Sveiki!

Baltic Wisdom is a nonprofit organization, seeking 501(c)(3) status, dedicated to preserving, revitalizing, and sharing the ancient nature-based cultural and healing traditions of Latvia and the Baltic region. We protect a rare European Indigenous lineage that has survived for thousands of years through song, story, pirts (sauna ritual), plant medicine, and an animist relationship with land and spirit.

Through education, translation, research, and community engagement, we support cultural carriers, teach traditional healing practices, and make this ancestral wisdom accessible to future generations and global learners seeking reconnection to nature, ancestry, and wholeness.

Baltic Wisdom also serves Latvian diaspora communities, helping families reclaim cultural identity, ritual, and embodied belonging. Our work blends traditional knowledge with modern integrative health and ecological awareness, offering pathways for personal healing, community resilience, and cultural continuity in a time of widespread disconnection.

Hands arranging various colorful flowers and greenery on a yellow outdoor table, with a grassy area in the background.

The founders of Baltic Wisdom are part of this lineage of cultural continuity. By carrying forward ancestral healing traditions, pirts ritual, song, folklore, and nature-based wisdom, they continue the work of their ancestors - protecting Latvian heritage so it lives in future generations.

Person holding small white daisy flowers with yellow centers in their hands, outdoors with grass and a sidewalk in the background.

Founders

Baltic Wisdom was founded by three Latvian-heritage women, Laila Gislason, Liga Svikss, and Anda Bolsteins Allison, who met as teenagers at the Latvian summer high school, Garezers, in Michigan. Founded in 1965 by displaced freedom fighters after World War II, the school was created to protect Latvian language, culture, and identity during Soviet occupation. It became a sanctuary where Latvian children of the diaspora learned the songs, stories, history, and spirit that their grandparents fought to preserve.

A woman standing outdoors on a wooden bridge, smiling, with colorful trees and a lake in the background during fall.

A woman dressed in traditional Lithuanian attire with a wreath of flowers and greenery on her head, holding a bouquet of flowers, standing by a lake with trees in the background.

Founder
Laila Gislason is a heart-led researcher, writer, certified meditation and mindfulness practitioner, and healing facilitator whose work explores how ancient wisdom traditions can restore psychological well-being, cultural resilience, and ecological belonging. As a Master of Clinical Social Work candidate at the University of Michigan, she studies evidence-based methods and ancient knowledge systems for healing “separation” wounds, with a focus on sacred singing (Latvia’s dainas) and the pirts sauna healing tradition.
Her upcoming PhD research examines how ancient technologies for maintaining wholeness, systemic nondualistic worldviews, and sensory connection to nature support emotional regulation, cultural resilience, and compassionate relationality with self, community, ancestry, land, and the more-than-human world. Integrating modern neuroscience with the wisdom of Indigenous knowledge-keepers, she explores how clarity of voice and vision, embodied sound, relationship with nature, and place-based practice impact nervous system regulation, the reopening of critical learning periods, health and wellness, and ecological consciousness.
Before turning to research and cultural preservation, Laila spent more than a decade in strategic leadership roles across nonprofits, startups, and Fortune 100 companies, developing mission-driven initiatives in culture change, wellness, and contemplative technology. Through lineage, scholarship, and lived practice, she aims to carry forward ways of compassionate relationality with nature, including our own human true nature, through song, story, art, plant medicines, and relationship with land as pathways back to human and planetary wholeness.
Founder, Latvian Sauna Ritual Master & Wellness Guide
Liga Svikss carries forward the deep traditions of her ancestors through the ancient art of the Latvian sauna ritual, pirts. Her path was shaped from an early age by her earth & folksong-loving grandmother, who taught her to listen to the rhythms of nature, respect the forest, and understand the healing power of plants. Liga creates sauna experiences that cleanse, restore, and reconnect people to their bodies and the natural world. Her rituals combine traditional herbal practices, aromatherapy, and gentle energy work, offering warmth, grounding, and a sense of being deeply cared for.
Based near Woodstock, New York, Liga (Latvian Sauna Ritual) offers private sessions, workshops, and cultural retreats. She also leads seasonal sauna rituals aligned with the ancient Latvian calendar, honoring the rhythm of nature in each ceremony. Her approach is unhurried and intentional, nothing forced, nothing rushed, just a steady return to balance and breath.
Before dedicating herself to wellness full-time, Liga earned her BFA from Parsons School of Design and spent many years in marketing, photography, design, event production, and as a small business owner. She has apprenticed and trained with respected sauna masters in Latvia and guides both individual and group saunas. Above all, her work continues her grandmother’s legacy, preserving pirts as a living art and making it accessible to anyone who feels called to learn.
Founder
Anda Bolsteins Allison is a coach, consultant, and educator specializing in emotional and nervous system regulation. Through her practice, Refocus with Anda, LLC, she works with individuals and groups to build resilience, self-awareness, and healthier patterns of daily living. Many of her clients are navigating ADHD, stress, burnout, or major life transitions, and she offers practical tools that support both emotional balance and everyday functioning.
Anda’s work is also shaped by her Latvian heritage. She grew up in a family where Latvian culture, language, and traditions were a central part of life. She attended Latvian Saturday school, spent summers at Latvian camps, danced in folk dance groups, and for the past decade has taught language and culture to diaspora children at a Latvian weekend school. Preserving and sharing Latvian identity remains a meaningful part of her personal and professional life.
Anda spent more than 20 years in corporate marketing and leadership. Over time, she realized the fast-paced corporate world no longer supported her own well-being or that of her family, which led her to pursue work that aligned with her values. Anda holds a BA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Anda’s background in brand strategy, combined with a family legacy of teachers and a deep commitment to learning and sharing ancient Latvian traditions, natural medicine, and nature-based practices, gives her a unique ability to carry these teachings forward. Her dedication to passing this knowledge to her three children, and future generations, supports a strong and vibrant continuation of Latvian cultural heritage.