lineage acknowledgement:

DECEMBER 2024. LIVING LINEAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.

COPYRIGHT. CARLA BEHARRY.

In 1838, with the emancipation from enslavement in British Guiana (now Guyana), the first Indian immigrants arrived in Guiana from Calcutta, India. These Indian labourers, referred to as “coolies”, meaning “unskilled servants, load-carriers or porters”, were indentured workers forced into destructive living conditions, often as harsh as the enslaved peoples they replaced. Commonly described as “the new system of slavery”, indentureship can be described as “struggle, sacrifice and resistance”.

I am a descendent of Indentured labourers. A child of ancestors so strong and courageous. I embody of lineage of DNA that not only contains deep trauma, but also contains resource and practice for spiritual growth, physical embodiment and healing. 

MY PRACTICES OF YOGA, MEDITATION, CULTURAL SOMATICS AND HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE ARE DIRECTLY ROOTED IN MY WEST INDIAN CULTURE AND EAST INDIAN ANCESTRY.

CULTURAL SOMATICS:

While the practice of somatics in the Western world is attributed to Frederick Matthias Alexander, Moshe Feldenkrais and Thomas Hanna, the truth is that somatics, and specifically cultural somatics are practices rooted in Asian and Black cultures. 

Philosophies of health and wellbeing, rooted in the global south, see the mind and body as being inextricably linked. The mind and body are ONE. The practice of somatics is integrated into philosophies of medicine, movement and healing.

Somatic practice is not a new, trendy movement. Somatic practice IS a way of life. Somatics ARE life. 

It is only in the Western world, where medicine separates mind and body, that this “movement” toward healing trauma through integrating mind-body practice is “new”. The faces of white men in the trauma healing world, including Bessel Van Der Kolk, Peter Levine and Gabor Mate, while doing impactful work, are ALL deriving their knowledge and practice from Asian, African and Caribbean tradition. These roots and lineages are often not acknowledged. 

In the words of Tada Hozumi, somatics, the practice of affecting change through felt-sense interoception of the body can be seen in Asian cultural practices such as qigong, yoga, zen, energetic martial arts, energy work, and Chinese medicine, as well as through Asian philosophical orientations from Buddhism to Daoism.

The modern Western somatic modalities we have come to commonly know, from Somatic Experiencing, Hakomi Method, Generative Somatics, Embodied Leadership (Strozzi Institute), Feldenkrais, and so on, all derive their foundational somatic practices from these Asian cultural traditions.

In the practice of cultural somatics, we reclaim connection to our Black, Indigenous and racialized cultures, movements, music, rhythms, drumming, humming, singing, and dancing are a way of life. I have been blessed to learn from and practice cultural somatics with Resmaa Menakem, Erin Trent Johnston, Karine Bell, Rev. angel Kyoto Williams, Dr. Sara King and more.

HOMEOPATHY:

Homeopathy was discovered by a German Physician, Samuel Hahnemann in the late eighteenth century and was introduced in India when German missionaries and physicians started distributing homeopathic medicines amongst local inhabitants. Dr. M.L. Sirkar, started practicing Homoeopathy in  India. He edited the first Homeopathic Journal ‘Calcutta Journal of Medicine' in 1868. In 1881, many renowned physicians including Dr. P.C. Mujumdar and Dr. D. N. Roy established first Homoeopathic College - the ‘Calcutta Homeopathic Medical College'. Dr. Lahiri, Dr. B. K. Sarkar and many others made personal efforts in establishing Homoeopathy as a profession. They are well known for their contribution to the global growth of Homoeopathic medicine. 

I received my homeopathic medicine education from teachers connected to the Canadian College of Homeopathic Medicine in Toronto, Ontario. 

YOGA:

The beginnings of Yoga were developed by the Indus-Sarasvati civilization in Northern India over 5,000 years ago. The word yoga was first mentioned in the oldest sacred texts, The Vedas, which were a collection of texts containing songs, mantras and rituals to be used by Brahmans, the Vedic priests.

Yoga was slowly refined and developed by the Brahmans and Rishis (mystic seers) who documented their practices and beliefs in the upanishads, a huge work containing over 200 scriptures. The most renowned of the Yogic scriptures is the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, composed around 500 B.C.E.

