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YogaAlliance - Monthly Live Community Sangha (USYOGA1112C)

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MAYA BREUER: Good morning and welcome to the Yoga Alliance Community Sangha. I will repeat that case she did not get that all. Good morning. Welcome to the Yoga Alliance Community Sangha. I would like to share a piece that was written by Jim Croce just to set the tone for what we are about to share with you. Time in a Bottle. If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd like to do is to save every day till eternity passes away. If I could make days last forever, if words can make wishes come true, I'd save every day like a treasure and then I would spend them with you. The universal you. But there never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do. Once you find them. I've looked around enough to know if I had a box just for wishes and dreams that had never come true, the box would be empty except for the memory of how they were answered by you.

That is really just a moving, it is a moving song and reading it, it is just a moving piece. Today our guest on the Yoga Alliance Community Sangha is Red Eagle, Shawn Stevens. He is a member of the nation's first people in his ancestral homelands were the Brookshire's are he and I met. This includes the entire Hudson Valley.

He is a member of the Stockbridge Muncie band of Mohicans. He is a Native American culturist, artist, musician and ceremonial helper. He draws on the experience from living a Native American spiritual way of life. Shawn also creates beautiful artwork which is located all over the United States and in 14 other countries. Is a storyteller, drummer, singer, flute player and he is an ordained minister of the universal Church of light in a certified facilitator of white Bison mending broken hearts.

I have the pleasure of being in his Sean's company. I've smoked a pipe was Shawn Stevens. With healing material inside the pipe. And I welcome you Red Eagle.

SHAWN STEVENS: Thank you. Thank you very much. In our language we say (unknown term) thank you from with inside of my heart. Very honored to work with you again. I know what the black Yoga Alliance teachers conference it was an amazing experience from the very beginning to the end and I wish I could save that time in a bottle and relive it day after day as well.

YogaAlliance - Monthly Live Community Sangha (USYOGA1112C)

Thank you very much for inviting me in an is an honor.

MAYA BREUER: Our topic today is Native American healing. I am going to give you space to really expound on that and share with us.

SHAWN STEVENS: OK. With Native American healing I could probably spend all week long, at least seven more days in 24 hours explaining it so somehow we have to condense it to something small here.

When thinking of this I was trying to think last night what am I going to share. Sometimes I am known to ramble on more than I probably should or go overtime more than I should. I like to look at it is indigenous healing more so. Because the type of healing that we do is the type that has been common in all peoples ancestry. In everyone's indigenous ancestry back a long, long time ago.

I would say the three primary areas of healing are in the mind, body and spirit. And if any of those are off balance it can offset the rest. So with the healings that we do we focus on those healings that deal with mind, body and spirit. One of those areas, I would say with the healing is creating a healthy environment, you know, not just for the body but often does good for the mind and spirit. A healthy environment which means your home, your friends, your relationships. Everything you expose yourself to, your environment is healthy and if there is anything unhealthy in your environment it is wise to remove those things.

Another one of the paths is organic medicine. We have always been told that for every sickness out there, there is a plant out there that will heal you. I do a lot of work and also collaborate with a lot of other organic plant medicinal people and I always like to say indigenous people, you know, I know even though I am from a native American tribe in such a lot of the ways we follow followed by many other people.

When I say indigenous, indigenous is more of a way of thinking, of understanding your connection to your environment. Your environment is planet Earth. We all come from planet Earth. We are all indigenous. We have to have that mindset that we are part of earth. We have to respect the earth and the earth will respect us back. If we are off balance somehow there is something there from the earth that can bring us back into balance but it's physical, mind, body and spirit. One of those things.

Outside of that, there is one more thing. I don't know why it came to me but I had to throw it out there. A lot of the parts of our healing especially with Native Americans is music. Music is huge in our ceremonies, in our daily prayers. Whatever it is we are doing or just feeling good. Music is also a medicine. It helps you in mind, body and spirit.

Our teaching was that music was a gift, a gift from the spirits for when we do our ceremonies and singing. With singing come standing and with dancing you feel good. Your mind, body and spirit are all in connection.

It is kind of ironic because for every like out there it seems like there is a dislike. Some people like pizza, some people don't. Some people like hardwood floors, some people do not like hardwood floors. It seems like there is always an opposite something. I have yet to find to this

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day one person other that does not identify with music somehow in some way. I like to say we are made up music or we make music or are we made of music? It's like did the chicken come first or did the egg? Did the chicken make the egg or did the egg make the chicken? It doesn't matter we are all part of the same thing.

