Returning to a Paleo Native peoples’ Lifestyle

Minding the Indigenous Mind

Returning to a Paleo Native peoples’ Lifestyle to

                             Cure the Diseases of the Standard Colonized American Diet

Greetings Mindful Relatives and Friends,

The way, amount, and what we eat has led to a health crisis like we have never experienced before in this nation. This crisis has hit Indigenous communities particularly hard: increasing rates of heart disease, obesity, cancer, hypertension, and the big one, diabetes. To combat this diet-driven health crisis, many Americans, including Indigenous folks, have chosen drastic remedies such as lap band and gastric bypass surgery, dangerous weight loss drugs, unregulated fad supplements, starvation diets, and substances such as smoking to suppress the appetite.

In response to these approaches,  Mark Hyman, MD, a leader in the field of functional medicine (a whole systems medicine approach) asserts that “Shrinking someone's stomach to the size of a walnut with surgery is one way to battle obesity and diabetes and may be lifesaving for a few, but it doesn't address the underlying causes.” In regard to the use of drugs to battle this crisis he also adds, “Do we really think we can medicate our way out of a bad diet? Can we really overcome the 54 gallons of soda consumed every year by the average American, or the 34 teaspoons of sugar consumed DAILY by the average child in America with a medication, or some handouts on eating better?”

This column is a two part series dedicated to how we can live longer, healthier, and better by changing our diet. In this first column I discuss problems with the Standard American Diet (SAD) and a bit of history about what I call the Standard American Colonized Diet (SACD). In my next column I share information about a healthy eating revolution called the Paleolithic diet that is patterned after the traditional diets of our ancestors. I am an advocate of this eating lifestyle and will share research that shows that a Paleo diet is the most appropriate way for Indigenous folks to eat, and how it can cure of improve many diseases caused by the Standard American Diet.

Standard American Diet (SAD)

Citing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Center for Science of Public Interest says that “unhealthy eating and inactivity cause 310,000-580,000 deaths every year—similar to the number of deaths caused by tobacco and 13 times more than are caused by guns.” If you are, or someone you know is, obese, has had a stroke, has diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, or stomach and digestion disorders, chances are very good that the Standard American Diet (SAD) is a huge contributor.  If you or someone you know has allergies, skin disorders, neurological and neuromuscular disorders, respiratory problems, and/or suffers from mood disorders, such as depression or anxiety, chances are very good that the Standard American Diet (SAD) share some of a good deal of the blame. The meteoric rise of a majority of all the above diseases and conditions correlates very nicely with the rise of the SAD.    

Of course our diets cannot be blamed for all of our health problems:  the fact that we live in toxic environments, smoke and drink what we shouldn’t, aren’t physically active enough, do not have regular, meaningful and mindful spiritual practices, do not have healthy systems of support, and are overstressed, all contribute to our lack of wellness.  Nevertheless, a growing consensus among the more progressive wing of the medical and nutritional communities strongly supports the notion that the way and what we eat has much to do with our deteriorating health.

 The American mainstream nutrition community refers to how most of us eat today as the Standard American Diet (SAD). Critics of the SAD say that it is directly responsible for numerous diseases, premature death, malnutrition and overnutrition, and the poisoning of our bodies and planet. Our eating is so bad that the Centers for Disease Control says that more than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%) are obese. In 2008, medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion; the medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.  

And, here’s something for Indigenous folks to seriously reflect upon: Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese. Extreme obesity significantly decreased among all racial groups except American Indians/Alaska Natives. In fact, our health is so bad that it has given birth to $307 billion dollar prescription drug industry; the weight loss industry alone makes $40 billion a year. And no wonder. Americans spend about $11o billion for fast foods, which are the staples of the SAD.

So what is the Standard American Diet? The holistic-medicine-works.com website says it is “heavy on red meat, pork, foods made from dairy or cow's milk, processed foods laced with dangerous chemical preservatives, colorings, vitamins and flavor enhancers.” It is “also made up of fried foods, foods cooked with high heat and microwaves, foods made with white refined sugar and flour and more and more today, foods that contain high fructose corn syrup. It also includes all kinds of fruit and vegetable juices whose nutritional value is destroyed by pasteurization...treatment with high heat that destroys all enzymes and most nutrients. Not to mention how many of these juices contain large amounts of added sugar, high fructose corn syrup or dangerous artificial chemical sweeteners and preservatives.” Interestingly, a very recent study published in January 2013 in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that brain imaging tests confirm that after drinking a fructose beverage, such as a can of soda, triggers brain changes that may lead to overeating.

This is particularly important to Native folks since so many of us gulp down a lot of soda and sugary drinks that are laced with high fructose corn syrup. I’m sure that a lot of the diabetic amputations, blindness, and neuropathy can be traced directly back to fructose beverages. Some of you may even remember back in the day when corn syrup used to be added to a baby’s bottle because of constipation.  

There are many views of the SAD; most are not flattering. The AskDr Sears website says that “If you were to list the factors that increase the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, intestinal disorders – just about any illness – the standard American diet has them all.”

Sarah Aitken a writer for website NaturalNews.com describes the SAD as “extreme…and certainly not healthy.” She says that “the Standard American Diet usually consists of a myriad of processed carbs (cereals, breads, pasta, cookies, cakes etc.), processed meat products, and a few fruits and veggies. This diet is high in many things, most of which your body doesn't really need.  It is full of hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup, phytic acid, acrylamide, sodium nitrate, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and lacking in basic essentials such as vitamins and minerals.”

Most of us have heard of many of these substances and additives. However, Phytic acid  and Acrylamide are ones that less well known. Phytic acid is important because it is found in grains, such as wheat and corn, and makes absorption of important minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, and magnesium difficult. This is especially important for Native folks since many of us eat a lot of grains and grain products. Acrylamide is a chemical compound that forms in starchy food products during high-temperature cooking, including frying, baking and roasting, and is thought to put us at increased risk for cancer. Again, this is very important for Indigenous Peoples to know about since many of us fry nearly everything that moves.

