#163: From Women’s Empowerment to Global Healing: Dina Ghandour's Story as a Palestinian Yogi

Openly, vulnerably and courageously, Dina Ghandour shares her experience as a Palestinian Yogi throughout this conversation. Her journey began with practising asanas with a VHS tape in her bedroom at 15 to now, a Jivamukti Yoga certified yoga teacher and bodyworker based in Duba leading community classes and worldwide retreats.

Tapping into her belief that yoga is a practice of liberation and that liberation is about the elevation and healing of all beings, Dina’s mission for women’s remembrance of their strength is needed now more than ever.

To let in the very real, authentic details of her personal story and to inspire you to continue the work of yoga, enter this interview with an open heart and a curious mind.

For further information and resources on the topics mentioned in the episode, please access them below.

 

Resources (books written by both Palestinian and Israeli acclaimed historians):

• The 100 Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi

• The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine + The Biggest Prison on Earth by Ilan Pappe

• Gaza in Crisis by Naom Chomsky and Ilan Pappe

• Palestine Academy's Palestine 101 online course

• All Out for Palestine Digital Action Toolkit by the Palestine Feminist Collective

• Death toll raised to 21,000

• Website for the SIM cards

 

Terms

According to the UN Genocide Convention: 

The current definition of Genocide is set out in Article II of the Genocide Convention: Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: 

(a) Killing members of the group; already 15,200 have been killed in Gaza alone, 6,600 of which are children -- and violence and killing also happening also in the occupied West Bank, which is not ruled by Hamas

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; consistent images and videos coming out of Gaza prove this is true

 (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; the blockade on Gaza and the control of its food, fuel, electricity, medication etc pertains to this clause accurately 

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; 

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

Reference (un.org)

 

Occupation:

In international humanitarian law, a territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the adverse foreign armed forces. The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised. (From the International Red Cross) 

 

For background: 

• Milit