Thread by @DrRupaMarya

Today I wake up grateful for Chief Caleen Sisk of @winnememwintu and her prayers for the salmon and her ceremonies to balance the water and fire in this beautiful region where we live. We share her stories of salmon in our book Inflamed. 1/n

One of the elders sent me this photo when I said I was going into the hospital to work these challenging days. It helps to know there are people out there holding it down for all of us, calling home the water, calling home the salmon, bringing the elements back into balance. 2/n

I believe what we will need to address the system level failures we are seeing is to reestablish Indigenous sovereignty in the places that have been stolen, and to create new culture together, where we learn to listen and we learn what we do not know and we become humble. 3/n

The structural change I see that is necessary is far beyond Single Payer healthcare, although I know it's an important step. It is an undoing of the colonial mentality that keeps us atomized, separated and suffering. There are cultures that live on planet earth in ways that 4/n

create greater health for a greater number of beings because those cultures promote whole systems health. Let's not be afraid to see what point we are at historically and to walk in the correct direction.

I am grateful to Chief Caleen. And to seeing the salmon back 5/n

in streams in the East Bay they haven't been in for decades. I'm grateful for this rain and snowpack, bringing the balance back. I'm thankful to all the people who are waking up and seeing these incremental offerings are not enough. Our hearts cry for some deeper medicine. 6/n

A medicine of right relationship. With the earth. With other beings. With each other.

Good morning from the occupied and unceded Ohlone territory of Huichin. I head across the Bay this morning to care for the people. To all my health workers out there, prayers are up for you.❤️