Gratitude to my Wisdom Keepers

I carry deep gratitude in my heart for my generous and big-hearted teachers, with whom I was blessed to walk this long path of healing. Your faith in me has been a guiding light. I offer special thanks to Yachak Don José Joaquín Piñeda of Ecuador and the late Pagé Ipupiara Makunaiman of the Brazilian Amazon, whose wisdom shaped my foundation. I am equally grateful to the late Jatun Yachak Taita Don Alberto Taxo, Don Esteban Tamayo, and his sons Jorge and José; Don Jacho Castillo Aguerre; Doña María Juana, her husband Don Antonio Yamberla, and their son Don Raúl; Don Oscar Santillán; and Don Shairy-José Quimbo Pechimba, together with Susana Tapia León—all from the powerful, volcanically charged Andes of Ecuador. I also honor the Amazonian Shuar uwishin Daniel Guachapa, the Inuit elder Uncle Agaangaq Angakkorsuaq, and the Native American teachers Lewis Mehl-Madrona and Nelson Turtle. My gratitude extends as well to John Perkins and Tom Cowan, and the late Hank Wesselman, who expanded my world beyond words, and to the many others whose presence lives within this collection. To all of you—thank you. Shungo.