Four-Week Practice Schedule with "Two-Eyed Soap" Alignments

7GFT Medicine Bundle:

Week 1: Foundation - Acknowledging the Shadow

Week 1: Check-in Ceremony

Regular Check-in

Welcome, everyone, to our Week 1 check-in. We've just completed our Foundation week - the energy of the East, Spring, new beginnings. This week was about building our sacred container, turning the soil of our being to receive these precious teachings. Let's take a moment to ground ourselves together. [Pause] Feel your breath, your body in the chair, your connection to this circle.

Guiding Questions for Sharing: ֎ "What was your experience of building this foundation within yourself this week?" ֎ "Which of the seven teachings resonated most deeply with you in this beginning phase?" ֎ "Where did you notice the practice of self-love, self-honesty, or basic humility showing up in your daily life?" ֎ "What chapter from 'Two-Eyed Soap' particularly illuminated the teaching for you?" ֎ "What challenges or surprises emerged as you planted these seeds within yourself?" ֎ "What intention would you like to set for our Expansion week ahead?"

Facilitation Notes: ֎ Go around the circle, allowing each person 3-5 minutes to share. ֎ Remind everyone: "No cross-talk while others are sharing - we're practicing deep listening." ֎ "There are no right or wrong experiences - whatever arose for you is valid and welcome here."

Closing: Thank you for the vulnerability and presence you've brought to this circle. As we move into Week 2, remember that the strong foundation we've built this week will support us as we expand outward. Carry the energy of the East - that dawning clarity - with you into the week ahead.

Shadow Check-in

Welcome to your Week 1 Foundation check-in. Take a deep breath and ground yourself in this moment. This week, we've been planting seeds - getting to know the basic contours of our shadows without judgment. We've been practicing the gentle art of noticing: naming our patterns, observing where our virtues become distorted, and building the foundational awareness that makes all deeper work possible.

Guiding Questions: ֎ "Looking back over this week, which shadow pattern felt most familiar to you? Which one surprised you?" ֎ "Where did you notice yourself 'playing small' or 'acting big' in ways that didn't serve you?" ֎ "What physical sensations helped you recognize when a shadow was activated?" ֎ "Which morning practice felt most grounding? Which felt most challenging?" ֎ "Where did you catch yourself in 'false humility' or 'brutal honesty' or other shadow behaviors?" ֎ "What one insight about your patterns wants to be acknowledged right now?"

Closing: As we complete this foundation week, honor the courage it took to simply look at these patterns without immediately trying to fix them. This gentle noticing is the soil from which all transformation grows. Carry this awareness forward as we prepare to explore how these shadows show up in our relationships next week.

Week 2: Expansion - Understanding the Shadow

Week 2: Check-in Ceremony

Regular Check-in

Welcome to our Week 2 check-in. We've just journeyed through Expansion - the energy of the South, Summer, growth and connection. This week, we took the teachings beyond ourselves and into relationship. Let's feel that expansive energy in our circle now. [Pause] Notice the space between us, the connections being woven.

Guiding Questions for Sharing: ֎ "How did you experience extending these teachings into your relationships this week?" ֎ "Where did you practice cultural respect or relational honesty in your interactions?" ֎ "What was it like to bring emotional bravery or relational love into your connections?" ֎ "How did the energy of expansion feel different from the foundation building of last week?" ֎ "What surprised you about practicing these teachings in relationship with others?" ֎ "What learning about connection do you want to carry into our Depth week?"

Facilitation Notes: ֎ "Notice if your experience this week felt more challenging or more natural than last week." ֎ "Remember that expansion can bring both joy and growing pains - both are welcome here." ֎ "We're building our relational muscles together."

Closing: Thank you for sharing how these teachings are living in the space between us. The warmth and connection in this circle mirrors the summer energy we've been working with. As we prepare for Week 3, know that the relational experiences we've gathered will become the rich material for our deep inner work ahead.

Shadow Check-in

Welcome to your Week 2 Expansion check-in. Breathe into your heart space and feel the connections that surround you. This week, we've been exploring how our shadows dance in relationship - how they impact others, how they show up in our families, workplaces, and communities. We've been looking at the relational consequences of our patterns.

Guiding Questions: ֎ "Where did you notice your shadow patterns affecting your relationships this week?" ֎ "What ancestral or cultural patterns became visible in how you relate to others?" ֎ "Where did you find the courage to speak difficult truths or set loving boundaries?" ֎ "Which relationship showed you something important about your shadows?" ֎ "How did practicing these teachings in relationship feel different than practicing them alone?" ֎ "What relational pattern are you ready to begin transforming?"

Closing: Thank yourself for the bravery of looking at how your shadows live in the space between you and others. This relational awareness is the bridge to deeper healing. As we complete this expansion week, carry forward the understanding that our healing is never just for ourselves - it ripples out to everyone we touch.

