Behavioural scientist Louis Busch weaves Indigenous teachings from Knowledge Keepers across Turtle Island with western psychological practice. Busch, a Bear Clan member of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, offers a framework for moving through pain rather than around it. In this Q&A, the psychotherapist talks about his book, Carry Your Heart: Indigenous Helping Wisdom and the Science of Psychological Flexibility, that integrates these two ways of knowing.The Conversation Canada: What does it mean to “carry your heart” in life?Louis Busch: That teaching came from a relative of mine. The Cree word is kita-pimōtātamān kitēb. It loosely translates to “walking while carrying your heart.” In a practical sense, it means noticing the urge to flee from our difficult experiences, whether a worry, a bad memory, grief, a difficult experience or an intrusive thought. Often, we are very motivated to find a distraction, a positive affirmation, medication — whatever we can get relief from. And that’s normal, but I think to “carry your heart” means to pause, look at [the difficult experiences], and then hold them in a gentle way and make a bit of space for them. [While working on this book], I really loved seeing the synergies of some of these First Nations teachings and the things that I had learned in acceptance and commitment therapy. We’ve been trained from Day One [that] the pursuit of happiness is the ultimate goal of being alive. And if you’re not doing that, there’s something wrong with you, right? You are broken. You’re pathological. You have some kind of dysfunction, and it’s inside you. It’s this thing that you have. So to ask somebody to do something different, it’s like flipping the idea of healing on its head. TCC: You organize the book around belonging through kinship, presence and purposeful action. Can you talk about structure?LB: At first I thought I was going to write a clinical manual, a “how to work with First Nations Peoples in a culturally safe way.” That was my goal initially. I thought it was important to have a strong first section on positionality — who am I and why am I writing this. Then I started getting into typical textbook on culturally adapted therapies. I started to lose motivation a bit, and I shared it with a friend of mine. She said, “I was hooked, then when I got to the second chapter, I thought, ‘Where did you go?’” I thought a lot about [that]: if [I wrote that kind of] book, I would probably talk about the people I learned from and the people who I think have really guided me on this journey. So the book’s structure [turned into] a bit of a road trip of healing and learning — visiting with [Elders], and then pausing to reflect on my own experience with whatever they were sharing. I was able to [include] some important messages about how we do healing in the colonial system that exists around us. I decided to break the book down to three core teachings. It shouldn’t be viewed as “here is the wisdom of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada or North America,” instead it should be looked at as “here is the wisdom of these particular Knowledge Keepers, and their context Nations, in dialogue with me.” And hopefully that’ll be useful for you. But it certainly does not reflect an Indigenous philosophy on wellness or an Indigenous therapy. We’re 600-plus nations in Canada, 80-plus language families, all different experiences and languages and spirituality and protocols. I talked to lots of different people because I feel like there are just such rich experiences, but I hope people walk away knowing that the book is limited to those relationships and contexts.TCC: Indigenous knowledge has a long history of being extracted and repackaged by non-Indigenous institutions for profit. How did you think about this tension when writing for a mainstream publisher?LB: It was a very hard book to write because that thought was always in my mind: how do I protect our communities, how do I protect this knowledge and how do I share it in a way that is respectful but also may benefit people? Though I primarily wrote it for Indigenous Peoples, when we say all our relations, we mean everybody in the world. We’re all relatives. I say this is for you if you are struggling with your experiences. Just please, treat it respectfully as you would treat your own grandmother’s teachings.There are different forms or levels of knowledge. There is sacred knowledge, and there is community knowledge, and some of those things are not meant to be shared in the pages of a book. Like a description of a ceremony in great detail or specific stories that we only share at specific times and with specific people. So [certain elements] fit within the realm of sacred knowledge, and maybe should be protected or at least communicated in a way that the Knowledge Keepers are comfortable with. What I [would tell] the reader is that if you are interested in this particular thing that I’m not going to talk about, take some tobacco, find a Knowledge Keeper and ask the question — do it in a respectful way.I had quite a bit of discomfort with the idea of taking the teachings of Elders and Knowledge Keepers and putting them out in a market. Books sell. So one of the ways that I have approached that is that the author royalties that come after the publication of the book will go to the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation and the Legacy of Hope Foundation. Anything that comes from this book, at least financially, goes right back into community. And that makes me feel a bit better about it. The Elders were happy with that also.This interview has been condensed for length and edited for clarity.Join us on Sept. 14 at Toronto’s Another Story Bookshop for the launch of Louis Busch’s Carry Your Heart, including a discussion moderated by Jesse Wente. This event, co-sponsored by The Conversation Canada, is free. To reserve a spot, click here.The Conversation Canada does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.