Colonizing the Indigenous Diet: The Standard Colonized American Diet

You’ve heard the joke about having a “Commod bod” in reference to having a lumpy, full figured, fluffy frame due to eating USDA commodities. Well, nothing could be closer to the truth. The Commod Bod was once both an “urban and reservation legend;” but those of us that were raised on the reservation and feasted on commodities as some of our main source of calories know that the Commod Bod is not hearsay, but a true story. In a 2005 article the fairy tale died when, in Indian Country Today, writer Susan Harjo described the Commod Bod as a “round, doughy physique that results from the high-starch, high-calorie, high-fat and low-protein food.”

While we laugh, tease, and joke about the Commod Bod, I think it is wise and instructional to remind ourselves that USDA commodities are the legacy of Native Peoples’ nutritional and dietary colonialism. That is, these low quality foods were forced upon our folks when they were suffering the ravages of some of the deepest levels of poverty due to reservation living, and are the precursor for setting the standard of today’s unhealthy eating among our people. Commods are the poster foods of the deadly Standard American Diet because they contain all the ingredients and packaging that are responsible for high rates of heart disease, obesity, strokes, hypertension, cancer, and premature death. Recently, a northern California Indian told me that she thought of commods as “genocide in a can.” I couldn’t agree more.

A 2012, Evaluation of the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations carried out by the USDA reported that Commods are made up of a “variety of canned and packaged commodities in such categories as meats, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, grains, and cereals.” They are designed only to “provide adequate levels of most nutrients and food energy to participating households.” And, of course I wonder what they mean by the term “adequate” and what “nutrients” they are talking about. In their description of these foods there is no mention about whether the canned “goods,” and I use the word goods rather loosely here, contain BPA (a compound implicated in neurological and endocrine disorders and cancer) that different advocacy food groups are trying to get banned. Even the US government’s own Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regards BPA as dangerous. A 2010 the FDA wrote a report warning of possible hazards to fetuses, infants, and young children. Since the 1930s BPA has been recognized as an artifical estrogen and can mimic estrogen and lead to health problems.  Since the 1950s it has been in the lining of food and beverage containers.

Commods are made from conventional (non-organic) meats, grains, fruits, and vegetables which are not only over processed, but also loaded with chemicals and pesticides and, in the case of meat, contain hormones and antibiotics. The canned beef, pork, and chicken are more than likely to come from animals that are raised in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), which pack huge numbers of live animals together in a small area. Because animals are so congested together, the rates of disease, injuries, and contamination rises exponentially among them, which mean they will be fed copious amounts of whatever medicines and supplements will minimize the damage.

Due to cost, canned Commod fish, such as salmon are more likely to be farmed than wild. Farmed fish which have less nutritional value, higher amounts of Omega 6 fatty acids, which inflame the body, and are often fed a cheap, inferior diet that can have higher levels of toxins such as PCBs which implicated in hormone disruption and cancer. By now we all should know that none of us should be eating tuna due to its dangerous heavy metal content. In 2007 the USDA dropped albacore tuna from WIC program but kept on supplying “light tuna” despite the risks of mercury in the fish. If you’ve been feeding your children tuna; stop immediately and have their mercury levels checked.

Many deadly, disease-causing SAD foods are served often, and in huge quantities, at community ceremonies, wakes, funerals, celebrations, and other events on our reservation. They are also served in many of our homes as our daily meals. I’m not really sure where this tradition of overfeeding folks with a lot of low quality, non-traditional foods comes from. I think some folks might say that it’s our tradition to feed others; it’s our way. But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t our tradition to overfeed our family, relatives, and friends these types of foods. Of course not all the foods found at these events are unhealthy; some folks bring healthy traditional and non-traditional foods (and I’m not talking about whole grain fry bread). However, I’ve always thought it ironic that at the funeral of someone that has died of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or a stroke, which were very likely caused by eating a Standard American Diet, that we serve these foods in nearly unlimited quantities.

I’ve added the word “colonized” to the Standard American Diet term because Indigenous Peoples arrived at their present “killer” diet through a much different social and political means than non-Native folks.

History is clear that after Native peoples were “subjugated” by the United States and driven off their traditional hunting, fishing and gathering territories, they were put onto reservations and other lands where they were forced to live on starvation diets of inferior rationed foods. This system might be considered the earliest development of the fast food industry for Native peoples since they no longer had to engage themselves in mindfully hunting and gathering their meals. All they had to do was to wait for “ration day,” stand in line at the reservation agency building, and get their order.

 A lot of evidence in the historical record shows that American policy makers, religious leaders, educators, and politicians believed that Native Peoples’ hunting of wild game, fishing, and gathering of wild foods was “uncivilized” and this way of life needed to be extinguished if they were to become civilized.  They believed that eating domesticated animals and crops was more advanced since humans had dominated these forms of life, which was consistent with the Christian belief that man was suppose to “subdue the earth” and “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  As this way of thinking was imposed upon Indigenous Peoples very dramatic changes occurred in their attitudes about where their food came from, how they should obtain it, and what they should eat.  

Colonizing the American Diet

The mainstream diet of most Americans shows that they have been just as successfully colonized in their nutritional and dietary beliefs and habits as Native Peoples. And, their chronic diseases, cancers, and obesity are nearly as bad, and catching up fast. Some of the biggest colonizing culprits have been the Big Food, Big Seed, and Big Agricultural industries. For instance, over 100 years ago small farmers and many households grew much of their own produce for their own consumption or to sell to neighbors. In an article entitled, “Do We Eat Better Than We Did 100 Years Ago?” Kerry Trueman, co-founder of EatingLiberally.org wrote that “By 1897, the USDA was distributing 1.1 billion free seed packets to farmers, many of them more common vegetable and flower varieties. The program was wildly popular with farmers, but a thorn in the side of the growing commercial seed industry. So, in 1929, after intense lobbying from the American Seed Trade Association, Congress scrapped the seed giveaway.”

Today, five corporations (AstaZeneca, DuPont, Monsanto, Novartis,
Aventis) control almost one-quarter (23%) of the global commercial seed market, nearly two-thirds of the global pesticide market (60%), and virtually 100% of the transgenic (genetically engineered) seed market.

Colonization of America’s diet is generally due to this nation’s desire for the “modernization” and “industrialization” of the world. In order for this to happen the system required folks to work long hours, under strict working conditions that did not offer much in the way of rest or optimal eating opportunities. The Livestrong.com website says that “Today's standard American diet has moved away from the traditions of homemade meals and is more influenced by ways to speed up the process of grabbing a quick bite.”

