decolonisation
If we are to truly create health and wellness on an individual level, we must recognise that we are a part of a whole, a collective, an Earth that we share with other humans, animals, plants and life forms. We must acknowledge the oppressive systems we live in and ask ourselves what our role is in creating harmony and balance for all. This is paramount in the times of chaos and destruction that we are living in, for there is no individual wellness without collective wellness. Colonial empires are founded on unjust power, control and greed at the expense of life that is deemed less valuable than one’s own. These structures are still very much in operation in our world today, along with the devastating impact of the colonial extraction, exploitation and damage of the last several hundred years. The loss includes human life, indigenous land rights, health & wellness of communities and individuals, environmental health & biodiversity, valuable resources, indigenous medicine, sacred traditions and much more.
We are also at a time in our human history where there is an opportunity for great change. Decolonisation individually and collectively is necessary for the survival of our Mother Earth and all her creations.
Dra. Rosales Meza says that decolonisation is a way of life. It is about dismantling the oppressive paradigm we live in, which goes beyond anti-racism work. It’s a return to our ancestral, earth based, harmonious ways of living.
Decolonisation is a deep and radical unlearning process that allows us to return to a matriarchal way of being, one which values all life as equal. It’s opening to a loving relationship with ourselves, our communities and our Earth, where all can thrive and flourish. It’s a process that happens layer by layer and one that requires us to become aware of how the colonial capitalist patriarchy has infiltrated our inner and outer worlds. With great self-compassion, becoming aware of how we’ve been unconsciously conditioned to extract and exploit from ourselves. It’s becoming aware of how this system has permeated every sector of society including our education system, healthcare, the food industry, the retail industry, the personal development industry, the media and more.
Decolonisation is becoming conscious of where we may have been oppressed or harmed; and where we may be benefitting from the system, oppressing or harming, as a result of our actions or non-actions.
Colonialism truly is a force that acts in both apparent and unapparent ways; therefore, it requires a commitment to our inner work to be able to see what we haven’t yet seen or been willing to see in our world, ourselves and our lineages. Then, with this awareness, we can start to live in alignment with the vision of harmony and balance for all, one step at a time.
