Vijay said that he got into medical school even though had a mediocre GPA of 3.1. Let’s digress a bit to explore GPAs. College life was a harsh wake up call for me. I had to work full-time while going to school full-time and deal with a number of stressful familial issues. Still, I managed to graduate Cum Laude for my first Bachelor’s Degree. I went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude for my second Bachelor’s Degree. It took me a long time to figure out what a “mentor” was, let alone find one. I had to teach myself how to study and thrive in a very hostile academic world. I didn’t have the luxury of goofing off throughout college, but I was surrounded by students who enjoyed the fun campus life. One of my white Medieval Literature classmates invited the entire class, including our english professor, to her home for an “Excalibur” potluck dinner. I had to attend, because the idea for the dinner came from me mentioning in class that I had never seen "Excalibur," (which apparently was a crime for a Literature student). Even though I was the only Black person in attendance, it was a lot of intellectual fun. After dessert, I noticed that her husband was making something in the kitchen. His wife came over to me and said, “Do you want to get high?” I said "Sure!" because I thought she was still acting out a part. It turns out that her husband was rolling weed. The professor and I were the only people who skipped the "pot" part of the potluck dinner, but I don't think that anyone noticed. My classmates displayed willful ignorance by happily sharing an illegal drug which made me vulnerable to punitive actions from law enforcement and could have gotten the professor fired.
It was in college that I truly got to test out my intelligence theories. Were white people superior simply because they are white? I honestly had conversations with white people that baffled me to the point that I have no idea how they were even admitted to the university. Years later, when I was a professional in the working world, I was assigned a white female intern with a 4.0 GPA. She was in a program requiring that I report back to her professor. It’s hard to describe what the experience was like, but I probably ruined it with my expectations based on her GPA. She believed herself to be smart, but when she was asked to think through a concept, she would get flustered. I could tell that she had never been challenged intellectually before. She was very skilled at talking her way into opportunities, but could not think her way through simple concepts. I couldn’t wait to get rid of her, but because she went to my alma mater, I agreed to see the semester through. The professor loved my feedback. The intern was in shock, but it was also a good wake up call for her. Have GPAs digressed to “doing what is necessary” to get the grade?
As I approached the entrance of a supermarket, a young white girl stopped me to solicit her Girl Scout cookies. I love those cookies, but they are too sweet for me now. However, I wanted to donate money to her cause. It took longer than I expected because of her inability to think through a concept. Our conversation went something like this:
Oh they are too sweet for me now, but I’d like to donate $2. I hand her a $5 bill.
“Thanks!” And she attempts to give me back five $1 bills.
Confused, I repeat myself: No, I’m actually donating $2 to you but you can keep the cookies to resell to someone else.
She now looks at her father who is completely embarrassed by her ignorance. He says, “Give her the change.”
This totally stumps her, so I take back my $3 and leave her with the $2, and then I jokingly said, “stay in school” and walked away while her father shook his head in shame.
The GPA conundrum also affects Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant students. One of my Black friends told me that her son insisted he was ready for his biology test. She asked him to recite the definition of meiosis and mitosis. She said that he gave her a perfectly “memorized” definition. She then asked him to explain what meiosis/mitosis was, but he couldn’t. She had to help him understand that he was learning the concepts of cell division. However, even if she had not explained the concept, he would have passed the test with an “A” by memorizing facts without understanding the subject matter.
I had an informal group of study buddies in college. We would often critique each others' work. One day, we had to write a very subjective paper. I read one of my Indigenous friend's papers and noticed that it was very objective in nature. They said that they didn’t want to appear to be biased, but the instructions were to write a “subjective” paper. I couldn’t sway my buddy, who ended up getting a disappointing “D” on their paper. This person is extremely intelligent, but failed to follow instructions because they didn’t understand that they had to factor in the professor's guidelines. Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant students often miss these nuances and struggle unnecessarily to thrive. One final concept to explore is how the specialization of our education has lowered our rate of cognitive intelligence. Do we need the arts if we are a science major? Let’s take a snapshot of how many subjects can show up in a dance class:
☥ Mathematics (counting, geometric body positioning, problem solving, calculus,
placement, timing, etc.)
☥ Science (biomechanics, physiology, space, energy, time, physics, engineering, etc.)
☥ Communication (composition, poetry, emotion, translation, language, etc.)
How do we dance without calculating the continuous rate of change (calculus)? The dance teaches us how to move from specialization to integration of knowledge (i.e. the ability to apply concepts to novel situations). With all of this in mind, how do we refine the GPA system so that it accurately measures intelligence?
My academic journey was a rocky road to a 3.8 GPA. When I was about to start kindergarten, my IQ test scores placed me in the second grade. However, the school discouraged advancing me because if they placed me in second grade, I would graduate at 15. Because of my birthday, I was already on track to graduate high school at 17, a year younger than my classmates. By the time I got to second grade, I was in so much trauma, that I barely cared about academics. In middle school, I was surprised to realize that I was tracked into the lowest academic group. My experiences kept me from judging people with low academic performance, because trauma siphons away the energy needed for academics. I started doing my homework, and was surprised to win the “Most Improved Student” award at my 8th grade graduation ceremony. I experienced different sorts of trauma in high school, but managed to work my way up to the top 17% of my class. One of the first courses that I took in college was Logic and Reasoning. The professor was terrible, and I ended up going to the bookstore to find other books that could help me to understand my textbook. I remember sitting at the kitchen table analyzing four different logic books when, finally, something clicked for me. I began to learn how to think critically and make the distinction between facts, the truth and what the professor wanted me to submit for the grade. Those concepts were often not aligned, and no one helped me to navigate the nuances. By the time I started my post graduate work, I had found my rhythm because I had solid proof of my abilities. I knew that I was equally qualified to be where I was even though I would not be treated equally and faced discouragement at every junction point. I learned how to transcend academic trauma in hostile environments. I also loved the subject matter and was deeply immersed in the search for answers.
