Close Menu
  • Home
  • Diabetes
  • Fitness
  • Heart Disease
  • Mental
  • Physical
  • Wellness
  • Yoga
  • Health

Subscribe to Updates

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss our latest news

Subscribe my Newsletter for New Posts & tips Let's stay updated!

What's Hot

The percentage of young adults receiving mental health treatment increased by 45% from 2019 to 2022, the largest increase of any age group.

August 1, 2024

Desert Healthcare, Tenet to renew non-compete clause again, vote next week

August 1, 2024

Personalized health coaching may improve cognitive function and reduce dementia risk in older adults

August 1, 2024
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Health Medic NewsHealth Medic News
  • Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • DMCA Notice
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Home
  • Diabetes

    Analysis of Tandem Diabetes Care (NASDAQ:TNDM) and SeaStar Medical (NASDAQ:ICU)

    June 19, 2024

    Diabetes costs in the UK could reach £14 billion, study finds

    June 19, 2024

    Oral semaglutide proves effective for type 2 diabetes and weight loss in Dutch study

    June 18, 2024

    Novo Nordisk considers adding 1,000 jobs in Johnston County as sales of weight-loss drug surge

    June 18, 2024

    Cost of devastating complications highlights need for urgent reform of diabetes care in the UK

    June 18, 2024
  • Fitness

    “National Fitness Day” is the next Apple Watch challenge to be held in China

    July 30, 2024

    The Pininfarina Sintesi is now my favorite fitness tracker, but there’s one thing I’d change.

    July 30, 2024

    Fitness Corner: Exercise and our own mortality

    July 30, 2024

    Fitness World Canada Hosts First Spartan DEKA Event in Surrey

    July 30, 2024

    New Franklin Regional boys soccer coach focuses on building trust, fitness

    July 30, 2024
  • Heart Disease

    Blood test warns of hidden heart disease risk

    July 30, 2024

    Loss of teeth may be a sign of serious heart disease

    July 30, 2024

    Researchers warn that removing race from the heart disease risk equation could lead to 16 million people not taking their medications

    July 29, 2024

    Study identifies 18 proteins associated with heart failure and frailty

    July 29, 2024

    Combined prostate cancer treatment increases risk of heart disease

    July 29, 2024
  • Mental

    Addressing adolescent mental health – the importance of early intervention and support

    June 18, 2024

    MAFS’ Dom updates fans on mental health and the future of his podcast

    June 18, 2024

    Connecting to mental health services is as easy as picking up the phone

    June 18, 2024

    Oklahoma Governor Stitt Opposes Mental Health Consent Decree

    June 18, 2024

    Hand to Hold provides mental health support to families in Texas Children’s Hospital’s NICU

    June 17, 2024
  • Physical

    One-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album to be screened at Australian museum

    June 16, 2024

    Interview: Annie Weisman and Closing the Final Chapter of ‘Physical’

    June 16, 2024

    Physiotherapy helps counter the effects of chemotherapy | News, Sports, Jobs

    June 16, 2024

    Barcelona’s new manager not obsessed with physical development

    June 16, 2024

    YouTuber ImAllexx comes under fire for allegations of physical abuse against ex-girlfriend

    June 15, 2024
  • Wellness

    Top Medical Tourism Destinations: A Global Overview | Corporate Wellness

    March 29, 2024

    OACEUS brings a new way to wellness

    March 29, 2024

    Spotlight on the best countries for medical tourism in 2024 | Corporate Wellness

    March 29, 2024

    Digging Deeper into Medical Tourism: Origins and Operations | Corporate Wellness

    March 29, 2024

    Identifying leading medical tourism organizations around the world | Corporate Wellness

    March 29, 2024
  • Yoga

    Body and mind: Epilepsy patients may benefit from yoga

    July 5, 2024

    Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 (2024) review: A+ multi-threading

    July 5, 2024

    The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x might be the best deal among the new Snapdragon AI PCs

    July 5, 2024

    A Minute with Stavri Ioannou, Yoga Teacher, Mindfulness Educator, and Founder of Kids Alternativities

    July 5, 2024

    7 Places to Work Out Outdoors on the East End This Summer

    July 5, 2024
  • Health

    The percentage of young adults receiving mental health treatment increased by 45% from 2019 to 2022, the largest increase of any age group.

