AYGMyJune2015

The Nhunggaburra People have

a system of political democracy which

de-emphasises centralised structures

of power, instead focusing on collective

intention and listening. This type of

deep listening – listening to each other,

listening to the land, listening to the

trees and the ocean – are exactly what

we strive for in yoga. Deep listening

is Nada yoga, the yoga of sound

vibration. We practice Nada through

chanting, becoming receptive and some

pranayama techniques. The methods

of the yogi may be different to those

of the Nhunggaburra but the intention

to listen deeply is the same.

The nature of all life

“Let’s listen. Do you hear the wind in the

trees? The water on the beach? The splash

of the fish? That is the wind, the trees, the

water, the sand, the fish talking to us.

They have their own language. Sometimes

they are sending a message to us.” –

LakLak Burarrwanga (Datiwuy

aBoriginaL ELDEr anD author of

thE Book wELcomE to my country).

In the very first of the Yoga Sutras from

the great yogic sage Patanjali we are

reminded that the essential nature

within all of life will be your teacher –

Patanjali uses the word anushasanam

which means, “nature will teach you.

The wisdom that you need is all around

you in the very forms of nature.” We

replicate these forms in asana practice

stop asking the question that well-

meaning white people have asked for

200 years, which is ‘what can we teach

them?’ but ask instead, ‘what might I

learn from them?’ One of the things that

I think you will discover in asking this

question is that the ethical framework

by which we lead our lives as yogis has

many similarities with the belief

systems and ethical frameworks

of Aboriginal Australians.”

Spoken history

Extract from an historic speech

given in Sydney’s Redfern Park

on December 10, 1992, by then

Prime Minister Paul Keating:

“It might help if we non-

Aboriginal Australians imagined

ourselves dispossessed of land we

had lived on for 50,000 years and

then imagined ourselves told that

it had never been ours.

“Imagine if ours was the oldest

culture in the world and we were

told that it was worthless. Imagine

if we had resisted this settlement,

suffered and died in the defence

of our land and then were told in

history books that we’d given up

without a fight. Imagine if non-

Aboriginal Australians had served

their country in peace and war

and were then ignored in history

books. Imagine if our feats

on sporting fields had inspired

admiration and patriotism and yet

did nothing to diminish prejudice.

Imagine if our spiritual life was

denied and ridiculed.

“Imagine if we had suffered the

injustice and then were blamed for it.

“It seems to me that if we can

imagine the injustice then we

can imagine its opposite. And

we can have justice.”

by becoming the tree, the snake,

the eagle and the mountain in order

to better understand them.

In his Yoga Sutras Patanjali also

gives us some guidance on how to

live our lives. He offers eight ethical

directives through which we might

realise true yoga, or union with the

divine. Of these eight, three are

particularly important when we come

to consider the relationship of non-

Indigenous and Indigenous Australians.

These three are ahimsa (non-violence),

satya (truth) and asteya (not stealing).

Each of these teachings has been

violated by non-Indigenous settlers

in their actions towards Aboriginal

peoples and the repercussions of those

violations continues today.

Living among lies

Many mistruths were told to justify

white man’s dominance of Australia and

violence towards the Aboriginal people.

Lies about how many Indigenous people

were here, about their behaviour and

about what white man did when he

arrived (in order to create a “history”

that was palatable, even if it was not true).

Through violence, land was stolen

from Indigenous peoples who had lived

on it peacefully for millennia (many

anthropologists cite Aboriginal peoples

as among the oldest on earth). Asteya

was violated again in the midst of the

lies and violence on which contemporary

Australia was founded when another

policy was developed in relation to

Aboriginal people. This policy was that

Aboriginal children should be removed

from their parents in order to bring

them up in “civilised” society.

The emotional wounds from this

Stolen Generation have only recently

become publicly discussed and

acknowledged. How can we even begin

to think about healing such deep

wounds? One insightful suggestion

comes from Sydney based yoga teacher

and Indigenous rights lawyer Samantha

Nolan-Smith who says, “I encourage

64 you to reverse the tide of history and

may/june 2015

yogajournal.com.au

Photo: rossco/shutterstock.com

“ It might help if non-Aboriginal Australians imagined

ourselves dispossessed of land we had lived on for

50,000 years and then told that it had never been ours”

yj43_62-66_Aborigional spiritual teachings and yoga.indd 64 31/03/2015 10:50 am