Ep#11 You Are the Medicine: Indigenous Wisdom & Entrepreneurship with Asha Frost

In this episode of Your Story Medicine, I welcome Owner of Healing Rainbow Medicine Woman, Asha Frost. Asha is an Indigenous Medicine Woman, Author, and Founder of Sacred Membership, a global online medicine circle community. Having been impacted by intergenerational trauma, colonization, and oppression, she has worked hard to reclaim and remember her roots and medicine teachings, now specializing in helping people heal through illness, mental/emotional disorders and ancestral reconnection. 

Asha speaks to us about her journey in opening up to receiving financial abundance in exchange for her medicinal services, overcoming scarcity rooted in white supremacy, and how her ancestral lineage has informed and influenced her medicine over the years of this lifetime. She expresses her thoughts on the importance of creating and enforcing energetic boundaries and listening to the wisdom of your inner guidance.

How would you describe your medicine?

I believe that my medicine is of presence, of rootedness, of truly seeing other peoples’ medicine and then helping to initiate or catalyze that spark within for them to realize and remember who they are.

What is your ancestral lineage and how has that influenced your medicine today?

My ancestors are all Anishinaabe and they have informed much of the path I’ve been on, primarily regarding the trauma, colonization, and oppression that indigenous people have had to move through. I’ve had to remember the medicine, the power, and the resilience that we carry as indigenous people. 

What was your life like prior to stepping onto this path of reclaiming your ancestors’ medicine?

I was diagnosed with Lupus at 17 and I was just really disconnected. I didn’t want to be indigenous as a child, I wanted to assimilate with what was “normal”. Even though my mother tried to teach me about my ancestry, I didn’t appreciate it until after I got sick. Then, I realized I had forgotten that the Earth and Spirit could heal me because there was so much pain in my family’s lineage. I started to heal myself and see so many people as guides to help me get back to myself. That journey continues and it’s one of reimagining, re-envisioning and remembering. 

What was your career prior to being a healer?

I went to school for psychology because my dream was to be a child psychologist. Once I got sick and started seeking out alternative therapies, I went to school for myopathy and had a private practice as a naturopath for 17 years.

Why was it important for you to write your Dear White Woman article and how has that shifted your medicine and the way you show up in service today?

It was a boundary that needed to be spoken, as it had been in my body for 10 years. It probably made me ill because I couldn’t speak it before because it didn’t feel safe. I couldn’t suffer anymore and so I had to write it down, share it and not keep reprocessing this trauma in my body. 

Now, if you want to be in my space, you need to have read my letter, understood a part of it, and done the research to say what I am asking of you. I can now feel that energetic boundary very clearly. We talk about these things (cultural appropriation, white supremacy, etc.) in my membership and if you’re not going to do the work, you’re not going to be invited in. 

What has been the channel you’ve used to open yourself up to receiving financial abundance so that others can step into their medicine?

First, what held me back was those fears of being called a sell-out. Getting the book deal was big. All year I’ve been working on growing my capacity for receiving abundance and feeling safe in doing so through my healers and guides. I’ve been doing a lot of nervous system work and intention ceremonies around this and finally, I feel like my container’s growing, I feel safe to receive and that I have protection. It was harder for me to rise at the same rate as white people in my field, so I grieved that and moved through that healing, which was all necessary for me to get where I am today.

What are you birthing in this time in your life and why are boundaries important in order for us to be able to manifest the visions we have for our future selves?

2020 was a year for all of us… and I’ve been asked to do so many things that all sounded exciting to me, so I had a really hard time saying no because those things fill me up too. As the end of the year closes down and as I’ve just finished my last launch, I’m feeling it! I just want to hibernate. We’re moving into bear medicine season on the medicine wheel and I need to write my book, so more than ever I need to listen to that inner guidance when I feel a really strong YES. I’ve been listening and being quiet, not letting the voice that says ‘I’m not going to get another opportunity again if I say no’ keep me from moving forward.

What are you doing to stay grounded in these things and what have you learned to release?

Recently, I’ve been going outside to take a walk every single day. As it’s been snowing up here, I put my snow pants on and bundle up because it’s really important for me to connect with the Earth. That and a lot of salt baths. I can’t say no to those things. 

I’ve been letting go of so much. Self-doubt, not seeing myself in my truth, other people’s expectations of me, pleasing people… it’s been a constant journey. 

If you could envision yourself as a future ancestor, what would you say to the Asha who was in doubt of her calling?

I can actually feel that part of me really strongly. Breathe, you have everything you need within you, you’ve always been this wise and you’ve lived a million lifetimes. Keep going and keep walking and keep listening to us, everything you’re hearing is true, just keep listening to us. 

Conclusion: It can be challenging for us to step into our medicine and open ourselves up to receiving abundance without fear of what others will think or say. Be confident in yourself and your offerings because they are very much needed on this planet. Put energy into staying connected with yourself, your guides and mentors, and the Earth.

Action Integration: Stand barefoot on the Earth, take a breath and feel the heartbeat of the Earth Mother in your feet. 

Learn more about Asha and her offerings:

Visit her website: www.ashafrost.com

Take the animal spirit quiz: www.ashafrost.com/quiz 

Follow her on Instagram: www.instagram.com/asha.frost 

Dear White Woman article: www.ashafrost.com/dearwhitewoman