JEFFREY HUAMANCHEQ WIUM
My childhood was filled with nature, exploration, sports and the relative ease of small-town life. At ten, my family moved to the suburbs of a city. And by my mid-teens, I was feeling disconnected, rebellious and increasingly alone. I was suffering from an abundance of pavement and a shortage of meaningful culture and touchstones.
After graduating high school, I followed an invitation to work overseas. I spent my twenties developing a multimedia career, living in metropolitan centers, working in demanding environments and navigating foreign locations. I learned life lessons, technical skills and business practices. I explored international culture, politics, finance, art, humanities, science, ideology and ethics. I also experienced the need for more ethical operations and integrative systems.
My hands-on education offered a strong sense of comprehension, accomplishment and freedom. Even though I felt satisfied in many ways, there was still a deeper, more enigmatic calling to something deeper. It reached a tipping point in 1990. I decided to shift tack and accepted a scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute. A year later, I moved to Los Angeles to work in music video and commercial production. While there, I was introduced to a local artist-grandmother who invited me to join her monthly sweat lodge ceremonies. I found inspiration in her wisdom, authenticity, ceremony and prayerful ways of being. She encouraged me to walk my path, seek deeper answers, release the mind and reconnect with nature.
By 1994, I was feeling burnt out from work and took a sabbatical in the coastal redwoods of Northern California, not far from my childhood home. In the quiet of the trees, I slept until noon, walked with no time or destination, unwound my stress and searched for meaning.
After six months of rejuvenation, I returned to Los Angeles to fulfill my goal of directing. It was there, on set, in the middle of managing actors and crew, that I realized my professional life was incongruent with my personal and spiritual needs. I became acutely aware of the cost of my occupation, fast-paced lifestyle and distance from nature. I was 28-years-old and feeling a fundamental change of heart, mind, emotion and purpose.
I spent the next six months searching for a conscious production company. To no avail, I sorted my belongings and relocated to Oregon to focus on my own wellbeing. I took a local production job to cover expenses and spent most of my time out-of-doors. I enjoyed the slower pace, kind people, riding my mountain bike across town in winter snowstorms and stopping for a river swim in the the heat of summer.
One evening, while biking in the hills, I had a spontaneous mystical experience that dramatically shifted my reality. I was stunned, at a complete loss for words and reference point. I realized then that I needed proper guidance to help navigate this reality. My chiropractor/friend introduced to a Chinese qigong master who invited me to explore the art form. Seven months later, I received the Tibetan Avaloketesvara initiation and undertook an educational journey to China and Tibet to study with several masters.
When our programs concluded, I stayed in Tibet to explore my inner and outer terrain. One day, while visiting a temple, I had a deeply moving experience with a group of monks who invited me to join their ceremony. Feeling out of place, I sat down and a monk placed his traditional yellow hat on my head and wrapped his woolen robe around my shoulders. He encouraged me to chant. To my surprise, I knew how to make their guttural tones. I chanted with them for some time. All 50 or so monks and their Rinpoche smiled with pleasure. I smiled back. I felt a deep sense of peace, knowing, and familiarity. This experience stirred a sense of connection and resonance in me. It also offered insight into the Great Mystery that presented itself to and through me back in Oregon.
Days later, I travelled into the Tibetan plateau, to a monastery close to Chomolungma (Mount Everest). There, I had an encounter with an elder, adept caretaker who had been observing my movements and meditation. Late that afternoon, he asked about my reasons for visiting. My answer was clearly not satisfactory. He strengthened his voice and shook his broom, repeating his query several times. He then said, “Go Home! You won’t find what you are looking for here! You will find the answers you seek in the land where you were born!”
What?! Why? When? Who?… How?…
My return ticket was some weeks away so I departed for Nepal and onward to India to follow a vision I had received. During my visa stopover in Kathmandu, I had another supernatural experience that stretched my reality further. My mind had no reference for what was occurring. It was as if life’s mysteries and orchestrations were being revealed to me in real time without a filter or instruction.
I flew on to New Delhi and took a 12-hour bus to the Tibetan enclave at Dharmsala. En route, I met a German monk who pointed me to a quiet refuge at the edge of town. I spent my days meditating, visiting temples, exploring landscapes, contemplating reality and discussing documentary ideas with the Tibetan government in exile. I traveled south into Nepal to visit the birthplace of Gautama Buddha and sat there with the Tibetan caretaker’s insistence that I look to my birth country’s native wisdom.
When I returned to America, I began studying the philosophy and lifeways of the Lipan Apache. I refocused my media projects on ecology, sustainability and wilderness adventure. A couple of years later, I met the mother of my children, purchased a homestead and began designing and building facilities for our Living Center project.
Then, in 2002, while filming a reality tv series, I sustained injuries that became my own reality check. Through my recuperation process, I became aware of the limitations of allopathic medicine and the deep need for more integrative mental, emotional and energetic methodology.
