From daily morning sage smudgings, to jingle dress dancing, to incorporating traditional music and singing into her day – those are just a few of the ways Dr. Julie Smith infuses elements of her Anishinaabe culture into her personal stress management regime.
In honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day, Yorkville University recently welcomed Smith as our special guest to lead a webinar on Infusing Culture and Spirituality into Stress Management.
Born and raised on the White Earth Band reservation in northern Minnesota, Smith is a National Certified Counselor and a licensed professional clinical counsellor who has worked in the education and mental health fields for more than 18 years.
Drawing on her experience implementing cultural and spiritual adaptations to evidence-based therapy models, Smith used her June 19 Ask an Expert session to discuss how she infuses her traditional First Nations practices into stress management and self-care, and to offer tips on how students can use their own cultural and spiritual tools to help them make it through difficult times in their lives.
“When I think of stress management, I think about grounding ourselves to the present moment. So, I encourage all of you to think about what is your in culture, your spirituality that makes you feel good and like you can let energy in and where you can live in a space where you’re not surrounded by negativity and stress,” Smith urged during the hour-long session.
“I encourage all of you…to figure out how you can integrate spirituality, your movement and that medicine wheel of the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental capacity of trying to find balance in your life.”
To hear more of Smith’s stress management advice, watch her entire session here https://youtu.be/djLXpEFOoNU
