JEFFREY HUAMANCHEQ WIUM
My childhood was filled with nature, sports and the relative ease of small-town life. At ten, my family moved to suburbia and by my mid-teens I was suffering from homogeny, rebellion and the absence of spiritual touchstones.
After high school, I spent ten years building a multimedia career in metropolitan centers and foreign environments. I learned technical skills, business practices, design language and life lessons while navigating international cultures, politics, finance, science, art, humanities, ideology and ethics. I felt a strong sense of accomplishment and independence, but there was something missing. In 1990, I changed course and accepted a scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute. The following year I relocated to Los Angeles to work in commercial television production.
In 1992, I was introduced to traditional sweat lodge ceremony. I returned every month to explore the wisdom, practices, authenticity and prayerful ways of being. The elder-grandmother facilitator encouraged me to walk my true path, seek deeper answers, release my mind and reconnect with nature. Through her experiential wisdom and guidance I began to explore the tenets of conscious living and the sanctity of daily life.
By 1994, I was burnt out from production and took a break in the redwood forests of Northern California. There, I slept until noon, lived without a schedule, sat under the giant trees and contemplated life. After a six month reset, I returned to Los Angeles to begin directing. During my first production, in the midst of directing actors and crew, I had a powerful realization that my professional life was incongruent with my personal and spiritual needs. In that moment, I saw the cost of my occupation, fast-paced lifestyle and the impact of living at a distance from nature. I was 28 years old and experiencing a fundamental change of heart, mind, emotion and value.
For several months, I searched for a production company with environmental consciousness. I didn’t find one. I decided to change course and move to Oregon to focus on personal wellbeing. I took a local production job and spent a lot of time outdoors enjoying nature, the slower pace, kind people, biking, mountaineering, winter snowstorms and summer swims. I felt myself winding down and finding my center.
Then one evening, while riding in the hills, I had a spontaneous mystical experience that altered my reality. I was at a loss for words or reference, and needed guidance to help navigate these new realms. My chiropractor introduced me to a Qigong Master who invited me to study the art form. Later that year, I received the Buddhist Avaloketesvara initiation and set out on an educational journey to China, Tibet, Nepal and India.
After the academic programs concluded, I stayed in Lhasa to explore the Tibetan ways of life and search for answers. While there, I had a deeply moving experience with a group of monks who invited me to join their ceremony. When I sat down, a monk placed his yellow hat on my head, wrapped a woolen robe around my shoulders and encouraged me to chant. I began making their multi-tonal, guttural sounds. To my surprise I knew how to do it. The monks and Rinpoche smiled. I smiled back with joy, astonishment and an overwhelming sense of sacredness.
From Lhasa, I travelled into the high plateau to spend time at a monastery near Chomolungma (Everest). While there, I had another inexplicable experience with an elder, adept caretaker who was observing me throughout the day. Late that afternoon, he approached and asked about my reason for visiting. I replied, “meditating.” This didn’t satisfy his question. He repeated himself a couple of times. And then, in a commanding voice, shaking his broom vigorously above his head, he 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!”
I was stunned, confused and a bit resistant. Days later I had a spirit encounter at a Buddhist temple in Lhasa where I was instructed to travel to the Himalayas in northern India. I boarded a plane for Kathmandu to get a visa, and during my stopover, I had another supernatural experience– this time guide by 100 plus monkeys at a Buddhist-Hindu temple. I sat there in awe and tearful disbelief, feeling like the great mystery was revealing Itself to me in real time, without filters or instruction.
I flew on to New Delhi and boarded a 12-hour bus to the Tibetan enclave at Dharmsala. En route, I met a western monk who pointed me to a quiet refuge with accommodation. I spent my time exploring, visiting temples, meditating and thinking about documentary projects with the Tibetan government in exile. At a tea house, I learned of Gautama Buddha's birthplace in Nepal and arranged overland travel to experience this holy site. What I found there felt like both a point of origin and a bottomless pool.
With the words of the Tibetan caretaker ringing in my ears, I returned to America and began studying the philosophy and lifeways of the Lipan Apache. I shifted my work to media projects based on ecology, spirituality, sustainability and outdoor adventure. Two years later I met the mother of my children, built a community-based homestead, and learned to balance commercial and non-profit work as a producer/director/cameraman.
In 2002, I was injured while filming a reality television series. It was my own reality check. Through my recuperation process I came in contact with more comprehensive and integrative mental, emotional, physical and energetic ways of healing. Inspired, I began studying wholistic health utilizing the educational and professional retraining provided by the production company. I spent the next four years researching, studying, certifying and creating a interdisciplinary consultation and healing practice.
