How do we cultivate collective flourishing? When facing the monumental challenges of our world, we often end up disconnecting to focus on our mental health. Dr. Yuria Celidwen explains this focus on our state of mind alone is precisely why so many of us struggle to flourish. “What’s been overlooked is the Indigenous perspective of relationality,” she says. “It is the understanding that happiness is only possible in community, when we cultivate our relationships toward all kin, from human to more-than-human, and our living Earth.”

Dr. Celidwen’s research shows the tremendous benefit of integrating Indigenous approaches into our approach to well-being, while recognizing the gains made by Western positive psychology, mindfulness, and neuroscience. In Flourishing Kin, she identifies seven key principles found in Indigenous cultures worldwide that embrace virtue, ethical living, and spirituality. Dr. Celidwen invites us to experience a path to fulfillment that allows us to meet the world in all its complexity with reverence and joyous commitment to participate in the flourishing of all living beings. 

Join Malcolm Clemens Young, Dean of Grace Cathedral, for a conversation with Celidwen about how we can overcome isolation and climate anxiety, nourish healthy relationships with our communities and environment, and build strong foundations of well-being that elevate our life choices for the benefit of our whole planet.

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Yuria Celidwen – The “Ethics of Belonging” of Indigenous Traditions | Bioneers 2023

“Reading this book will transform how you live your life.” ― Dacher Keltner, Ph.D., author of
Awe: The Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life

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About Yuria Celidwen, Ph.D.

I am a native of the Indigenous Nahua and Maya lineages from the cloud forests of Chiapas, Mexico. I am of Earth; my heart is on fire. My family is one of mystics, healers, poets, and explorers of the soil and the soul of life’s strength, tenderness, and fragility. I grew up with one wing in the wilderness and another in the magical realism of Indigenous dreamlands and stories. My Elders’ songs enthralled my childhood and enhanced my mythic imagination and emotional intuition. They’ve become the fertile soils and waters where the seeds of reverence, play, and wonder dig their roots. I am a Truth-bearer, trickster dreamer, and culture-shifter. My scholarship centers on Indigenous forms of contemplation and the transcendent experience embodied in prosocial behavior (reverence, ethics, compassion, and a sense of awe, love, and sacredness).‎ I call my research broader statement the “Ethics of Belonging,” encouraging awareness, intention, and relational actions toward planetary flourishing and a path of meaning and participation rooted in honoring Life. I am affiliated with the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, where I research Earth-based contemplation and collective flourishing in Indigenous traditions of the world. I am a senior fellow at the Othering and Belonging Institute. For the American Academy of Religion, I co-chair the Indigenous Religious Traditions Unit and am on the steering committee of the Contemplative Studies Unit.

About The Forum

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors, and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  More about Grace Forum Online.

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