He used to move people, now he shares how the spirits move him. Brian Dwayne Sarazin lives in Pikwakanagan on Golden Lake in Ontario with his young son. He is a painter, drummer and singer. Recently, he started competing with a drum group and he teaches the youth drum group. He works in schools and communities, teaching singing and drumming with youth.

Before engaging in this work, Sarazin was a truck driver and mover despite having pins in his hips since the age of 12. The pain from doing that work got so bad that the doctor recommended he retire from that line of work. Some local schools asked if he could share his cultural knowledge with classes and he considered the opportunity. He ended up in a diabetic coma and when he came out of it, he didn’t have anything else to do so he started to work with the schools. His spiritual journey while in his coma inspired his paintings.

Unable to rely on the trades he was trained in, he had to look elsewhere. “I had nothing but my culture to fall back onto, and my culture is taking care of me tremendously, and I'm so blessed, and I'm so happy to be doing what I do now. It takes me all over the place and all kinds of communities and events and just it's a blessed life, and I appreciate all of it,” Sarazin beams.

A couple years and a titanium hip later, Sarazin is doing better. He isn’t in pain but he feels different. He has good days and bad. He shares the messages he’s received in spirit art sessions, connecting with others and offering comfort through his connection to the next dimension. Inspiring youth with his teachings on doing good in the world and moving with positivity to bring positive outcomes, he’s working hard to help others learn to manifest the lives they want and find closure.

To maintain his mental wellness, Sarazin smokes his pipe, sings and prays to connect with the universe, the spirits and everything around him. “When it’s hard, that’s when I sing the hardest and the loudest,” he shares. He likes to put everything out there in his songs.

When it comes to inspiration, Sarazin looks to nature through hunting, fishing, and being out in the bush. “Being amongst all those trees man, and feeling that energy just takes you to a different place,” he reflects. For him, it’s an emotional, physical and mental experience.

His advice for aspiring artists is, “Keep at it. Keep going. Keep drawing, keep doodling, and you are your own worst critic…Just let Creator come through your hand, through your mind, and your vision, your sight and just go with it ... .Just let it flow. Don't stop, don't let anybody tell you differently, let them give you their criticism or their pointers or whatnot, and just take it and say, ‘Okay, thank you,’ and just keep going the way you want to go.”

Thinking of his big plans coming up, Sarazin has some art shows in Toronto based on water and a vision for the main piece. He hopes what he creates will bring him fame. He gets requests for custom pieces and some pieces can take a month and sometimes he makes seven pieces in a day. It all depends on his mood. Some pieces are four feet by four feet but he has made a mural.

His final words of inspiration are ”The spirits are always watching us. They're always there.” With that in mind, Sarazin encourages good behaviour and good deeds to bring good things into one’s life.

While he used to move people all over Canada and the US, now Brian Dwayne Sarazin shares with people how the spirits have moved him and the messages they have given him. When his trades failed him, he had his culture and his art to fall back on and it’s supporting him in a beautiful way to help others. Sharing his message that encourages positivity, he’s teaching youth to drum, sing and make good choices every day.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.