Strengthen Your Relationship to Land With These Resources
/
Morro Bay, CA. the site of the first landing of filipinos onto turtle island on October 18, 1587.
My practice offers many resources and cultivates stories of communities healing themselves with the support and guidance of nature’s lessons. And I think its an important topic to center wellness with nature, but I’d be remiss if I did this work without bringing in the opportunities to heal WITH the land we occupy and benefit from, whether that’d be learning the historical events and impacts on and from the Native community or partnering with communities to leverage what we can offer to be in solidarity to their sovereignty. So, in short what I’m saying is that it’s an important value I hold in my work have the Native perspective especially if we’re working directly with the land such as in stewardship, education, or movement building. This upcoming year is going to be my intentional effort to cultivate more direct relationships with groups and local descendants as best as I could.
Ultimately, this work is about healing our relationship to land. So I'd love to share some resources I found critical in shaping my decolonization journey, my relationship to nature and this land of unceeded Huichin Oholone Territory that influences so much in how I guide others to reclaim an identity to their own nature.
As a second-generation Pinay my parents immigrated to the Bay Area/Ohlone Territories in the late 70's. I was born and raised here and most of my life I've been a settler in this lovely West Coast. Being drawn to the nature around me and drive to have a career working in some capacity with nature, I have a special relationship to this landscape. But it wasn't until I really had to figure out my true path, did I start thinking about how much I felt like I did or didn't belong here.
Growing up in the South Bay (San Jose/Muwekma Territory) I experienced a lot of hurt and violence. So much so, I thought "the land" didn't want me there because every time I tried to lay down roots more hurt came. A dear healer friend of mine reframe this as, "perhaps the land was telling you to flee from the hurt and violence instead. Knowing how much you care for nature and love it, it may have been looking out for you."
Have you ever felt that sense of the a place "claiming you" as in, called you to come be there and it felt right?
Now that I've found a true sense of belonging and purpose here in Oakland/Confederated Villages of Lisjan, and lead most of the healing hikes around here, I try to deepen my knowledge of this place, connect to it's people, history, and land back efforts. But building relationships with native communities no matter where I am is important to me and to my relationship to any land I walk on. Because all land we walk on is native land.
So, some of the resources I'll share below have been places where I find resonance and a confirmation of my spiritual connection to nature. It makes me feel like I've been validated with the feelings and inner knowledge I hold within me, particularly about my love and advocacy for nature. Many of the teachings I've come to know from my dreams and life experiences feel like they have a home when I tap into these stories. It also activates the healing around my own lineage and search for similar stories and teachings about my own ancestral lands.
This winter as we reflect on our lives, honor and mourn the stories of our native relatives' violent loss of their lands, I hope you find that time to create connection and resonance with your own migration story, your lineage, and to the lands you occupy today. Connect to the resources and native communities in your own area as I'll share the resources that help me.
Book Recommendation: Dina Gilio-Whitaker, As Long As Grass Grows, The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock, 2019
This book is really full of some critical and historical points that connect the fight for sovereignty of Native Americans to the culture of environmental justice, with reference to the events of Standing Rock. I think its also important to mention the author also offers the way forward and what that needs to look like for both natives and non-natives. It's definitely worth the read and offers details of the historical injustices that mainstream media might not include in their storytelling. I recommend this for your winter break!
Webinars: Indigenous Education Institute
I love, love, love listening to these talks while I take my lunch breaks or short walks. Knowing who the indigenous scholars and elders are and what teachings they have to offer help me get into my mind thinking about similarities I can see across other cosmologies and especially those I learn about my own lineage. Sign up for their newsletter to get notified of the latest talks to warm yourself into Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).
In Person Event/Ceremony: Alcatraz Sunrise Ceremony
This might be sold out by now, but its good to know this happens as an opportunity to practice solidarity and participate in the Red Movement with our local native relatives. If you can't make this commitment (and I usually can't) I encourage you to think about your own version of honoring this land and the fight for native sovereignty and sit in a private ceremony of your own at sunset on the 24th.
Local Park: Coyote Hills in Fremont, CA
There's a reason why this is a frequented park for our healing hikes. I've mentioned this in other issues, but this park is still actively managed by its native community. The designated 'archeological site' is a protected sacred site of the community in which you can visit peripherally on the Chochenyo Trail. Every hike we visit the site to offer blessings and reflect on our relationship to the land and its people. The park is heavily visited but it's really easy to miss the location of the sweat lodge. If you do find it, make sure to make at least an energetic offering of gratitude and blessings for sovereignty.