About Ravideep
About Ravideep
Hi, I'm Ravideep Kaur.
I’m a coach and consultant specialising in anti-oppression, pro-liberation, somatics and decolonisation based in Dundee, Scotland.
My passion for this work stems from me having the awareness and capacity to see things through multiple lenses at the same time.
Systemic oppression is deeply embedded within us all, both externally and internally. I’m incredibly passionate and advocate for each and every one of us to own and represent the wholeness of who we really are.
This means letting go of deep social conditioning that no longer serves us.
This allows us to build and embody a sense of self-trust so that we can move forward on our journey towards collective healing.
In person, I am you, a fellow traveller on a spiritual path of discovery and healing, humbled by the concept of lifelong learning.
My story
I’m a second-generation immigrant who has always been passionate about human rights, healing and social justice.
My successful legal career, specifically working with vulnerable children, organically led me towards the field of anti-discrimination, anti-oppression and decolonisation.
My professional experience coupled with my lived reality allowed me to view and experience the wider systemic inequalities ever present in our society.
For these reasons I moved from a traditional legal setting into restorative justice practices, as a means to place the power back to the people. To truly restore justice between people we must embody equity right from the start – giving everybody what they need without hierarchical judgements or classification.
Academically, and in the early years of motherhood, I continued to feel a physical pull to this work. I began to see it in the context of healing and collective liberation. I gained qualifications in:
Equity and diversity leadership
Mentorship for leaders
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Restorative justice practices
Applied mindfulness for stress reduction
Embodied, somatic and presence-based coaching.
My growth and development awakened me to the fact that this work can’t be authentically digested without the clear interconnections and insertion of decolonial thought and practice. It’s imperative that we understand how these systems came about, and to recognise how they manifest in the wider notions of knowledge production and hierarchical power.
My depth of knowledge, experience and research, alongside my professional credentials places me in a unique position to carry out this work regarding a topic which is often seen as taboo.
My motivation for this work is my children.
I promised them that I will always stand up for what I believe in. I’m a firm believer that actions speak louder than words, and if you want to see change in the world it is our responsibility to fully embody that change.
So here I am.
I have dedicated my life to this work and genuinely believe it has the potential to make the world a better place, for both my children and other children of colour.
How I do this work
I believe the embodiment of decolonising must take into account ancestral healing and spiritual mysticism and wisdoms. These are often bypassed and belittled in dominant western spaces, especially from an epistemological point of view. There is still a huge gap and disconnection in how ‘we’ as a collective are not only represented in wellbeing spaces, but also the ways in which our wellness practices are valued, if it all. Almost all ancestral wisdom and spiritual indigenous teachings have been either stolen or repurposed to fit the dominant demographic, which generally excludes the native people from where it originated.
Sri Harmandir Sahib Amritsar, India, is not only a central religious place of the Sikhs, but also a symbol of our collective humanity and equality. The Gurudwara teaches the lesson of egalitarianism and humility. The four entrances of this holy shrine from all four directions, signify that people belonging to every walk of life are equally welcome.
For six and a half months now, Indian farmers have been and continue to protest on Delhi’s roads. They are protesting against changes to agricultural laws which would undermine their autonomy as cultivators. The plight of the kisaans are hurting the diaspora so much because we don’t only see our grandparents, aunts, uncles there ~ we see ourselves and indeed I am a proud daughter of a Panjabi Kissan.
Leaning into my spiritual lineage as a Sikh allows me to see and feel wisdom that just feels so right in my body. It opens up the space and strength to show up in alignment to my purpose and be of service to the community.
Therefore, self-care and managing well-being or being in therapeutic relationship have to happen in the context and visibility of the dominant systems of oppression being ever present. Ultimately, we are talking about our personal but also collective healing journeys. To move these conversations forward we must understand the full narrative of what we are attempting to heal from.
And let’s be honest, too many healing spaces are dedicated to the white experience and provide solutions and education only through the lens of whiteness. What we see playing out today embodies historical and intergenerational trauma, which means we also need independent educational facilities, healing practices and knowledge systems that encompass the wholeness of us and our situations.
This is my personal attempt at such because I feel that wellness is the vehicle that provides the sustainable space for social justice activism and change. For me, the purest type of healing has come from the intentional deconstruction of my own colonised state of being.
My ultimate commitment is to continue to lean into my own ancestral history and wisdom, and to encourage others to do the same. For that we must collectively understand how much of our experience is tied up with colonial structures, status and enforced forms of domination.
The Wagah Border is an army outpost on the Indian and Pakistani border, lying between the cities of Amritsar and Lahore (Pakistan). You can witness the impressive Beating the Retreat ceremony, held here every day, something that I was lucky enough to experience. A mixture of feelings arose here as I thought deeply of our once interconnected Panjab partitioned so ruthlessly in 1947.
The roads are rickety and bumpy, there are no lanes, rules or regulations on these small winding pind vala roads. Be sure to beep your horn to let the others know that you are coming but more than anything take in the luscious greenery that awaits you at every twist & turn.
More about me...
I only started using my full name Ravideep Kaur a few years back, as a reclamation of the deep ancestral lineage that lives within me.
I was once called Ralph repeatedly by a colleague
Kaur means prince and it acts as a symbol of equality among men and women. The use of the name Kaur is one of several practices that implement the Sikhi’s commitment to gender equality, a core tenet of the faith
I believe in a higher power
My gang includes my husband, Ranbir and my three forces of nature, Saroop, Nihal & Udham Singh. We love bike rides, ice-cream, movie-nights and our monthly Friday night treat, fish suppers!
Udham Singh was an Indian revolutionary, best known for his assassination in London of Michael O’Dwyer, in revenge for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919
I am funny (nothing further to add here)
I went back to Uni to complete a masters degree in fashion management and worked as a stylist for a short period of time but the universe obviously had different plans for me
I continue to dress up for myself and am regularly found flouncing around at school pick-up
I can literally make a gourmet meal out of leftovers that others would turn their nose up at
Favourite food – Rajma chawl
Favourite dessert – gulab jaman warmed with ice-cream
I do not like saffron
I hate wastage
I love to walk by the water but am not a big fan of swimming
I love Panjabi folk music
I would love to be able to play the piano
I used to be a long distant cross-country runner and ran for the county all through secondary school. Apparently, I had good stamina!
I feel at home surrounded by colour
I really rate loyalty in friendships
I am not afraid to cry at the state of the world
I hold onto hope everyday
