Our Path

Keepers of the Mesa · Guides of the Sacred Path

Birgit

Birgit has walked the shamanic path since 2005, when she became a Mesa carrier* in the lineage of the Altomesayoq. Between 2005 and 2009 she trained intensively at the Shamanic Healing Institute under founder and director Paul Sivert, receiving certification and initiation in the fundamentals of shamanism, the Kawsay journey, the Munay Way, the Munay-Ki rites and more - a deep immersion in the knowledge and practice of energy medicine.

Her path began earlier still: in 1977 she began her practice of Transcendental Meditation, receiving her Siddha certification under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In 1999 she graduated from the Monroe Institute, certified by Laurie Monroe. She went on to co-found the Caduceus Healing Institute in Germany and to co-host the Bewusst Leben (Conscious Living) exhibition, bringing conscious, holistic living into public life. She has also studied with SunBear of the Chippewa tribe.

Birgit received the original transmission of Reiki at Mount Kurama in Japan, the birthplace of Reiki energy. She has practiced shamanism and seen clients since 2009, and carries within her the lineage of the European Forest People.

* A Mesa Carrier is one who tends a sacred medicine bundle of stones and ceremonial objects, a living alter through which they honor the spirits of Earth and Sky in Ayni, sacred reciprocity.

Lenny

Lenny has been a Mesa carrier since 2005 in the same lineage of the Altomesayoq, and trained alongside Birgit at the Shamanic Healing Institute from 2005 to 2009 under Paul Sivert, completing the same intensive path through the fundamentals of shamanism, the Kawsay journey, the Munay Way, the Munay-Ki rites and more.

Lenny started his meditation practice in 1979, instructed by senior students of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in the Karma Kagyu lineage. He took Buddhist refuge vows and received initiations from the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. He has also studied with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, and he holds a black belt in Aikido. Lenny brings a grounded, disciplined stillness to the shared work of healing.

Together, Birgit and Lenny have journeyed to sacred sites across the world in devotion to the energies that move through them: Mount Kurama in Japan, the place of origin of Reiki energy; the Norse god sites of Uppsala, Sweden; the sacred heiau of Maui, Hawaii; the ancient Viking sites of Denmark; and São Miguel in the Azores, held to carry Atlantean energies.

Their pilgrimage has also led them to the ashram of Sai Baba in India, and into the presence of Ammaji, from whom they received the sacred hugs initiation.

Birgit and Lenny have walked with the sacred plant medicines through an open heart, and have experienced their deep, transcendent teachings first-hand.

A Shared Pilgrimage

A Dedication of Gratitude

To Paul Sivert, our teacher - with deep gratitude. It was through your hands and your teaching that we were initiated into the lineage of Mesa carriers, and through your guidance, deep wisdom and embodied Shamanic healing practice that we are walking our path in Munay - love and beauty. What you passed to us continues to move through the work we do and the lives we touch. We carry your teaching, and our thanks, always.