    August 1, 2024

    Desert Healthcare, Tenet to renew non-compete clause again, vote next week

    August 1, 2024

    Personalized health coaching may improve cognitive function and reduce dementia risk in older adults

    August 1, 2024

    Troy University’s College of Health and Human Services to change name effective August 1

    July 30, 2024

    Health Examination

    July 30, 2024
Health Medic NewsHealth Medic News
Home » I am Native American and I share yoga as a sacred ritual, and here’s how I do it:
Yoga

I am Native American and I share yoga as a sacred ritual, and here’s how I do it:

perbinderBy perbinderDecember 2, 2023No Comments7 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Reddit WhatsApp Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest WhatsApp Email


“]”filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, ao-button”} }”>

Going outside? Read this article about the new Outside+ app, now available for members on iOS devices. Download the app.

Seventeen years ago, after a long night with my college roommate, I reluctantly took my first hot yoga class. She had been begging me to join her for months, and the next morning I finally relented.

But as I entered the scorching hot room, I quickly realized I was completely unprepared. The fierce wind of fire burned my nostrils and I felt like I was melting from the inside. My friends had warned me it would be hot, but I didn’t expect it to be that hot.

As class started and the teacher started talking and didn’t stop, I felt like my life was slipping into a room that was like purgatory. I started sweating profusely. My clothes quickly became soaked and heavy. I began to hear breathing sounds that I could only assume were the roaring of a baby dragon. My vision constantly shifted between black tunnel vision and a blinding whiteout. I was truly suffering.

Feeling like death was near, I turned to my friend and angrily whispered, “How long is this damn class going to last?” She smirked and replied, “90 minutes.” I tiredly whispered back, “I hate you.”

Amazingly, I didn’t die, I still love my friend, and at the end of the class I felt like I’d spent time with the Creator and visited my ancestors. I never expected yoga to give me that exact same feeling I had in the kiva.

In my Pueblo culture, the kiva is a building at the center of the village where people gather each season. In the kiva we pray, sing, dance, and sweat, and sweat a lot. We move closer to the spirit world so that we can emerge from the kiva as a new creation.

That’s exactly how I felt after my first hot yoga class. My body felt superhuman, my spirit felt radiant. My senses were stimulated, as if I had just completed a traditional ritual. My skin felt brand new, my vision was clearer, and my breathing was completely calm. In my mind and spirit, I had left this world and spent time in a sacred space with my purest self.

In that moment, no power could take away my peace. Through this new, sweat-inducing practice, I could experience an intense connection with the Creator, and I didn’t even have to be on a reservation or in a kiva. I could perform the ritual on my mat every day.

So I did just that: I found a local place that offered hot yoga and went to class almost every day.

The founder of the Native Strength Revolution practices yoga near a kiva, a sacred ceremonial site in the Pueblo culture.
(Photo: Kate Herrera Jenkins)

How to Share Ordinances

A few years after attending my first yoga class, I trained to be a yoga teacher. I wanted to share the experience of ritual with all. We all come from ancient movement rituals, ways of connecting with something bigger than ourselves. My prayer with each class was that yoga would help my students remember their own way of being and re-emerge as a new version of themselves.

I didn’t stray from the way I was taught. I taught simply, presented a set sequence, and left space between the words to allow people to experience their own ritual, regardless of their background or belief system.

A blessing for me was when students shared their experiences before and after class. They explained how yoga helped them heal injuries, tapered off medications, eased depression, and helped them overcome grief. As yoga teachers, we want to believe that yoga can be part of our students’ treatment, but when we see medications work, we know we are really on the right track.

I eventually opened my own hot yoga studio outside of Birmingham, Alabama, which I called Kiva Hot Yoga. I am always careful to keep my Pueblo ceremonies private and sacred, and I don’t share my ritual methods through my classes, but it is also sacred to be able to hold quiet space for others to hear their own answers.

After 10 years of running my yoga studio, I sold it and felt a calling to bring yoga to communities that didn’t have the opportunity to practice it. This spark eventually inspired me to lead a movement that aims to bring yoga to all Native communities in the US and Canada and revolutionize the health of many Native Americans and Indigenous peoples. In 2014, I founded the non-profit organization Native Strength Revolution, which serves over 6,000 Native brothers and sisters across the US and Canada through yoga classes, workshops, conferences, leadership trainings, and yoga teacher trainings.

I wanted to create a space where everyone could have access to in-person Native American-led classes and ultimately each tribe, nation, and Native American community would have their own yoga teacher, as many Native American communities experience widespread challenges such as diabetes, heart disease, addiction, suicide, domestic violence, and intergenerational trauma.

