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So far we have been looking at cultural appropriation specific to yoga culture. However the stark abuses, atrocities and genocide of the first nations people in Canada and the U.S needs to be spoken of.
The last week was heavy due to the discovery of 215 first nations children, some as young as 3 who were buried behind the Kamloops residential school after being physically, sexually, emotionally and spiritually abused by priests, nuns and the government. I was not surprised yet shaken.
I had read up and spoken to elders about residential schools so I was aware to an extent. I also have first nations students, so I know of their missing sisters, lack of facilities and marginalization that still happens today.
Last year, in one of the blogs, I also shared how, at a Tim Hortins in Victoria one of their cousins got abused, threatened and told she deserved to die for being a first nations woman. I saw some racists like this man, still using the derogatory word “skwa.”
PS… I’ve come to hear that in some first nations communities women refer to themselves as “squaw” in a lighthearted way.
Here is the link to that blog with Sabrina narrating the story in her own voice.
Setting the Record Straight: What Does Squaw Really Mean? (native-languages.org)
Despite being reasonably aware and having empathy, I knew I could not fully fathom the trauma and pain that the people of this land had to endure for centuries. The systemic abuse, exploitation and inhuman conditions they had to endure at the hands of the settlers is appalling to say the least. Yet we hear very little about it. Somehow Canada has a reputation for being kind and polite, yet its roots are quite gory and stomach churning when we dig deep.
Where Are We Even Going To Start?
In yoga we meet ourselves where we are and engage in vichara or self enquiry. This leads to solutions
How can I be of service and support, how can I be part of the solution was the question on my mind. And for these very same reasons, last year, I wanted a panel discussion inviting a native elder to guide us into her traditions and what her community needs . It fell into place for June 21 which is the UN’s International Day of Yoga and also happens to be Canada’s National Indigenous People’s Day.
Please go to the link below to register for the free online program organised in collaboration with Banyen Books on June 21st from 7:00 to 9:00 PM.
There is also an online workshop on the 24rth of June from 7:00 to 9:00 PM:
Members of the event on June 21. From top left: Malina Dawn, Yogacharini Maitreyi, Akhil Jobanputra, Aline LaFlamme. Not shown is Rev. Rhian Walker.
Generational / Ancestral Blessings And Trauma
I remember when I was younger, the Indian culture placed a lot of importance on ancestors. We would feed the crows as we believed that the souls came to visit us through the crows. I still have positive memories of the food shared if not the manthras, when I was a child :)
The most important thing was, however, to keep the remembrance of these elders and say prayers and perform fire ceremonies to purify oneself and one's lineage. As you can see there is no Hindu or Yogic ritual where food is not a part of. As healthy uplifting food made with love is a universal connector. That is why in the Arkaya Self awareness teacher training there is always great organic ayurvedic food, chai and herbal elixirs/teas. Connecting to ones food is a basic way of reconnecting apart from the breath and other tools available in the yogic culture.
Pitru Paksha in Sanskrit or Thithi, as we say in the south, was a way to clear ancestral karma as well as get the blessings and strengths of the lineage for support. It had a very structured set of rituals to connect to and support the ancestors over a 16 day period, starting with a new moon.
The yogic culture recognized this generational trauma that can be passed on through families. It was not just about the philosophy or the physical but met people on all levels of this human experience. True spirituality does not bypass the physical and embraces our humanity. Hence it makes us see how strongly ingrained a belief system or an emotion or a fear can be embedded. Thus making us compassionate towards ourselves and others to release this ingrained trauma that causes divisiveness and suffering.
This legacy of pain that we hold not only in our cells, but circumstances needs to be seen, sifted through and shifted for the better. That is one of the reasons we connect with ancestors and ancestral trauma apart from being grateful for the fact that they have supported our well being. We also learn to fully embrace the strengths, protection and support of the lineage of both our biological and spiritual families. This lineage of seeing and supporting the ancestors and receiving guidance is there in the first nations traditions as well as in the church which borrowed from pagan cultures.
Last Pitru Paksha, Ross visited me and stayed with me in Vancouver, as he felt called to do a big clearing. Both our experiences during that time are elaborated in this article below:
Clearing Ancestral Karma to Elevate Relationships — ARKAYA YOGA
Getting The Blessings Of The People Of This Land
When I first landed with my permanent residency in Canada 16 years ago, I wanted to feel and embrace the energy of the land. I had rose tinted glass about Canada being socialistic and kind which was great. However, because my sankalpa was also to connect on a deep level to the land, the land led me to many native people and I was part of their ceremonies. At that point I was only here for 2 months at a time in a year and committed to being part of the sweats and learning more about the real history.