My Naturopathic Doctoral program offered me the option to do a clinical practicum in lieu of the dissertation. I jumped at that chance because I was thoroughly done with writing what other people wanted me to say to prove my intelligence and was more interested in the application of knowledge to novel situations. I’m just now realizing that my blogs are my dissertation delivered in digestible modules. I no longer allow colonizers who challenge me to throw me off my game, because I have conducted literally thousands of one-on-one interviews/had conversations with white people in intellectual settings and with the general public respectively (locally, nationally and globally). I realized that I have yet to meet a white person who could say the same about Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People, yet they will not hesitate to aggressively assert their opinions as facts about who we are, especially if they are scholars and have invested time in the monolithic objective study of us. I on the other hand, stay humbly aware that I have barely scratched the surface of what there is to learn and keenly aware of the daily work required to untangle and release myself from social programming. I volunteered over 1000 hours of my time to get experience or to expose people to my work, which is still viewed by many people to be witchcraft, quackery or a last resort option.
Yet, no matter how difficult a challenge presents itself to be, something inside of me refuses to let me give up and proves to me that IT is stronger than any resistance that I will ever face … if only I would trust in IT and let IT guide my actions.
I had another epiphany during an interview with a professor at an Ivy League institution. I was coaching a white female sales rep on how to conduct a calculus interview to present the features of our soon to be published calculus textbook. When we walked into the professor's office, he assumed that she was the manager instead of me. By the time we got to the middle of the interview, I had short circuited his brain so many times that he thought I was a mathematician. Yet, I was a Communications major and couldn’t even remember the formula for a quadratic equation. His perception of my level of intelligence was based on something other than academics or a GPA.
A spokeswoman for the Association of American Medical Colleges said that the group no longer had a copy of what Chokalingam describes as the application on which he identified himself as black in 1998. A spokeswoman for Saint Louis University, the only school where he was ultimately accepted as a medical student and where he enrolled before dropping out, said that his test scores and grades met the university’s criteria for admission. 'His race or ethnicity did not factor into his acceptance.' ☥ ☥ Washington Post ☥
I grew up with an array of immigrants who were immersed in the Black experience, yet they lived eurocentric lives and knew very little about Black history and culture, even though I shared my struggles and evidence of the disparities were all around them. Social programming is so cunning that we can look directly at it and still not see. This is a much broader systemic issue that hides in plain sight and requires us to become more self-aware so that we can transcend the programming, see its presence in our thoughts and actions, improve our behaviors and heal.
Whenever a Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant person embodies the programmed ignorance of Phillis Wheatley, they are given a platform that is used to promote xenophobia and other passive/aggressive tensions between the races.
This is a very insidious divide and conquer strategy that is almost impossible to call out without heightened awareness.
A Community Collaboration Story
In How To Outsmart Our Monkey Mind, I share a few of my experiences in college working as a reservations agent. One day, I was exchanging customer stories with an Indigenous co-worker. I told her about this man who would say that he wanted to make a reservation and while I’m working on his itinerary, he says that he has to put me on hold to take another call. Then he takes the call, but I can hear what he’s saying. I interrupt him, but he pretends that he doesn't hear me, so I wait. After a short while, it becomes apparent that it is a sex call and he gets his thrills by forcing people to hear his conversation. I hung up on him. My co-worker had the same man. We talked about him in detail, and then we went around and started talking to the other reps. Most of the reps also got this man. So we decided that we would teach him a lesson the next time he called. A few days later, I heard someone in the office say, “It’s him get ready!” The conversation with him went something like this:
Man: Yes, I’d like to make a reservation from Palm Beach to LaGuardia on Friday. Is that
6pm flight available?
Rep: "I’ll be happy to check for you. How many people are traveling?"
Man: Just me. I’m returning on … let me see where did I put it? … Oh, my phone just
clicked would you please hold for a moment?
Rep: "Sure thing."
Man: Hey how are you? While the man is going through his sex talk, the rep then
transfers the call to a co-worker. When the man is finished, he gets back on the line
and the new rep says:
Rep: "______ Airlines, this is _______ how may I help you?"
Man: Uh ... wasn’t I just talking to you?
Rep: "No sir, this call just came through to me. How may I help you?"
Man: (very confused/disappointed) Yes, I’d like to make a reservation from Palm Beach to
LaGuardia on Friday. Is that 6pm flight available?
We continue to transfer him around until he gets so confused that he finally hangs up. I don’t recall him calling us back again after that. I share this story because we often don’t realize that what we are going through is not unusual. Other people are going through it too. While it is important to cultivate trust in all relationships, so that the people in our lives respect our boundaries, meet our benchmarks for trust and are at an elevated state of consciousness, we often don’t share because:
☥ We didn’t/don’t know how to establish/enforce healthy boundaries, so we don’t know
who to trust, and we don’t want to get “burned” again.
☥ We think it is just “us” going through “it” and are afraid of what others may think/that
something is wrong with us.
In order for racism and oppression to work, we have to live in survival mode or be in a constant state of managing our ego’s self-consciousness/esteem issues, jealousy, competition and envy. This keeps us from checking in with each other to see the patterns of colonization. In the example above, most of the reps at work were being harassed by the same man and we chose to suffer in silence to maintain an appearance of confidence/control. However, talking about the issue with our colleagues helped us to identify the pattern and have fun while working together to thwart/remove the problem.
We want an end to racism and oppression, but we cannot transcend it without some form of inner transformation. Racism and oppression is not just about what colonizers are doing to us. It is about how we respond to what they do. Most of the time, we knee-jerk react (taking the bait and giving up our power) instead of choosing a response that shifts the dynamics. We can’t read about inner transformation, we must continually practice balancing our mind ☥ emotions. Let’s unpack a few ways to catalyze our training and develop self-control:
☥ When a colonizer does something, breathe and pause before responding. Then
observe the person objectively over time and look for the emerging pattern.
☥ Step back from the situation and ask: Why has this person triggered a strong reaction
within me? Is there some hidden trauma that needs to be addressed? Deal with this
issue first. Do I need to respond to this person? Is this person purposely baiting me to
respond? Is the purpose of my response to prove my worth or value?
