SHARING OUR JOURNEY
Every journey begins with a single step.
For Red Road Journey, ours starts with supporting our local tribal communities.
Since our inception in April 2022, we have engaged with tribal leaders via various grassroots campaigns aimed at restoring tradition, honoring cultural places of emergence, and earning community support for the construction of Red Road Project: an intertribal cultural wellness space currently under development that serves as a sanctuary for people from all walks, ages and backgrounds.
We have made inroads with leading, state-of-the-art wellness institutions in the US and Mexico by establishing workshops at their facilities that revitalize Native healing techniques. We recognize the need for modern thinking to make room for the promise of ancestral wisdom.
We have also partnered with thought-leaders via global forums, as well as been featured on renowned international media outlets - with the intention of sharing our vision with the world: where indigenous principles are at the forefront of modern thought-systems.
The following stories detail our journey - from our founding until today.
WATER IS LIFE SACRED RUN & RALLY
MAY 2022
After running 254 miles in 3-days, Hopi runners arrive to a warm welcome in Phoenix.
A quick prayer and pep talk in Pine, AZ before hitting the road to continue our run to Phoenix.
In the old days of Hopi, all important messages were delivered by foot in buckskin. To commemorate this tradition, Hopi runners carried the Water is Life Proclamation in buckskin 254 miles from First Mesa to Phoenix.
After running 254 miles in 3-days, Hopi runners arrive to a warm welcome in Phoenix.
Water is life and water is sacred.
In partnership with Hopi Elders, and under the leadership of renowned water activist Vernon Masayesva, Red Road Journey raised the $5,000 necessary to organize a Sacred Run for prayer and protection of Sípàapu, the Hopi spiritual and cultural place of emergence in the Grand Canyon, which is currently under threat from a record drought and human activity.
Over the course of 3 days spanning 254 miles, six leading traditional Hopi runners, along with Red Road Journey co-founders Tony and Antonio, carried a State Proclamation from Polacca, First Mesa to Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix.
This Proclamation, held in traditional buckskin, is an Arizona State legislative act which recognizes water's importance to sustain life, and more specifically, its sacred connection to all Indigenous peoples.
SHARING VISION WITH HIPPOCRATES INSTITUTE
DECEMBER 2022
Renowned for its cutting-edge advances in healing, Hippocrates boasts an all-vegan regimen and state-of-the-art health facilities.
Whether its a cold plunge, sauna or a mineral bath, Hippocrates offers its guests an array of healing techniques that holistically address a diverse range of chronic illnesses.
Serene mornings and peaceful nights bring forth the perfect moments for meditation - for finding balance between the physical and spiritual elements.
Renowned for its cutting-edge advances in healing, Hippocrates boasts an all-vegan regimen and state-of-the-art health facilities.
Hippocrates Institute is a wellness space in West Palm Beach, Florida that focuses on healing the body through a whole food, plant-based, vegan diet. As famously said by Hippocrates: "let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food".
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Red Road Journey was invited to experience Hippocrates' 7-day wellness transformation program as a form of best-practice to adopt for the development of Red Road Project.
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Similar to Hippocrates, Red Road Journey believes in the healing promise of food and the importance of a balanced diet with exercise to achieve peak physical performance.
Where Hippocrates' cutting-edge scientific innovations address modern health issues, Red Road focuses on our strength as tribal people, leveraging ancestral technology and tradition to reawaken our strength to heal from within.
VISITING OUR FRIEND, ARKAN LUSHWALA
JUNE 2023
Arkan Lushwala is a renowned ceremonial leader, author and activist with roots from Quechua and Lakota traditions.
A peaceful walk through Arkan's healing sanctuary, Arawaka, located just outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Like a womb, the dome of the main hall provides a warm home to all guests of Arawaka, completed with a welcomed ray of sunlight.
Arkan Lushwala is a renowned ceremonial leader, author and activist with roots from Quechua and Lakota traditions.
Arkan Lushwala, a Quechuan Elder from Peru, is a published author and renowned Indigenous activist and ceremonial leader, known mostly from his books Deer and Thunder, and Time of the Black Jaguar.
Arkan leads campaigns through Pachamama Alliance, an organization that seeks total protection of earth and ensures Indigenous peoples' rights as guardians of earth's resources.
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Red Road Journey's co-founders were invited to Arkan's home in Arawaka, New Mexico for a 3-day Earth Ceremony, where we also discussed a shared vision of our two organizations working together.
