Transforming lives through holistic healing, Sachin Sudra, founder of grassroots company Sunistanai, combines yoga, nutrition, and Ayurvedic medicine to guide individuals to the rediscovery of harmony within themselves and their communities.
Most recently, Sudra had the opportunity to contribute his skills towards the creation of a healing and wellness program called IndigiWellness: Outreach for Gathering and Returning.
Blending his diverse background in holistic healing practices with the wisdom of traditional knowledge keepers across Treaty 6, Treaty 7 and Treaty 8 territories, Sudra worked alongside community leaders to co-create an inclusive program rooted in cultural wellness, trauma-informed care, and personal empowerment in a way that is both fun and educational for youth.
This initiative is made possible through the help of the RKeepers7 grant, a community partnership funding initiative through the Tsuut’ina Nation Police (Tosunga), that supports culturally grounded projects focused on prevention, education and intervention efforts for at-risk youth.
How did you come across the RKeepers7 grant, and what inspired you to apply?
I am always exploring opportunities to bring my health and wellness programs to communities in need, and when I came across the RKeepers7 grant, I knew it was the right fit for the work that I do while bringing healing to those who need it.
Tell us what IndigiWellness: Outreach for Gathering and Returning is all about.
The initiative involves travelling across Treaty 6, Treaty 7 and Treaty 8 territories to gain spiritual knowledge from Indigenous knowledge keepers, and land-based healing practices from community leaders. The teachings gathered will return back to the Indigenous nations, and then integrated into programs at high schools, wellness centres for addictions and recoveries, and for other frontline community services.
My work in this project, in collaboration with knowledge keepers across these communities, aims to strengthen trauma-informed wellness, conflict resolution, cultural healing and create strategies to counter lateral violence.
What was the process like, working with Indigenous elders and community leaders to create this program?
I’ve developed a relationship with the Tsuut’ina Nation in the past, but for this project I was able to build new relations, and I did it by following the right, respectful protocol to speaking with elders and community leaders by gaining permission before even asking them questions, as well as asking permission to speak with others in the community to develop an opportunity to help before starting the project.
This program was built through trust with the communities, developing an understanding of what was needed with their guidance and designed in a way to be fun and engaging.
Can you walk us through a typical day in the program and how it supports participants’ healing and growth?
We begin the day with a circle talk to build connection, followed by one-on-one check-ins so I can understand on a deeper level about where everyone’s emotional and physical well-being is at for the day.
Then, we get to the fun stuff. Everyday is different. So, for example, one class we did was a herbal medicine tea making program. We laid out various amounts of herbal teas, listing their healing properties and how they help individuals, incorporating traditional knowledge shared to me from community elders, and through my understanding of herbology and botany.
We’ve also done an Ayurvedic body oil workshop. For this class, we incorporate Indigenous plants from local lands into the oils, and blend traditional Indigenous knowledge with Ayurvedic practice.
Participants learn how oiling supports the organs from a scientific and energetic perspective, and how to create oils suited to their individual body and mind types, engaging the senses of touch, taste, smell, sight and sound for deeper healing.
Another practice we have done is learning to regulate emotions through language and the senses. We have people face their vulnerabilities, and I find a way to get in tune with them so they feel regulated and relaxed. I believe this is where land-based practices come back, where we can use forces of nature which are in harmony with individuals.
These programs always end with ceremony led by their practitioners, and a lot of the things we create with youth would then be shared with their own elders as gifts.
Would you be open to sharing a memorable moment during the program where you realized your work was making a difference?
One powerful experience I can share was a moment during my time teaching a yoga class in the wellness centre for addictions and recovery.
What was really beautiful about that day was that there was a couple in recovery together at the session who were expecting a child. And during that session, I had the opportunity to use my training in reflexology to teach the man how to work on his wife’s feet, helping to alleviate some of the pain and strain off her body, while promoting relaxation for the expectant mother.
To me, that was beautiful because it wasn’t about me working on someone through my own practice, but helping two people who were there to help themselves out and work with each other. It is beautiful seeing a family do that together, and to be able to share that knowledge with them.
How do you bring Ayurvedic practices into spaces where participants may be carrying immense trauma?
It starts with being authentic and adaptable. For instance, in addition to the IndigiWellness program, I also work at the Calgary Corrections Facilities as a yoga teacher for men who just want to heal and relax.
The key is to be present, honest and simply create a safe space where they can be themselves. Many people in the program have never had the opportunity to trust or feel relaxed, so creating that space is essential to their healing journey.
I think that’s a really amazing part of this too, because some of the people you encounter across all the trauma-informed care programs you work in may not have had that opportunity with anyone; that level of trust, or even the luxury to just feel relaxed in their daily lives.
Yeah. It’s really important for all of us, at any stage in life, to find balance within ourselves. Even something as simple as a trip to Costco, shows how rushed and erratic our society has become. People are constantly in a hurry, and I believe it’s essential for us all to find ways to slow down, reconnect, and bring ourselves back to harmony.
I agree. So you’ve also worked with men on a program for the Calgary Correctional Facility. Have you worked with any other trauma-informed care programs in the past?
Yes, my early work began with the Urban Society of Aboriginal Youth (USAY) back in 2015, which is an organization focused on helping marginalized urban youth, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.
I would host hip-hop cooking classes in my studio downtown. We would have a DJ play really cool music, and youth would come in, and we would do a really fun cooking class. This project evolved into hosting sound healing classes for youth and adults on trauma and grief.
I also serve as a keynote speaker for events on cultural wellness and safety. Facilitating lived experience with experiential practices through healing and wellness strategies by integrating breathing exercises, yoga, emotional regulation and seasonal oils.
Additionally, I often collaborate with the Gateway Association, providing staff training for employees living with disabilities around wellness in the workplace, and I feel incredibly honoured to contribute to this cause, not just as a professional, but as someone who also lives with a disability.
What are your long-term goals for bringing healing practices to communities in Calgary?
I really just try to inspire people to live a more holistic, beautiful life full of joy. I think that’s what life is all about.
A big part of my work is also making things culturally appropriate and leaving people feeling that they hold a stronger respect for themselves while inspiring them to live their lives to the fullest and to help them find understanding within themselves that they are their own true support system in healing, wellness, and health.
If you could have all of the funding you needed to carry out a way to bring your healing practices to people who needed them, what would that look like?
If I could have all my basic needs met, my only wish would be to give back to those in need.
My Ayurvedic practice would approach medicine with medicinal herbs I cultivate myself, with reverence, honouring the ancient tradition of sourcing plants directly from the earth and developing remedies that are free from commercialization to use in my practice.
In a world without limits, my dream would be to create a safe space that emanates healing and serves as a sanctuary for anyone struggling, whether that be from homelessness, addiction, illness, or life’s burdens, for them to simply come and discover joy within themselves, leaving feeling restored.