To accommodate this need the “Big Food” industry developed a fast, processed foods system. It used its unrestrained marketing power to produce foods that are addictive and profitable, rather than healthy. To keep us in the chains of dietary colonization, it operates a biased corporate food research and advertising agenda that is misleading and confusing, and co-opts mainstream nutritionists and medical professionals to support, ignore, or feign ignorance of its activities. Just to give you an idea of how much money does Big Food puts into keeping us addicted to its fast, processed foods, according the to Nielsen Company, Kraft Foods a major food manufacturer spent $1.7 billion on advertising in 2009. Its brands include Kraft, Oscar Meyer, Crystal Light, Trident and Ritz. In the soft drink industry, according to “Advertising Age,” Coca-Cola spent $2.67 billion on advertising in 2008. The marketing pays off too. In 2009, Beverage Digest reported that Americans spent $73.9 billion on regular and diet carbonated soft drinks. If non-carbonated beverages such as juice drinks, teas and energy drinks are included the figure grows to $115 billion.

So, my question is how different is Big Food’s colonization agenda and success compared to the early reservation system that rationed substandard foods to our ancestors?

 

 

Michael Yellow Bird, MSW, Ph.D., is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes and a professor and the director of graduate education  in the Department of Social Work at Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA. His teaching, writing, research, and community work focuses on social work with Indigenous Peoples, neurodecolonization, neuroscience and social work, and employing mainstream and traditional Indigenous mindfulness practices in tribal communities to promote health and well being. He leads a regular morning mindfulness practice for staff, students, and faculty in his department. He can be reached by email at:  mjy9@humboldt.edu 

Minding the Indigenous Mind

Rehearsing for Death

Greetings Mindful Relatives and Friends,

The Buddha said, “"Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely." In agreement, the great Shawnee leader Tecumseh declared “Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."

In this column I wish to share a story as a way to help us reflect on, and develop, a more intimate and healthy understanding of how death is always with us. And, how rehearsing for death through appropriate stories, teachings, and different mindfulness practices can help us to accept death and motivate us to live our lives in a way that demonstrates that we have much to live for.   

The teachings of the Buddha, Tecumseh, and many other spiritual leaders remind us that we will eventually die as a part of the natural process of life, but long before we do, we should rehearse for death by living a noble, mindful, righteous, and long and healthy life.   

Very few of us know how long we will live or how we will die. But when we are asked, we certainly have a lot of preferences and fears concerning death. For instance, a 1997 Gallup survey found that most of us want to die at home and don’t want to die a painful death; most of us are worried that we may spend some period before our death in a vegetative or incapacitated state; and most of us do not believe we will end up suffering eternally in a place such as Hell.

The poll also found that "Most Americans believe they will exist in some form after death and that the experience is positive; that they will be on a journey of some kind; will experience spiritual growth; and that the quality of existence will depend on things done in one's life and one's spiritual state at the time of death." In India death preferences are similar. A 2011 national survey of entitled, Death and Attitudes to Dying found that most people in India “Want to die in their sleep, in peace, of old age, without pain and surrounded by their family and loved ones after achieving success and after having done something worthwhile for the country.” I’m sure that most of us would want to die in ways similar to folks in India.

The fear of death is strong and many of us try not to spend too much time thinking about it. However, avoidance is not wise, given the regularity of mass murders, war, nuclear weapons and nuclear accidents, the rise of extremely drug resistant infectious diseases, rising levels of stress and environmental toxins, and unpredictable accidents and natural disasters. To calm the fear of death it is important that we spend some quality time reflecting on it; not in an anxious, fearful way, but in an open and thoughtful manner. For as the Buddha has reminded us, the lives (0urs and our loved ones) that we cherish and strive to hold on to are impermanent, fragile, and fleeting.

Sometime ago I recall hearing of how long ago our tribes engaged in a symbolic enactment of the coming of death to the villages. This death rehearsal was rather brilliant since it reminded the people that they would have a temporary existence in the world. It helped to shape the humanity of the people since it inspired greater generosity, acts of kindness and compassion, less attachment to material possessions, and wiser use of one’s limited time.  There is no doubt that this practice changed the brains of the people for the better. When one does not fear death, but instead has a thoughtful, healthy understanding of it, the neural networks of self awareness and compassion, located in a newer part of the brain are activated. However, when one fears death and avoids talking about it, neural networks in the deep limbic system are turned on. This part of the brain is an older, more primitive area that is associated with fear, fight, and flight. 

As I write this column, news stories across the country, and around the word, continue to report the disturbing and heartbreaking details of the massacre of children, teachers, and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary school in New Town, Connecticut. In total, Adam Lanza, shot and killed 28 people: 20 school children, six adults, his mother, and himself. While most say they never expected this awful event to happen, death by way of mass murder, as disturbing as it is, should come as no surprise since it’s been happening for quite some time.  

For instance, on December 17, 2012, Mother Jones magazine published an article entitled, A Guide to Mass Shootings in America which revealed that there have been at least 62 mass murders (four or more victims) in the last 30 years. What may be most troubling is that most of the killers got their guns legally. The timeline for all mass murder deaths is from 1982 to 2012. The online story doesn’t mention how many mass murders were prevented and just short of being carried out.

There are a lot of theories why mass murders happen but truth is we don’t really know. In fact, a December 14, 2012 story in the Washington Post says “A great deal of research, however, suggests that behavioral scientists just don’t have a strong grasp on what drives mass shootings and violent rampages, or why they’ve increased in recent decades.”

After the initial shock some people are asking why such senseless acts occur. Others have already have concluded they happen because we live in a culture of violence with easy access to automatic weapons that can take many lives in an instant. However, automatic weapons have been around since the 1862 when Dr. Richard J. Gatling invented the Gatling gun. The weapon was deadly and was “successfully” used in the American Civil War, Spanish American War, and in the Plains Wars against Indigenous Peoples. The gun fired up to 200 rounds per minute and tore folks to shreds. Imagine several of these automatic weapons firing upon people. It’s ironic that Gatling said that “he created it to reduce the size of armies and so reduce the number of deaths by combat and disease, and to show how futile war is.”