What’s the bigger picture? The unknown variable? The patterns of behavior (within me and the other person)? Who stands to gain from my response? Is the person attempting to distract me away from discovering their true intentions?
☥ Listen intently and refrain from responding. Suggestions can include, placing feet
shoulder width apart, tucking the tailbone under and pulling shoulders up back and
down. Place your palms over the navel or just beneath that area. This is a protection
stance that deflects negative energy as you breathe slowly ☥ deeply and feel your feet
sink into the ground. If this is a conversation, ease into this posture while breathing
slowly, looking at the person and saying absolutely nothing. Your breathing exercises
will help you stay silent. If you feel discomfort anywhere in your body, imagine sending
your breath there. Slow down the breathing until the discomfort passes. It may surge
before passing, but it will pass. Often times, the person will become uncomfortable
because you didn’t respond, and they will begin to speak. Listen carefully to what they
say (it will most likely reveal a pattern or their true intentions). Excuse yourself and
walk away without responding.
☥ Practice breathing exercises until you can replay the situation without emotional or
mental angst. When you get to this point, you will be able to see the patterns and
cultivate a solution that serves your highest good. Once you have taken the reaction
that the colonizer wanted away from them, they will have to change their behavior.
This will either begin a metaphorical chess match between you or the person will
move on to another target.
Yes this is hard to do which is why it is called t-r-a-i-n-i-n-g. The first few times will be tough, but with practice it will get better and you will become stronger. The level of difficulty indicates how much control we have over our own thoughts and behaviors. In other words, if it is extremely difficult for us to breathe, pause and restrain ourselves from responding until we achieve clarity, then we have little control over our thoughts and behaviors and are much easier to manipulate (psychologically and physically). If you are still thinking, “there is NO WAY that I can do that,” then I invite you to practice my “don’t push the poop” exercise at home to help you get ready. Yes, I said “poop” and that is what I’m talking about. Here’s how to approach the pre-training:
☥ When you are sitting on the toilet and the poop is taking too long to come out, begin to
take slow deep breaths, but refrain from pushing it out.
☥ Instead, practice the sitting version of this spinal stretch exercise which will help the
bowels to move naturally.
☥ Whenever you feel the urge to push, breathe slowly and deeply in and out. Focus on
the breath to help you resist the urge to push.
☥ Allow the bowels to release naturally. If you struggle with constipation, increase
hydration, digestive aids and fiber intake.
The same is true for urination. We don’t get incontinence because we get old. We get incontinence because we wait too long to urinate and then when we finally get to the toilet, we forcefully push the urine out instead of relaxing and allowing it to flow naturally. Over time, the internal wear and tear turns into the body's cry for help in the form of what is called incontinence. This may seem like a primal exercise, but it is a great way to develop self-control because the urge to push is as strong and the urge to respond when a person is baiting us into the knee-jerk reaction. Think about a time when we ran to the bathroom during a meeting. Did we relax or did we push the urine out and rush back to the meeting? I challenge my readers to a two week observation test where we count how many times we relaxed and breathed instead of pushing out urine or poop. Resisting the urge to push cultivates self-control in our thoughts and actions. When combined with yogic pelvic floor exercises, it also heals preventable health issues such as incontinence. When we’ve developed enough self-control to resist the urge to push, we’ll be ready for the t-r-a-i-n-i-n-g suggestion above.
Who Validates Our Worth ☥ History ☥ Culture?
If I were to tell you that my skin is pink and blue, you would not believe me. But what if every picture that you saw of me had a pink and blue tint to it, and experts from all around the world wrote books, journals, white papers, held press conferences and funded documentaries that presented me as having pink and blue skin? Now let’s say that a few generations have passed and all that remains of me are pictures and documents that other people validated with what appears to be pink and blue skin. How would the current generation come to know the truth? One day, someone is looking at my picture and notices that something “feels” off about it. Even though the data seems to substantiate my pink and blue skin,
the 'feeling' pushes the person to investigate and to the ultimate discovery of the truth.
Colonizers have invested billions of dollars into the funding, development and chosen narrative of our social culture, including destroying the noses and lips of Kamitian (Ancient Egyptian) statues so that they would not look “Black.” In 1912, British Archeologist Charles Dawson claimed to have discovered the missing ancestral link between humans and great apes in a discovery known as the “Piltdown Man.” However it as well as dozens of his other “discoveries” were proven to be fakes. What we now know of as the “university” was created by and for colonizers. Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People had to fight for the right to attend universities. In fact, in 1963, President Kennedy had to send military troops to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa to protect the admission of its first two Black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood. This context is important to consider when we hear a colonizer say “but you don’t have the data to substantiate your claim.” Allowing colonizers to define, disseminate and validate our history and culture is like allowing a struggling dairy farmer to define, disseminate and validate the history and culture of veganism.
Colonizers have a very solid history with established patterns of lying, cheating, stealing, raping, pillaging, bullying, engaging in psychological manipulation and cultural appropriation that is still in effect today. When I was a sales rep for a publishing company, a white professor threw me out of her office because I was promoting the publication of the very first anthology of American literature that included Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant ☥ female authors. She told me that Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People cannot write and do not represent “real” literature. I was amazed that she was proud to tell me this to my face as she asked me to leave her office. We still have politicians who are fighting to keep Black history and what is known as critical race theory out of schools. The only reason why we know that a Black man, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, was the first surgeon to successfully perform open heart surgery is because the patient had been stabbed and the incident was covered in the local newspaper (discrediting a white doctor making the same claim). It is imperative that we recognize and engage in pluralistic ways of knowing and doing to reclaim the truth about who we are, even though we will be in conflict with established and well-funded propaganda.
The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart. ☥ ☥ Chinua Achebe ☥
A Few Examples Of How We Subconsciously Emulate Colonizer Behavior
Where Are You From? I’m East Coast. I’m West Coast.
