Seminar: The Human Body
Program: DINÉ
Subject Area: Science
Grade Level: High school
Year of Publication: 2019
Abstract
Generations of grandparents in the Diné (Navajo) culture have customarily emphasized self-guidance philosophy to ensure continuing successful survival of each generation through an oral
teaching to practice daily running early in the morning. The teachings insisted on daily exercise,
and as youngsters we were forced to rise early before dawn and run to the east to greet the early
morning dawn, and to offer prayer for harmony and well-being. The elders spoke of the deities
being out in the early morning and the air is the freshest in the morning to invigorate the mind,
body, and spirit. They expressed that the deities say, “Ah, look, there is my child up early, I will
bless him.” The gifts granted by the deities include wealth, wisdom, youthfulness, health, and
wealth of knowledge. Traditional teachings of our Dine grandparents were to impart moralities,
ethics, and practices that led to good health. The grandparents understood that a healthier state of
mind, body and spirit had multiple benefits such as having more energy, better mood, positive
outlook, more tranquility and better sleep. Studies have shown that running or exercise helps
depression, blocks negative thoughts, lifts moods, improves sleep patterns and changes levels of
chemicals in the brain such as serotonin and or stress hormones. (Greist, JH. 1979).
American K-12 education includes physical education, ethics, character education, and teaching
a common core of different subject areas. Based on the instructional teachings of today in any
setting, physical fitness and any disciplinary process taught, learned, and adapted is connected
exclusively to European-American values. The traditional cultural teaching seems to be of the
past when children learned hands-on showing of how to do from traditional perspective based on
the teachings of the Diyin Dine’é (Holy People; Navajo Nation, 1998). Today the western
school-based teachings are different based on the physical setting of the learning in a school
building, the language used, and the curricula, which comes from school adopted company
series. There is still a connection when the two philosophies include the physical development
and mental development incorporated to promote long-term health and improvement in the
quality of life.