Healing Homelands; Healing Hearts with Glen Pinkham

In this episode of Power of Place, you’ll hear the stories of Glen Pinkham, an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation and a respected elder and cultural mentor. Glen delves into the connections between heritage, healing, and the land, offering wisdom for anyone on a journey of growth and connection.

Through Glen’s captivating storytelling, we journey to the Yakima Valley, the ancestral homelands of the Yakama Nation, where rivers teem with salmon and skies are alive with migratory birds. His reflections on time-honored healing practices, such as sweat lodges adapted to urban settings, reveal how these rituals continue to nourish both body and spirit, bridging cultural lines.

Building on his work in South Central Washington, Glen supports Seattle’s urban Indigenous communities through organizations like Mother Nation, where he works alongside his wife, Yvette, as well as Chief Seattle Club. Amidst the bustle of city life, Glen’s teachings, grounded in Yakama traditions and landscapes, offer glimpses of rare and powerful medicine for the body and spirit. Tune in to this episode to experience surprising healing and insight.

Host: Edward Krigsman
Guests: Glen Pinkham
Sound Engineering: Daniel Gunther
Recording Studio: Jack Straw Cultural Center, Seattle
Photography: Travis Lawton
Administration: Mary Mansour
Series music: Theme by Tomo Nakayama as performed Grand Hallway; additional music by Andrew Weathers and Fox Hunt
Episode Music: Black Belt Eagle Scout

We record on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish peoples. Special thanks to Frances Lee and Deena Taylor. Many thanks to Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal and Cecil Eppinette.


When we say you share your personal trauma and your pain with another person, your sadness with another person, it turns it upside down as it turns into medicine. It helps them to heal.
— Glen Pinkham