Week 3: Depth - Integrating the Shadow

Week 3: Check-in Ceremony

Regular Check-in

Welcome to our Week 3 check-in. We've just completed our Depth week - the energy of the West, Autumn, introspection and letting go. This was our descent into the waters of self-examination. Let's take a moment to honor the courage it takes to go inward. [Pause] Feel the depth and stillness we can create together.

Guiding Questions for Sharing: ֎ "What was your experience of turning inward with these teachings this week?" ֎ "Where did you practice pattern honesty or confront deeper truths within yourself?" ֎ "How did compassionate boundaries or relational humility show up in your journey?" ֎ "What did you need to release or let go of to go deeper with these teachings?" ֎ "What did you discover about yourself through this introspective work?" ֎ "What wisdom from the depths do you want to bring forward into our integration week?"

Facilitation Notes: ֎ "This week's work can feel vulnerable - honor whatever emotions are present." ֎ "Depth work often brings up both clarity and confusion - both are part of the process." ֎ "We're doing the sacred work of looking honestly at our patterns together."

Closing: Thank you for your courage in sharing from the depths. This introspective work is some of the most challenging and rewarding on the path. As we complete this week, remember that what we've examined and released makes space for the profound integration we'll move into next week.

Shadow Check-in

Welcome to your Week 3 Depth check-in. Settle into a comfortable position and drop your awareness deep into your body. This week, we've been diving into the roots - excavating the origins of our patterns, understanding their protective functions, and doing the sacred work of transformation. We've been turning toward what we previously turned away from.

Guiding Questions: ֎ "What deep pattern or core wound became clearer to you this week?" ֎ "Where did you find the courage to face something you've been avoiding?" ֎ "How has your understanding of 'why' you developed these patterns shifted?" ֎ "What protective function did your shadow serve that you can now thank it for?" ֎ "Where did you experience the beginning of transformation - the turning of shadow into gift?" ֎ "What part of yourself are you learning to hold with more compassion?"

Closing: Honor the profound work you've done this week. Going to the roots requires immense courage and tenderness. As we complete this depth work, carry forward the understanding that our shadows were never our enemies - they were protectors that can now be invited to transform. The alchemy has begun.

Week 4: Integration - Embodying Wholeness

Week 4: Closing Ceremony

Regular Check-in

Welcome to our final weekly check-in of this lunar cycle. We've just completed Integration - the energy of the North, Winter, wisdom and embodiment. This week was about harvesting all we've learned and weaving it into the fabric of our being. Let's feel the fullness and completeness in our circle. [Pause] Notice how far we've come together.

Guiding Questions for Sharing: ֎ "What does integration feel like for you after this month-long journey?" ֎ "How have these teachings moved from something you 'practice' to something you 'are'?" ֎ "What embodied wisdom or sacred humility have you experienced this week?" ֎ "Looking back over the entire cycle, what has been your most significant learning or transformation?" ֎ "How will you carry these teachings forward beyond our time together?" ֎ "What gratitude would you like to express for your own journey or for this group?"

Facilitation Notes: ֎ Allow extra time for this check-in as it's the completion of the cycle. ֎ "This is a celebration of our collective journey - speak from the heart." ֎ "Notice how each week built upon the last to create this integrated whole."

Closing Celebration: Thank you for the profound gift of your presence through this entire lunar cycle. We've journeyed from the dawning light of foundation, through the expansive warmth of relationship, into the deep waters of introspection, and now to the still wisdom of integration. Each of you has brought unique gifts to this circle. As we complete this cycle, remember that this isn't an ending but a new beginning from a place of greater wholeness. The teachings are now part of you, and this circle remains connected even as we move forward individually.

May you carry this integrated wisdom into all your relations.

Shadow Check-in

Welcome to your Week 4 Integration check-in. Center yourself and feel the wholeness that you are. This week, we've been embodying - turning insights into lived reality, transforming understanding into being, and becoming the integration of all we've learned. We've been moving from practicing virtues to living them.

Guiding Questions: ֎ "Where did you notice these teachings moving from something you 'do' to something you 'are'?" ֎ "What redeemed gift emerged from working with your shadows this month?" ֎ "How has your relationship with yourself shifted over this lunar cycle?" ֎ "Where did you experience moments of effortless wisdom or natural compassion?" ֎ "What embodied knowing wants to be celebrated right now?" ֎ "How will you carry this integrated wisdom forward into the next cycle?"

Closing: Take a moment to honor the complete journey you've undertaken this lunar cycle. From foundation to expansion, through depth to integration - you've shown up for the sacred work of becoming whole. Carry this embodied wisdom forward, knowing that each cycle deepens the work. You are not the same person who began this journey four weeks ago.

Honor that transformation.

How to Use This Table

Daily Practice: Each morning, find the day's row. Read the corresponding chapter or recall its lesson from Two-Eyed Soap as part of your morning reflection. Continue with your daily schedule. Before you begin, take a moment to locate yourself on the wheel. For example, on a "Week 3: Depth" day, you might say, "Today, I journey to the West, to the waters of introspection, to practice Honesty with depth."