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With sincere gratitude to Arkan's generosity, Red Road Journey received our first major monetary donation, which has allowed us to jumpstart organizational development.
RED ROAD JOURNEY AT RANCHO LA PUERTA
SEPTEMBER 2023
Our co-founders, Antonio (far left) and Tony (second from left), with Red Road Journey Council Knowledge Keeper, Rosa Tupina, and the director of Rancho La Puerta, Sarah Brightwood (third from right).
Red Road Journey Council Knowledge-Keeper Rosa Tupina (far left) leads a prayer for the health of our earth through a moving ceremony of music, prayer and offerings.
Red Road Journey Council Knowledge-Keeper, Twila Cassadore, prepares to host a workshop on overcoming trauma through stones.
Our co-founders, Antonio (far left) and Tony (second from left), with Red Road Journey Council Knowledge Keeper, Rosa Tupina, and the director of Rancho La Puerta, Sarah Brightwood (third from right).
Voted as the one of the leading health spas in the world, Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico consists of a 4,000 acre campus, cooking school, winery, garden and spa that inspires the holistic well-being of all people.
Red Road Journey was invited by President and Director of Rancho La Puerta, Sarah Brightwood, to participate in a 7-day wellness program. We were also given the unique opportunity to present our organizational vision to over 150 guests.
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Our co-founders, along with Council Knowledge Keepers Rosa Tupina, Chimali Wash and Twila Cassadore, led talks on Indigenous thinking, as well as organized group prayers for Earth and nearby sacred mountain, Kuchamaa, that sits at the top of the Ranch.
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Red Road Journey's reception was so well-received that we have been invited to return in the future to host multiple talks throughout the year centered around healing through traditional Native modalities.
FEEDING AN APACHE COMMUNITY IN NEED
JULY 2024
Red Road Journey Council Knowledge-Keeper, Twila Cassadore, prepares and provides traditional foods to her tribal community affected by brushfires.
This potluck was arranged by Twila (pictured above) and Red Road Journey President Tony Skrelunas, to help feed over twenty families whose homes were destroyed in the brushfires.
Twila, renowned Apache forager and traditional cook, pictured with famous Apache painter, skateboarder and photographer Douglas Miles.
Red Road Journey Council Knowledge-Keeper, Twila Cassadore, prepares and provides traditional foods to her tribal community affected by brushfires.
The San Carlos Apache Nation came together, united by food and community, in support of twenty families whose homes were destroyed by a wild brush fire, affecting the lives of hundreds of local tribal members.
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Having spent more than two weeks in nearby hotels awaiting word from authorities on efforts to rebuild their homes, these families were out of touch from their community and traditional foods.
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Recognizing the role as medicine which food has always played for her community, Red Road Journey Knowledge Keeper and renowned traditional Apache cook, Twila Cassadore, along with co-founder Tony Skrelunas, arranged a potluck for the families affected by the fire.​
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This potluck included help from the Navajo Nation and Red Road Journey, as well as featured food trucks and buffets of traditional Apache and Navajo food. Ultimately, over 275 local tribal members were fed.
RED ROAD JOURNEY HOSTS WORLD DREAM DAY
SEPTEMBER 2024
World Dream Day gave Red Road Journey a unique opportunity to share our vision of bringing indigenous ways of thinking to the forefront of modern discourse.
World Dream Day gave Red Road Journey a unique opportunity to share our vision of bringing indigenous ways of thinking to the forefront of modern discourse.
Click on the image to see the recording of World Dream Day!
We had the delight and honor to join thought-leader Ozioma Egwuonwu in hosting this year’s World Dream Day Summit.
Observed annually on Sept. 25th, World Dream Day is the only global participatory holiday focused on encouraging individuals, families, schools, businesses and communities to take time to focus on their own ideas and sources of inspiration. The goal of World Dream Day is to unite and embolden our global community of “dream-leaders”.
Alongside Ozioma, co-founders Tony and Antonio, and Council of Knowledge-Keepers, Don, Twila and Chimali, opened up World Dream Day with a blessing of the Sacred Directions, led an Apache prayer for water, and shared our organizational vision of bringing indigenous dreams and visions to the forefront of modern discourse.
Our message left a strong and positive impression. We have the distinct privilege of being invited back for future World Dream Day celebrations as a permanent dream-ambassador!
