About Under The Shade

Our work is focused on providing transformational educational opportunities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, drawing on knowledge and expertise from both cultural worlds.

Our philosophy of operation is grounded in the wisdom inherent in traditional Indigenous cultures. Authentic wholistic health becomes possible when we draw upon this knowledge and live according to the way our bodies are designed to function in relationship with our environment.

We are passionate about health, culture and spirit, and where these things intersect in everyday life.

Health

We believe that good health is the foundation that gives us the vitality and clarity to engage in life with meaning and purpose.

We believe that our health is dependent upon eating, moving and living in ways that are consistent and complementary to our design. Within that design is phenomenal ability to heal and restore balance.

We hold to the strong conviction that traditional Indigenous cultures are living repositories for the original design for health and vitality. Tragically the oldest living culture on earth is suffering an epidemic of preventable chronic diseases. Indigenous people were vibrant and strong before our modern foods were introduced. Sadly, often due to language and worldview barriers, Indigenous people have not been given the information to understand the connection between food and health – modern foods and chronic diseases.

We are passionate about empowering Indigenous people with knowledge and experience that link in with their own frameworks and traditional understandings in order for them to take back control of their health.

Culture

We believe in the incredible richness of journeying together cross culturally. We have been particularly blessed to journey with Indigenous Australians – in work, in friendship, and as adopted family.

As our world becomes more globalised and homogenised, we risk losing the value and richness of real cultural diversity. Our world needs the colour, the creativity and intelligence that comes from diversity. Indigenous peoples can show us completely different perspectives, from a completely different vantage point, through completely different lenses to look at the world.

Traditional Indigenous knowledge and frameworks hold vital information and concepts that are key to many of the health and well-being challenges we face in the modern world.

The opportunities we have had to utilise the frameworks of Indigenous traditional diets is just one example of the incredible wisdom held in traditional knowledge that can give us new perspectives on how to approach nutrition, navigate food choices and build a foundation for vitality and good health.

Spirit

Our spirit, body and soul (emotions, feelings) are all interconnected. Authentic health is wholistic – where all of our parts are aligned and healthy and vibrant and relating to each other as they were designed to do, by the Great Creator Spirit.

If our spirit is healthy, our body can be healthy. If our spirit is broken, crushed, hurting – our body will be holding and experiencing that trauma and pain, no matter how sound our diet is.

We believe that authentic health is best experienced and expressed in community, and is not separate from our spiritual life. In UTS we believe relationship with God, lived out in the context of relationship with others and how we interact with the world impacts our health and wellbeing.

Many of the Indigenous people we work with have incorporated Christian beliefs into their worldview. UTS exist to work with people from any spiritual persuasion and we are passionate about vibrant health for all people. We hold to a Christian framework and part of the work we engage in is designed to train and equip Christians in understanding life and health from a Christian perspective. The Spirit stream is where we dive into an exploration of Christian spirituality – clients, participants, volunteers and supporters are free to engage with any of the work UTS is involved with, without engaging with this stream.