Borders were created by colonizers to separate/control. When we use borders to rank pull, we reflect colonizer programming.
What Are You?
A person is not a “what.” A person is a “who.” When we use language that reduces people to objects, we reflect colonizer programming.
Tell Me How To Do It
When we can’t cook without a recipe, dance without steps or access clarity without outside validation, we emulate colonizer behavior.
In Journey To Radiance ☥ Black Panther, I mention a story where I look for a “hoagie” in a new town. The new town calls it a “sub” and insists that I call it a “sub.” I try the “sub” but it doesn’t taste authentic to me without the oregano that I’m used to in my “hoagie.” The insistence on being the one with the “proper” name of the sandwich and the competition of which sandwich is “better” both reflect colonizer programming because in both examples, there is an unwillingness to accept something new without rank pulling. Colonizers insist that what they do is better simply because it’s what they know or are used to.
Should I Or Shouldn’t I?
One of my favorite lines in the movie Amistad was around the word "should." The attorney was speaking to an enslaved African using an interpreter. The attorney said that he should be able to liberate the African. However the translator got confused and said something like, “What is this word 'should?' We don’t have this word in our language. Either you do something or you don’t do it.” I almost jumped out of my seat in the movie theatre. When we know what to do deep in our soul, but defer to what we “should” do, we emulate colonizer programming.
Yes Darling … I’ll See You In Monte Carlo.
During the recording of our "Journey To Radiance ☥ Sankofa" podcast, I share that whenever I would tell someone that I’m going to europe, there would be great fascination and excited questions. If I say that I’m going to Africa, the response that I usually get is “By yourself!!!??? Is it safe?” Or “Did you get your shots?” When we invest our time and money in places and things based on colonizers’ perceptions of value (designer clothes, european travel, etc.) in order to prove our worth/get status while at the same time ignoring/avoiding the investment of time or money into exploring our history and culture, we emulate colonizer programming. This also includes purchasing dolls for our children because dolls give our children the impression that someone outside of themselves has greater value. An alternate suggestion would be to teach children how to make things, including dolls. In this way, they are affirming who they are and can play with a “doll” that reflects connection with themselves.
I Got The House, Car, Money, Trophy Spouse … What Do YOU Have?
Let’s take a moment to dive into this emulation because it is a bit sticky. On one hand, Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People need resources to fulfill our potential. We have suffered through centuries of disenfranchisement and oppression, and we deserve a quality life and the chance to cultivate wealth. On the other hand,
believing that financial wealth can purchase happiness, health, respect, favors, freedom from racism and sabotage is an emulation of colonizer programming. Rank pulling is fueled by an emotional addiction that cannot be satisfied. It requires healing ☥ transformation.
I’m training myself to seek the lesson instead of dreading investigating the answer to the question, “What ever happened to ______?” So when the song “Boogie Fever” popped into my mind, I thought, “Oh no!” I remembered having to investigate what happened to Bobbie DeBarge and was so saddened to learn about the trauma he experienced as well as his death. It was time for me to investigate what happened to the multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and producer Foster Sylvers. He released his first album at the age of 11 with a song that made it to number seven on the RnB Billboards. However, something went south for him. He is now in prison for committing a sex offense. These assignments always have a purpose. I realized that his story serves as a cautionary tale for celebrities who believe that money is the great enabler. I can see how people get lured into this fallacy. Rape was legal for centuries in the United States, and sexual freedom is often connected to rebellion against authority. What I find so disturbing is that our social programming often blurs the lines between these two, very different, issues and promotes/glamorizes the idea that money buys the right for us to dehumanize other people or get away with crimes.
Child celebrities truly need to be protected, particularly from sexual abuse as they are vulnerable and surrounded by adults they are attempting to emulate to prove that they are “old enough” to be taken seriously. They are also surrounded by jealous people who want to sabotage them and fans who need to be controlled around them. How does a child who doesn’t know how to heal grow up in this world? For this reason, I adamantly assert that celebrities need to be the EES. The problem is that most celebrities are Knights and
it is very difficult to convince a Knight that they need to grow, because they think that their money and status proves that they have already arrived. They surround themselves with people who tell them what they want to hear which reinforces this belief, and they are shocked by the curveballs that hit them because they thought their money ensured that they were prepared for everything.
I don’t know what trauma pushed Foster into his current life situation, but I’m very suspicious of the root causes of child stars who grow up to be sex offenders. If he committed the crime, then I will accept the truth and claim that all parties involved will heal. However, we need to consider the high levels of exploitation in the music industry. We need to question convictions that occurred during the rapid expansion of the prison industrial complex. During this time, I was profiled by the police and heard a very troubling story from one of my college buddies who was profiled and had his car searched for no reason. His parents are immigrants, so he was extremely annoyed by the incident without realizing how close he came to being incarcerated. We also need to question our long history of being victims of entrapment, a favored colonizer technique to encourage punitive actions against Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People. As we contemplate these stories, my affirmation is that we will learn from them without judging the person in the story. Our judgment doesn't create change. Healing enables change as we improve our thoughts and behaviors. The story is about the lesson. All we can do is send love ☥ light to the person and hope that they will find peace and heal. I once told one of my family members, who was incarcerated at the time, that freedom is a state of mind. Let us hope ☥ pray that, regardless of his life situation, Foster never stops singing ☥ composing music. As long as we are alive and functioning from our innate wisdom, we can allow SPIRIT to find a way to balance the scales so that we fulfill our potential regardless of outside circumstances.
Other examples of this emulation of colonizer behavior include "cancel culture," hating on each other, public humiliation/intimidation, multimedia that denigrates our cultures, etc. However, the deeper issue is our belief that money somehow protects us which keeps us from authoring a system of protection for ourselves. In other words, we can hire people to protect us, but the cultivation of trust needed to choose the right people and the creation/direction/evolution of our master plan of protection needs to fall under our direction. Frederick Douglass was married and had five children. Then he allowed two white women to move into his estate. His wife fell into a deep depression and died. He married one of the white women and then died of a heart attack. His estate went to the white woman instead of his children. After he died of a heart attack, Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize and farm was sold in order to settle debt. However, “Roots” has been an active money maker in video, DVD sales and in syndication for decades, so who gets that money? My family has lost thousands of acres of land due to disenfranchisement and predatory gentrification.