I shifted my career track to wholistic health and spent the next four years researching, studying, certifying and weaving it all into a professional practice. I found inspiration in learning, purpose in helping others, and gratitude for ABC television covering the costs of my educational and professional transformation. It was during this period that I learned to see obstacles as opportunities in disguise.
In 2005, I traveled to the Andes to attend an energy medicine conference in the Peruvian highlands. While there, indigenous medicine practitioners invited me to study directly, one-to-one. This was my first apprenticeship with the Andean-Inkan Holy Mountain Tradition. It was a deep homecoming – one that offered a harmonic pathway to integrating my personal, professional and spiritual lives.
I made regular educational journeys into the highlands and deep forests to work with maestros. They helped me better understand my inner world and how to integrate their ancient, unbroken, multidimensional cosmology. In 2007, I was invited into the tradition’s celestial realms and began an intensive period of in-field training and exposure to non-duality and collective consciousness. Nine months later, I was initiated by a lightning strike to the head. The Elder Ones asked me to organize Andean retreats, travel abroad to convey wholistic wisdom and help people develop more conscious ways of living.
In August 2008, while pilgrimaging in the Peruvian highlands, I received a vision to make the film Wisdomkeepers, Paqo Andino. During a rest, I shared the vision with my Andean colleague. He smiled and said that he had had the same vision a few months earlier, but didn’t know how to do it. We agreed to collaborate and see how it showed up.
Back home, a couple of weeks later, I called a friend to share my experience. He was silent for a long moment then said that he and his family would like to provide funding for the project. Wow. Beautiful. We began pre-production and stated filming in January 2009. We wrapped production in October 2010 after ten expeditions in the Andes where we filmed between 12,000 and 16,000 feet.
During production and editorial, I learned to balance the needs of relationship, family, friends, parenting, filmmaking, teaching, clientele, homestead construction and my own initiation process. It was full on. I was learning to plan and flow with the unknown, juggle demands, keep a steady hand, and get out of the way while birthing the vision. Life edu.
In January 2014, I began a six-year journey offering film screenings, cosmological talks, consultations, in-person programs and retreats worldwide. When international borders closed in 2020, I landed in Montana to reconfigure, rest and spend more time with my children.
Since 2006, I have produced a series of projects and educational opportunities to convey wholistic lifeways and sacred practices that have, for the most part, been lost to time and modern culture. The wisdom itself is not my own. I am a messenger. I base my work on conscious living principles, self-responsibility, non-duality, community, sovereignty, trust, inner wisdom and sustainability. I dedicate myself to caring for our inner fire and creating opportunities for wholistic wellbeing based on honesty, freedom, interdependency, mutual benefit, empowerment and joy. I find life best lived naturally with courage and humility as guarantees, and community consciousness as encouragement to fly.
EXPERIENCE & EDUCATION
1986 - PRESENT
Audio – Video – Film – Photography – Writing – Webcrafting
Biointegrative Architecture – Ecological and Environmental Design
Creative Development – Consultation – Production
2004 - PRESENT
Integrative Wellness Practitioner – Educator – Wholistic Coach
Conscious Living Programs – Immersive Healing Retreats
Online Offerings – Mentorship – Nature Ceremonies
RESEARCH, EDUCATION & INITIATION
2021–Present Andean-Inkan Wholistic Lifeways Conveyance
2017–Present Bioenergetic Quantum Research Initiative : Europe and UK
2007–Present Andean-Inkan Celestial Practitionership : Peruvian Andes, Global
2004–Present Andean-Inkan Energy Medicine Research : Peruvian Andes, United States and Europe
2004–2006 Andean Pampamisayoq Apprenticeship : Peruvian Andes
2004 Hawaiian Lomilomi Massage LMT Certification : Hawai'i
2004 Positional Release Therapy PRT Certification : United States
2003–2004 Kripalu Yoga Teacher RYT Certification : United States
2002 Wilderness First Responder Medic Certification : United States
2001–Present Ministry : Birth, Life, Death and Union-Nature Ceremonies : Global
2000 Natural Horsemanship, Instruction and Backcountry Guiding Season : Colorado
1999–2004 Usui-Tibetan-Sai Baba Reiki I, II & III : New Zealand and Hawai’i
1999–2002 Tracker Indigenous Skills, Philosophy and Scout Training School : California and New Jersey
1996 Chinese Academy of Somatic Science : Beijing and Lhasa