In response to the New Town murders NBCNews.com reported that many parents are now buying armored backpacks for their kids to keep them safe and gun sales in some states are at record levels. My heart and prayers go out to the families and their community.

Rehearsing for Death

Indigenous Peoples intimately understood death as a constant in their lives and needed to be respected in times of wellness; even during the ceremonies of life. Death is as important as life and, therefore, must be integrated in all aspects of our daily lives. There is no escaping death. However, there is a way to live with it and develop a healthy understanding of it.

There is a story that certain members of the tribe were delegated to represent death. They would dress up and paint their bodies black, red, and white, which signaled to the people whom they were. At different periods throughout the year (maybe only once a year or maybe more) the priest in charge of this death ceremony would decide it was time for death to visit the people. He would instruct the individual that symbolically represented death to leave the village and go to a place of isolation and paint himself as death and return. It was not long before the village sentries, would spot him coming and announce that death was on his way to the people. The announcement would immediately trigger deep emotional responses and the people would begin crying, worrying, and getting angry.

As Death approached the warriors would symbolically shoot arrows at him, not the kind that could pierce him but those that were blunt. But, the warriors only shot in his direction and not deliberately at him since they knew they could not kill Death. Death continued to make his way towards the village unencumbered, while the people prayed, cried, begged the elements to intercede on their behalf, and sent mental thoughts toward him to send him away. Yet, they knew that in most instances it was difficult to turn back Death.

As Death entered the village the sounds of dogs barking, horses whinnying, and people wailing and yelling filled the air. People ran away from him; sometimes he chased them, sometimes he did not. Some of the people sat or stood unfazed by his presence and what he represented. They smiled and laughed at him and those that ran away from him. Those with incurable disease, disfigurement, and disabilities,  hoping to be liberated from their suffering in this world willingly, as if meeting and old, dear friend, approached and embraced him; they themselves might be dressed and painted for their journey to the spirit world.

As death would make his way through the village he would touched those that were the most likely to die: the warriors, elders, and sickly. He finally would come upon lodges that were filled with babies and children, those least likely to die. The mothers, grandmothers, and aunties would do all in their power using prayers, smudge, and calling to their ancestors, to prevent him from entering into their lodges and touching their children.

After enough chaos had ensued, Death would leave the village and disappear into the hills and trees, and the people would gradually cease their lamentations of grief. Wise elderly men and women would go about the village to check in with others to hear how they had responded to Death’s visit. After a period of time when the villagers reached a level of calm, the rehearsal of Death would be discussed. Spiritual leaders and those that had experienced losses of family members and relatives would help others to evaluate and understand what happened. What was learned was that Death is ever-present, none are exempt from this common destiny, and the people should use the little time they had on earth in the best ways possible.

In closing, none of us really knows when Death will come and we must rehearse for it using thoughtful, mindful practices. I believe that the example above is a brilliant and important way to help ourselves, our children, and our communities gain a healthy understanding of Death.

As I finish this column on December 21, 2012, I am reminded that many people are quite anxious since they believe that the Mayans have prophesized that the world is going to end today.  I am not one of these people. I do not live in fear of the world or my life ending. If I do have a fear today it is that I might not do a good enough job teaching my children about the value of reflecting on Death so that they might live their lives in the most honorable, intelligent, mindful, and courageous manner; so that they will have compassion, love, and respect for themselves, others, and all living things.

  

Michael Yellow Bird, MSW, Ph.D., is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes and a professor and the director of graduate education  in the Department of Social Work at Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA. His teaching, writing, research, and community work focuses on social work with Indigenous Peoples, Neurodecolonization, neuroscience and social work, and employing mainstream and traditional Indigenous mindfulness practices in tribal communities to promote health and well being. He can be reached by email at:  mjy9@humboldt.edu 

Minding the Indigenous Mind

Mindfulness over the Holidays

 

Happy Holidays Mindful Relatives and Friends,

The Buddha once said, “To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.”

It’s that time of the year when late fall and winter holidays and activities are upon us. This is a time we should ask ourselves what are the levels of good health, happiness, and peace we want to enjoy as we enter into this season and the New Year. During these next few weeks many folks will be involved in coming together for holiday parties, toasting others over drinks, sharing meals, gift-giving, and being thankful as they reflect on all that’s happened this past year. There will be feelings of excitement and warmth as stories and laughter are shared with colleagues, friends, and family. As we gather together we will say goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new one with hope, optimism, and a sense of well being.   

  Oh, if it were only that simple. While getting together during this time can be fulfilling, it is also a time when some of us will experience an uptick in our levels of stress, painful emotions, money pressures, unhealed relationships, and addictive behaviors. In fact, certain folks will experience even more feelings of being overwhelmed, fatigued, and depressed during the holiday season. According to the Nursing Times website, approximately 2.9 million people suffer from depression during the holidays. However, the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season are not the time when people experience the highest levels of despair, as we’ve been led to believe. Research shows that it is the spring time and early summer when events such as suicide and depression are on the rise. Experts say that the reason that holidays do not contribute to an increase in emotional problems is because people are more likely to come together to do more visiting, sharing, and offering of support. Imagine if we did this all the time rather than just during the holidays.

So what can individuals, families, and communities that experience an increase in holiday stress do to find happiness, good health, and peace? I believe two good places to start are (1) examine our thinking and behaviors in this contemporary, consumerist society and, (2) consider shifting toward mindfulness practices that will help us improve our well being throughout the year.

What seems to be a major contributor to our seasonal stresses is that we have moved very far away from our spiritual roots that once valued simplicity, generosity, kindness, mindfulness, respect, and prayer (and I’m not talking about prayer that is about give this or that, but prayers of gratitude and love for one another). For me, one of our biggest obstacles to spirituality is the mindless, obsessive buying that we do during the holiday season. It is difficult for me to think that this contemporary holiday time is anything but the madness of consumerism; especially when I think about how our spending is ignited by events like “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday.”

Purchasing stuff, whether we need it or not, is constant throughout the year in first world countries like the United States, and it increases exponentially during the holiday seasons. In fact, Business Insider magazine reported that the average American shopper spent $704.18 on Christmas gifts in 2011: $403.26 was spent on kids; $68.23 was spent on relatives; $21.06 was spent on friends; and $23.39 was spent on other gifts. The American Research Group reports that planned Christmas spending for 2012 will rise to $854.00 for the average shopper.

