Hi, I’m Mandy.

I’m the founder of Old Ways Wisdom.

I love the power of story and there are many ways to tell mine. Here you’ll find just a few. Feel free to jump around if you like.

You’ll find stories about Old Ways Wisdom, and about my story and how I got started down this path. And of course, for the nitty gritty of my training and credentials simply jump to the bottom.

My influences & Teachers

Indigenous ways of these lands (Lakhota lineage)
Immersive projects and connections with Indigenous communities in Tanzania (Hadzabe), Uganda (Karamojong), Mexico (P’urhépecha), Spain (Gitanos)
Martín Prechtel
Earth-Based Institute
Peter Levine
Richard Schwartz
Melissa Michaels
Nature and my own healing journey

About Old Ways Wisdom

Old Ways Wisdom was created as a way to weave together my passions and my purpose. It is a living prayer—continually informed by my own journey of healing from trauma, the stories of the people I work with, and always listening for where Nature and Spirit are guiding us.

The heart of my intention at Old Ways Wisdom is to tend to the wild and indigenous soul in each one of us: to re-establish the relationship we have with the land and our own bodies; to remember the old ways; and to heal what holds us back and separate so that we can bring our true gifts—our own unique medicine—to each other and the planet.

Through the doorways of nature-based mentorship, ritual art, ancestral skills, and Storywork, we orient towards deep and sustainable healing and growth, working with our own complicated and sometimes painful stories, asking the sacred questions, and finding our way home to our true, authentic selves.

We believe that the way forward is intimately connected to the ways of our ancestors and our relationship with the land. We look back in order to move forward in an intact way. Our work is about connecting with the land to integrate our traumas, transform our stories, and bring our medicine to the world.

Learn More about Storywork

Learn more about Ancestral Arts

My Story

I was born Amanda Virginia, the second and youngest daughter to my parents on the lands of the Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho in what is now called Denver, Colorado.

I am the granddaughter of immigrants; a wild stew of Italian, Irish, Scottish, English, Scandinavian, Germanic and Romaní peoples of old Europe. Many of whose bones rest in the region of present day New York.

I am also the granddaughter of a Muhheconneok (Mohican) chief whose son changed his name to VanGelder in order to try to fit in with white settlers.

I’m the daughter of a complicated and messy lineage of mixed descent, finding myself born to a “new” land that is old to me. And within a culture that values looking forward, getting ahead, a fresh new start on fertile promising land, having left behind and forgotten about the stories of the peoples and the places from which we came—a culture within which many have been hurt, memory has been lost, and I’ve struggled to find where I belong.

I am many lives rolled into one; the call of my ancestors strong. Always mysteriously guiding me back to the original seeds I carry—the ones that only I can sow.

I am a woman born from an ancient lineage with an intact warrior spirit. An unrelenting creative with an internal spark that will not accept anything less than a fully awake, soul-led life of depth and meaning.

I’m a medicine maker, basket weaver, fire maker, and a lover of story. And laughter. Lots of that.

I’m an apprentice to the old ways and the wisdom of our ancestors guiding us all back to our own original song.

In some ways I’m an expert lemonade maker—a dancer who lost use of her body; an artist who lost use of her hands; an old soul born lost in these times but who is finding her way home.

Ten years ago I survived a high level spinal cord injury and mild head injury that left me paralyzed from the neck down. The major recovery period ensued for the following two years, some of which is ongoing, but all of which has blessed me in how I move through the world now.

It has been a journey, a fight, a triumph, a struggle, a love song, a wake up call, an ongoing challenge, a sweet embrace, and the greatest blessing I could ever imagine. It has been a trauma that has allowed me to recognize my strength, my resilience and to quest with the greater purpose of it all.

I am a woman who has been blessed with a wild journey through jagged terrain. And beauty. Enough to break my heart wide open.

Our tears are our healers and our challenges are our greatest blessings. It is a knowing in my bones that each of us comes to this life carrying a specific gift—a medicine. There is purpose in what we go through, and it is in the breaking apart that we are able to let the light shine on the true purpose and meaning of our lives.

My own experience of surviving trauma has led me down a path to recognize the critical layer of emotional and spiritual recovery from the challenging experiences life can bring us.

Here’s part of my story of recovery from a traumatic spinal cord and head injury, and how it led me down this path.

I give thanks for my wild journey that has led me now, to you—where our paths cross.

I cannot wait to hear your story.

Connect with Me

Have a question or a story to share?

I would LOVE to hear from you so please reach out!

Use the form below, or feel free to email me directly at mandy@oldwayswisdom.com.

TRAININGS & CREDENTIALS

Certified Nature-Connected Life Coach (NCC) - Earth-Based Institute
Associate Certified Coach Credential (ACC) - International Coaching Federation
Wilderness First Responder - NOLS
Advanced Trainings in Partswork Facilitation - Earth-Based Institute & Internal Family Systems Therapy
Somatic & Attachment Approaches to Working with Trauma - Peter Levine, Diane Poole-Heller, Bessel van der Kolk
SomaSource Rites of Passage Training - Melissa Michaels
Certified Colorado Native Plants Master & Master Gardener - Colorado State University Extension
BFA Art & Photography - Colorado State University

Mandy Bishop is a ritual artist, folk herbalist, ceremonialist, and a nature-based guide. Her work with folks combines trauma-informed land-based connection to self and the greater mystery through ceremony, ancestral skills, powerful questioning, deep listening and creative expression in order to meet clients where they are, and guide them towards the remembrance of their unique truth.

Mandy is a professional Nature-Connected Coach (certified through Earth-Based Institute, an accredited institution in Boulder, CO) and holding her Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential from the International Coaching Federation (the ethical and regulatory body for life coaching). She holds over 350 hours of in-depth training in neuroscience and brain change, internal Partswork facilitation, Gestalt therapy principles, working with trauma and strong emotions, and working with grief and loss. She has advanced training in working somatically with trauma through ongoing trainings with Dr. Peter Levine and Bessel van der Kolk, as well as continued trainings in Internal Family Systems (IFS) Partswork facilitation.

Additionally, Mandy has trained in body-based rites of passage with Dr. Melissa Michaels, as well as integrating her own lived experience with ceremony, rites of passage, and healing from severe trauma. She has been professionally guiding since 2018 and holds over 1,500 hours of experience working individually with clients.