Rimanakuy and Minga

Rimanakuy is a ceremonial practice rooted in Runa Shimi — the language of the Kichwa/Quechua peoples of South America — in which community members gather to share knowledge consensually, allowing understanding to emerge through relationship rather than pressure or directed outcome. A successful Rimanakuy ends in consensus. Its companion form, Minga, is a time-bounded working band of at least three people that both researches and takes direct action on the community needs that Rimanakuy surfaces. Together they are primary tools through which the Office cultivates Yachay — living, embodied knowledge — in community.

See also the Glossary — Quechua-Kichwa and Office Terms for concise definitions of all Runa Shimi terms used here.

Rimanakuy

What Rimanakuy Is

In Runa Shimi, Rimanakuy means speaking from the heart. It is a way of coming together in relationship — a ceremonial space of consensual knowledge-sharing where understanding is allowed to emerge and remain in relationship rather than being extracted, concluded, or directed toward a predetermined outcome.

Rimanakuy is not:

a method for producing consent, compliance, or directing behavior
a space designed to move people toward voting a certain way, joining something, or buying something
a debate, critique session, or information-extraction process

Rimanakuy is:

a space of consent, presence, patience, and emergence
a ceremony held for community research around a certain community need
a way of cultivating Yachay — knowing and acting through relationship — within a community

When several people are finding Rikchay (calling or function) in a certain area, they may come together in Rimanakuy to discover how each of them may work with their Kunan (current personal capacity) to be jointly responsible for meeting the need.

The Office facilitates Rimanakuy to support community research and consensus. The Medicine Wheel Cycle Facilitator holds Rimanakuy as part of the program's ceremonial backbone.

Spirit of the Space

Across all forms of Rimanakuy, the following are held:

Participants are not required to perform or have expert answers
One may speak, listen, or simply witness
One may take a break, step out, or return at any time
One may request to pause or reschedule if something arises
Questions are allowed to breathe — held open without debate, resolution, or conclusion

Actions do arise from Rimanakuy, but through what becomes genuinely alive and aligned within those present, not through pressure or direction.

Four Core Paths

Rimanakuy is diverse and multifaceted. Four core pathways have been identified through the ongoing research and PhD work of Alana Gamage (Vision Keeper), representing four common ways of entering into relationship:

Sacha — Relationship with the Living World

Entry into direct relationship with the living world through walking, sitting, noticing, sensing, and tending the land. The land itself becomes a teacher and a source of knowing. (See Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema for the full Kichwa ecological framework within which Sacha is situated.)

Runa — Relationship with a Person in Community

A person is held in honor within the context of their relationships. This person shares what is alive for them that is ready to be spoken. Others reflect on what is coming alive within them as they receive what has been shared. Through this exchange, something deeper becomes visible — both for the person and for the community witnessing them.

Allyu — Relationship with the Web of Relations

The community gathers in relationship with one another, with no materials. Beginning with lived experience — what is present, what has been lived, what is felt — often around something that matters to the Allyu. Through listening and sharing, participants come to understand not only themselves but each other, and what is forming between them.

Killka — Relationship with Expression of Knowledge

Entry into relationship with an expression of knowledge — a piece of writing, an image, or another form of research artifact. Participants notice what arises in them as they engage with it, hear the story of how it came to be, and return to it again in relationship, allowing new understanding to emerge.

Ways of Participating

The Office currently offers four ways of entering into Rimanakuy:

Enter into a Rimanakuy to explore the work itself (a Rimanakuy of Rimanakuy)
Invite a closed Rimanakuy around one of the four paths, held for a group of people you choose to gather
Open a Rimanakuy to the wider community around one of the four paths, allowing others to join
Join as a witness to a Rimanakuy that has already been scheduled and shared publicly

Rimanakuy in Practice

The agenda for a Rimanakuy for Elmer aka DoctaGonz — an art, smoothie, listening, and Ayni gathering — illustrates one lived form: an opening ceremony with land acknowledgment and spiritual grounding, a period of free exploration of the person's creative work, a listening round for witnessing, time for the honored person to share their story, and a closing that includes Ayni Notes (written offerings made in gratitude). This example shows Rimanakuy applied to the Runa path, honoring a community member's gifts through ceremonial listening rather than critique, business pitch, or product tasting.

Minga

What Minga Is

A Minga is a time-bounded working band that forms — typically as an outcome of Rimanakuy — to address complex community needs for a specific cycle (such as a Medicine Wheel Spiritual Container 6-day cycle, a lunar cycle, or a season). A successful Minga not only researches the means for meeting certain community needs, but also takes direct action in meeting those needs. This distinguishes Minga from Rimanakuy, which ends in consensus; Minga proceeds into action.