Our yoga teacher training is dedicated to serving indigenous communities and their challenges. To date, over 60 people have participated in our yoga teacher training with the goal of incorporating the unique and sacred nuances of their culture into their classes.

We ask everyone who signs up for our training, “Why do you want to take this training? What do you want to offer to the community?” Often their answer equates yoga with ritual. They each say, in different words, “We need more ritual, now and maybe forever.”

How our rituals honor the traditions of yoga

The Native Strength Revolution continues to grow through the shared vision of our team of yoga teachers. My vision to help heal Native communities by teaching yoga has been expanded by the 60 people committed to this heartfelt work. Carla Drumbeater created a yoga program for Native children at the Little Earth Housing Community in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Rose Whitehair started multigenerational yoga classes for Native families in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Waylon Pahona and Johanna Herrera have given keynote speeches at Native conferences across the U.S. and Canada, speaking about how movement heals our people.

After most classes, students tell us that yoga has been the most meaningful vehicle for their healing journey. Our teachers transform lives by teaching others how to have a culturally meaningful experience on the mat. Through a relationship with a trusted, familiar teacher, students begin to trust the yoga process. They become open to the possibility of connecting with new patterns. They remember that they are also connected to patterns older than themselves, patterns that connect our ancestors to something greater than themselves.

I have always done my best to respect the roots of yoga. I respect the scriptures and ancient texts by teaching their importance. There are similarities between yoga philosophy and indigenous teachings. While asanas and physical states are temporary, our words and actions impact ourselves, our communities, and our world for generations. Yet I respect the yoga teachings that have been passed down through the ancient texts. Indigenous people know when something is borrowed, diluted, or presented without respect. We want to see the beauty of its origins.

Through Native Strength Revolution trainings and ongoing gatherings, our team members continue to heal as individuals and grow as leaders. They want to be positive examples for their community, not just by practicing the best asana, but by living a life that honors the ancient teachings of yoga and the teachings of their ancestors. When you step onto your mat, you step into a ritual.

About the contributor

Kate Herrera Jenkins (Schwamitz [Turquoise]) is a member of Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico. She completed her first yoga teacher training in 2009 and has since attended trainings with Bernie Clark, Jimmy Barkan, and Ryan Leyer. She is the founder of Native Strength Revolution. She also enjoys movement through traditional Pueblo dance, nia, strength training, and long distance running. She believes every moment is a moment of service, helping others find a connection with their own source.



Source link

perbinder
  • Website

Related Posts

Body and mind: Epilepsy patients may benefit from yoga

July 5, 2024

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 (2024) review: A+ multi-threading

July 5, 2024

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x might be the best deal among the new Snapdragon AI PCs

July 5, 2024

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Don't Miss
Blog

The percentage of young adults receiving mental health treatment increased by 45% from 2019 to 2022, the largest increase of any age group.

By perbinderAugust 1, 20240

A new analysis from KFF finds that the rate of young adults (ages 18-26) receiving…

Desert Healthcare, Tenet to renew non-compete clause again, vote next week

August 1, 2024

Personalized health coaching may improve cognitive function and reduce dementia risk in older adults

August 1, 2024

Troy University’s College of Health and Human Services to change name effective August 1

July 30, 2024
Our Picks

Top Medical Tourism Destinations: A Global Overview | Corporate Wellness

March 29, 2024

OACEUS brings a new way to wellness

March 29, 2024

Spotlight on the best countries for medical tourism in 2024 | Corporate Wellness

March 29, 2024

Digging Deeper into Medical Tourism: Origins and Operations | Corporate Wellness

March 29, 2024
About Us

Welcome to Health Medic News, your trusted source for comprehensive information and insights on health-related topics. At Health Medic News, we are dedicated to providing reliable and up-to-date content to help our readers make informed decisions about their health and well-being.

Our Mission

At Health Medic News, our mission is to empower individuals with the knowledge and resources they need to live healthier lives. We strive to deliver high-quality content that educates, inspires, and motivates our readers to take control of their health and make positive lifestyle changes

Our Picks

“National Fitness Day” is the next Apple Watch challenge to be held in China

July 30, 2024

The Pininfarina Sintesi is now my favorite fitness tracker, but there’s one thing I’d change.

July 30, 2024

Fitness Corner: Exercise and our own mortality

July 30, 2024

Subscribe to Updates

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss our latest news

Subscribe my Newsletter for New Posts & tips Let's stay updated!

ads
ads
ads
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
  • Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • DMCA Notice
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
© 2025 healthmedicnews. Designed by healthmedicnews.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.