The amount we spend on Christmas shopping is disturbing. However, what is most troubling is that a lot of the products we purchase contribute to harmful climate change and local and global pollution. Many gifts we buy will contain traces of harmful chemicals, paints, and solvents that contribute to the body burden of toxins we all carry, and some will be recalled because they exceed safe levels, if there is such a thing. Some of the gifts we get from major retailers are still connected to awful, oppressive sweatshop conditions in the US and other parts of the world, and many of people will be harmed producing the these things. Sadly, it seems what we care about most is that we save money and get good deals. I find nothing sacred, spiritual, or ethical in the acquiring of products that are toxic, manufactured from suffering of others, and contribute to the decline of our planet.  

Purchasing things outside our normal buying habits explodes during and after what is known as “Black Friday,” the day following Thanksgiving.  Black Friday is considered the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and many major retail stores offer promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping. Black Friday is known for attracting aggressive, frenzied crowds, and people getting assaulted, shot, and trampled to death. Sounds more like the action you find at a rugged Indian bar than a shopping mall.

This past year I watched news stories about Black Friday and saw video of shoppers screaming and threatening each other, a man threatening to stab other shoppers if they got in his way, some folks being trampled, cops arresting shoppers, and a riot at Walmart over Iphones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDpAkjD3wXo).  The people fighting over the phones reminded me of scene from the movie Black Hawk Down, where starving Somalia folks were frantically rushing the NATO trucks to get food. In no way do I intend to be demeaning to the suffering of Somalia people since their circumstances were, and continue to be a dire life and death situation. I only want to make a point of just how “hungry,” “starved,” and “addicted” Americans are when it comes to wanting products that are marketed as things that they desperately need; things that are optional and spiritually bankrupt. I’ve never participated in Black Friday shopping and for years have preferred to spend my money on gifts, clothes, and foods that are made by local producers and sold in local stores.

So, with the challenges of holidays upon us, how can mindfulness be helpful?  First, let’s revisit what mindfulness is. Mindfulness refers to being deeply aware of what is happening from moment to moment outside and inside us, without judging or attaching to the content, feelings, and emotions that arise. It means to live deeply and richly in the present moment and to not respond to life in a distracted and mechanical manner.  Mindfulness means we thoughtfully observe, listen, and respond to all that we or others do.

During the holidays our schedules can become hectic due to increased visits with relatives and friends, whirlwind shopping sprees, and attending special events that we may not want to attend. Since it is a time when many of us reflect on the family and friends we may have lost during the year, we can experience higher levels of anxiety, sadness, and depression.  There are many things that can be done to reduce the stress of the holidays. Here are five: 

1. It’s important to hang onto healthy rituals such as quiet walks, visits with good friends and family, and getting quality alone time and enough sleep. One of my rituals I do when I first wake up in the morning is to focus my eyes on a spot on the ceiling or wall. I keep my attention here for a minute taking slow, deep, mindful breaths that enable my brain waves to gently rise to a state of calm alertness. To prime my mood in a positive manner I whisper to myself word or phrase such as “peaceful,” “healed,” or “I am blessed.”  I quietly ask my inner (wise) self what I should learn today.
2. When you get out of bed take time to sit quietly in a mindfulness sitting position for 5 to 10 minutes, paying attention to your breath as you calmly breathe in and out. Make sure that you practice accepting your thoughts and feelings and what you’re thinking so that you do not begin mindlessly judging or attaching to them. Just focus as much as you can on the miracle of your breathing. If this is a time that you normally pray, use it to express prayers of gratitude rather than prayers that ask for something to be given or taken away.
3. Spend a portion of your first meal of the day sitting silently, mindfully eating, making sure to chew your food slowly, and deliberately tasting the what you eat and the liquids your drink. Ask your body if what you’re going to eat is what it is hungry for and if it will make you healthy and give you the optimal nutrition you need. Make sure to pause between bites and drinks. It’s important to remember that mindless eating during the holidays contributes to overeating, upset stomach, and at worse heart attack.
4. Shopping and buying gifts can be a very stressful, costly, and energy-draining experience. Instead of purchasing gifts from major retailers why not make your own stuff or buy from local producers or artists? Buying locally is better because you get better service; it supports the local economy; reduces waste, pollution, and energy costs; and the products are much less likely to rely on sweatshop labor and contain dangerous chemicals.
5. When gift shopping it is important to ask yourself, “How much is enough and how much is too much?” To solve this dilemma, always go with less is better. Instead of purchasing multiple holiday gifts for family, friends, and relatives, give less, way less. Giving a lot of gifts does not make family or friends love or respect you more. If you are afraid your children will love you less if you get them less, you have nothing to worry about.  According to a recent study by psychologists at the University of British Columbia, young children are happier to give than receive.

In closing, it’s important to remember that a key teaching of mindfulness is that life is about impermanence; all things are constantly changing, whether good or not so good. Mindfulness means that we gently ride the good times and the bad, pressing ourselves to stay present, and in touch with what is happening in this moment. We accept and honor all that is unfolding before us, but avoid attaching to it with expectations, judgments, or disappointments. And, if we wish to enjoy a lasting sense of happiness, good health, and peace, it is important that we embrace the practices of mindfulness during the holidays as well as throughout each moment of our lives. 

 

 

 

Michael Yellow Bird, MSW, Ph.D., is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes and a professor and the director of graduate education  in the Department of Social Work at Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA. His teaching, writing, research, and community work focuses on social work with Indigenous Peoples, neurodecolonization, neuroscience and social work, and employing mainstream and traditional Indigenous mindfulness practices in tribal communities to promote health and well being. He leads a regular morning mindfulness practice for staff, students, and faculty in his department. He can be reached by email at:  mjy9@humboldt.edu 

Minding the Indigenous Mind It Takes a Community to Heal the Aftermath of Death

Dear Mindful Friends and Relatives,

It is said that death is inescapable and unpredictable. Death is not easy for most of us to discuss, comprehend, or accept. When it strikes it often leaves us in stages of deep grief and suffering, searching our souls to understand Death’s purpose. When I think of memorable quotes about death there is an Eskimo saying that helps me see the connections between the loss of our loved ones and the knowledge that they have left their suffering here, on earth. It goes like this, “Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.” I love this quote since it reminds me that, even though we feel much grief at the passing of our relatives and friends, their deaths connect them to something beyond us; to all things beautiful and free.

