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ABOUT

Michael “Zeff” Zeffield

BACKSTORY

After a fifteen-kilometer barefoot hike and six humbling river-crossings, Zeff made his way to the home of an Arhuaco-Mamo family in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Northern Colombia. Each night they gathered around a fire to share and discuss the message of the Mamo, the protectors of the heart of Earth. Their message is powerful and gracious, rooted in the importance of communing with and stewarding Mother Earth, on whom we all depend for life.

On Zeff’s fifth night with the Mamo, they spoke directly about the great imbalances Earth is currently experiencing. The Mamo understand that this imbalance is a reflection or manifestation of “the imbalanced way of life of the brothers and sisters of the West,” and emphasized the importance of resolving these imbalances as soon as possible. Zeff asked how the Mamo imagine that change taking place.

One elder leaned forward, looked directly into Zeff’s eyes across the fire, and said,
“Brother, they’re not coming here to the middle of the forest to listen to us. But you… you speak their language, right? You look like them. You come from where they come from, don’t you?
What are you doing? How will you make a change?”

INCEPTION

Days later, a realization came to Zeff. In his decade of living and learning with indigenous families around the world, he’s witnessed three fundamental characteristics present in each one of them: a deep connection with Nature, connection with one’s inner Being, and intimate connection with the Present moment. Indeed, these are not aspects of any one culture or creed, but are essential foundation blocks of all functional and inter-dependent communities.

Astoundingly, these connections are largely ignored and nearly inexistent in the majority of Western society.

Zeff immediately put his focus here and began creating Native To Life, an organization offering powerful ways to connect with Nature, Self, and the Present Moment. He focuses on sharing approachable means of connection for people from Western society that are common to all people, and as such, do not appropriate cultures along the way.

In 2020/2021, this journey led Zeff to Family Constellations Facilitator Certification trainings, with a deep foundation in NLP. By resolving deep-seated patterns in our family systems, we make available tremendous inner resources for living in deeper alignment with Nature, Self, and Presence.

Mamo elder herding sheep — Sierra Nevadas, Colombia • Photo: Zeff

“If you take life seriously enough, you’ll eventually find yourself giggling at the whole thing.”

— Michael zeff

Bio