In American Indian symbolism, the bear represents courage, strength, protection and unity.  This is what Life Force supports people to find within.  Caro Jonas, a co-founder of Life Force Foundation, has personal experience of the power of American Indian rituals. 

The bear is concerned with the reaching of goals.  Just as a bear hibernates, so should we withdraw from our entanglements and seek refuge within.  The answers to our needs and the harmony we seek lie hidden in the silence, within the power of our personal knowing.

Bear also stresses the importance of the time to nurture our dreams and aspirations in a quiet period, and to seek ways to own them so they can become practical realities.

Bear is the power of the meditative state – the place of perfect balance and harmony.   We encourage our group members to take time to make meditation a part of their daily routine.  Strength comes from looking within.

The female bear is an extremely protective mother to her cubs. She guards them and teaches them intensively for the first six months of their life – a very vulnerable time. 

The bear symbolises everything that people need to find when they are feeling vulnerable after receiving diagnosis, undergoing treatment or trying to work out their new reality after treatment ends.

The bear can also be the “Teddy Bear”, to which we can all relate as a comforter.  There are teddy bears present at our group meetings to comfort and help soften sometimes difficult emotional journeys.

The three emblems hanging below the bear – bottlebrush, wattle and eucalyptus leaves – place the universal bear symbol in an Australian context. They represent the healing powers of the “bush”; powerful healing flora coming out of the ancient Australian landscape.

Bottlebrush represents serenity and calm, an ability to cope, and helps people move through major life changes.  It ‘brushes’ out the past and allows the person to move on.  Wattle gives a sense of optimism and acceptance of the beauty and joy in the present. Eucalypt promote motivation, direction and life purpose

We have no affiliation with any religion but to be able to access the life force within us, it is fundamental to encourage a belief in something “more”, while respecting each person’s interpretation of what that might be. Something more has to have meaning for the individual and could be a specific religious belief or simply choosing to fully live each day to the best of our ability.