For several years there has been a continuous stream of tragic, preventable, premature deaths in the different communities on my reservation (Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota). The number of deaths over the years has been excessive and steady and many of us we have not healed from the passing of our relatives and friends. Many of us carry the complicated, heavy feelings of grief and trauma in our hearts and minds. Unfortunately, it seems that Death will continue to be a frequent visitor to our part of the world since there does not seem to be a comprehensive plan, by the people and for the people, to stand up to Death. 

On our reservation, Death results from various, preventable health-related causes such as cancer, heart disease, obesity, depression, and diabetes. Death from substance abuse and alcohol, also preventable, is common. Accidents are by far the largest killer on the reservation, especially vehicle crashes. Then there are the violent deaths: murder and suicide which strip away our hope, sense of security, and order, and leave us broken and damaged. Murder and suicide are, perhaps, the most difficult to heal from.

  Recently, New Town/Fort Berthold residents Martha Johnson (age 64) and her three grandchildren Benjamin (13), Julia (10), and Luke Shuster (6) were murdered in their home by a young man named Kalcie Eagle (age 21), a tribal member. Martha and her grand kids were not tribal members. This story has been covered by several national newspapers and networks and has detailed what happened in this horrible tragedy. The killings shocked the community and many folks doing a lot of soul searching following this awful event. I cannot imagine the grief, confusion, and anguish that Martha and her grand children’s family and friends must be going through. When such awful, heartbreaking events happen so quickly and violently, coping with the shock, numbness, and the psychological disorganization that occurs, is sometimes the only thing that is possible.

It is must be also be exceptionally painful and difficult for the parents and relatives of Kalcie Eagle, who ended up tragically taking his own life shortly after the murders. It’s such a terrible, sad situation for the families, relatives, and friends of all the deceased. And, what to say at times like this to aid in understanding of why these deaths happened and how all involved can heal, is difficult when so much suffering, confusion, and sadness is at hand.  

In this column, I would like to offer my condolences and an abundance of healing thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by this tragedy, especially the families and relatives of the deceased. I send loving thoughts and happiness to those that have passed as they journey from this world to the next. Healing from what’s happened will take some time and a lot of deep reflection, acceptance, and forgiveness from all involved. And, while it may seem too soon to offer some prescriptions or thoughts of how to prevent more tragedies of this nature, I would ask the families and relatives of the deceased to forgive me for moving forward to do so.

First, what may be most important to remember is that, even though what’s happened is gut and heart wrenching, the affected families and community can and will heal and recover. Many times when an extremely adverse trauma is still fresh and being processed, many folks feel like they may never recover from what’s happened. This is a normal (but very difficult) response in dealing with the early stages of death and grief. At this point, it is important for the aggrieved to be able to find safe places to express their heartache and sorrow, and to be supported as they do so.

Second, it is essential for all that are affected to allow themselves to believe that healing and recovery can and will happen. Research shows over and over again that those people that live the longest, happiest, and healthiest lives following a traumatic event, are folks that have faith (or believe) they can heal and recover. They are individuals that adapt well in the face of adversity and can turn tragedy into opportunities for positive change. We should never underestimate the human capacity to thrive after serious adversity.  It is important for these kinds of folks, the thrivers and survivors to come forward, reach out, and offer stories of hope and healing to all that have been affected by this recent tragedy. And, if healing from death is to come full circle, it is also important that the survivors extend their knowledge and wisdom to all those that have yet to recover from the past tragic deaths in the community and on the reservation. Someone once said that we are all healers, and when we reach out to one another with compassion, love, and good intentions, we open an incredible space for healing to happen. 

Third, it is important to remember that there is a remarkable life force in unity. The energy that emanates from humans that are unified with one another is simply amazing. None of us have all of the answers or even the strength that is required to deal with the many difficult challenges we will face in our lifetimes. Nearly everyone one of us needs support, guidance, and wisdom from others in order to successfully to navigate our way through this world. Human beings do not do well when isolated from others; even individual achievements are not individual achievements. Often, they are possible because someone, or a company of someone’s, during an earlier time, provided a road map that could be followed. History shows that when humans join forces and walk the road of difficulty together, support one another, and remain unified for a common cause, almost anything can be attained.

If all community members, Native and non-Native, come together to talk about the tragedy, the reasons it happened, and form a united front to work together to prevent further calamities from happening, the community will not only heal, it will become stronger, healthier, and intimately interconnected in a way that, right now, may not seem possible. 

Fourth, it takes a community to heal a community. The most effective response to the current and past deaths on our reservation must come from within the communities and not from the outside. The approach must be a community-driven, involving all sectors of the population: young, old, grassroots, professional, men, women, parents, Native and non-Native, and civic, religious, and political leaders. Don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of good folks including grief counselors, social workers, healers, and religious leaders that are from outside the community that can be helpful and support the healing that goes on. But, they play a peripheral role; it’s an important periphery, but it is secondary nonetheless. For what happens when the outside folks leave? Who is going to take over the healing processes? Whose is going to implement and maintain the necessary organizational and relationship changes and strengthening that need to take place in order for healing to occur?

When I visited Fairbanks, Alaska last spring to present my work on mindfulness to several University of Alaska Native social work students, faculty, and community professionals, I came to understand just how important these questions are. During a talk a Native elder spoke of how the large number of murders and suicides that were being committed in her village were devastating and heartbreaking for all the people. There was a great deal of frustration, despair, and grief. The way that the fallout from the trauma had always been handled was by having a psychiatrist or psychologist fly into the village to offer grief counseling, which was appreciated, but not enough. After a few hours of visiting and working with folks, the individual would leave the community to fly back to his office in a distant city, leaving a lot of open wounds and confusion about what should be done next.

