This episode of Unreserved shines a light on Indigenous people who are culturally-adapting and reclaiming wellness practices.

Michael Yellow Bird, is a citizen of the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota and he is the dean of the faculty of social work at the University of Manitoba. He’s been practicing mindfulness for decades and he researches the effects of Indigenous ceremony and mindfulness on the brain. He says mindfulness can decolonize the brain.

Smudging - burning herbs like sage - is becoming increasingly popular in some wellness circles. But is it cultural appropriation? Tareyn Johnson is Anishinaabe and a member of Georgina Island First Nation. She's been practicing yoga for many years and has seen sacred medicines like sage being misused or improperly handled in a growing number of yoga studios.

Jessica Barudin is Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw and a member of the Namgis First Nation on Vancouver Island and founder of the First Nations Women’s Yoga Initiative. As a yoga teacher, Jessica works with Elders and knowledge keepers to bring culturally adapted yoga to communities and help heal intergenerational trauma.