Later, Patanjali’s Yoga-Sûtras, was the first systematic presentation of yoga. Written some time in the second century, this text describes the path of Raja Yoga, often called "classical yoga". Patanjali organized the practice of yoga into an "eight limbed path" containing the steps and stages towards obtaining Samadhi or enlightenment. Patanjali is often considered the father of yoga and his Yoga-Sûtras still strongly influence most styles of modern yoga.

In the 1920s and 30s, Hatha Yoga was strongly promoted in India with the work of T. Krishnamacharya, Swami Sivananda and other yogis practicing Hatha Yoga. Krishnamacharya produced three students that would continue his legacy and increase the popularity of Hatha Yoga: B.K.S. Iyengar, T.K.V. Desikachar and Pattabhi Jois.

Yoga researchers have found evidence to suggest that yoga not only originated in India but also has roots in parts of Africa, particularly Egypt. The practice of yoga was created by brown and black people as a tool for spiritual growth, as a way to integrate the spiritual element with physical experience

In recent years, I’ve had the privilege to learn from Black and racialized yoga teachers, including Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts, Octavia Raheem, Troy Hadeed, and Susanna Barkataki. 

MEDITATION:

The oldest documented evidence of the practice of meditation are wall arts in the Indian subcontinent from approximately 5,000 to 3,500 BCE, showing people seated in meditative postures with half-closed eyes. The oldest written mention of meditation is from 1,500 BCE in the Vedas. It is believed that the Vedas had been memorized and passed down as an oral tradition for centuries, long before they were written down.

The Hindu tradition of meditation includes both the Yogis meditating in caves, as well as the Sages (rishis) of the Vedic culture. It is the oldest meditation tradition on Earth—still alive and thriving. It has hundreds of lineages and techniques.

In the 6th century BCE, Siddhartha Gautama abandoned his royal life as a prince and set out to attain Enlightenment. He achieved the Enlightenment he sought and became the Buddha. He then spent the next decades of his life teaching meditation and spiritual awakening to thousands of people. Buddhism spread all over Asia, and many different lineages were formed. The Buddhist styles of meditation, Vipassana, Loving-Kindness and Walking Meditation are perhaps the most widely practiced forms of meditation in the West

In the same “golden century” as the Buddha, three other religions were born, all with their own approaches to meditation. Jainism in India (founded by Mahavira), Taoism in China (founded by Lao Tze) and Confucianism in China (founded by Confucius). In addition, the tradition of the Sufis (the mystics of Islam) goes as far as 1,400 years back. Sufism, under some influence of Indian contemplative traditions, developed meditation practices based on breathing, mantra, and gazing. The core of their practices is connecting with God (Allah).

In recent years, I’ve had the privilege to practice meditation with Black and racialized yoga teachers, including Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts, Octavia Raheem, Troy Hadeed, Tracee Stanley, Dr.Ruth King and Lama Rod Owens.

CLINICAL MINDFULNESS:

The first collection of scientific studies on meditation was made in 1977 by James Funderburk, a student of Swami Rama of the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science.

Swami Rama was one of the first yogis to be studied by Western scientists. In the 1960s he was examined by scientists where he demonstrated his ability to voluntarily control his bodily processes (such as heartbeat, blood pressure, and body temperature) which science had up until then considered being involuntary.

Among other things, he demonstrated: Altering his heartbeat while sitting motionless, to 300 beats per minute for 16 seconds, and then within a few minutes completely stopping his heart from pumping blood for some seconds, producing different skin temperatures on adjacent sides of his hand by consciously dilating and contracting his blood vessels with his mind, producing alpha, delta, theta and gamma brain waves on demand, and remaining fully conscious of his environment while his brain was in deep sleep.

This triggered interest in the scientific community to further study the effects of meditation in the body.

As a result, over the next five decades, the number of scientific studies on meditation increased considerably, and so did their quality. Advanced practitioners of other traditions, particularly Zen monks and Tibetan lamas, were also studied and gave mind-over-body demonstrations.  Before that time, meditation was still considered a religious practice, and thus not appropriate for healthcare purposes. 

It is important to note that clinical and sanitized versions of meditation, including MBSR and MBCT are rooted not in Western “clinical evidence” but rather in studies of South Asian yogis and meditators.