Folks in the village began to talk about what was happening, how they felt, how the short-term, outside help wasn’t enough, and what they could do as a village to change their circumstances. It was not long before they got most of the village, Native and non-Native, involved in working together to prevent more deaths. To accommodate everyone they began using traditional and non-traditional helping approaches to aid in the healing of the trauma. They came up with a plan, goals, and a vision of what they wanted their village to look like and began working towards them. As the elder told the story, members of her village who were in the audience chimed in about how excited and optimistic they were to take the lead to overcome the tragic events of their community. I’m not sure how successful this village has been since they were in the midst of their work. Still, it moved me to see how ordinary, everyday folks with a deep commitment could bring others together to work towards a common goal. After listening to their painful, heartbreaking stories, I was inspired at the depth the courage they had to take on such agonizing issues. Some of the women were the mothers of sons that had committed suicide and some were mothers of sons that had murdered the children of other mothers, who had decided to get involved. Come to think of it, the movement seemed to be mostly inspired, guided, and kept alive by the women of the village.

It takes a community to create a healing community environment. It takes a community to inspire a healing movement. It takes a community to agree upon a moral and behavior code that all can respect and live by. It takes a community to give hope to its members and to build bonds of trust, acceptance, forgiveness, and resiliency among the membership. Regardless of race, color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or belief, a community must make sure that all of its children and people are protected, supported, cared for, and provided with the guidance they need to become healthy, happy, responsible people. 

Healing the aftermath of death is challenging and heartbreaking. In our communities and on our reservation, we should grieve all deaths, comfort all families that lose loved ones, prepare ourselves for death, and most of all, we should do everything possible to stop those deaths that are preventable. The next time you run into someone you know or don’t know, ask them what they think could be done to bring unity and healing to all people on the reservation. Discuss ways you can work together to bring healing, understanding, and well being to everyone in all communities on the reservation. Listen patiently and draw out everything that positive from the conversation and share it with others in your next conversation, and the next, and the next. It’s important to always remember that healing and unity between all peoples on the planet is possible in this lifetime.  

Michael Yellow Bird, MSW, PhD., is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes and a professor and the director of graduate education in the Department of Social Work at Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA. His teaching, writing, research, and community work focuses on social work with Indigenous Peoples, neurodecolonization, neuroscience and social work, and employing mainstream and traditional Indigenous mindfulness practices in tribal communities to promote health and well being. He can be reached by email at:  mjy9@humboldt.edu 

Minding the Indigenous Mind Mindfulness Journeys to Nirvana

Minding the Indigenous Mind

Mindfulness Journeys to Nirvana

Greetings Mindful Friends and Relatives,

The Buddha once said, "There is a way to be purified, to overcome sorrows and grief, to release suffering, to secure the right path to realize nirvana. This is to be mindful." Mindfulness is a journey that enables us to contemplate the origin of all things that arise in our minds and bodies and the termination of them. As we come to understand that nothing is permanent, we are relieved from our suffering. In this column I wish to share a short fiction/nonfiction story that I wrote about a mindfulness journey that I have begun and have yet to complete.

Day 1, Afternoon

I arrive at my destination to begin a ten day journey of mindfulness and neurodecolonization sitting meditation. I have sat in meditation for several hours a day, for a number of days, in the comfort of my own home. But that was in the northern California town where I live. This is the first time that I will be sitting outside, back home on the rez, and I imagine the energies, sensations, and effort will be quite different.

The buffalo grass is waving in the winds and the air is filled with the fragrances of sage and the earthy-smelling Buffalo Bur and Owl Clover flowers. No mosquitoes. No wood ticks. No biting flies, yet. To the east of where I will be sitting are the rickety willow frames of the sweat lodges from last year’s Sun Dance and my brother’s fasting camp. A lone bird, probably a scout, sits atop the one in the center, occasionally flapping its wings to keep its balance in the sporadic gusts of the prairie wind.

To the south, I can see the all but translucent shades of dirty, yellowish-brown plumes of arsenic, chromium, nickel, lead, and dioxin clouds rising from the coal gasification plant across the Missouri river. The rising ash makes no sound but portends a tale of climate change and compromised health for all creatures, waters, and lands. My Amygdala, the fear-central region in my brain, activates as I experience a bit of anxiety realizing that I am probably breathing in the noxious fumes that are blowing across the lake from the plant.  

I gently place my big, dark purple, square Zabuton meditation cushion on the place that I have cleared for my sit. On top of it, in the center, I place my smaller round, black Zafu cushion. I sit on the Zafu as a test run, close my eyes, cross my legs, and sink into it. It is slightly off center and I stand up and make a few adjustments. I lay my two blankets that I’ve brought for the chilly evenings and mornings next to the cushions and go about setting up the sun shade, positioning it over where I will be sitting.

I will sit for long periods of time, meditating in silence, focusing my attention on training my awareness and concentration to mindfully tune in to my mind, body, thoughts, and all the sensations that arise. When my body asks, I will get up and mindfully move around, exercise, stretch, walk, eat and drink, and sleep. 

Day 2, Morning

The first several hours of my mindfulness journey have been pleasant, as it seems that I have been able to hold the awareness of my breath and body without too much effort. My brain waves seem to be holding very nicely at a mid to upper Alpha band range, and I feel alert, relaxed, centered, and alive. Enlightened already? I smile at my arrogance.

Whenever an unpleasant memory, a twinge of anxiety, or a sense of boredom enter my field of awareness I acknowledge them, befriend them, accept them, and return to the awareness that I am breathing in and breathing out; whenever joy, happiness, or desire make their way into my consciousness, I do the same.

Day 4, Night

I stand looking at the stars above me and the darkness that envelops the land. The breeze is cool, and I detect the smell of smoke, probably from the fires that are burning in Colorado this summer. Tonight before I begin meditation, I find myself wrestling with many fears and self-doubts. After some time, I sit down and begin focusing on each in and out breath. I see the exact moment when each in breath originates outside my body, and I consciously breathe it in. I continue watching it as it fills my entire body and then ends when I can no longer take in any more air. I hold the fullness of my breath in my body for a moment and then take note of the instant that my out breath begins inside me and then exits through my windpipe and throat, and finally trails out of my nostrils: “Breathing in I see the origin of my breath, Breathing out I see the cessation of my breath. Breathing in I see the origin of all things, Breathing out I see the fading of all things.”

