Keynote Offerings

The Wisdom We Carry: Breath, Body & Pathways to Healing

Trauma & Healing | Interactive keynote and community sharing circle

Our bodies carry stories of strength, survival, connection and healing. Drawing on Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw ways of knowing, lived experience, and contemporary understandings of trauma and nervous system regulation, Dr. Jessica Barudin invites us to explore how breath, movement, ancestral knowledge, and relationships can support our wellness journeys.

Together, we will explore how stress and trauma affect the body, how our nervous systems respond to safety and uncertainty, and how simple, accessible body-based practices can support grounding, connection, and resilience.

Rooted in Indigenous understandings of healing as relational, this interactive keynote honours the wisdom we carry within ourselves, our families, our lands and our communities. Through gentle reflection, optional embodied practices, followed by a facilitated sharing circle, participants will be invited to connect with their own sources of strength and explore pathways toward individual and collective wellness.

*No previous experience is needed. Participants are welcome to engage in ways that feel comfortable and meaningful to them.

Ga’walap̓a laxa̱n’s ḵa̱n’s sa̱nale’ ~ Helping Each Other to Be Whole

Community Care + Wellness | Interactive keynote for frontline workers and community wellness providers

How do we care for our communities while remaining connected to our own well-being?

Drawing on her experiences as a Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw mother, community wellness practitioner, educator, and elected leader, Dr. Jessica Barudin offers a heartfelt, experiential keynote on frontline wellness, trauma resiliency, and community care. Grounded in Indigenous relational understandings of wellness, she explores how breath, body awareness, connection to land, and caring relationships can support those who carry the responsibility of caring for others.

This keynote acknowledges the emotional labour, grief, burnout, and compassion fatigue experienced by frontline workers, educators, health practitioners, and community helpers—particularly where those we serve are also our relatives, neighbours, and loved ones. Through storytelling, reflection, and gentle, optional somatic practices, participants explore ways to recognize stress, support nervous system regulation, establish compassionate boundaries, and cultivate steadiness in relationships with children, youth, colleagues, and community members.

Designed for community organizations, schools, universities, and health and wellness groups or authorities, this offering invites participants to consider how workplaces and communities can share responsibility for the well-being of their helpers. Participants leave with accessible practices and a personal commitment to sustaining their own wellness alongside their service to others.

At its heart is a simple reminder: caring for ourselves is a community act, and helping each other to be whole is a shared responsibility.

Public Speaking & Interviews

Indigenized approaches to embodiment and contemplative practices

This session will dive into how Indigenous ancestral practices and trauma-informed strategies may help us heal and care for ourselves and our communities in powerful ways. Dr. Barudin will share her insights on combining ancestral practices with body-based wellness strategies that honor Indigenous knowledge. She will share her community work and research focusing on healing from trauma through connection to our breath, bodies, and minds.

Finding balance & connection through spiritual practices

This week Ally is sitting down with the incredible Jessica Barudin. They're delving deep into motherhood, finding balance in a hectic world, and how yoga is bringing healing to indigenous communities. Jessica's wisdom shines as she shares personal practices for well-being and living in sync with nature. Together, they explore spirituality, the power of prayer, and the importance of gratitude even in tough times. You won't want to miss this soulful journey friends.

Simplify your approach to fitness

A throwback interview by Well For Culture that looks at Indigenizing our fitness and wellness practices with Jessica Barudin (Kwakwaka’wakw) and Dion Begaye (Dine). Finding movement that’s meaningful to you can lead to a healthier mind. Being a strong individual leads to being a strong and contributing member of your community. Functional fitness is a means of taking care of your family.

How Indigenous yogis and meditators are adapting and reclaiming 'wellness'

Featuring Tareyn Johnson, Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, and Jessica Barudin who offer Indigenous perspectives and experiences of yoga and mindfulness for wellness in communities.

Bringing People Together Through Movement

Listen to this episode to hear Shayla and Jessica discuss going from urban life in Montreal back to her home community in Vancouver Island, Jessica’s Kwakwaka’wakw heritage, her process of becoming a yoga teacher in 2012, and how the wellness industry has changed since then; further, they discuss the First Nations Womens’ Yoga Initiative

First Nations Forward: In conversation with Jessica Barudin

An intimate discussion on First Nations Forward with Emilee Gilpin. A National Observer series, dedicated to sharing stories of success, sustainable land and water management and self-determination in First Nations across B.C.

Yoga & Land Acknowledgements

A podcast discussion to explore what are land and lineage acknowledgments. Who needs to do them, and why? How is it relevant to yoga, and how does this fit into the larger context of deepening our connection to the lands we occupy? Jessica Barudin and Emmy Chahal answer these questions and more in this episode.

Trauma-informed Yoga & Ceremony

A keynote presentation at the Yoga Outreach Practice and Praxis Conference. Jessica will weave stories, Kwakwaka’wakw values, and research to describe Indigenous contemplative and meditative practices. She will offer reflections of healing intergenerational and historical trauma and strengthening community wellness through Yoga and Ceremony.

Native Women in Wellness: Ancestral Voices in Today’s World

The practices of Indigenous communities have been appropriated by the wellness community for years, with little to no acknowledgment of their cultural roots. Sit down with five powerful Indigenous women working to change and reclaim well-being as a birthright, while also bridging the gap of knowledge for all by educating, advocating, and continuing ancestral traditions in today’s world.

Education + Presentations

Introduction to Yoga and Breathwork for Indigenous Communities - IPHCC

Hosted by the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council, join Jessica Barudin in this interactive webinar and discover respectful approaches to engage with yoga while concurrently reclaiming and celebrating your culture, identity, and language. Learn more and practice the Medicine Wheel Movement Series.

The Language of Wellness - FNHA x FNPCC

Session one of a Five-Part Language Revitalization Webinar Series. Co-created, curated, and hosted by Jessica Barudin on March 18, 2021. A collaboration with X’pey Wellness and The First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC). Learn more at: https://www.fnha.ca/about/news-and-ev...

UBC Learning Circle

A UBC Learning Circle series centered on exploring ways to adapt to our current pandemic reality while using technology to conduct and participate in ceremony in a virtual space. These sessions will take a look at the importance of Indigenous spirituality and how our communities across the province are creating innovative ways to uplift one another. Honoring balance and harmony with the land is central to Indigenous ceremonies and traditional practices; how can we ensure that this balance continues in a good way despite the challenges we are living through? What does this resilience look like within different Nations?

Yoga Outreach Conference: Practice & Praxis - October 17-November 7

Dismantling Racism in Healthcare and Education panel discussion at McGill University, hosted by the Indigenous Health Professions Program. Jessica Barudin moderated the panel, featuring

• Tania Dick, Kwakwak’wakw Nurse and Indigenous health advocate

• Wanda Gabriel, Kanien'kehá:ka Social Worker

• Susie Goodleaf, Kanien'kehá:ka Pscyhologist

• Saleem Razeck, MD, FRCPC, Director of the Office of Social Accountability and Community Engagement, McGill University