Oyase School Philosophy

Oyase Community School is an ongoing mentoring program in the arts of naturalist studies and community relations. The word Oyase comes from the Lakota language. It refers to the building up of a burning desire within an individual to learn about his or her gift, and the expression of this gift in the world. We use the word Community because we aspire to live harmoniously, cooperatively, and respectfully. We strive to explore what makes a successful community.

The word School is chosen because for many people it brings up images of a community where people gather for specialized training and guidance. Our aim is to re-create the possibility of school and have the Oyase Community School be a gathering of people with a like-minded goal: to be positive, nurturing, creative, and possibility-minded; to be a group of people committed to opening up to the mysterious and infinite wisdom in nature, within and outside of ourselves. Participants are guided experientially and through oral tradition, developing the natural desire to learn about our world and participate in it joyfully and responsibly. The goal of Oyase Community School is to provide a safe environment where each person unfurls his or her natural potential. Primary importance is given to honoring the sacredness of each individual, developing self esteem, courage, self expression, compassion, and community.

What is Mentoring? Mentoring is the ancient art by which native peoples passed down the art of living with the earth from generation to generation. Some have called mentoring "the invisible school" since mentoring took place within the context of everyday living with no specialized training that was separated from everyday life. Well done mentoring is a subtle collection of techniques applied in just the right way to draw the student's passions to the surface and guide him in his own explorations. An expert mentor subtly motivates his students in such a way that most of their learning occurs when the mentor is not present. The ultimate goal of mentoring is to teach the student to ask her own questions and seek the answers in her experience.

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