The Lakota Way of Strength and Courage
In Lakota tradition, the bow and arrow were more than tools for hunting or battle. The bow’s resilience and flexibility, the arrow’s grace and power, the archer’s focus and patience—in these, we find the essential qualities for living a life of strength, purpose, and simplicity. In The Lakota Way of Strength and Courage, Joseph M. Marshall builds upon the central metaphor of the bow and arrow to provide a treasury of insights, stories, and irreplaceable wisdom. In this unabridged audio version of the book—masterfully read by the author—Marshall draws from traditional stories, the history of the Lakota, and his own experiences to offer timeless lessons on:
- Transformation—what the journey of the Lakota people teaches us about preserving what is essential as our external circumstances change
- Simplicity—the story of Grandmother Grass Braid, who understood that “the more you know, the less you need to carry”
- Purpose—how the world unveils our purpose to us, as revealed in the story of the Keeper of the Winter Count
- Strength—the moving story of Henry One Bull, and how adversity teaches us to develop the true core of our strength
- Resiliency—the lessons of Grandma Red Leaf on facing the challenges of life with the best we have to offer
Once, the Lakota people relied on the ash bow and the willow arrow to provide food and sustenance. Today, these simple tools can offer us something even more precious: a way to nourish our souls with spiritual wisdom. Joseph M. Marshall offers a book that is at once profound, honest, and rich with meaning as he reveals The Lakota Way of Strength and Courage.
“Joseph Marshall is a master storyteller who reveals profound principles of ancestral wisdom. In a brilliant weaving of metaphorical teaching, Marshall shares a treasury of insights for living a life of strength, purpose, and simplicity. This is such an important book for our times!”
—Sandra Ingerman, author of Soul Retrieval and Awakening to the Spirit World
“Joseph Marshall weaves the magic of narrative storytelling with his own personal wisdoms to beautifully portray the Lakota and Native American perspective of life and living. This book will make its reader see their own life through a different filter. Our society is craving a return to more communal roots and The Lakota Way of Strength and Courage will contribute to this shift toward connected and fulfilling community.
—Dr. Ann Marie Chiasson, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona
“As the peoples of both the Western world and the indigenous world reshape themselves in response to our time of unparalleled changes, The Lakota Way of Strength and Courage provides us with a mirror in which we may all contemplate our own reflection. This is a book in which a traditional story offers us an interesting bit of advice: ‘If you do not know who you are, then it does not matter what you believe.’ In this book, Lakota lineage holder and elder Joseph Marshall has made very good medicine indeed.”
—Hank Wesselman, PhD, anthropologist and award-winning author of Awakening to the Spirit World, The Bowl of Light, and The Spiritwalker Trilogy
“In The Lakota Way of Strength and Courage, traditional elder Joseph Marshall gives us an in-depth, intimate view of pre-reservation Native American resourcefulness and values and how they can inspire us to develop our own purpose, strength, and resilience.” -Nicki Scully, Author of Becoming An Oracle and Planetary Healing: Spirit Medicine for Global Transformation