If we track even the wealthiest of Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant celebrities, we find that the bulk of their wealth manages to get siphoned away from their children. Why? Because once we achieve a certain amount of wealth, more and more white “experts” show up to “help” us manage our money and we hire them without cultivating benchmarks for trust. Our social programming tells us that having this posse of white professionals around us gives us status, to leave it to the experts and to not do anything that we can afford to pay someone else to do as a business strategy. However, that rule applies AFTER we have mastered the thing that we are delegating to someone else. In this way, we can see a derivative of slavery in that Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People are “allowed” to generate lots of wealth and live a lavish life (which generally includes the gradual siphoning of their money and the nonverbal pressure/sabatoge to have a white spouse/divorce and get a white spouse), but when they die, it’s game on for their money, which often leaves their family disenfranchised.
A Few Examples Of How We Subconsciously Emulate African Behavior
That’s My Brotha/Sistah Right There!
When we connect with people with whom we have no “blood” relationship, we emulate African behavior.
Smacking Our Lips/Teeth ☥ Making Sounds With Our Mouth
When we use verbal sounds outside of the english language to express emotion, we emulate African languages.
Dancing And Jumping To Express Joy
When we express joy through our body by dancing or “jumping for joy,” we emulate African behavior.
Dare To Care For Our Hair
When we enter the zone or pray while braiding, twisting, locking or grooming our hair, we emulate African behavior.
Storytelling
When we gather our family ☥ friends together ☥ tell stories, we emulate African behavior.
My Name Is Jamal But Everyone Calls Me "Super Slim"
In many African traditions, a child does not receive their name until their personality is revealed. In other African traditions, names are given to signify specific details of their birth (i.e., born on a Sunday, etc.), as affirmations of fulfilling their potential (i.e., one who leads, etc.) and other names are given by other relatives. In America, expectant mothers are constantly asked about the name of their child, and there is an expectation that the name is to be known before the child is born. The rush to name a child reflects colonizer behavior because we are naming them based on our parental fantasies/status. However, when we name someone based on an affirmation (i.e. Queen or Lucky) or something they do (i.e. Peacock, Popcorn) we emulate African behavior.
A Deep-Dive Digression Into The Need For Steps Web Of Deception
Although this blog focuses on understanding and applying the concepts of Ayurveda, we need to do the work of healing some misconceptions. In fact, it would be most helpful to read ☥ study ☥ re-read Journey To Radiance Black Panther I and II to gain a greater understanding of the webs of deception. Before we learn how Ayurveda was developed in India, we need to question, outside of hieroglyphics, why Africa appears to have no written documentation of its intellectual property. Let's begin with a deeper understanding of the word "Kamit."
Before colonizers named the land "Egypt," it was a much larger geographical area called Kamit. The definition of Kamit cannot be fully understood within the limitations of the english language. However, the closest translation is "Black Land" or "Land Of The Blacks." As we can see from the meditative illustration above, the definition is much deeper than that and transcends this image. However, studying this image can help us gain a more pluralistic understanding of Kamit. What we know of as "geometry" is an integral part of the definition and includes Black People and our inseparable connection to the land ☥ SPIRIT as a sacred pyramid. In cultures such as the Himba people of Namibia, we see a practical example through their use of Otjize on their skin and hair. Otjize is made with clay from their land. european languages cannot define, fully understand or be the authoritative source of African culture, regardless of how many monolithic studies they have funded, conducted and promoted ad nauseam. As we will soon learn, Ayurveda is a healing modality that teaches us how to locate and correct imbalances in the body ☥ mind ☥ emotions. As we come to a greater understanding of the impact and fall out of colonization, we will find hidden puzzle pieces that enable us to re-establish the balance we need to heal.
When we see that our problem is so complicated and so all-encompassing in its intent and content, then we realize that it is no longer a Negro problem, confined only to the American Negro; that it is no longer an American problem, confined only to America, but it is a problem for humanity. ☥ ☥ Malcolm X ☥
Now, let's turn our attention to the need for steps web of deception. If we look at dances such as salsa, we learn that it was popularized in the 1960's in New York. However, "salsa" was a label used to commercialize the dance. Enter the "need for steps" web of deception. Colonizers didn't understand what Indigenous People were doing in the clubs which catalyzed their typical pattern of behavior:
☥ Mock and ridicule the dance
☥ Use their economic power to spam the public with their chosen propaganda and
narrative until it is widely accepted/adopted while simultaneously creating and
promoting branding that publicly shames anyone who questions or rejects it
☥ Study the dance and learn the "steps"
☥ Label the dance
☥ Mass market and become the authoritative source on and of the dance for their profit
☥ Ensure that people who present an authentic experience are disenfranchised so that
only the eurocentric versions of the dance are validated, funded and promoted. This
includes spamming the public with social programs so that the people who created
the dance lose their connection to themselves and need “steps” in order to do the
dance - but only after colonizers have first mastered the "steps"/garnered the first and
often only opportunities to promote/develop training programs, schools, conferences,
competitions, etc. This gives the impression that the colonizer "discovered" the dance
and that Black ☥ Indigneous ☥ Immigrant People do not support each other.