With music, it is a part of how we give our thanks and our appreciation because it really amplifies our spirit. And with these three different areas of healthy environment, organic medicines and music, you know, there is that positive side that will help us heal to get us to places we need to be. But you also have to watch out for the negative sides of an unhealthy environment, of nonorganic medicines and other things.

And not having a way of amplifying your spirit through music and such, those things can put you into a bad place. With music for example, we have all had bad days, hard days, rough days where maybe we are sad or angry. What is the worst thing we can do? It's been on sad or angry music. It just makes it seem worse. Music has such a way of affecting us that I can either send us further into a depression or pull us out of it. You have to really be careful in how you use music as a medicine as well but it can pull you pretty much out of everything.

I am a big fan of the Bobby McFerrin song don't worry be happy. You cannot listen to that and not smile. As a condensed way of putting everything with Native American healing those are the three main attributes that we utilize. Of course, there is so much more we do in ceremony and with other things in such but those are the three sisters, if you want to call them, for Native American healing. The healing part is the healthy environment, using the good organic medicines grown from our mother Earth which are there in purpose for us and also good music to amplify our spirits and lift our spirits.

Your spirit gets lifted, your body wants to dance so it does your mind, body and spirit all really good help. Are you saying something, Maia? I can't hear you.

MAYA BREUER: I was just saying this is very exciting. You know, when you distill it to those three aspects of healthy environment, good organic medicines and music, you know, that makes it palatable. Because when I started to think about our conversation I was like wow, I can look it up but I want to learn today from Shawn what is this from someone who is walking and talking the indigenous life as you so well put it.

But, you know, when we start to think about this. Let's first look at the environment. How can we create that good healthy environment? You know, you talked about home, friends and relationships but we also have the challenge of unhealthy air and pollution and then we have everything is a little hostile and angry if you turn on the television. You know what people see and use for entertainment is not necessarily nourishing. How does one begin if one is just here and living this experience?

SHAWN STEVENS: I would say start by what is easy to do, I guess, or simple or what you can do. If you live in a big city and the air is not good, I guess the best thing I could say is make sure you visit the country and get some fresh air. Especially if you cannot move out of the city. You know, there will be exception to everything really but there might be snags that you have to give up. Some is doing what you can. You don't have to take grand steps just little baby steps towards what it is you can attain now and maybe hopefully attain more so in the future as well.

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MAYA BREUER: You know, if you think about it if I sit and I try to think how can I deal with pollution that is around me and all the negatives that are impacting climate which is part of my relationship where I am living, what you gave us was such a simple solution – try to get to the country. I think that also speaks to indigenous approaches to healing which seemed to be very simple and uncomplicated. I just love that.

SHAWN STEVENS: And I believe it's also a part of reminding other people that they are indigenous too. That this planet, we are a part of this planet and we can continue to make this planet sick. What we do to the planet we are going to end up doing to ourselves. We have to remind us in all of our ancestors understood this but in modern way of life a lot of it has been forgotten but that we all are indigenous to this planet. We are all a part of this planet. We are the earth so we have to have that respect and we have to start weakening other people with all this pollution and stuff. It does not go away. It's going to affect us. We need to start making different choices now on how we go about things. There's probably going to be sacrifices involved maybe not drinking out of plastic bottles and whatnot but if it is going to save the earth and turn it will save ourselves. We have to remind the people you come from this planet, you have to treat this planet good or otherwise in the future it's going to be terrible for our grandchildren.

MAYA BREUER: One of the things I learned in yoga is that how we think is very powerful. So can you comment a little bit on how thought can help us living in situations that are say not the best for us? Do native – does the Native American healing have a component that deals with thought, that is what I'm?

SHAWN STEVENS: I can't speak for all Native American healing attributes and stuff, but thought is huge. I guess I would like to say that truth is in the mind of the believer and and the heart. Because if you believe something is true, it is true. If you don't believe it to be true then it is not. But you have to believe that there are ways of changing and there are always ways of making things better. You have got to look for positives. If you always look for all the negatives then you are going to be consumed by it. We were talking about the TV. Watching everything on TV. Sometimes you might just have to turn the TV off to get back to that positive way.

Making yourself think. You are such like a spiritual magnet. Or if you want to call it karma or whatever. Whatever energy you are putting out. You want positive things. You have to look for the positive things. It is hard to do. People say it is hard to start thinking different. I tell them you don't think different overnight. You take baby steps. Always look for positives or a little bit of light in the darkness. So many people are so negative. It's too late, the heck with that. This isn't going to happen. If you believe it ain't going to happen then you are giving it power that it won't happen. So you must think positively. Thought is so powerful. You can manifest it into reality.

