ANCESTRAL ROOTS

Lilita Matison, LCSW

Lilita Matison, LCSW is an integrative social worker.  For the past 20 years, she has served as a teacher, clinician, and program manager in various university and educational settings.

Lilita is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Social Work.  After receiving her MSW, she served as the Administrator of the University of Michigan Complementary and Alternative Research Center.  Her work focused on developing clinical & educational programming within the Integrative Medicine program.  As the Co-Director of University of Michigan Stress Management Services, Lilita counseled individuals, facilitated mind-body skills groups and trained graduate students in stress management and self-care skills.

For the past decade, Lilita has created, implemented and directed Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs in K-12 schools.  She continues to supervise educators, school counselors, school social workers, and leaders in education in bringing mindfulness practices into the classroom.  

Lilita is a Fulbright scholar and leads professional training workshops in mind-body therapies for social workers, counselors, psychotherapists, and teachers from around the globe. She is a first generation Latvian-American and is deeply connected to her heritage.  Lilita has offered integrative healing workshops and courses at the University of Latvia in Riga.  She is interested in trans-generational trauma and the impacts of war and resettlement on family systems.

Lilita is the author of “Bye-Bye Butterflies:  Seven Ways To Breathe Out Worry”, a children’s book that was published in English, French, Spanish, and Latvian.  In the Spring 2020, a video version of the book was created with the intention of offering mind-body tools to children worldwide.

Lilita has been a faculty member at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine since 2006 and holds social work licensure in Michigan.

Krista Augius, artist, DPT, KYT

Krista Augius is a Los Angeles based multimedia artist. Raised in Chicago as a Lithuanian American, she grew up around her grandparents who were artists. An artist from an early age with a vigor for the imaginative and wonder in life, Augius explored painting, writing, photography, film, singing and songwriting throughout her life. Studying science, her appreciation of life and form grew with a developing analytical eye and led her to be a doctor of physiotherapy. Evolving her style of expression came alongside exploring all that life offered her from world travel to over 35 countries with feasts to the senses of immense beauty, culture, and experiences. Her personal life challenges of experiencing murder, sexual assault, betrayal and surviving illness shaped the depth and fortitude of her character and the depth of her art and her expression. Her work as a healer, yoga and meditation teacher has offered insight and inspiration with deep connection to humanity and all that it offers and all that there is to explore...

Augius has shown her art in international exhibitions such as Art Market, the LA Art Show and museums such as MAACA in Italy. Her artwork has also appeared in movies such as Iron Man III and Fast and Furious 7. She is the author of Stolen by Moon Fairies, that was published in english and translated into lithuanian and italian. Set in a time where the lives of humans and the forces of nature are mystically intertwined, Stolen by Moon Fairies is Book One of a poetic fairy tale series about a human baby that is stolen from her mother near an Enchanted Forest. She is transported to a magical fairy world where the babe is raised as fairy. She learns their mysterious ways until the natural forces and spirits of the world intervene to help return the child to her mother. The plot thickens as a witch enters the scene and starts to meddle with her witchcraft. Imaginative illustrations accompany the fairytale that enrich the viewer’s visual imagination.