’s filled with different, you know, work and ceremonies and writing, and then also caring for myself.
Nancy: Hmm. So beautiful. So for everyone listening, what is the, what’s the best place to find you, to follow you, to know about what you’ve got going on?
Asha: Yeah, I’d say Instagram, I’m there the most these days, so it’s @Asha.Frost and my website’s, ashafrost.com. So I’d love to be, I always think about these places as communities because I always think it’s this beautiful big circle that I see us all part of, and I invite you into my circle in that way. And I hope that you feel like you’re met with love in that way, because I, I’m so grateful for this, for this opportunity to share my medicine and help others find theirs too. So, yeah.
Nancy: Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us here and For everyone listening, We’ll be back again next week.
Thanks so much for joining me today. I invite you to head on over to nancylevin.com to check out all the goodies I have there for you. And if you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a rating and a review. I’ll meet you back here next week.