Colonizers also have enough money to subsidize new businesses to the point that it is impossible for them to fail, even though the product is substandard and the content is watered down, to ensure that they are the “first” to bring it to market. Think about how many bad products are on the market that use spam advertising techniques to convince the public that the product is good because of how many products have been sold. Also consider how challenging it is for Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant businesses in the start up/growth phases to be discovered in the marketplace/forced to “compete” with these business who can afford to purchase huge mailing lists/to pay people to test and rank their products. As an example, I purchased a product on Amazon and then received an email and snail mail to write a review for a $50 gift certificate when I paid less than $50 for the product. How can a business afford these expenses during the start up or growth phases of business development without substantial subsidization? Some of my college courses were held at a local TV studio. I produced a TV commercial for a class project, and I saw a version of it on television less than a year later. I was so naïve that I thought it was a coincidence, even though I sometimes heard breathing or subtle noises in my headset that didn’t come from my classmates. How could that product be brought to market/become profitable before I could graduate from college/realize that my idea was stolen? How many Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant celebrities announce a new business idea that falls flat and disappears in the start up phase? The journey to fund my work is a mountain so high that I can’t even see the top, and its paths are littered with obstacles designed to discourage every step I take.
You have to wake the people up first, then you'll get action. ☥ ☥ Malcolm X ☥
This pattern of mockery → appropriation is now seamlessly woven into our culture to the point that we adopt it through racial exhaustion, economic bullying or cultural ignorance.
However, healed Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People don't need steps when we are dancing. We hear a certain kind of rhythm, and we respond in a certain kind of way that appears to the naked eye from objective, monolithic study as a 1-2-3 step combination. However, the dance is much more than that. If we attempt to force an Indigenous Person to learn the "steps," it short circuits the brain and interrupts the spiritual flow of the dance. The colonizer wouldn't need steps if they could harness the spirit of the dance. However, they cannot harness the spirit of the dance because SPIRIT requires that they drop racism. There is no superiority, lying, cheating, stealing, raping, pillaging or appropriation within the SPIRIT of the dance. Because the colonizer will not drop it and heal, they cannot do the dance without "steps" which they impose on us to slow us down so that they can learn, copy and paste, mass market and profit from the dance.
Colonizers have integrated dances such as salsa into American ballroom dancing and it is judged by a dancer's ability to stick to the "steps" of the dance. When I lived in Miami, I took dance lessons with Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People who also lost the innate ability to dance and had to take dance lessons to learn the "steps." In Oakland, I was excited to learn of a Haitian dance class that featured live African drumming. But the class was marketed to a white population, in an area where we had to pay for parking and the classes were costly. When I got to the class, I noticed that 80% of the class were white women who had mastered the "steps" of the dance. By the time Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant women found out about the class, they were forced to dance with white women who already learned the "steps." And of course the Black male drummers go to class every week and watch white women who have mastered the "steps" as the Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant women start from scratch to catch up or drop out. Although the dance instructor, drummers and white women were smiling, the energy of the space was silently disempowering and discouraging, another sneaky form of social programming that gentrifies the dance experience.
In fact, if Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People want to make big money with a song, they'll create a dance with "steps," a practice that has become so common that we now believe we can't dance unless we learn the "steps." I took dance classes for a long time before I was able to make this connection. During a private belly dancing class, which was taught without "steps," I suddenly felt ill. The color drained from my face, and I experienced what I can only describe with words as a darkness with extreme nausea rise up from my hips and leave me. I almost passed out. My teacher said that she had never seen a Black person turn white. Then, I was practicing a samba routine for a dance recital and realized how hard it was for me to get out of my head so that I could flow into the dance. However, I'm so grateful for my Brazilian dance teacher, who refused to teach "steps" and helped me to believe that I would eventually catch the flow of the dance in consciousness. Meditation has helped me to reconnect to the Spirit of the dance, and I find that connection easier with African dances such as samba and belly dancing. We still have a long way to go because healed Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People cannot earn a living as a dance instructor unless they teach the "steps" → it is difficult for them to succeed because the profession is dominated by white people.
Dr. Edwin Nichols, renowned psychologist ☥ Father of Cultural Competency, explained the colonizer's need for steps during a presentation I attended for a group of national leaders. He explained a conundrum that Black People have yet to overcome, particularly within the American school system. The Ancient Greeks didn't understand African mathematics. It was sort of like watching Indigenous People dancing salsa. In order to do the math, the Ancient Greeks had to add some extra "steps." However, African people can do the math without the added "steps." The conundrum occurs because, particularly in America, our languages have been erased so we are not able to explain in english how we got the answer (i.e., "show me your work"), which is especially problematic with modern day algebra. The teacher will force the Black student to "show their work" and because the "steps" that the teacher understands are not present, the Black student is accused of cheating.
At this point in Dr. Nichol's presentation, one of the Black male leaders broke down and cried. We had to stop the presentation for a while, so that we could hear his story. He said that he thought there was something wrong with him, because he knew how to solve the math problems, but he couldn't explain how he got the answer without having to do the extra "steps." He was conflicted because he knew inside of himself that he understood mathematics but would get confused by being forced to solve the problem in a way that didn't make logical sense to him. This conundrum haunted his entire journey with learning mathematics and was riddled with stress and internalized trauma. It was a moment that I will not ever forget. As a child, I was forced to learn many types of eurocentric "steps" that short circuited my brain and slowed down my learning process. I thought I was not as smart as the white children until I got to high school and started conducting psychological experiments. I realized that it wasn't that I had to study more because I wasn't as smart. I had to reprogram my mind to defer to and present the "steps" that were required by my eurocentric education without short circuiting my brain. It is tantamount to translating from my native languages into english at warp speed without the actual vocabulary of my native languages. I also learned that my native languages still exist within me as a knowing - which is sort of like how we just know certain details of a dream.
Strawberry Letter #23 And The Rosetta Stone
In A Community-Based Ecosystems Approach To Healing Our Village, I share part of the story of Strawberry Letter #23. What I didn't mention is the colonizers' blatant misrepresentation of the song as a part of its marketing strategy to insert white people into a Black narrative. If we research images of the song, we'll see the original marketing cover for the single, which contains a picture of a white woman's hand holding a letter that has "Strawberry Letter #23" handwritten along with a small picture of the Brother's Johnson. The problem with the image is that "Strawberry Letter #23" was not a letter written by a woman. Colonizers can "substantiate the data" that there is a "strawberry" a "letter" and the number "23" in the song. However ...
