The Native American Approach


"The Native Americans' most basic premise regarding health is that healing cannot be separated from spiritual life, and spiritual life and physical health cannot be separated from one's daily life. Native American spirituality allows no pigeonholing. A Cree medicine woman, Rose Aucan, remarked, 'Modern medicine cannot heal the things we can...We don't just focus on the physical being, we focus on the whole being, that is the mind, physical, spiritual and emotional. Every part of a human being must be addressed in order to heal. And it does not stop there, it involves the whole family, and then the family involves the community'.

To tribal people, Carol Locust wrote, 'healing cannot be separated from worship or from daily life. Worship is not contained in a building or limited to certain days, but is ongoing every minute of life. Personal health is a continual process of keeping oneself strong spiritually, mentally, and physically, and in doing so, keeping away or overcoming those forces that might make one unwell. To remain well, individuals must stay in harmony with themselves, their environment, and their Creator. Harmony thus becomes a shield against disharmony ... Added to the harmony may be herbs, rebalancing of energy, and rituals of fasting, prayer and thanksgiving to the Creator'.

'Not everyone can be cured,' the Sioux medicine man Fools Crow said, 'but everyone can be healed.' Most physicians would find this statement incomprehensible, but for Native Americans, curing relates only to the physical body; while healing relates to the whole human being. 'Healing is purely spiritual,' Fools Crow continued, 'and has to do with helping a person to be right with Wahan Tanka' (Spirit).

From the Native Americans we can learn that the basis of all health is spiritual. Whether we call it Brahman, God or Wahan Tanka the basic truth of our existence is centered in that Reality. When we move away from that Truth, we suffer physically, mentally, and of course, spiritually. The basis of wellness is a God-centered life.

Native American healing philosophy also teaches us that the individual is inextricably nestled in the community; individual wellness is linked to the physical, mental and spiritual health of the community. The Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh has said that happiness is not an individual matter. Native Americans have shared this belief for thousands of years: community well-being is created by individual well-being and vice versa. The Native Americans remind us that we are all connected to one another. As human beings we cannot afford to reject portions of the community as not being an integral part of ourselves.

From the Native American healing tradition we can learn that we serve best when we -- that is, we as ego-bound individuals -- get out of the way. The more our hearts become purified, the more the ego diminishes and the more the power of the divine can move through us without impediment.

Finally, we can learn from the Native Americans prayerfulness, patience, and forgiveness. Were it not for these qualities, the Native American healing traditions would have been destroyed long ago; it would not be the resurgent spiritual force that it is today. Rolling Thunder said, 'The medicine power is not dying out. In fact, it is coming again to many of our young people. Years ago they were saying that one day there would be no medicine people; but we were not fooled at all, we knew that we would not die out. We knew that one day, as though it had begun overnight, the power would be seen to be returning again. Now it is coming back strong'."

-"Healthy Mind, Healthy Body
New Thoughts on Health"
Distributed by Vedanta Press
Hollywood CA
e-mail: info@vedanta.org

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