After a few years I also found a sweat lodge, run by an elder named Joe. Though we never spoke much apart from the songs, prayers and jokes, I felt the pain of the addiction that many of the sweat lodge members faced. That sweat is no more functional but was meant for those first nations people addicted to drugs to come back to their roots. They knew I was not first nations yet I was welcomed with so much love. This was not a sweat nestled in the woods, as some others I attended but connected to a de-addiction centre that I was led to be part of. Joe would joke and say, here comes the “real Indian” and I would find myself giggling at his mirth. As many of you know, Columbus mistook North America to be India and falsely called all the native people of America and Canada as Indians.
Over the 10 to 12 sweats I found layer after layer of my illusions leaving me. I would not know where my grief was coming from. A deep pain of separation needed to be released and that separation needed to be grieved. As I sat with the many men and women and shared their pipes and their berries being passed around in the sweat, I felt the pain of this separation melt away. As we invoked all the grandmothers, grandfathers, the women, the men, I felt myself being rebirthed through the embrace of the earth and the heat of the stones.
I had also had a few visions of myself with a native man. In my first vision, I was native and standing with a native man. Both of us in our 30s. This was the first man, my age, I felt strong with as I knew he had the strength and integrity to hold space for me and the many people we were addressing. I was very grateful for this feeling and his being. And everytime I feel I need strong support I invoke him, to be there and reflect back my own masculine. We understood each other and just standing next to him gave me strength and vice versa. I have had different versions of that vision, yet this one is still clearly etched in my heart. Just as I prayed to all my relations in the Indian tradition, I also started invoking all my relations in the first nations tradition as well. And over the years I intuitively felt called to connect with others in that community. The last four years I have decided to stay in Vancouver full time and deepen my connection. I know all of us owe it to the people of this land to be allies and support them in their call to Action. So my request would be to purify, humble oneself and listen.
Call To Action
For the event on June 21, 2021,
Aline is our Metis Grandmother, elder, and pipe holder on the panel and I could not even imagine the trauma that was resurfacing and vicarious trauma that she might be holding as result of holding space for others in her community. No reconciliation picnics or hog washes, as she says, but real understanding and action is what she and others are seeking.
During the panel discussion on June 21st at 7:00 PM PST you can listen to her and be an ally:
a) EDUCATE yourself
b) Cultivate EMPATHY and see you are in debt when you are born to the land you are born in or live in. This helps to release the mindset of entitlement
c) Become an ALLY and ask for ACTION from government and the church
The BC government is allowing the cutting down old growth forest at Fairy Creek which shows no remorse or willingness to change.
2. During the session you can hear about the richness and genius of the yogis and not limit oneself to the limited view point of oneself or of yoga. Coming from India and studying and immersing in the yogic traditions, I ( Yogacharini Maitreyi) feel it is my honour to shed light on that. One will see the benefits of embracing both conscious boundaries and expansiveness. Become aware of all the beautiful somatic, emotional, energetic and mental tools that help you reclaim your ease, peace, restfulness and consciousness. This restfulness will help us move from greed to need.
As a yoga , ayurveda practitioner, chai drinker , Indian food or clothing lover, traveller , historian teacher or human you can support the depth and culture of yoga. :). This is to say you do not have to be a yoga practitioner to understand more about the gift real yoga can bring to the world or support its expansive inclusive thought process. It is simply a way to lead a more connected life and be more humane. To cultivate karuna saakshi bhava or compassionate witnessing and discernment.
You can also read the blog below about what is needed for reconciliation in a yogic context and some of it applies in the context of the first nations people in Canada:
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION and CELEBRATION IN YOGA - Part 3: Process for Reconciliation — ARKAYA YOGA
3. We will have Rev Rhian Walker who will speak about how to bring more consciousness to churches and what decolonising looks like. We want to include more Christians especially Christian leaders to be part of creating the unitive consciousness, love consciousness, the empathy consciousness that Jesus speaks of. How will a church look like without thinking of itself as the only truth? How will it look like being LGBTQ embracing? How will it be if certain limiting cultural beliefs that were merged into religion can be removed to create a revival?
Resources To Educate Yourself on the first nations genocide
There are many facebook posts that I have made on my wall as “Maitreyi Yogacharini” over the last two weeks about both Fairy Creek and the Kamloops residential school. You can see them on Facebook along with stories of survivors. I am unable to copy links to them.
It is gut wrenching and heartbreaking to hear of more mass graves being discovered.
As a nation, as a people we need to feel this and grieve this. So we can at least partially fathom the lineage and legacy of oppression, exploitation and demonic gaslighting we would otherwise unconsciously deny, ignore, suppress or perpetuate.
We need to educate and take steps to heal this trauma.
To give my friends living elsewhere perspective, the graves of children as young as three are not even four hours by road from where I live in Vancouver.
Some Articles to Read
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-kamloops-residential-school-mass-graves-215-children-explainer/
https://globalnews.ca/news/7905262/residential-school-grave-site-framework/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/residential-school-graves-alberta-1.6046329
Cultural Genocide of Canada’s First Nations | by Evolv | Lessons from History | Jun, 2021 | Medium