So, the BLACK woman composed Strawberry Letter #22 and, the BLACK man responded by singing her a song, which he called "Strawberry Letter #23." These sorts of inaccuracies highlight the ways in which Black People talk in code that white people don't understand, but of which they define and claim themselves to be the ultimate authority. If a person doesn't know the story of the song, they will look at the marketing and get a different interpretation of the song. These nuances reflect some of the ways in which we gradually lose ourselves within eurocentric branding and social programming, and in order to re-establish the balance in our lives, we must be the authoritative source of our history and culture. We cannot allow the fact that colonizers spam us with their whitened versions of our stories to push us into racial fatigue.
With this understanding, let's look at the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone has been established as the authoritative understanding of Kamitic (Ancient Egyptian) language. However, the Rosetta Stone is also a "Strawberry Letter #23" because it is the Ancient Greek's interpretation of our language. The Greeks needed extra "steps" to understand our culture. So, although the Rosetta Stone is an essential puzzle piece to our understanding of ourselves, it cannot be properly interpreted by a colonizer. Until we get linguists and historians of the African diaspora, who have healed from the psychological manipulation of colonization to study the Rosetta Stone pluralistically, we will not be able to unlock its hidden mysteries. As we learn and apply the concepts of Ayurveda, we will begin to understand how the re-establishment of balance plays out in every aspect of our lives. The colonizers' need for steps is a very sticky Bolas web of deception. What we now know of as social programming evolved from these Aryan influences that have been in place and refined for many centuries. These social programs are forced upon us on a daily basis and are seamlessly embedded into our accepted way of life.
Universal Principles Of Ayurveda ☥ TRUST
Ayurveda has been refined over many centuries, but it is not an exact science because it has had to survive many iterations of colonization. Because Ayurveda is such a rich science, people sometimes get lost in the strategies. Before we dive in to those strategies, I will share a few universal principles that are reliable enough to lead us to the answers that we are looking for:
☥ Our bodies talk to us through sensations. It is important for us to learn how to pay
attention to the sensations and breathe ☥ pause to ensure that we are responding
correctly. For example, if we feel like we have to go to the bathroom, it is important to
go as quickly as possible. However, if someone says something to us that offends us,
we breathe and pause before responding to protect us from being seduced into a
knee-jerk reaction triggered by a past trauma.
☥ What exists in nature is connected to an element and has a quality or qualities that are
hot, wet, cold and/or dry.
☥ Like increases like. If we are feeling angry (a hot emotion), it is not a good idea to eat
hot chili peppers (a hot food) because it will become more difficult to process and
release the anger.
☥ Opposites balance imbalances. Using the example above, if we are feeling angry, it is a
good idea to drink some peppermint water to help us process and release toxicity
because peppermint is an herb with a "cooling" quality.
☥ When in doubt, we breathe, pause and trust our inner wisdom to guide our next steps.
This blog is meant to help us reconnect with and TRUST ourself. Our inner wisdom
knows us better than anyone else, so defer to it over anything we read in this post. For
example, if eating beets is a suggestion in this post, but you hate beets, then choose
an alternative that “feels” right to you (red colored or otherwise). Your body will bring
what you need to your attention.
With this understanding, let's move into the development of Ayurveda in India and learn about the basic principles of this healing modality.
The Development Of Ayurveda In ॐ India ॐ
The origin of Ayurveda in India is said to have been passed down by Brahmā, the Hindu Supreme deity, to a wise sage by the name of Dakṣa Prajāpati who began the process of transmitting and developing the knowledge into what is now known as "Ayurveda." However, the ancient texts are careful to make the distinction between "passed down" and "created by." The multilingual Sanskrit ॐ Ayurvedic scholar, Dr. Vaidya Bhagwan Dash, refers to Brahmā as the "propounder (not the inventor) of Ayurveda."
Ayurveda offers us a healing opportunity to find and put the puzzle pieces of our lives back together again through cultural competency and reconnection to the truest parts of ourselves.
How To Get Started With Ayurveda
One of the most challenging aspects of my work is figuring out how to catalyze action within my clients and readers. Knowing is certainly not doing. In other words, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" doesn't work unless we actually eat an apple a day. One of the reasons why actions can be difficult for people is because they are so simplistic, that we underestimate their importance. At the top of my list of examples are what Ayurveda calls the "13 Bodily Urges." It may seem simple, but health begins with our willingness to increase our awareness of and resist the temptation to suppress the imminent needs of our body.
Our bodies are continually communicating with us, but are we listening? We would be amazed at how many health challenges we could thwart if we would pay attention to our body signals and take the appropriate action when prompted by our body.
How Does Ayurveda Work?
Let's dive into the basics of Ayurveda. Elemental Theory is the foundation of Ayurveda and includes the study of the elements ether (space), air, fire, water and earth. Kamitic Yoga includes additional elements such as metal which is not a part of Ayurveda but appears through Ptah ☥ God Of Craftmanship (metalworks, pottery, etc.) ☥ Creation, Ogun ☥ God Of Metal (Iron) and in Traditional Chinese Medicine (the five elements of wood ☥ fire ☥ metal ☥ water ☥ earth). These elements are as important to understand within our bodies as they are within the earth. Our bodies are grouped into three major doshas (body types that are governed by specific elements):
☥ Vata (ether ☥ air)
☥ Pitta (fire ☥ water)
☥ Kapha (water ☥ earth)
I suspect that the metal element didn’t make it into the Indian system because aspects of metal fit into each of the doshas (body types). Metal could be categorized as Kapha-Pitta. We can think of our dosha as the translator that communicates our current state of being ☥ interactions in our inner world needing our attention ☥ offers feedback based on the actions we choose to take. Traditional Chinese Medicine uses a different elemental system of fire ☥ wood ☥ earth ☥ metal ☥ water. I will attempt to present Ayurveda as it was developed in India, but will use pluralism to help us gradually reclaim aspects of this healing practice that may have been lost or removed over time. For this post, we are introduced to the metal element, but will explore it further in subsequent posts. As we walk through each dosha (body type), we'll learn how these elements flow through our bodies, what happens when there is an imbalance that affects the flow and what steps we can take to re-establish balance within our bodies. We may notice tendencies that reflect a specific dosha (body type). Rather than focus too much on what our "dosha" is, take the time to truly understand the difference between a balanced and an imbalanced state within our body. We have all of the elements flowing through us. The "dosha" reflects our tendencies and can help us to maintain balance. However, an optimal goal would be to seek overall balance with all of the elements as they flow through us.
