SIYA - Saskatchewan Indigenous Yoga Association
Reconciliation Monument, Saskatoon
SIYA - A Brief History
The first step was a scholarship, offered through the Saskatoon Tribal Council in September, 2016, for an Indigenous resident of Saskatchewan to take a yoga teacher-training course. The quality of the sixteen applicants, from various parts of the province, persuaded the selection committee to award three people. Three scholarships were again given in the summer of 2017, and four in 2018.
In the fall of 2017, a meeting of scholarship winners and other interested people in Saskatoon decided to establish an organization for Indigenous yoga in the province: the Saskatchewan Indigenous Yoga Association (SIYA). A constitution was approved, a Council set up, committees established, and a bank account opened at the First Nations Bank of Canada.
SIYA’s membership and activities are open to any interested person, Indigenous or non-Indigenous. In addition to promoting the training of new teachers, SIYA supports Indigenous yoga teachers through workshops for continuing education and support grants to allay expenses. In November, 2017, David Edney gave SIYA’s first workshop, a four-hour training on coherent breathing. The first support grants were also awarded in November, 2017. Rachelle McHenry used hers to teach yoga for three days in a school at Fond-du-Lac, a Dene community in northern Saskatchewan. She subsequently gave a workshop presentation on teaching yoga in isolated Indigenous communities.
In August, 2018, work began on an ambitious project—creating SIYA’s own Indigenous yoga teacher training, a new kind of course exploring ways of combining yoga with traditional Indigenous knowledge and practices, and training people to teach yoga specifically to Indigenous communities.
David Edney
June, 2019
Media
MEDIA
CBC SK: Saskatchewan Indigenous Yoga Association stretches across cultural boundaries
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-indigenous-yoga-association-1.6198410
GLOBAL NEWS: Yoga classes aim to train more Indigenous instructors in Saskatchewan, promote healing
https://globalnews.ca/news/8148110/yoga-classes-aim-to-train-more-indigenous-instructors-in-saskatchewan-promote-healing/
APTN NATIONAL NEWS: Indigenous yoga scholarship about wellness, healing
https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/indigenous-yoga-scholarship-about-wellness-healing/
CBC THE DOC PROJECT: The String Still Holds
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1980496963559
EAGLE FEATHER NEWS: Teacher training combines yogic philosophy, Indigenous world views
https://www.eaglefeathernews.com/events/teacher-training-combines-yogic-philosophy-indigenous-world-views
SASKATOON STAR PHOENIX: Indigenous yoga teacher trainees explore 'braiding' with traditional spirituality
https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/indigenous-yoga-teacher-trainees-explore-braiding-with-traditional-spirituality
CTV NEWS: Yoga instructor training program includes Indigenous culture
https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/yoga-instructor-training-program-includes-indigenous-culture-1.4548803
TESTIMONIALS
“This was the best training I have been a part of.”
“I felt safe as an Indigenous person to experience yoga with other Indigenous people.”
“I am leaving a stronger and healthier person.”
“The quality was topnotch. In my eyes the instructors adapted to meet our needs with no problems.”
“The delivery of the program and instructors chosen were amazing. The personalities, energies of those involved were a perfect fit for this training.”
more about siya
SIYA Co-founder, Executive Director, Trainer Dawn Deguire | Muskoday First Nation
Media
MEDIA
CBC SK: Saskatchewan Indigenous Yoga Association stretches across cultural boundaries
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-indigenous-yoga-association-1.6198410
GLOBAL NEWS: Yoga classes aim to train more Indigenous instructors in Saskatchewan, promote healing
https://globalnews.ca/news/8148110/yoga-classes-aim-to-train-more-indigenous-instructors-in-saskatchewan-promote-healing/
APTN NATIONAL NEWS: Indigenous yoga scholarship about wellness, healing
https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/indigenous-yoga-scholarship-about-wellness-healing/
CBC THE DOC PROJECT: The String Still Holds
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1980496963559
EAGLE FEATHER NEWS: Teacher training combines yogic philosophy, Indigenous world views
https://www.eaglefeathernews.com/events/teacher-training-combines-yogic-philosophy-indigenous-world-views
SASKATOON STAR PHOENIX: Indigenous yoga teacher trainees explore 'braiding' with traditional spirituality
https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/indigenous-yoga-teacher-trainees-explore-braiding-with-traditional-spirituality
CTV NEWS: Yoga instructor training program includes Indigenous culture
https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/yoga-instructor-training-program-includes-indigenous-culture-1.4548803
TESTIMONIALS
“This was the best training I have been a part of.”
“I felt safe as an Indigenous person to experience yoga with other Indigenous people.”
“I am leaving a stronger and healthier person.”
“The quality was topnotch. In my eyes the instructors adapted to meet our needs with no problems.”
“The delivery of the program and instructors chosen were amazing. The personalities, energies of those involved were a perfect fit for this training.”