Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf

Born in the Land of Many Snows, in the Moon of Frozen Waters, in the Cycle of Strange Storms, Oh Shinnah brings to the world a unique blend of many ancient traditions with modern knowledge.
Oh Shinnah’s teachers have been Elders of both North and South America. From her father’s people she inherits the traditions of the Tineh (the Shishindi, meaning People of the Forest, commonly known as Apache) From her mother’s people she inherits the traditions of the Mohawk and the Scots. From her great-grandmother she inherits traditions which may be older then time. Oh Shinnah is an elder of much Wisdom, and a warrior for the People of the Earth Mother, who is guaranteed to change your life.
She holds a BA in Music Theory and an MA in Voice from Denver University, a BA in Clinical Psychology and an MA and Phd in Experimental Psychology from the University of Chicago. She has worked under Dr. Carl Meninger at the Stone-Brandel Foundation and with Elmer Greene helped develop Experimental Psychology and the University of Psychology Lab School. She also has an MA in Divinity and is a Certified Minister with the Interfaith School of Divinity in New York City. In the late 1970’s she was given permission and accepted a charge in life to speak and sing on behalf of the Earth from her elders, along with Sun Bear, and to bring information on the issues of the earth and its ecology to all people. In addition, Oh Shinnah is an accomplished performer. As a singer and composer she was given the honor of being titled “A Folk Singer’s Folk Singer” by musicians and peers like Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie , son of Woody Guthrie. She has performed in numerous clubs, with choirs and with improvisational groups at the time of the development of this technique in Chicago. These include Second City, Cellar Bohiem and the Committee Theater in San Francisco. The first of two awards she received from The Chicago Critics Poetry Awards was presented to her by poet and icon, Robert Frost. Oh Shinnah was the first women to ever receive an award from this esteemed group.
Oh Shinnah has also been greatly appreciated for her many achievements as an activist. She has been a delegate to the U.N. Conferences on Human Environment, Spirituality, the Decolonization of Indigenous People, and the World Conference of Spiritual Leaders. At the invitation of Jihan Sadat, she was a guest instructor for nursing professionals in Egypt. The name, Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf, appears on the Wall of Tolerance in Birmingham, Alabama, near the name Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the 1970’s she received The Nurses in Transition Humanitarian Award, The Helen Caldecott Humanitarian Award for Women in 2000 and in 2005 she was the recipient of The Noetic Science Institute’s Temple Award for Creative Altruism. She founded Four Directions, Inc., and has spoken out about the plight of Native Americans especially the forgotten elders. Currently, Oh Shinnah is the Director and Co-Founder of the Center for Grandfather Coyote, a non-profit and tax exempt organization. Through the Center she is able to teach health professionals from many disciplines and to help the forgotten Native American elder.
Despite her many accomplishments, Oh Shinnah prefers to be known as a “confrontation to fixed reality”. Her workshops challenge the participants to grow and expand beyond their “knowings” and to see the world in a different way – a way that is not static but dynamic, a way that allows for personal growth.