Day 53, Morning

I don’t know how long I’ve been distracted or if I’ve been mindfully maintaining my awareness of all the processes of my mind and body. It seemed for a long time that I had been successfully engaging the awareness of my breath and body. Then for extended periods, my consciousness began picking up mesmerizing, sometimes very disturbing, old memories that I had long forgotten, or didn’t know had taken up residence within me. When I regained my mindfulness, I gently detached from them, remembering that they are just memories. Before I could return to my focused breathing, my awareness exploded into beautiful shades of black and I found myself sitting alone in the deep, dark recesses of celestial space, breathing in and breathing out.  

A wood tick is crawling across my face and it is at this moment that I realize that I have been visiting the “ghost cave” of makyo (魔境,), clinging to the experience of illusion and self-delusion. I smile and release myself from my bubble of deception. 

I’m not tired or hungry, but I feel the wind and sun gently caressing my exposed skin. For some reason I feel it most in my hands: “Breathing in, I make my body calm and at peace. Breathing out, I make my body calm and at peace.” Calmness and peace evade me and I open my eyes and stand up, stretch, and begin walking to the west.

Day 54, Night

            I’m sitting. I’m solidly grounded to mother earth, feeling her electromagnetic energies probing me as they rise, making their way to the stars above, and then descend back deep below to where they came from. Sometimes the waves of energy are so strong and saturated that I feel every part of my body pulse and inflate like a balloon that is filled with liquid electricity. I sit very still, unmoving, lest my body spring an energy leak and my soul escape, only to be whisked away and pooled together with the falling stardust. Concentrate. Breathe.

 Sometimes the energies have a predictable pattern, and I am able to brace myself for each incoming wave as it builds momentum and strength and then releases into a calm buzzing in my ears and toes. At other times, the waves seem to chaotically materialize from all directions and engulf every molecule in my being, bringing me closer to a thermodynamic death. Death? Death is not so bad.

The ultimate fate of the universe is heat death. One day the universe will weaken to a state of having no thermodynamic free energy and therefore will no longer sustain the processes that devour energy, including life, including me. It starts to rain; gently at first and then a downpour bursts from above. I remind myself that I am at peace.

Day 55, Day

I remember the electromagnetic waves are distractions, and I go back to my breathing and adjust my Purple coneflower meditation position so that it is stable and synchronized with each breath. I allow my belly to become soft and begin my inverse breathing. I silently repeat to myself, “Breathing in I am connected to all life. Breathing out I am connected to all life.” My breath is alive.

Day 72, Night

The chirping sounds of the multitude of crickets all around me have now magically converged into single ringing chime that washes over and through me. The sound touches me for only a moment and then proceeds far beyond, to the north. When I become distracted enough I can hear it change back into millions of cricket voice choirs, rising and falling in an ancient unison. Their song begins to synchronistically pulsate with the beating of my heart. I use this shift in my perception to go back to my mindfulness breathing in the present moment: “Breathing in I bring clarity and purpose to my life. Breathing out I bring clarity and purpose to my life.”   

Day 81, Afternoon

I’ve finally made peace with my memories of death. They arise and I no longer react with fear or grief. The blood has dried on all their faces and their smiles have returned. Their eyes sparkle and they turn and walk back toward the east and gradually fade away: “Breathing in I feel compassion for the suffering of those that have died. Breathing out I feel love for those that have died. Breathing in I feel compassion for my suffering, having died with them many times. Breathing out I feel compassion for my suffering, having died with them many times.”

Day 88, Morning

I slightly shift my sitting position and notice that all of last night’s aches and shivers are gone, and the burning in my legs from sitting in my semi-Purple coneflower position has finally faded away. In the southeast, the sun has now fully transcended the earth and raised itself over the horizon to see if I am sitting where it saw me last evening. Through the skin of my closed eyelids the sun produces a deep red that bleeds into my field of vision. The shade of red changes as I gently raise and lower my chin towards and away from the sun. All the life in the summer air has begun buzzing, singing, fluttering, and floating through the humid, damp sky that hangs above me.

My attention on my breath is like my breathing itself: life. The pace of my breathing remains unchanged, and I notice how my lungs and belly fill completely with the warm, sticky air that is gently blowing from the west. I exhale with awareness as my lungs empty emotional toxins from long, long ago. My mind silently utters good-bye confusion as I breathe out; good-bye self-pity as I breathe out; good-bye greed as I breathe out; good-by historical trauma as I breath out. In a moment of distraction, I am able to feel my breath as it enters and exits the hollow centers of the hairs on each of my thin, dehydrated, sunburned, wrinkled arms.

Day 90, Evening

With the subtle changes that are going on around me, I begin to ascend out of the deep breathing awareness that I had been suspended in for much of the past eighty-nine days. I feel myself being slowly liberated my from my connection to my meditation cushions and it seems as though someone has turned off the spigot of the earth’s electromagnetic fields. I am ending my sitting to return to the world of chaos, and I am reminded of Qigong Master Duan Zhi Liang’s teaching about disorder and confusion: “The essence of all evolution in nature emerges from chaos. By understanding the infinite energy that is always available to us, we can flow naturally with the chaotic energies of the universe.” Breathing in I draw in the never-ending life-force that envelops me. Breathing out I draw in the never-ending essence of this time.”

Day 91, one minute after midnight

I feel a hot, panting breath in my face, and the intense smell fresh of blood enters my nostrils. I slowly open my eyes to see that I am in a six-inch, face-to-face staring contest with a large mountain lion. In his eyes I can see the smoke rising from the coal gasification plant and his fur smells of crude oil. We calmly look at each other for few seconds. I uncross my legs and move my body slightly forward to stand up. My visitor steps back, allowing me the room that I need to get to my feet.  I pick up my cushions and blankets and walk through the grass towards the gravel road. My companion follows beside me as we both fade into the darkness, heading towards the lights of White Shield, heading towards nirvana.

Michael Yellow Bird, MSW, PhD., is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes and a professor and the director of graduate education in the Department of Social Work at Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA. His teaching, writing, research, and community work focuses on social work with Indigenous Peoples, neurodecolonization, neuroscience and social work, and employing mainstream and traditional Indigenous mindfulness practices in tribal communities to promote health and well being. He can be reached by email at:  mjy9@humboldt.edu