Indigenized Fitness

Chelsey Luger ’10 is on a mission to promote health and fitness in Native American communities. The Arizona-based journalist, who has roots in the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, joined photographer Thosh Collins in 2015 to launch Well for Culture, a website and wellness initiative that offers workout tips, recipes and holistic health advice drawn from North American indigenous traditions.

Two key concepts promoted by Well for Culture are Earth Gym and Ancestral Diet. “We’re encouraging people to get outside and be on the land,” says Luger. “Earth Gym is all about embracing the challenges of the elements.” Ancestral Diet merges traditional Native American foodways with ideas from modern healthy-eating movements. “Spending time with food and recognizing its spiritual significance used to be a huge part of our culture, and it’s something that many of us have forgotten,” says the former Native American studies major.

Well for Culture has offered workshops and fitness classes in schools, on reservations and even at Nike World Headquarters, where Luger spoke to the company’s Native American Network in November 2015. Earlier this year the Native Americans at Dartmouth student organization invited Luger back to Hanover to lead a weekend wellness retreat just before the start of midterm exams. Following an offcampus Earth Gym session, 40 students attended a community dinner of bison burgers, sweet potato hash and other ancestral foods. “We emphasized how exercise and healthy food contribute to brain health,” says Luger.

In her monthly “Well for Culture” column for Indian Country Today Media Network, Luger stresses that promoting personal fitness in Native communities is also a highly political project. “Wellness is empowering,” she says. “Living healthy and positive lifestyles is making a statement: I’m not who you expect me to be. My healthy lifestyle disproves many of the negative stereotypes of Native people. I’m alive and well, succeeding and happy.”

James Napoli