MAYA BREUER: Absolutely. Thought is metaphysical. It is beyond taste and touch. And feeble. But it has great power. A question came in. Is there a form of meditation common to Native American healing?

SHAWN STEVENS: Could you repeat that again?

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MAYA BREUER: Is there a form of medication -- meditation common to Native American healing?

SHAWN STEVENS: I would have to say yes. It depends on what it looks like and how the healers work. Some do – and believe it or not, many of them are into yoga these days.

MAYA BREUER: I bet.

SHAWN STEVENS: They see the benefits and the power of energy that comes from it. To have some type of meditation, especially before healing work, is very important. We will do smudging. Two clones - - to cleanse our energy and aura. Smudging can be a way of meditation. You have to let loose of any negative thoughts. Everything positive. Opening a window and growing with that positive energy while flushing all the negative energy. So you have to have a strong – well, you should have a very strong meditative, and I don't want to say ritual, but practice before any real healing. Sometimes we make medicines. A lot of our medicines that we make, it takes a lot of meditations. If you want to call it meditations. Or deep prayer. These energies. Positive energies, healing energies going into our practices or the medicines them self. It is important that there is some type of meditation. It would also depend on how much meditation you need. But yeah, there are.

MAYA BREUER: So it depends upon the healer. So that begs the question, how does one become a healer? Is one born into it? Is there training for it within your community can make I would love to know about that.

SHAWN STEVENS: I guess in our community we don't really say healer either. My mentor had told me this. He didn't really like titles such as medicine man or shaman or stuff like that. When you use titles like that it gives a person a different idea each time on what that is. What he said is I am a helper. It explains to people what I do. It also reminds me that that is all that I am. He didn't like to be put on a pedestal that we are a helper. Those who are truly there to help will rise to the occasion. It is not like you have to be born or appointed. Those people just become who they are from wanting to help.

MAYA BREUER: So it is just sort of like a heart thing. You know intuitively and you live into becoming a helper. And because of – I'm putting this together – and because of what the nature is of making someone whole, those all come from the earth. The environment, organic medicine, and even music comes from the earth. It has to rise up through us. Music and dance is also organic.

SHAWN STEVENS: Yes.

MAYA BREUER: This is so exciting. So you are a helper.

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SHAWN STEVENS: Yes.

MAYA BREUER: So how do you deal with allopathic, the typical medicine that we have today? It is the most common. Are people able

Are people able to use allopathic medicine? Or must you do one of the other?

SHAWN STEVENS: We tell people if you have prescriptions from the doctor or whatnot that the last thing you want to do is not take them. You have to monitor yourself and how you are doing and such. Never stop what the doctor is giving. The doctors, there are some very good lifesaving medicines out there. But with the organic medicines that we use, they are meant just to help. Not really to replace anything. Unless it is something that is really not working for that person and whatnot. I say never stop taking the medicine. At least talk to your doctors first.

MAYA BREUER: So it is OK to combine both. And it feels like what you're telling us is it is important to live a holistic lifestyle.

SHAWN STEVENS: Yes.

MAYA BREUER: And that is not just in the moment when you are going to be with your friends to start talking it, it is to really live it. Questions are coming in. I am going to ask you. Someone said what traditional Hatha yoga and meditation techniques be well received by Native American communities?

SHAWN STEVENS: Absolutely. It is catching on. It is catching on. Within the last 10 years I am seeing more yoga studios come. Some of the people who are other helpers who are going the path of yoga. It wasn't until I came and was visiting with my friend Jennifer who was a teacher there that I really got an understanding of yoga. Yoga is so spiritual. I was thinking of myself. I was like wow, we could really use this back home. A lot of our people could use this. Absolutely.

MAYA BREUER: Someone else says, thank you so much Red Eagle and Maya. I feel so grateful to witness this interaction. I was wondering how we can lovingly incorporate Indigenous wisdom into our daily lives or even while teaching a class with the purpose of helping others without appropriating native healing practices. What is the best way to show appreciation without appropriation?

SHAWN STEVENS: Being appreciative is very wonderful. I guess it would depend on what is actually being done. I would explain to people when we have our pipe ceremonies and what a pipe ceremony is for. I tell people this is our Native American tradition. It wasn't a tradition used in this manner used by other Indigenous people, but if you understand what the ceremony is for I can teach you to do a

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ceremony of the same power and importance but without the pipe. The pipe is a tool that we have. It is part of Native American culture and traditions that should stay with their tradition. Yet it is a tool for performing a ceremony that can be done in different ways.

MAYA BREUER: So you can take something that comes from an Indigenous culture and without appropriating it, I believe that as long as you pay homage to it. I have at times said a Native American prayer and gave the name of the prayer as well as the homage to it. So I using something that is universal, but I am not taking it as my own. I give the full credit.

