UK based "Native American Teachings" at the BSY formerly British School of Yoga

[nemesis]

I am concerned to discover a load of dodgy new age courses on offer at the BSY

Among them is this course in "Native American Teachings"

http://www.bsygroup.co.uk/index.php?courseid=227

Surely a bargain at only £245.00 for the course! *sarcasm*

No information about who is teaching the course or their ancestry or suitability.

This is a distance learning course, so no actual physical contact, you just pays your money, do what they say and you end up with some kind of certificate.

Other courses on offer at the BSY include Astral Projection, Hopi Ear Candles and Angel Magic. *sighs*

I will try to find out more but my expectations are very, very low re this.



edited to add

they also run Advanced Native American teachings

http://www.bsygroup.co.uk/index.php?courseid=228

and, er, a course in Shamanism

http://www.bsygroup.co.uk/index.php?courseid=261

[nemesis]

It gets worse

Mike Hallowell studied Native American Teachings

It's hard to believe how my life has changed in just a few short months since I took the BSY course in Native American Teachings.

Here's just a brief synopsis: I'm now lecturing all over the place on Native American spirituality, increasingly asked to do radio and TV Broadcasts, and have just finished my book manuscript on the same subject.

My business partner (a psychic clairvoyant) and I did our first show recently at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. We packed out the theatre for the show, which was called Sacred Spirit - an interactive presentation of Native American spirituality and psychic awareness. A local agent now wants us to do a series of shows.

http://www.bsygroup.co.uk/index.php?wcid=129

This would appear to be this Mike Hallowell
http://www.mikehallowell.com/wraithscape/page2.html
A ghost and paranormal investigator who claims to have native heritage.  He is married to a psychic / medium.

Mike is a freelance writer and specialises in penning books newspaper  columns and articles about the paranormal. He also writes extensively about Native American culture and spirituality, and has Indian heritage in his family.

[nemesis]

I just phoned the BSY and the person I spoke to said that she had no information about the tutors or the source material.   She stressed that the course is a correspondence course for home learning.

She suggested that if anyone was interested in getting further information that they should contact the principal Mrs Ann Williams at the following email address;
tutors(at)bsygroup.co.uk and that Ms Williams would be happy to provide further information

Perhaps someone here would like to make further inquiries?

[piya]

Seems this Mike Hallowell guy, is involved in many things

http://www.mikehallowell.com/thunderbird/page2.html

[TimberlineWarrior]

I've had a little previous experience with the BSY. They run loads of courses from yoga to counselling. You can build up and by passing their correspondence courses increase your professional level to become a counsellor, even adding letters after your name. Just one point none of the certificates is professionally recognised apart from by BSY and if you were to spend the few weeks it takes to obtain one, rather than the two year proper course all that you'll have is a large hole in your bank account and a wothless bit of paper.
As for teaching shamanism and NA teachings by mail order that is yet another new level of plastic exploitation.

^. .^

[nemesis]

While the Native American Teachings and Advanced Native American Teachings courses are not accredited with any academic body the BSY are accredited as an organisation here in the UK with an organisation called Open and Distance Learning Quality Council (ODLQC)

http://www.bsygroup.co.uk/index.php?wcid=72

http://www.odlqc.org.uk/

I phoned the ODLQC yesterday to express my concern about the issues of racism and cultural appropriation in the BSY Native American Teachings courses.

The man I spoke to basically said that the ODLQC did not concern itself with deciding which courses were valid or not when it comes to spirituality because some people think that Christianity is rubbish and everyone is entitled to their opinions about a spiritual path, no matter how unconventional. 

He also said that if Native American people were concerned about these issues and contacted the ODLQC about this that it would definitely be taken seriously and action would be taken to respond to any concerns regarding racism and cultural appropriation.

I am not NDN and have taken this about as far as I can, but if any NDNs here would like to take this further then contacting Mrs Ann Williams at the following email address;
tutors(at)bsygroup.co.uk to clarify the course materials and then contacting the ODLQC regarding any concerns would seem to be the next step.

I hope this is helpful