How Indigenous yogis and meditators are adapting and reclaiming ‘wellness’ – CBC
‘The practice of yoga is to bring us closer to a spirit … and that’s embedded in our ways of being’
Jan 14, 2023
Yoga classes are often meant to bring a sense of peace and serenity to practitioners, but Tareyn Johnson remembers one that did the exact opposite.
The Anishinaabe woman, who’s a member of Georgina Island First Nation, says she started practising yoga — which has its roots in India — several years ago to find calmness and help reduce regular migraines. She later dove deep into the ancient practice’s history and philosophy by completing a 200-hour yoga teacher training program in Ottawa, where she lives.
This specific yoga session was taught by a white instructor at an Ottawa studio.
“[The teacher] brought out what she called her ‘sacred medicine bundle.’ And she smudged. And then she put on some music and … talked about being trained by a medicine man,” Johnson recalled in an episode of CBC’s Unreserved.
“I just had to walk out of the class at that point.”
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/indigenous-wellness-yoga-1.6713178