SHAWN STEVENS: That is what is beautiful. There are a lot of universal things. Or if you were to say a prayer from a Native American, as long as you mentioned where it came from I don't think it is appropriation. Because with Native Americans we will say it is about the spirit. It is not about race. The spirit has no race. We are all one race of the spirit even though we are different here in a different body. As long as it works for you it is not just for us. We have a way with tobacco and offering tobacco as part of our culture and gifting the tobacco towards each other. It was a little bit different further back in the day. Back then you couldn't just run to the store and grab tobacco. You had to grow it and put a lot of time and effort into it. You had to harvest it and take care of it. So when tobacco is grown – that can take hours to explain, but the tobacco absorbs our energy and prayers. We offer it to the spirit.

I tell people maybe because we use back ON that sort of sense that you can do the same and giving those offerings. Say if you grow flowers and want to use flower petals as an offering to the spirits. If you have grown those flowers, taken all that time, put your good energy in these things to be a gift later on for the spirit world, that is the same thing. Some how you have some kind of importance built into the offering your giving. It doesn't have to be tobacco. It should be something that took a little bit of effort. And also put your own energy and love into it. You can use that as well.

MAYA BREUER: Yes. And when I was a child, I grew up with my grandmother. She used to take herbs. One was (unknown term). I just remember that. She put it in a little muslin sack and tied a string on it. I was so young, it was in my undershirt underneath. That was to protect us. That was an old southern way that I grew up with. I grew up with lots of herbs around me and I grew up eating certain things that are just not popular, like rhubarb. So this is something my grandmother brought from the Indigenous culture of the African people who were slaves. I also think and I think about Native Americans, and we got so many questions I am going to be quick, but the slaves that came to America, when you think about how did we survive, those of us who made it through, and I think it was having a healthy environment and organic medicines and music. Particularly music. I think the tenants that you share for Indigenous people was also what helped this other group come through. My people come through the horrors of slavery. And survive.

Anyway, this is so exciting. So do you incorporate yoga into your daily practice?

SHAWN STEVENS: I wish I did. (Laughs) I wish I did. I have a friend who is a great teacher and such. She is on the

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East Coast over there with you guys. Yeah. I really should.

MAYA BREUER: Can you shed some light on the (unknown term) tradition.

SHAWN STEVENS: Like I said our songs were given to us as gifts for prayer and for healing and you take the energy even with our songs, sometimes our songs will have words and sometimes they are just vocalables. What it is you are taking that healing energy that you have within side of yourself and your turning it into a musical note, that vibration that music the song that is coming from your own voice is very healing as well because that energy is a healing energy you are drawing upon whether it's coming from the earth, the universe. Whatever you are drawing upon. That energy is transferred into music.

I don't know who said it before but they said something like where words fail music speaks. So even if we do not know what to say and put it in words we can sing and song and that message gets put out there to the universe, but out to the place where it's supposed to go.

MAYA BREUER: I have to ask you. Could you share with us, you know, we always need some help from a helper. Can you share to let us hear how that might sound?

SHAWN STEVENS: Sure. What are you looking – are you looking for drumming or…

MAYA BREUER: I don't know, Shawn, you decide. Either would be beautiful.

SHAWN STEVENS: Alright I have my flute handy. Because there are no words for the song the intent and the energy is to come out and it is a blessing for you Maya and the thank you and whole thing putting towards the energy that things you do become very prosperous and I thank you from my heart.

MAYA BREUER: Thank you.

SHAWN STEVENS: (Music Playing)

MAYA BREUER: Just absolutely moving.

SHAWN STEVENS: I can feel the energy that came.

MAYA BREUER: I could feel it. I could feel it. Boy, thank you so much Shawn. So someone asked can native healing practices what would a consultation look like? Is it a conversation? A teaching session? How much oneness is on the individual seeking help for their health and healing?

SHAWN STEVENS: It is a start of the conversation first. Do you say oneness or ownness?

MAYA BREUER: Like responsibility, how much responsibility is on the individual?

SHAWN STEVENS: It would be individual. When you go and approach a Native American helper for such things we bring that gift of tobacco. Like where I was explaining before, that gift

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of tobacco in the end will go for the spirits. It opens up a conversation. We always say when you approach with tobacco we know your heart is right and that you understand what you are asking for and serious about it.

But we do not expect that on people who don't know. We are very forgiving if you don't know.

MAYA BREUER: That is very sweet. That is so sweet. Someone said thank you for sharing your talent with the flute with us. And someone also said thank you. What an inspiration. What books or resources would you recommend for beginners?