RETURNING TO THE LAND:
TEACHING FORAGING AND TRADITIONAL FOODWAYS OF BAJA CALIFORNIA
MARCH 2025
Watch the video to glimpse the spirit of this experience!
This spring marked our fourth visit to Rancho La Puerta Wellness Spa in Baja California, continuing a partnership rooted in holistic healing practices. With ongoing support from Rancho’s CEO, Sarah Brightwood, we were invited to share Native teachings on foraging and traditional food systems.
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Our Council Knowledge Keeper and Apache forager, Twila Cassadore, guided guests through a meaningful food showcase, gathering mustard seed, acorns, and native herbs from surrounding hills. These ingredients were transformed into a traditional dish inspired by the Kumiai people, the ancestral stewards from this region of Baja California.
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Participants were taken on a journey, reconnecting to the land through taste, scent, and story. Inherently grounding, this activity shifted their perspectives toward a new sense of reciprocity and reverence for the Earth.
This immersive approach to land-based teaching will shape our own wellness space, Red Road Project, and inspire our emerging tech initiative, NativeAI, designed to keep Indigenous ecological wisdom alive through AI, VR, and AR.
OUR VISION GOES GLOBAL:
RED ROAD JOURNEY ON THE BBC WORLD SERVICE
MAY 2025
Navajo elder Tom Chee hosts a wellness workshop on the benefits of communicating with horses.
Red Road Journey co-founder Tony Skrelunas and Council Knowledge Keeper Tom Chee share thoughts during the horse workshop.
We’re deeply grateful for the opportunity to share our mission on the BBC’s famous "From Our Own Correspondent" program, which reaches a global audience of over 300 million listeners!
Navajo elder Tom Chee hosts a wellness workshop on the benefits of communicating with horses.
We're honored and grateful that Red Road Journey was recently featured on the BBC's renowned radio program "From Our Own Correspondent,", which has been running for over 60 years and focuses on reflective and personal journalistic dispatches from around the world. This flagship show reaches a global audience of over 300 million listeners!
Journalist Stephanie Theobald joined us for a special workshop led by Council Knowledge Keeper Tom Chee, a respected Navajo elder and horse whisperer, who shared powerful insights into the health benefits of equestrianism.
Later that day, Stephanie also joined us at a sacred Hopi Home Dance, a ceremony that calls for abundant rainfall for the proceeding corn season. Toward the final moments of the ceremony, the skies beautifully answered the prayers of the dancers as rain began to gently sprinkle over the mesa.
We warmly invite you to listen to this inspiring audio segment. Thank you to Stephanie and the BBC for providing us this incredible opportunity to share our story with the world!
WALKING WITH THE ANCESTORS:
A DAY OF APACHE CULTURAL WELLNESS
JUNE 2025
Elder and Council Knowledge Keeper Don Decker leads a talk and prayer at Boynton Canyon, the sacred origin place of the Apache Nation.
Don continues his talk to guests during a sunrise prayer ceremony at Boynton Canyon in Sedona.
Just next to Boynton Canyon is the revered Palatki Heritage Site, one of the most well-preserved recordings of ancient Sinaguan petroglyphs.
Elder and Council Knowledge Keeper Don Decker leads a talk and prayer at Boynton Canyon, the sacred origin place of the Apache Nation.
In collaboration with local Apache elders and knowledge keepers, Red Road Journey hosted a cultural wellness day on the sacred lands of Sedona. With generous support from our Council Knowledge Keeper Don Decker of the Yavapai-Apache Nation, the day opened with a powerful sunrise prayer at Boynton Canyon - honoring the Apache creation story and calling in strength for the year ahead.
Guests were guided through sacred sites including the ancient petroglyphs of Palatki and the cliff dwellings of Montezuma’s Castle, learning about the Sinaguan ancestors who once thrived on this land.
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The day came to a close at Wild Heart Farm in Rimrock, with a feast of acorn stew, corn dumplings, and fresh summer fruits prepared by a traditional Apache cook and shared in song and prayer.
This retreat reflects our growing vision for Red Road Project: a space which cultivates Indigenous-led wellness experiences that create economic opportunity for tribal communities while deepening cultural understanding in a respectful and honorable way.
SUPPORT OUR JOURNEY
All donations are tax-deductible and can be made through the platform below.
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We are currently raising funds for the development of Red Road Project, a wellness space that brings together Indigenous wisdom, community, and healing.
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Every contribution brings us closer to realizing our mission.
Aheeeiya (Ahéhee’)