Atlas Yoga Studio and School Land Acknowledgement Updated 2023

We acknowledge that we are living by the grace of the mother here on Turtle Island.

Atlas Yoga Studio and School started out on the lands now known as Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. I, Denise Davis-Gains, acknowledge that I live and work on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes ten kilometers on each side of the Grand River. We acknowledge and thank the history and legacy of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Attawandaron (Neutral) peoples, and we offer our gratitude to the Indigenous Peoples who care for and, through the treaty process, share the lands on which we live, learn, teach and prosper today.

I am originally from Florence, Alabama I acknowledge that my home town is situated upon the traditional homelands of ᎠᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Cherokee, East) and Chikashsha Yaki (Chickasaw) tribal nations. We respect and honour the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout generations. We pay homage with gratitude to the many diverse Indigenous peoples still connected to this land. My paternal 7th great-grand mother was Cherokee and material great-grandmother was Mohawk - from the upper part of what is now know as New York State. These woman married into settler families and I am the result of our people coming together willingly and unwillingly.

As we become an international organization we seek to better understand and acknowledge the rights of all indigenous peoples of the world. The United Nations crafted a statement that has been adopted by many and you can find that here on their website: https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html 

Resources for Indigenous Land and Acknowledgement from the United Nations: https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/publications/desktop-publications.html

We are developing an Indigenous Yoga Program that is designed to serve at Risk Youth in Indigenous Communities in Canada and around the world. If you are interested in participating or knowing more about this program you can email us at [email protected]

We actively seek ways to move towards reconciliation within self and community.

I have Indigenous heritage on both sides of my family. I am a mixed breed human with multiple cultures in my ancestry. I consciously undertake to better understand the mixed feelings, emotions and responsibilities of having both Indigenous heritage and that of the Colonizers.

May we together make Turtle Island a safer, more inclusive - better place, take better care of our mother the Earth, Father Sky, Grand-mothers and Grand-fathers of this time and all of time. May our children walk on in humility and respect for all beings.

Denise Davis-Gains and the Team at Atlas Yoga Studio and School

Other Resources: a short list of some favourite resources

• https://www.firstnations.org/
• https://nativeland.info/
• https://native-land.ca/
• https://www.caut.ca/content/guide-acknowledging-first-peoples-traditional-territory
• https://apihtawikosisan.com/2016/09/beyond-territorial-acknowledgments/
• https://theantioppressionnetwork.com/allyship/
  • https://www.youtube.com/user/antioppressionnet
• http://www.groundworkforchange.org/
• http://www.groundworkforchange.org/great-websites-to-learn-more.html
  

Learn more about Land Acknowledgements and Yoga in the interview below on "The Connected Yoga Teacher" podcast with Shannon Crow, Jessica Barudin & Emmy Chahal.

So much more to say and do in this regard. This page will be an evolving resource that you can come back to when you need to go deeper and explore more about Land Acknowledgement and Reconciliation. Please feel free to make recommendations of resources to add to this page.

The Culture of Yoga and Meditation

The study of yoga, meditation and mindfulness is not new. The techniques that are associated with the terms ‘meditation’ and ‘yoga’ are documented over thousands of years in nuanced explorations by practitioners and related theorists. Yet, the ‘outsider’ study of these practices is part of modern history.

In recent decades, in parallel with the rapid popularization of yoga and meditation practices in many different cultural contexts around the world, academics have shown increasing interest in studying these subjects. The Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies aims to showcase the range, depth, and complexity of contemporary, global academic research on yoga and meditation. It is a publication by academic experts for those seeking to understand the current state of academic research on this subject. 

In this course we hope to draw attention to some of the problematic assumptions that have developed as this academic field of study has become established. We will discuss the difference between the academic study of yoga, meditation and mindfulness and the practice of these disciplines.

We can challenge the research divide between those who study 'meditation' (usually allied with Buddhism) and those who study ‘yoga’ (usually understood as relating to textual and lived practices of the Indian subcontinent aimed at liberation). The relationship between ‘yoga’ and ‘meditation’ (as both ideas and practices) is complex and contextual. Yet the ideas and practices can be looked at in dialogue for either to be more accurately understood. 

The academic study of yoga and meditation rests on the knowledge construction projects of European modernity. The conceptual frameworks of European modernity co-arise with the experiences, cultural oppressions, and transformations of colonization (Quijano 2000 among others make this point). Contemporary understandings of practices of meditation, yoga and mindfulness have been filtered and distorted through these frameworks. The cultural framings of modernity are not singular, they affect our ideas and ways of thinking, studying, being the world in complex and multifaceted ways. 

By examining the study of meditation, yoga and mindfulness through a range of disciplines and in a number of specific cultural and historical contexts, we hope to begin to challenge assumptions created by any individual’s cultural positioning or disciplinary training. The Routledge book represents an up-to-date, empirically-grounded understandings within multi-disciplinary frameworks of investigation. Additionally, by placing a spectrum of approaches side-by-side the book reveals blind spots to which a particular way of framing research inevitably gives rise. 

It is out of the scope of this course to explore South Asian history of religions as its starting point, or follow the developments in the Vedic period up to how yoga and meditation are understood in some of the many present-day expressions of Hinduism. However, as we are interested in meditative traditions more broadly, we also will consider a range of theological perspectives on meditation (including Jain, Sikh, Christian ...) as well as a range of perspectives on the origins, spread, and development of traditions. If you are interested in the critical perspectives that inform public discussions on yoga and meditation today put the Routledge book on your reading list for this course.

Through this effort, we hope to be part of a process of breaking up of siloed knowledge and rigid conceptual frameworks. Yes, honour the origins and influences through the ages for the traditions and practices to be brought to the field of trauma education.
(adopted and modified from: https://www.theluminescent.org/2020/10/the-routledge-handbook-of-yoga-and.html)

King, R. E. 2019. ‘Meditation and the Modern Encounter between Asia and the West’ in Farias, M, Brazier, D. and Lalljee, M. (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Meditation. Online. October. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198808640.013.2. Accessed 21 February 2020.

Newcombe, Suzanne and O'Brien-Kop, Karen. 2020 'Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies, https://www.theluminescent.org/2020/10/the-routledge-handbook-of-yoga-and.html and e.com/Routledge-Handbook-of-Yoga-and-Meditation-Studies/Newcombe-OBrien-Kop/p/book/9781138484863#sup . Accessed 20 March, 2023

Nye, M. 2019. ‘Race and religion: postcolonial formations of power and whiteness.’ Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, 31(3): 210–237. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15700682-12341444.

Quijano, A. 2000. ‘Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America.’ Nepantla: Views from South, 1(3): 533–580. 

Read chapter 4 from the Routledge book "The Scholar-Practitioner of Yoga in the Western Academy" by Mark Singleton and Borayin Larios. See pdf below

If you enjoyed this read and would like to read more you can find a few more chapter at this link in open access. https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbook-of-Yoga-and-Meditation-Studies/Newcombe-OBrien-Kop/p/book/9781138484863#sup