1996 Oregon College of Oriental Medical Qigong / Avaloketesvara Initiation
1993 University of California Los Angeles / Santa Monica College
1990–1991 San Francisco Art Institute
1988–1990 Camera Assistant Studio and Office Manager : New York, London and Paris
1985–1988 On-Camera Talent : Asia, Europe and the Americas
1967– Life…
PERSONAL, PROFESSIONAL, CULTURAL & IDEOLOGICAL
North, Central and South America, Caribbean, Europe, Scandinavia, Arctic, Middle East, East Africa, Tibetan Plateau, Himalayas, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Hawai’i
MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION & WHOLISTIC DESIGN
WIUMWORKS MEDIA : Writer/Producer/Director/Cinematographer/Stills/Sound/Editor : 1991–Present
BIOINTEGRATIVE ARCHITECTURE : Wholistic Design and Sustainable Construction : 2002–Present
LIVING WISDOM EDUCATION : Wholistic Living Programs and Videos : 2019–Present
– Conscious Living Series 1-5
– Sacred Ways of Living Series 1-3
– Moon Gatherings Community Programs 1-65
– Intiwasi Inka Community Programs 1-8
– Uri Marama Toa Healing Haka
– Te Raku Rangimarie Peace Offering
WISDOMKEEPERS, PAQO ANDINO : Feature Documentary, Peru : 2009-2013
REDBULL BAFFIN ISLAND B.A.S.E. JUMP PROJECT : Television Feature, Arctic Nunavut Nation : 2003
THE MOLE : ABC-TV 13-part Reality Television Challenge Series : 2002
BEYOND THE RED PLANET : Feature Documentary , United States, Jordan and Australia : 2000
GREAT HIKES : OLN 13-part Ecological Adventure Series : 1997
– Wild Coastlines, Rainforests and Conservation, Washington
– Grand Staircase Ecology and Impact Abatement, Utah
– Blast Zone Regeneration and Ecosystem Integration, Washington
– Mountaineering and Avalanche Safety, Oregon
– Fire in the Natural Cycle and Family Hiking, California
– Spirit Walking and Federal Designation, Oregon
– Polynesian Heritage, International Trade and Environmental Impact, Hawai’i
AMERICAN RIVER JOURNALS : OLN 26-part Watershed Ecology Series : 1996
– Clearcut Harvesting, Landslides and Turbulent Waters, Oregon
– Natural Ecosystem Maintenance and Eco-Tourism, Florida
– Water Quality, Manatee Protection and Path to Recovery, Florida
– Preservation by National Decree, California
– Flood Control Politics, Heritage and Habitat, California
– Water Diversion, Cooperative Managemt and Preservation, Hawai’i
– Native Species Degradation and Sacred Watershed, Hawai’i
ECOLOGY & SUSTAINABILITY PROJECTS : Freelance Writer, Producer, Director, Cameraman and Editor : 1996-2000
– Nawiliwili Bay / EPA Watershed Restoration Project : Regenerative Economy Documentary
– New Perspectives in Economic Renewal : Socio-Economic Revitalization Project
– Children of the Earth Foundation : Camp Administrator, Medic and Promotional Video Production
– Skyline Ranch : Natural Horsemanship, Backcountry Guide and Adventure Video Production
– Sustainable Living Project : Ecology-based Educational Multimedia Project
– Real Goods Solar Living Center : Systems and Facility Instructional Videos
– Tibetan University of International Business and Economics : Economic Development Assistance
– Oregon Yurtworks and Synergist Saddles : Instructional and Marketing Videos
– Soaring Crane Qigong and Nada Yoga : Instructional Audio–Video Series
OUTDOOR SPORTS & ADVENTURE SERIES : Ski-based, Aerial and Action Cameraman : 1996-2000
– Red Bull Extreme Ski and Snowboard Competitions
– FIS World Cup Ski and Swatch Boarder-X Tours
– U.S. Paralympic Ski Championships
– World Ski and Snowboard Festivals
– Hood to Coast Ultra Marathon Relays
– Board Wild and Ski Time Adventure Programs
– U.S. Ski Team Speed, Tuning and Technical Skills
– More Than A Game : ABC-TV Pro Athletes Inspirational Mentoring Programs
– Traveling Man : Finnish TV-CBC Lifestyle Documentaries
– Oregon Outdoors : ABC-TV Outdoor Adventure Series
– Wind and Fire : OLN Continental Divide Balloon Challenge
– Zion Narrows Canyoneering and Royal Gorge Cross Country
TCI MEDIA SERVICES : Lead Writer/Producer/Director/Cameraman/Editor : Oregon, 1995–1996
ATLAS PICTURES : Co-Writer/Director, Anheuser-Busch National Campaign : Los Angeles, 1995
CUCOLORIS and PROPAGANDA FILMS : Director’s Assistant/AC/Op/Location Scout-Mgr/Field Producer/Post : Los Angeles, 1992–1994
FREELANCE WRITER / PRODUCER / DIRECTOR / CAMERAMAN / EDITOR : Los Angeles, 1991–1994
– EMI & Virgin Music America : Corporate Merger Artist Video
– James Funk, Virgin Music America : Electronic Press Kit
– Caffeine, Paradigm Productions : Interview–Talk Show Pilot
CONDE NAST PUBLICATIONS, VANITY FAIR MAGAZINE : Photography Assistant to French Editor : Paris, 1990
MONSTAFERCROPPITY : Studio and Office Manager/1st AC/Coordinator/Portfolio Design/Casting : Paris, 1989
NICOLAYSON PHOTOGRAPHIC : Camera Assistant and Studio Manager : New York, 1988
PRINT, TV and STAGE PRODUCTION TALENT : Asia, Europe and the Americas, 1985–1987