On November 26, 1999, the Four Winds Association in Lausanne had the great honor to organize a conference with Pablo Russel, son of the Blackfeet Nation and respected teacher, sundance leader and medicine man of the Blood tribe. Pablo's Indian name is "Shooting in the air". This name was given to him at his first sundance by his uncle, who had shot down an enemy airplane during the war and named his nephew after this event. Pablo came from Chief Mountain, Alberta, to tell us about his people's relationship with nature and the earth .

I learned a lot from his speech and so did all those who shared those few hours spent with Pablo. As I felt that everybody could benefit from his wisdom, I chose for you on these pages a few selected excerpts from the conference. I hope you will find them as enlightening as I did..