Doctoral Research

Thesis

Thesis Title: Braiding Knowledge Through Breath, language, and Movement: Culturally-adapted, Trauma-informed yoga for First Nations WomEn

To cite: Barudin, Jessica W.G. (2023) Braiding Knowledge through breath, language, and movement: culturally rooted, trauma-informed Yoga for First Nations Women. PhD thesis, Concordia University.

Background

The research project aimed at exploring the impacts of a culturally-responsive, trauma-informed yoga curriculum for Kwakwaka’wakw and First Nation women. The project presented opportunities to learn and practice yoga, meditation, and mindfulness (contemplative practices) with Kwakwaka’wakw self-identifying First Nations women and two-spirited peoples with an interest in learning about the parallel teachings in yoga and Kwakwaka’wakw gwayi’lelas (traditional teachings). The doctoral research underscored the importance of co-creating a Kwakwa’la language-learning community in conjunction with embodied and Indigenous wellness practices with the aim of collective healing and community caring.

The curriculum offered an 80-hour virtual cohort-based delivery model during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Core program themes of Yoga and healing from trauma were introduced in parallel with Kwakwaka’wakw healing practices, kwak’wala language, values, as well as other First Nations contemplative approaches and wellness strategies. The aim was to create an empowering space for Kwakwaka’wakw & First Nations women and two-spirit people to see and experience themselves, and their culture and language represented in accessible and safe community practice.

Several aspects of this project wove together technology-based tools and digital media to promote embodied practices, language learning, knowledge mobilization, and knowledge translation among the community of learners. The research project will build upon existing findings and principles in culturally rooted and/or trauma-informed embodied wellness practices while combining technology-based health and language revitalization principles. The values and worldviews of the language domains provided the source of information for developing lesson plans and modules. We developed 8 modules including a community-based practicum component, a hub of digital learning resources, and a program manual to build capacity for community-based yoga programming.

Ultimately, the research provided a model for the engagement and empowerment of Indigenous women in the field of Indigenous community health and wellness. The ongoing work of this project includes knowledge-gathering and sharing processes (virtually, in communities, and on the land) to build upon a compendium of contemplative, embodied, and language learning resources and wellness practices to support First Nations women and two-spirited folks in (re)connecting to their bodies, their families/communities, and the land.

See more about Jessica’s research - INDIVIDUALIZED PROGRAM Student Research

Research Questions

1)   How can yoga be integrated as a trauma-informed, community strategy for cultural connectedness and language learning with Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw women?

2)   What are the processes and outcomes of developing, transferring, and braiding cultural knowledge through a community-based yoga program?

3) What is the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on creating virtual solutions and approaches to learning and community care?

Supervisory Committee

Individualized Program In Social Science, Concordia University

Elizabeth Fast, Assistant Professor, Applied Human Sciences

Elizabeth is Métis from St. François-Xavier, Manitoba. She has a PhD in Social Work from McGill University (2014) and was hired as a Strategic Hire for Indigenous Youth at Concordia University in 2015 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences. From 2016-2017 Elizabeth served as the Special Advisor to the Provost on Indigenous Directions at Concordia. Before returning to school, Elizabeth worked with youth that were transitioning out of care from the child welfare system and as a social worker. Elizabeth is currently the principal investigator on research grant that seeks to understand how “legacy education” can be used to strengthen cultural pride among urban Indigenous youth and is leading an action research project on improving child welfare services for Indigenous families in Montreal in partnership with the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal.

Jason Lewis, Professor of Computation Arts, Design and Computation Arts

Jason Edward Lewis is a digital media artist, poet and software designer. He founded Obx Laboratory for Experimental Media, where he directs research/ creation projects using virtual environments to assist Aboriginal communities in preserving, interpreting and communicating cultural histories, devising new means of creating and reading digital texts, developing systems for creative use of mobile technology. He is the director of the Initiative for Indigenous Futures, a seven-year SSHRC-funded Partnership focused on how Indigenous communities imaging themselves seven generations hence. Lewis co-founded and co-directs the Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace research network that is investigating how Aboriginal people can participate in the shaping of our digital media future, and co-directs workshop combining traditional stories and game design at the Kahnawake First Nations' high school.

Katsi Tekatsi:tsia’kwa Cook, Indigenous scholar, Elder, & Midwife

Katsi’s work spans many worlds and disciplines and demonstrates a life-long career of advancing the superlatives of Indigenous Knowledge. She is an advocate of Indigenous women’s health across the lifecycle, drawing from a longhouse traditionalist perspective the idea of Woman as the First Environment. She has based her work in the First Environment Collaborative, working at the intersections of environmental health and justice and reproductive health and justice research and policy.  

A founding member of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives, Katsi helped clear a path for a new generation of Indigenous practitioners while simultaneously influencing public policy, promoting community and culture-based practice and research. As executive director of the Spirit Aligned Leadership Program, Katsi partners with the Elders Council of the Indigenous Justice Division of Ontario, in response to the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.