Honor Indigenous and African Healing Practices:
A Global Dialog on Recognition, Preservation, and Innovation
A Sacred Gathering of Tradition Bearers, Healers and Culture Keepers.
Friday, October 16, 2026 to Sunday, October 18, 2026
City of Light Sanctuary
100 Kerness Rd., Ellenville, NY 12428
LUNCH
Main Hall
Main Hall
BREAK
DINNER
Activity
BREAK
DRAFT PROGRAM
DAY 1 - Friday, October 16, 2026
Time
Location
5:00pm
Main Hall
Arrival/Check in, Cabin Assignments & Site Tour
— AI-26 Team
6:00pm
Main Hall
WELCOME, Libation Ceremony, Dinner
— AI-25 Team
Bois; Eternal Song
Documentary - Courtesy of Jerel Ramsey and SAND
Announcements/Preparations for Day 2
— AI-25 Team
Presenter
Day 2 - Afternoon
END DAY 1
AI-26 Team
BREAKFAST
END DAY 1
DAY 2 - Saturday, October 17, 2026
Opening Day - Libation Ceremony and Ancestral Invocation
7:00pm
8:30pm
END DAY 1
Main Hall
7:00am
7:30am
8:30am
Main Hall
BREAK
BREAKFAST
Four Gatherings, One Turn: The Ancestral Institute from Critique to Construction
— Keith Watts, Ph.D., MSW (University of Kentucky)
10:00am
BREAK
10:15am
Noon
12:45pm
Main Hall
END DAY 1
Outdoors
Main Hall
(CE) Honoring Indigenous and African Healing Practices
— Betty Pierre
(CE) Reclaiming Ancestral Wisdom through Somatic Healing for Caribbean Communities
(CE) Rooted Holistic Inner & Outer Stability: Vedic/Nature-based Living with Ayurveda, Yoga, and Eastern Ancestral Practices
— Phadia Jean-Pierre
— Shweta Parmar
1:00pm
LUNCH
2:30pm
Reconvene—Afternoon Session
4:00pm
Main Hall
YOGA/PRANAYAMA/CHETAN NIDRA YOGA
— Kim/Narayani (City of Light Sanctuary)
4:15pm
BREAK
5:30pm
Main Hall
Main Hall
Main Hall
(CE) Reclaiming Memory, Restoring Identity: Afrocentric, Human-Centered Design for Healing in the African Diaspora
— James Singletary, D.Min., MSSW, M.Div. (Columbia University)
7:00pm
Main Hall
Kato
BREAK
— Baba Yaw
AI-26 Team
END DAY 2
8:00pm
Putdoors
BREAKFAST
DINNER
Documentary Screening - Courtesy of SAND
9:30pm
END DAY 2
7:00am
7:30am
8:30am
10:00am
10:30am
11:45am
Noon
1:00pm
DBGM, the Ancestral Institute’s parent organization, was approved by NY State Department of Education to provide Continuing Education Credits/Units (CE) for NY State LCSWs, LMSWs, and LMHCs attending a presentation. NOTE: A clinician requiring CEs toward their license MUST attend a presentation for its entirety or at least 60 minutes to qualify for a CE, and earn up to five (5) CEs toward their license.
See the DRAFT Program below, with presentations marked CE.
Main Hall
Main Hall
Main Hall
Main Hall
Main Hall
Closing Libation Ceremony/Ancestral Invocation
Announcements/Preparations for Day 3
END DAY 2
DAY 3 - Sunday, October 18, 2026
Opening Day- Libation Ceremony/Ancestral Invocation
Announcements
BREAKFAST
(CE) Genealogical Consciousness as Radical Resistance:Reclaiming Ancestral Identity for Black Healing and Social Work
BREAK
Drumming and Percussion Workshop
Closing Libation Ceremony & Ancestral Invocation
Announcements: Packing up/Preparation for Departure
LUNCH
Departure to NYC - Bus/Private Transport
— AI-26 Team
BREAKFAST
Warren Graham, Ph.D., (Columbia University)
BREAK
— Kwabena B. Agyeman & Ryan Greenidge (CUMBE)
— Baba Yaw
— AI-26 Team
LUNCH
Outdoor - Yoga Platform/Stones
Main Hall
Main Hall
Kindred Spirits
This beautiful sculpture was built by the Irish people in Ireland to honor the American Choctaw Indian tribe, to express their gratitude for the Choctaw People , who in 1847 sent money to Ireland when they learned that Irish people were starving due to the potato famine. The Choctaw themselves were living in hardship and poverty, having recently endured the Trail of Tears.
Kindred Spirits is a large stainless steel outdoor sculpture in Bailick Park in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. The shape of the feathers is intended to represent a bowl of food.
Espíritus afines
Esta hermosa escultura fue construida por el pueblo irlandés en Irlanda para honrar a la tribu india choctaw americana, para expresar su gratitud al pueblo choctaw, que en 1847 envió dinero a Irlanda cuando se enteraron de que los irlandeses morían de hambre debido a la hambruna de la papa. Los propios choctaw vivían en penurias y pobreza, habiendo soportado recientemente el Sendero de las Lágrimas.
Kindred Spirits es una gran escultura al aire libre de acero inoxidable en Bailick Park en Midleton, Condado de Cork, Irlanda. La forma de las plumas pretende representar un plato de comida.