Within our society there is little tolerance or help for men who are survivors of violence. Eight years of sobriety, five years of intensive Gestalt therapy, acupuncture, energy work, massage, yoga, meditation, anti-depressants, and psycho-stimulants did not give me but temporary relief from my pervasive sense that I was dying.
The terror of living with the pain of incest, sexual abuse, community violence, bullying, binge eating, self-hatred and religious terrorism was too much. At my darkest moment, the God of my understanding sent me Lench. I attended several of his workshops and then made the commitment to go to the desert.
The desert taught me about connection, letting go, energy, and purpose. Lench taught me about healing, acceptance, family, faith, dignity, hope, and sacredness of my life.
I needed a shift in consciousness. The desert and Lench taught me that great wounds create great healers.
- Harold Marks, RN
Pittsburgh, PA
The relationship weekend was definitely a life-changing experience for Mike and I as individuals and as a couple. I can’t tell you the number of times I have turned to Mike since that weekend and said, “Who are you and what have you done with my husband?” There is no more anger in our conversations and much more patience. Our conversations have much more depth and feeling to them. The “thumbprint” technique for immediate behavior change is working well for both of us!
I have been starting each day by meditating with my prayer stick and feeling the power of all the energy from our retreat family. I also feel the calmness and peace that stays with me throughout my day, even as a substitute teacher. I did not have that before. I have worked one day miracles with students that no teacher has been able to reach all year and I thank God for opening my heart to allow spirit to move through me to help these kids.
I was able to release a huge burden of blame that I had attached to every man I’ve been in a relationship with. I find it much easier to love myself now, which of course makes it so much easier to love Mike.
Thank you for this new joyous way of living you have provided us and all the thousands of lives that will also be touched by our new way of loving.
Lisa, Substitute Teacher
Phoenix, AZ
Lench took those of us lucky enough to know him out to the desert. The results were often remarkable. He could drive me up to, and past, the limits of my own fear.
Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Author of Coyote Medicine
Tucson, AZ
My experience in the desert started out much like many of my life changing experiences, with resistance. I wasn’t exactly kicking and/or screaming but I wasn’t running with outstretched arms into the Sonoran either. I was passively resistant.
Upon entering Lench’s home, we were greeted with hugs and kind words. I remained quiet until Lench asked me about my resistance. I told him that I didn’t trust him or the way he went going about things. This was based on being Lakota and being used to my traditions and the way things are “supposed” to be done.
After the first day, I was happy to be going back after hours spent in the desert. On the way back to Lench’s vehicle, I told him that I now understood how and why he did things the way he did and that I was happy not to be left in the desert on fast for four days, as it is in my tradition. My icy disposition had melted completely and from then on, I was ready and willing to do the work I needed to do.
Before departing, Lench asked me to do something I feared, he asked me to leave my sound. This was something that I had wanted to do all my life but couldn’t and I began to cry. After trying and trying and trying, it came. I was tired and happy and complete. I felt free and more myself than I had ever felt before.
Upon completion, I had to sing another song, a song of life. I sang this song out on top of Sacred Mountain. Going up the mountain, I knew that I would be changed and coming down, I knew that I would never be the same. My whole world shifted after that day and I am more than thankful to Lench and his family for the medicine they gave to help me along my journey to find my path through the desert.
This has been an attempt to somewhat describe my experience with Lench in the Desert, but in all honesty, there are no words. I could sit and write for years and still not be able to give justice to the many miracles that I experienced.
Shiloh Ashley, age 19
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
Being in the desert with Lench helped me to begin the process of reconnecting my Spirit with my Body and allowing my passions to flow instead of squashing them as I had done for more than 40 years! I had gotten stuck in my life, feeling almost trapped, living life for others and how I felt they wanted me to be, always worrying about what others thought, never living in the present moment. Then I met Lench and my life changed. He was the catalyst and turning point for me, allowing me to see and honor my creativity and to trust my intuition. I am now free to be me and to explore and express the “me” that I truly am. I feel without a doubt that I couldn’t have done this without Lench’s gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) loving push! Aho!
- Annmarie Mahoney
Phoenix, AZ
Walking with Lench in the desert always leaves me feeling the immense, profound nature of simplicity. I am refreshed and filled with a sense of awe, renewal, and balance.
Kristina Colebrook, Clay Speaks Artist
Casa Grande, AZ
Releasing the personal issues that were causing my illness was magical. Lench possesses the keen insight of a highly-intuitive and highly-trained psychotherapist. He zeroed in on the very burdens that had dragged me down for years, burdens that I hadn’t acknowledged let alone made any attempt to release. The “old ways” of his Yaqui elders worked wonders in allowing me to understand, forgive, and release a lifetime of contraints on the “real” me.
He led me to spiritual places I couldn’t have traversed on my own. The desert’s energies, the energies of the Native American spirits, and the power of my own ancestors’ spirits all came forth through the ceremony and sacred art that Lench so exquisitely guided me through. I left behind a ton of old, unneeded baggage and emerged a new person.
Susan Metzger, Psychologist, Writer, Reiki Master/Teacher
Colorado
I was guided by Lench, who possesses the most straightforward and magnificent wisdom that has ever come my way. I listened and heard myself for the first time and I experienced who I am, never to live in fear again.
- John Mahoney
Phoenix, AZ
