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Lyla June Johnston

Lyla June Johnston is a musician, public speaker and internationally recognized performance poet of Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) lineages. 

Lyla studies the global cycles of violence that eventually gave rise to The Native American Holocaust and the destruction of many cyclic relationships between human beings and nature (intercultural, intergenerational trauma). Her passion lies in revitalizing spiritual relationships with Mother Earth and cultivating spaces for forgiveness and reconciliation to occur between cultural groups. She is a co-founder of The Taos Peace and Reconciliation Council which works to heal intergenerational trauma and ethnic division in northern New Mexico. She is a walker within the Nihigaal Bee Iiná Movement, a 1,000-mile prayer walk through Diné Tah (the Navajo homeland) that is exposing the exploitation of Diné land and people by uranium, coal, oil and gas industries. Over the years, she has also inspired 35 other communities in 13 countries to join by creating their own Regeneration Festivals.

A movement that begs for vengeance disguised as justice will not be as constructive or strong as beautiful as the movement that begs for peace!

Organization: Regeneration Festival 

Books: She wrote the award winning papers: Nature and the Supernatural: The Role of Culture and Spirituality in Sustaining Primate Populations in Manu National Park, Peru and Chonos Pom: Ethnic Endemism Among the Winnemem Wintu and the Cultural Impacts of Enlarging Shasta Reservoir

Location: She lives in Diné Tah, the Navajo ancestral homeland which spans what is now called New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona USA. She is pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in Indigenous Studies with a focus on Indigenous Food Systems Revitalization.

Website: 1) https://www.lylajune.com 2) Regeneration Festival: A Prayer Walk for Future Generations: 

Video 1: The Sacredness of Twoness

Video 2: Resurgence of Indigenous Knowledge