Correcting for linguistic imperialism
“Accessibility” and “international” are two of our core values at Ancestral Medicine. This piece explores ways that we seek to put this into practice specifically with regard to language
Our singularly precious Earth still includes over 7,000 living human languages. And only 5% of us are native English speakers. For reasons that often have to do with British or U.S. imperialism (and occasionally are more about love and spontaneous affinity), another 8% have learned English as a second language. Despite this putting English ahead of Mandarin in terms of total number of speakers, this also means that the vast majority of humans just don’t speak any English. For English-speakers seeking to be of service in the world, it’s good to hold this in our awareness with a bit of humility.
Growing up in suburban Ohio in the United States, I didn’t learn a word of another language until I was 12 years old. Nor can I recall others in my childhood who spoke other languages. As the father of two bilingual girls, correcting for this has become a passion in my adult life, and it’s a primary reason our family moved in 2022 to Southern Spain. Affirmation of linguistic diversity is also directly connected to our core values and how we move in the world as an organization at Ancestral Medicine.
Ancestral Lineage Healing sessions are available in 30 languages
Now in our eighth training cycle to guide ancestral healing practitioners, I’m delighted to share that sessions are available in 30 languages and nearly as many nations. For a full listing of options, head to our Practitioner Directory, then filter by language. If you see the language you’re looking for listed, we have at least one fluent practitioner. If no options appear after selecting a language, you may need to pivot to “Accepts Low Income Clients” to see all options.
Remember there’s no need for session work to happen in person to be successful, as it’s between you and your ancestors.
For each training cohort, one criteria that we look for when deciding where to extend scholarship support for our trainees is whether a practitioner-in-training might increase linguistic accessibility for the ancestral healing work. Proactively valuing linguistic diversity with financial support is one way we put our values into practice. This will continue in Cohort Nine (2026) for languages not already represented (e.g., Japanese, Russian, Bengali, Romanian). We make it a priority.
Ancestral Medicine, the book, is available in 10 languages
As of April 2025, the book Ancestral Medicine (2017) is available in ten languages: Chinese, Dutch, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Polish, Croatian, Turkish, Georgian, and Romanian (with Greek on the way). The audiobook is also available in English and Latin American Spanish. For nearly all of the translations, I’ve been in dialogue with the regional publishers and in many cases offered a personalized foreword. When the work reaches new other-than-English audiences this brings deep satisfaction for me and our team at Ancestral Medicine. The translations also, in turn, support practitioners working in those languages and they can enhance in-person ancestral healing intensives (e.g., Budapest in 2024, Costa Rica in 2025). On the page linked above, you’ll also find a wonderful second book listed. It’s a recent anthology on putting the work into practice, edited by a diverse group of ancestral healing practitioners.
These translations are possible thanks in part to behind-the-scenes efforts. We actively follow up with leads from international publishers, coordinate with my publisher, Inner Traditions, and offer a standing $1,500 USD stipend for trustworthy translation contracts in new languages. In the case of the Georgian edition, we negotiated directly with the publisher. Why go to all this effort? Not because Georgian or Croatian editions will be especially profitable—but because we genuinely want to reach beyond the English-language bubble. If all goes well 2026 might include a Tblisi in-person intensive in the scenic, culturally rich Caucasus.
An Ancestral Lineage Healing intro teaching is available in 20 languages
In late 2024, I guided a 90-minute introduction to Ancestral Lineage Healing. With the help of the skilled international practitioners in our network and friends of the organization, we had this talk translated in 20 languages. We’re happy to share that thanks to the hard work of those involved, this resource is now available for free anywhere in the world. To view this talk with subtitles in your tongue of choice, select your language directly below. You can also find this talk on our Ancestors page, which is sort of a map of all our ancestor-related offerings.
For many but not all of the languages listed above, there are fluent practitioners available for sessions as well as translations of the book.
In addition to the talk with subtitles, we hosted a Spanish-language teaching with fluent practitioners who patiently humored my just-alright Spanish. I’ve also done some teachings in the past that were translated live (German in 2019 and Mandarin in 2021). Our hope in the coming years is to have greater capacity for live offerings and classes in other-than-English languages through the Ancestral Medicine platform. One step in this direction is our current training for multilingual practitioners to guide in-person intensive retreats around the world.
Practitioners are adapting the work in other languages and cultures
While high-quality translations of English teachings are a helpful starting point, the long-term goal for international accessibility is for practitioners to fully embody and share the work in their own native languages. This requires engaging with deep cultural and linguistic nuances that go far beyond simple translation.
Organizationally, we aim to do all that we can to resource these efforts and at the end of the day, these are trailblazers bringing the work of ancestral healing into spaces where we could never reach if we stay only focused on the English-speaking minority.
For a few examples of folks in the Ancestral Medicine Practitioner Network with websites and other public teachings in other-than-English languages, see:
- French – Hazel Volk, Elsa Rueff, Elise Minssieux, Mariko Tanabe
- German – Anna Hoffman, Kerstin Lembke, Tsepo Bollwinkel
- Georgian – Ana Antadze
- Hebrew – Rena Kessem
- Hungarian – Anna Solyom
- Polish – Patrycja Labanowska
- Spanish – Adrián Villaseñor Galarza, Anna Solyom
There are many other practitioners who offer sessions in different languages but don’t have a developed website in those languages for their services.
Decentering English is one form of cultural respect and humility
We hope this glimpse into our efforts at Ancestral Medicine invites you to consider who in your life might benefit from offerings beyond English—or even to imagine more multilingual, multicultural ways of moving through the world. For our team, this work isn’t just about living our values; it’s a genuine source of joy. It allows us to learn from and uplift people rooted in other lands and lineages. If you have suggestions for how we can deepen this commitment, we welcome your insight. In the meantime, we give thanks for the vast, vibrant linguistic diversity of Earth’s many-storied peoples.