Formation Rules

A Minga requires at least three members to maintain sufficient Kunan (collective capacity)
Mingas form around a chosen time period: a medicine wheel cycle (6 days), a lunar cycle, a season, or another agreed term

Dissolution Rules

A Minga may disband at any time if membership drops below three people, because there is not enough Kunan to sustain it
A Minga is also disbanded when its chosen period of time elapses
Mingas may be re-established after the initial commitment is met, for another term of service — but this requires convening another Rimanakuy so the issue can be addressed with fresh perspectives

Facilitation

The Office facilitates Minga alongside Rimanakuy. The Medicine Wheel Cycle Facilitator holds Minga facilitation as a registry function. The Follow Through Keeper, the Hampina Program Lead, and the Community & Membership Coordinator are also mapped to Minga facilitation in the Office's Kichwa role schema.

Yachaypak — Extensions and Applications of Yachay

Yachaypak names the extensions and applications of Yachay in community life. Rimanakuy is a living indigenous research practice — not a fixed formula — and can be held in different ways depending on what is wanting to be explored, tended, witnessed, clarified, healed, strengthened, or brought into right relationship. What remains constant is the spirit:

people gather in relationship
a space is held with care
knowledge is shared consensually
understanding is allowed to emerge
action arises from what becomes genuinely alive and aligned within the space

Kichwa-Named Applications

Kichwa Term	Application Focus
Minga	Collective work — clarifying what work is needed, who feels called, what capacities are present, how work may be shared in a good way
Ayni	Reciprocity — what has been received, what wants to be given back, how value may be understood beyond transactional exchange (see Ayni)
Llaki	Sorrow or grief — creating a space where what is heavy can be witnessed, spoken, and held in relationship without rushing healing
Wakcha	Severance or deep disconnection — exploring where disconnection is felt, what relationships have been broken, what pathways of reconnection may be emerging
Kamachik	Shared guidance and agreements — co-creating norms or best practices that arise from shared understanding rather than imposed control
Sumak Kawsay	Living well in right relationship — visioning, life design, seasonal reflection, community planning (see Alli Kawsay for the Office's seven pathways of community wellbeing)
Mashikuna	Friendship and intimate relationship — reflection on how relationships are being lived, what intimacy requires, how closeness can be brought into greater alignment
Rimay	Speech and dialogue — how people are speaking with one another, what conversations need to happen, how truth can be spoken from the heart
Yachay	Living knowledge itself — gatherings around a text, a research artifact, a teaching, or the practice of Rimanakuy itself

Western-Named Applications

Rimanakuy may also be organized around topics named in Western language while still being held through an indigenous relational method. Examples include: leadership, conflict transformation, policy reflection, education, accountability, governance, family systems, grief support, organizational planning, community decision-making, decolonization, language revitalization, artistic process, and collective visioning.

In these cases, the topic may be named in familiar Western terms, but the process remains rooted in relationship, consent, patience, and emergence. Rimanakuy can serve as a bridge — meeting people within Western frameworks and vocabularies while inviting them into a different way of knowing and acting through relationship.

Relationship to Other Office Frameworks

Wasi, Sacha, and the Kichwa Ecological Role Schema — The Wasi schema identifies Rimanakuy and Minga as facilitated roles within the community ecosystem. Wasi Runa (beneficiary-contributors) are invited to participate in Rimanakuy and Minga as they feel called to offer deeper support.
Alli Kawsay — Alli Kawsay's seven pathways of community wellbeing are tended through what that page calls the Five Listening Seeds of Rimanakuy.
Personal Sovereignty and Narrative Sovereignty — Rimanakuy operationalizes sovereignty through consent: no one is pressured to speak, perform, or produce, and knowledge is shared on each participant's own terms.
CoALA and the Hampina Path — Rimanakuy is woven into the CoALA learning model, including the Sacha, Runa, Allyu, and Killka paths as ways of cultivating Yachay through curriculum.
Medicine Wheel Spiritual Container — Rimanakuy and Minga may be convened within any phase of the six-day ceremonial cycle, with Minga duration aligned to cycle lengths (6-day, lunar, or seasonal).

Key Runa Shimi Terms (Quick Reference)

Term	Meaning as used here
Rimanakuy	Speaking from the heart; ceremonial consensual knowledge-sharing; ends in consensus
Minga	Time-bounded working band (≥3 people) that researches and takes direct action; forms post-Rimanakuy
Yachay	Living, embodied knowledge — knowing and acting through relationship
Yachaypak	Extensions and applications of Yachay in community life
Kunan	Current personal (or collective) capacity
Rikchay	Calling; the function that serves the wider ecology
Allyu	Community; the web of relations (also the third Rimanakuy path)
Killka	Expression; written or visual form of knowledge (also the fourth Rimanakuy path)
Runa Shimi	The indigenous language of the Kichwa/Quechua peoples; the language from which these terms come

Full definitions for all terms appear in the Glossary — Quechua-Kichwa and Office Terms.