The Intersection Between Micro and Macro
Although international development sustains a macro lens, this tab explores the underpinnings of international change. It continues to narrow towards a micro perspective as I argue that individual and community healing and recovery are at the foundation of change and transformation. I then demonstrate how yoga, a practice supporting change at the micro level, has a trajectory within the larger system.
International development intersects with many other disciplines and is complex by nature. Through my experience of studying and working within international settings, international social work sustains a macro global lens. For example, when working as a Project Designer in Guyana with Indigenous women in community, I was present to the success of the project relying on international donors. In addition, the profession accounts for complex issues that may be isolated to a specific context or culture however, intersects with human and planetary rights. This was evident in Costa Rican coffee plantations where I volunteered for two months. The community was mono-cropping coffee to supply northern demand. To ensure there was no crop failure, large amounts of pesticides were being used on the plants. The cost to the community was death at a young age and many children being born with deformities and missing limbs. International development also intersects with domestic community. For example, I explore the Canadian on-reserve Aboriginal housing crisis within a social policy paper (see Social Policy Analysis: On Reserve Aboriginal Housing Policy), a complex issue often associated with the global south.
Understanding International Development and International Change
Historically, development objectives were conceived as a form of cultural imperialism, a concept to advance the interests of industrialization and modernization (Veltmeyer, 2011). Development critics continue to dissect ideological concerns and issues with the concept as people in the profession strive to be inclusive of participatory approaches and indigenous knowledge. The concept of 'international development' is a Western notion of progress, a world of grey with many complex intersections and possible outcomes. It is not isolated to a macro lens. Those in the profession must interact and foster rapport with multiple layers of society, from individuals, to policy makers, to civil society and every layer between and beyond.
Within my practice model, I strive to use the term 'international and community change' instead of development. I believe resilience is more readily embraced and harnessed from community members when supporting change vs. development. Within the book Getting to Maybe, Westley, Zimmerman, and Patton (2007) define resilience as, "the capacity to experience massive change and yet still maintain the integrity of the original. It is about balancing change and stability (p. 65)." A tool that can contribute to change and support resilience is yoga.
I believe individual and community healing and recovery are at the foundation of change and transformation. I have seen it within the Women of Courage programs I facilitate. Women spend one week in the wilderness and leave transformed. Through keeping in contact with many alumni, I have seen the impact this has had on the rest of their lives. Within the resilience model after a crisis, disaster, conflict, opportunities for change and transformation are available (Westley, Zimmerman & Patton, 2007). However, to sustain new possibilities arising within a wounded context, tools and resources for individuals and the system informing their lives must be available to support healing and recovery (Bopp & Bopp, 2006). Space needs to be available for people to engage in creative new dialog and processes to re-imagine the future after a significant and potentially traumatizing event. Once again, I suggest the yoga as a tool that can support people to embody new possibilities and re-imagine a future.
Although international development sustains a macro lens, this tab explores the underpinnings of international change. It continues to narrow towards a micro perspective as I argue that individual and community healing and recovery are at the foundation of change and transformation. I then demonstrate how yoga, a practice supporting change at the micro level, has a trajectory within the larger system.
International development intersects with many other disciplines and is complex by nature. Through my experience of studying and working within international settings, international social work sustains a macro global lens. For example, when working as a Project Designer in Guyana with Indigenous women in community, I was present to the success of the project relying on international donors. In addition, the profession accounts for complex issues that may be isolated to a specific context or culture however, intersects with human and planetary rights. This was evident in Costa Rican coffee plantations where I volunteered for two months. The community was mono-cropping coffee to supply northern demand. To ensure there was no crop failure, large amounts of pesticides were being used on the plants. The cost to the community was death at a young age and many children being born with deformities and missing limbs. International development also intersects with domestic community. For example, I explore the Canadian on-reserve Aboriginal housing crisis within a social policy paper (see Social Policy Analysis: On Reserve Aboriginal Housing Policy), a complex issue often associated with the global south.
Understanding International Development and International Change
Historically, development objectives were conceived as a form of cultural imperialism, a concept to advance the interests of industrialization and modernization (Veltmeyer, 2011). Development critics continue to dissect ideological concerns and issues with the concept as people in the profession strive to be inclusive of participatory approaches and indigenous knowledge. The concept of 'international development' is a Western notion of progress, a world of grey with many complex intersections and possible outcomes. It is not isolated to a macro lens. Those in the profession must interact and foster rapport with multiple layers of society, from individuals, to policy makers, to civil society and every layer between and beyond.