The Vata Dosha ☥ Ether ☥ Air ☥ Movement
The Vata dosha (body type) is the element of ether ☥ air. Air moves through spaces in the body ☥ mind ☥ emotions ☥ Spirit. Vata primarily resides in our colon. Secondary areas include movements such as our heartbeat, blinking, muscle and tissue movement, breathing, etc. When the Vata element is balanced within our bodies, we love connecting with people and we are quick thinking, focused, creative, enthusiastic, organized, joyous, energetic and flexible.
When the Vata element is out of balance within our bodies we can become hyperactive or can feel scattered and experience physical reactions such as diarrhea, nervous twitches, mood swings, cold hands and feet, insomnia, dry cracking skin, feeling fearful, anxious or have an imbalanced or blocked heart ☥ throat chakra.
How To Balance The Vata Dosha
Eat (healthy) sweet, salty and nourishing grains, legumes and seeds such as brown rice, quinoa, barley, whole oats (groats/steel cut), mung beans, lentils, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds. Enjoy sweet, salty and nourishing vegetables such as sweet potatoes, squash, leafy greens, cilantro, carrots, beets, asparagus, pumpkin, cucumbers and fruits such as
bananas, pineapples, coconuts, avocados and dates.
We can balance our heart chakra by listening to our heartbeat as a meditation or chanting the word "yum" during meditation. Strategies for balancing our throat chakra include speaking our truth, practicing Ujjayi breathing and chanting the word "hum" during meditation.
The Pitta Dosha ☥ Fire ☥ Water ☥ Catalyzation
The Pitta dosha (body type) is made up of two elements: fire ☥ water. Fire and water catalyzes interactions within the body ☥ mind ☥ emotions ☥ Spirit. The Pitta dosha primarily resides in our stomach. Many people wonder how the elements of fire and water could possibly work together. Gastric juices in our stomach are essentially a fiery water that catalyzes digestion and absorption of nutrients. The secondary areas for the Pitta dosha include where metabolism, digestion, assimilation, absorption and the regulation of body temperature takes place. When the Pitta dosha is balanced within our bodies, we are confident, intelligent, disciplined, goal-oriented, understanding, precise, dedicated leaders who make sound decisions and actively engage in mentorship.
When the Pitta dosha is out of balance within our bodies we have trust issues, can get stuck on a thought or can’t let go of an issue. We also can become cynical, judgmental,
prone to anger, resentment, envy or hatred. We may experience physical reactions such as indigestion, inflammation, headaches, fever, viral infections, rashes, body odor, profuse sweating, high blood pressure or imbalances in our solar plexus chakra.
How To Balance The Pitta Dosha
Eat cooling ☥ nourishing foods such as raw foods, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, okra, black-eyed peas, black, fava and pinto beans, carrots, cucumbers, fennel, quinoa, berries,
cherries, watermelon, etc. Enjoy cooling ☥ nourishing herbs and use essential oils
such as lavender, coriander, cilantro, peppermint, yarrow and ylang ylang.
We can balance our solar plexus by chanting "rum" during meditation, drumming (playing ☥ listening to drums) and practicing the Harness Your Internal Power For Love ☥ Happiness Breathing Exercise.
The Kapha Dosha ☥ Water ☥ Earth ☥ Union
The Kapha dosha is made up of two elements: water ☥ earth. Water and earth unifies ☥ stabilizes the body ☥ mind ☥ emotions ☥ Spirit. The Kapha dosha primarily resides in our lungs (and in moist/mucous areas). The secondary areas for the Kapha dosha include blood, lymph fluid and water works within the body (i.e., sebum, synovial fluid, etc.). When the Kapha dosha is balanced within our bodies, we embody the wisdom to nurture ourselves and others. We are loving, compassionate, strong, wise, stable, calm, and have a healthy, passionate sex drive. People want to curl up in our loving arms and let our warm embrace nourish and envelop them.
If we mixed water with too much earth, the mud would be too dry to move (i.e. constipation). If we added too much water, we could have a flood (i.e. diarrhea). So, when the Kapha dosha is out of balance, we display sticky emotions such as greed, attachment (neediness), melancholy, possessiveness, addictive behaviors and emotional eating. We may experience depression, lethargy and can manifest physical imbalances such as weight gain, bloating, edema, tumors, fibrocystic breasts, clogged arteries, respiratory dis-ease, congestive heart failure, etc.
How To Balance The Kapha Dosha
Eat light vegetables such as raw foods, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, dandelion, leafy greens, beets ☥ beet greens, radishes, celery and light fruits such as
apples, berries, cherries, jicama, limes, lemons, kiwi and peaches. Light and dry grains
and beans such as aduki, fava, mung and pinto beans, chickpeas, buckwheat, rye, millet, amaranth, barley, quinoa, light herbs and essential oils such as ginger, marjoram and orange also help to balance the Kapha dosha.
People with a Kapha imbalance become sedentary, so staying active is a very important counterstrategy. Brisk walking, hiking, biking, dancing, jump rope, Yoga, Qigong, cardiovascular exercise, daily joint rotations and stretching are great balancing strategies for the Kapha dosha.
What Is Ayurveda? Part III reveals the profound wisdom of Ayurveda and shares practical strategies for reversing the course of dis-ease. Discover how to restore balance in your body and reclaim your truest self.
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Copy/Paste Version Of A Full Citation Example:
Hubbard, P. S. (2020, September 27). What Is Ayurveda? Part II PHYLLISHUBBARD.COM. <https://www.phyllishubbard.com/post/what-is-ayurveda-part-ii>
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