The Dialogue on Aging Public Presentation Series is hosted by the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging and Providence Health Care. On June 19th, 2025, we have the pleasure of hosting a virtual session with Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba! This Dialogue on Aging presentation is held in partnership with the West Coast Conference on Aging.
Title: Ancestral Awareness: Indigenous Contemplative Practices and Healing
Summary: Indigenous contemplative practices and teachings have enabled Indigenous Peoples to develop an important paradigm of healing that has important implications for western medicine and health care providers who work with Indigenous Peoples. In this presentation, Dr. Michael Yellow Bird uses Indigenous wisdom and western science to show how Indigenous contemplative approaches can create important changes in the brain and body and can prevent, heal, and cure, many emotional and physical diseases brought about by colonization and the current Western industrial lifestyle.
Speaker Biography: Michael Yellow Bird, MSW, PhD, is a Professor at the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba. He is an enrolled member of the MHA Nation (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara) in North Dakota, USA. He has held faculty and administrative appointments at the University of British Columbia, University of Kansas, Arizona State University, Humboldt State University, and North Dakota State University. His research focuses on the effects of colonization and methods of decolonization, ancestral health, intermittent fasting, Indigenous mindfulness, neurodecolonization, mindful decolonization, and the cultural significance of Rez dogs. He is the founder, director, and principal investigator of The Centre for Mindful Decolonization and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba. He serves as a consultant, trainer, and senior advisor to several BIPOC mindfulness groups and organizations who are seeking to incorporate mindfulness practices, philosophies, and activities to Indigenize and decolonize western mindfulness approaches in order to address systemic racism and engage in structural change.
Please register here for the lecture.