Within my practice model, I strive to use the term 'international and community change' instead of development. I believe resilience is more readily embraced and harnessed from community members when supporting change vs. development. Within the book Getting to Maybe, Westley, Zimmerman, and Patton (2007) define resilience as, "the capacity to experience massive change and yet still maintain the integrity of the original. It is about balancing change and stability (p. 65)." A tool that can contribute to change and support resilience is yoga.
I believe individual and community healing and recovery are at the foundation of change and transformation. I have seen it within the Women of Courage programs I facilitate. Women spend one week in the wilderness and leave transformed. Through keeping in contact with many alumni, I have seen the impact this has had on the rest of their lives. Within the resilience model after a crisis, disaster, conflict, opportunities for change and transformation are available (Westley, Zimmerman & Patton, 2007). However, to sustain new possibilities arising within a wounded context, tools and resources for individuals and the system informing their lives must be available to support healing and recovery (Bopp & Bopp, 2006). Space needs to be available for people to engage in creative new dialog and processes to re-imagine the future after a significant and potentially traumatizing event. Once again, I suggest the yoga as a tool that can support people to embody new possibilities and re-imagine a future.
The Trajectory for Yoga within International Development
Throughout my studies of international and community development, I have integrated yoga practices and philosophy.
Weaving the thread of yoga into my academic course work supported the evolution of the framework for the NEW ECOLOGY project.
During my time in Boston, I received encouragement for my trajectory of incorporating yoga, a micro practice, into a macro setting with an invitation to apply for the Global Mental Health certificate through the Harvard Program for Refugee Trauma. I hope to be a candidate to participate in this opportunity within an international community of practice. An experience such as this would support my dream of establishing a trauma-sensitive, yoga oriented, collective practice model within international institutions such as the World Health Organization, the United Nations and other I-NGO’s, and NGO’s supporting peace, reconciliation, and recovery from traumatic experiences.
The first country I hope to apply TSY within an international context is South Africa, my birth country, with an organization such as The Trauma Centre: For Survivors of Violence and Torture.
Throughout my studies of international and community development, I have integrated yoga practices and philosophy.
- While doing graduate course work, I also studied with Michael Stone through a Yoga Precepts course online with the Centre of Gravity.
- I designed the course curriculum and self guided an independent study named: The Relationship Between Yoga, Mindfulness, and Community Development.
- I constructed a website that delivers an integrative literature review: Yoga - Considering a Collective Practice, for my International Social Development course
Weaving the thread of yoga into my academic course work supported the evolution of the framework for the NEW ECOLOGY project.
- After reading Yoga for World Out of Balance: Teachings on Ethics and Social Action by Michael Stone, I was inspired to take an online course with him called the Yoga Precepts.
- The course inspired my independent study focused called The Relationship Between Yoga, Mindfulness, and Community Development from which the NEW ECOLOGY project first started to emerge.
- I was then motivated to do an integrative literature review for my International Social Development course investigating the application of yoga for trauma recovery within humanitarian relief situations. This research provided examples of positive outcomes using yoga as a tool to support change. Within the review Yoga - Considering a Collective Practice, I invite practitioners to consider yoga as a collective practice model to support recovery from a traumatic event within collective societies.
- This review supported my trajectory into a practicum experience with David Emerson the Director of Yoga Services at the Trauma Center in Boston and co-author of the book 'Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga’. I chose to study trauma sensitive yoga with Dave because he is contributing to research that is leading the frontier of yoga being used as an intervention tool for trauma recovery. The practicum experience was partially funded by the Irma Parhad Summer Research Award through the Calgary Center for Global Community, a relationship I established and fostered through my first practicum.
During my time in Boston, I received encouragement for my trajectory of incorporating yoga, a micro practice, into a macro setting with an invitation to apply for the Global Mental Health certificate through the Harvard Program for Refugee Trauma. I hope to be a candidate to participate in this opportunity within an international community of practice. An experience such as this would support my dream of establishing a trauma-sensitive, yoga oriented, collective practice model within international institutions such as the World Health Organization, the United Nations and other I-NGO’s, and NGO’s supporting peace, reconciliation, and recovery from traumatic experiences.
The first country I hope to apply TSY within an international context is South Africa, my birth country, with an organization such as The Trauma Centre: For Survivors of Violence and Torture.