Deepen Your Reflection: Let the book's narrative illuminate the abstract lesson. For example, on a "Bravery" day, remember Binesi digging for larvae or speaking in the council lodge. At the start of each week, meditate on the direction and its energy. What does "Expansion/South/Summer" feel like? How can you embody that this week?

Cyclical Growth: As you repeat the cycle, your understanding of both the teaching and the book's chapter will deepen, revealing new layers of meaning. At the end of the 28-day cycle, reflect on your journey around the wheel. How has the teaching of Humility, for instance, changed as you experienced it in the East (basic), South (learning), West (relational), and North (sacred)?

This Medicine Wheel framework transforms your practice from a sequential checklist into a living, breathing, circular ceremony, weaving the profound, story-based wisdom of "Two-Eyed Soap" directly into the fabric of your daily, weekly and monthly developmental practices.

It honors the indigenous roots of the teachings and provides a powerful, holistic map for your journey, aligning your personal growth with the timeless cycles of the moon, the seasons, and the cosmos itself.

Additional Facilitation Tips

Timing: ֎ Allow 60-90 minutes for each check-in. ֎ Week 4 may need closer to 2 hours. ֎ Start and end on time to create container safety.

Group Agreements: ֎ Confidentiality - what's shared here stays here. ֎ One person speaks at a time. ֎ Speak from your own experience using "I" statements. ֎ It's okay to pass if you need more time to process.

Creating Safety: ֎ "Everything that arises belongs." ֎ "We're all teachers and students here." ֎ "Your journey is unique and valuable."

Lunar Cycle Closing Ceremony: Final Closing & Integration Ceremony

Welcome, Relatives, to our Final Closing Circle.

We have journeyed together through an entire lunar cycle — 28 days of intentional practice around the Sacred Hoop. We moved from the East (Foundation) of Spring, through the South (Expansion) of Summer, into the West (Depth) of Autumn, and now arrive in the North (Integration) of Winter.

This is not an end, but a sacred completion of one turn of the wheel. We have planted seeds, tended them in relationship, descended into the roots, and now gather the first harvest of wisdom into our beings. Let’s take a moment to feel the fullness of this cycle within and among us.

[Pause for grounding breath. Feel the circle, the shared journey, the collective growth.]

Guiding Questions for Final Reflection & Sharing: ֎ "As you look back on this lunar journey, what does Integration feel like in your body, heart, and spirit?" ֎ "Which of the seven teachings has transformed most for you—from a concept to a lived experience?" ֎ "Where did you feel the alchemy begin—where a shadow pattern started to reveal its hidden gift?" ֎ "What has this cycle taught you about the nature of cycles themselves?" ֎ "How will you carry this embodied wisdom forward into your daily life and relationships?"

Honoring the Shadow Work & the Path Ahead

This cycle, we began the sacred work of acknowledging our shadows. We learned the gentle art of noticing—naming our patterns without judgment in Week 1. We expanded our view to see how these shadows dance in our relationships in Week 2. We courageously descended to touch the roots and protective origins of these patterns in Week 3. And this week, we started the integration, feeling the first whispers of shadow transforming into strength.

This was the beginning.

Just as each teaching (Love, Respect, Bravery, etc.) was visited once in each direction, each shadow—The Shadow of Deceit, of Apathy, of Cowardice, of Foolishness, of Disrespect, of Arrogance, of Cruelty—has only been gently met, introduced, and compassionately acknowledged.

True integration, true healing, is a spiral, not a line.

To work deeply with each shadow, to fully redeem its energy and restore its balance, requires returning to the Medicine Wheel again and again. Each cycle allows you to meet the same teaching—and its shadow—from a new level of depth, with greater compassion, and stronger relational awareness.

It will take seven more lunar cycles—seven more turns of the wheel—to walk each of the seven teachings and their shadows through all four directions with full, devoted attention. This is the journey of profound wholeness. This first cycle has prepared the soil. The seeds of awareness are sown. The alchemy has begun.

Closing Ritual & Looking Forward

Let us close this cycle with a simple ritual of gratitude and release.

Place a hand on your heart. Feel the journey that lives there.

In your mind's eye, see the Medicine Wheel. See yourself standing in the North, in the wisdom of Winter, holding the harvest of this cycle.

Whisper or think: "I honor what I have gathered. I release what is complete. I turn toward the East with an open heart, ready to begin again, wiser, deeper, more whole."

Take a deep breath in, drawing in the stillness of integration. Breathe out, releasing this cycle with gratitude.

Final Words

Thank you, each of you, for the courage, vulnerability, and presence you have brought to this circle. You have shown up for the sacred work of becoming. Remember, the wheel always turns. The East will dawn again. When you feel ready, you may begin the next cycle, meeting your shadows not as strangers, but as familiar guides awaiting deeper understanding.

You are not the same person who began this journey 28 days ago. Honor that transformation.

May the integrated wisdom of this cycle walk with you in all your relations. The circle is open, but never broken.

Aho. Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ. All my relations.