SHAWN STEVENS: Well, there is so much. I guess, because when we talk about Native American spirituality one has to remember there is over 500 tribes in the Americas so there's probably 500 different ways of doing things also that we don't always do things the same and that we don't all follow the same exact traditions or culture because we have different cultures within each tribe. But I guess for what I do for the people that I follow – not really follow, I don't really follow anyone – we tell people that spirituality is like a grand buffet of different things. You try a little bit of this and a little bit of that. That works for you and taste good, but on your plate and use it. If it doesn't pass it out. But whatever feels good and works good for you, what makes sense to you because we do not like to have people be blind followers. Things must be very tangible that you can feel, sense and actually say OK yeah this is something very real.

MAYA BREUER: Thank you, Shawn. Your flute energy music was magical. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Red Eagle you reached us all with that soul song. Thank you. And then someone says can you talk about your instruments? Serenity through your breath and flute, thank you. Can you talk about your instruments who and how they are made?

SHAWN STEVENS: Well, the flute that I was playing and actually it is kind of an old flute and I thank you very much for the compliments but I can kind of tell it is an old flute just to the sound. Being what is red Cedar and you have moisture in your breath and from so many years of moisture going through it it kind of dulls it a little bit but it still plays very well. This is through High Spirits lose. It is F sharp it is a famous company and you can find them on the Internet.

I have several different types of foods. A lot of them come in different keys, different key notes that you can play. Like you said this is an F sharp think I have a C, a B and a couple A minors. Something I forget. I actually tried making a flute once myself. Only once did I try. It did not work out too well. I am just not a flute maker. I will just buy one.

MAYA BREUER: Good.

SHAWN STEVENS: I always tell people because they want to learn how to play you just let your spirit speak.. That is the best way I can explain it slight your spirit speak through it and get to know it. It becomes a part of you. It is just an extension of your own spirit and heart.

MAYA BREUER: Yes.

SHAWN STEVENS: And I have drums and shakers.

MAYA BREUER: So you by instruments just the way a classical player would by an instrument

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we may have someone in your community who does make them.

SHAWN STEVENS: Yes, with hand drums and big drums, even though I can make them there are people who specialize in making those. I like them done well so I ask those people to help me out with it. Or if we can work out a deal and they can make one for me in trade or things like that. But yeah it's good to leave things to the professionals.

MAYA BREUER: Do you have any recordings or places where people can hear your flute playing? This is what just came in.

SHAWN STEVENS: When I was filling out the agreement for this, I put two links on it. They are YouTube links and they are couple of my songs.

MAYA BREUER: Wonderful! I'm sure our producer will be able to add those.

SHAWN STEVENS: I am currently recording a CD or album, I don't know what you call it these days and stuff. I'm hoping probably by spring it will be ready.

MAYA BREUER: Yes, and you will certainly let Yoga Alliance know and we will let our community know at that time. We have four minutes. Someone says what is your daily ritual or connection to spirit? You have one minute to answer that question.

SHAWN STEVENS: My daily ritual that I try to follow because we slip up now and then is just being thankful. Rising in the morning and being thankful. It is one of those things that Tecumseh had said, he was a Native American philosopher back in the day and he said every day you should get up and give thanks for everything you have in life and if you can't find reason to give thanks the fault only lies within yourself. So I try to follow that to give thanks.

MAYA BREUER: Want to give that a Ho! I think it would be wonderful for audience, we have three minutes left and I went to thank everyone for joining us for this delightful – who named you Red Eagle someone just asked?

SHAWN STEVENS: That is kind of a – put together by two different names. When I was born my grandmother named me Redbird. She lived to be 97 years old but she went blind when she was three years old so she lived most of her life blind but one of the things she remembered is the color red and she just wanted to remind me because I come from a mixed background that I was beautiful and it was a beautiful color so she named me Redbird but when I started on my spiritual path I received the spiritual name of Standing Eagle and there is a lot of explaining to do with that as well in my duties with that. But for going online and going places and stuff I combined the two to be Red Eagle.

MAYA BREUER: That is wonderful. I want to let my audience know we are going to have Shawn back. There has to be a part two of this. Someone said thank you very much for this session. Now I can compare the tobacco ceremony with the harvest of our soul.

SHAWN STEVENS: Yes.

MAYA BREUER: Can you take us out playing the flute? And we will end with the flute and

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gratitude to our audience today.

SHAWN STEVENS: OK. How will I know when you're done so not here in half hour?

MAYA BREUER: It is like two minutes and we will be done.

SHAWN STEVENS: (Music Playing)

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Sangha (USYOGA11

Sangha (USYOGA11 12C) 12C)

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