Experiences of running: One Dakelh woman's message of transformation and resilience

Running was a traditional role to share messages among the Dakelh communities of northern British Columbia. This role has been lost due to colonialism. The injustices of colonialism have resulted in challenges for Indigenous peoples’ health and well-being. Despite colonialism, the benefits of running for the mind, body, and spirit remain. However, the role that running played in the spiritual health of Indigenous people has remained unexplored. This research is an autoethnographic study about myself and the role of running in my life. I am situating myself within my Dakelh cultural context. I use decolonizing and Indigenous methodologies as a foundation for my research, drawing on my own experiences to express my testimony about transformation. My data includes my personal reflective journals and an interview. I analyzed these two sets of data by situating my experiences within the context of my culture. The themes identified include: 1) Space for self-reflection and responding to the world around me, (2) Relationships and encouragement, (3) My connection to something greater, (4) Honour my life enough to love myself, and (5) Creating space to fully express myself. This research fills a gap in Indigenous specific literature because spiritual health is not widely discussed in the physical activity literature and the running literature connected to Indigenous people. This thesis concludes that running has proven beneficial to me through the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual areas of my health and well-being. Given the role that running has played in my transformation journey, I recommend more research that explores the role of running or other sports as processes for transformation of Indigenous people to explore the understandings of spirit as it relates to holistic health among Indigenous people living in Northern British Columbia.