In June 2005, I traveled to the Peruvian Andes to attend an energy medicine conference in the Sacred Valley. While there, indigenous practitioners invited me to return and begin traditional studies. This apprenticeship felt like a true homecoming– one that offered a path for expanding consciousness while integrating my personal, professional and spiritual lives. I made regular journeys to the highlands and jungles where elders, paqos, shaman and maestros helped me develop more wholistic ways of living based on animistic consciousness, innate divinity and multidimensional reality. Their sacred teachings and experiential wisdom taught me how to better navigate perceptual complexities and incomplete thought forms while operating in a world of conflict and contamination.
In January of 2007 I was invited into the celestial realms of the Andean Inkan lineage. I began a more intensive period of experiential learning and was asked to organize retreats in Peru and other countries to help people awaken consciousness.
Eighteen months later, I received a vision to make a film conveying the sacred lifeways of the Andean-Inkan tradition. I shared the vision with Tupaq wherein he smiled and said that he’d had the same vision a few months earlier. We agreed to collaborate and see how it unfolded.
A couple of weeks later, I was sharing my experience with an American colleague. He listened intently and unexpectedly offered philanthropic funding on the spot. We began pre-production in October 2008 and started filming in January of 2009. After ten expeditions over the course of twenty-two months, we wrapped field production and shifted to editorial, soundtrack development, translation and film mastering. Throughout this time, I was learning how to balance the needs of the project, marriage, family, friends, parenting, teaching, clientele, home construction and on-going initiations. It was full on, hands-on life education.
In January 2014, I began a six-year journey offering film screenings, cosmological talks, personal consultations and program retreats. When borders closed in 2020, I landed in the United States to rest, reconfigure and spend more time with my children. Since then, my work has moved largely online with biannual, in-person retreats at our Peruvian facility and cosmological programs in other sacred lands.
Throughout it all, I have been tending the fire by creating projects and experiential opportunities to engage wholistic wisdom, sacred practices and sustainable models that have, for the most part, been lost to time and modern culture. The wisdom itself is not mine. I am a messenger. My work is rooted in transparency, freedom, empowerment, interdependence, mutual benefit and joy. My terra firma is self-responsibility, contemplation, communication, co-creation and collective council. I am humbled by the lessons and life-learning, and the magic in it all.
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 – Nature Ceremonies – Mentoring
RESEARCH, EDUCATION & INITIATION
2021–Present Andean Inkan Wholistic Lifeways Conveyance
2017–Present Bioenergetic Quantum Research Initiative : Europe, UK and US
2007–Present Andean Inkan Celestial Practitionership : Peruvian Andes, Global
2004–Present Andean Inkan Energy Medicine Research : Peruvian Andes, Global
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, Union and Initiation Ceremonies : Global
2000 Natural Horsemanship Instruction and Backcountry Guiding : 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 HHDL Tibetan Buddhist Avaloketesvara Initiation : Los Angeles
1996 Oregon College of Oriental Medicine Qigong Certifications : Portland
1990–1993 San Francisco Art Institute and Santa Monica College : California
1988–1990 Camera Assistant Studio and Office Manager : New York, London and Paris
1986–1988 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/Editorial : 1991–Present
BIOINTEGRATIVE ARCHITECTURE : Wholistic Design and Sustainable Construction : 2002–Present
LIVING WISDOM EDUCATION : Wholistic Living Programs and Videos : 2019–Present
– Conscious Living Series, 1-35
– Sacred Ways of Living Series, 1-36
– Moon Gatherings Community Series, 1-65
– House of the Sun Community Series, 1-9
– 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 Development Documentary
– New Perspectives in Economic Renewal : Socio-Economic Revitalization Project
– Children of the Earth Foundation : Camp Administrator, Medic and Promotional Video Production
– Skyline Ranch : Backcountry Natural Horsemanship Guide and Video Production
– Sustainable Living Project : Ecology-based Educational and Instructional Multimedia
– 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 & Snowboard Tours, Swatch Boarder-X Tours
– U.S. Paralympic Ski Championships & FIS World Cup Ski Competitions
– U.S. Ski Team Instructional Videos and Board Wild Series
– More Than A Game : ABC-TV Pro Athlete Mentoring Series
– Traveling Man : Finnish TV-CBC Lifestyle Documentary Series
– Wind & Fire Alpine Balloon Traverse & Hood-to-Coast Ultra Marathons : OLN
– Oregon Outdoors : ABC-TV Series, Zion Narrows Canyoneering & 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 Assist/AC/OP/Scout/Manager/Field Producer/Post : LA, 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 : Europe 1990
MONSTAFERCROPPITY : 1st AC/Studio and Office Manager/Coordinator/Portfolio Design/Casting : Paris, 1989
NICOLAYSON PHOTOGRAPHIC : Camera Assistant and Studio Manager : New York, 1988
PRINT, TV and STAGE TALENT : Asia, Europe and the Americas, 1986–1988