Native Americans believe that in order to stay strong and healthy, they have to keep a strong spiritually, mentally, and physically. If you stay true to the Native traditions, beliefs and obey tribal religious tenets you will maintain healthy living. One of the way that this can be achieved is by treating all life with respect. Treating animals, plants, rocks, rivers, rainbows, ect, with the up most respect for this beings. The spirit is a representation of your physical body, and Native Americans believe that each and every person is responsible for their own health and well being.
There are some primary tools that Native Americans use to help them maintain the balance between good and bad harmony in their lives. (1) Medicine sticks are one of the more fascinating artifacts and tools used by Native Americans. Brave warriors use the medicine stick for important reasons. It is said that when a warrior uses one, he can avoid being hurt in battle. The symbolic meanings and spiritual elements that govern the unique traditions and beliefs of the Native American people are well shown in the medicine stick.
These unique items are made of the traditional materials used in Native American crafts. Medicine sticks are constructed of wood which is carved and then wrapped with leather and adorned with feathers and fur. Many times the craftsman will attach a small medicine bag. These items represent the essential interconnection of the human world to nature and how nature affects mankind. There are many uses of the Native dance stick such as praying, dancing and medicinal purposes. The medicine stick is crafted in such a way that many can appreciate the beauty and history of this unique artifact.
The medicine stick can be packed with symbolism regarding the culture, people and the environment in which the tribal people live. The spiritual connection with the environment and the harnessing of spiritual elements of the medicine stick helps to ward off negative spirits, that may intend to harm, cause physical or mental illness, on going bad luck, or even trauma. Dr. White, Director of The Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM) and Dr. Henderson, CEO of Black Hills Center for American Indian Health; discuss cancer research as it relates to complementary and alternative medicine in the Native American community.
(Interview -http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=kN2NIlE9VLg&feature=player_embedded ) Natural Herbal medicine is also use by the Native Americans to help, prevent, and treat both minor and major issues with the human body. (2) This type of remedy is / was a key role in helping the body with aches and pains that may have hindered someone. The tribes people would journey around their location in search of various items such as Herbs, roots, and other natural Plants that could be used or combined together to make a concoction used to heal.
This practice has been passed down from generation to generation via word of mouth and demonstration and most of the healing rituals are still a mystery to this day. There were some tribes who developed a form of writing where they were able to document the ingredients and steps to perform the ritual. Herbs and Plants are the most common use of this system, and can be available in a variety of forms such as powders, teas, and extracted right from the plants. A quote from Arapaho Proverb – “All plants are our brothers and sisters. They talk to us and if we listen, we can hear them”.
Another type of Native American Medicine was in the form of Healing rituals and Ceremonies performed by local tribes people to promote Harmony and balance with themselves and the tribe as well as the surroundings. These types of rituals or Ceremonies varied between tribes and some tribes such as the Sioux and Navajo used a form of a Wheel or what they refer to it as “ A Sacred Hoop” and would perform the ceremonies that could go on for days and days. Distinctive types of paintings were scored along the groups bodies to symbolize types of animals, or other symbols of mother earth, such as trees, leaves, flowers, sun, moon, stars.
Once example of this type of ritual as noted on the American Cancer Society website (3) uses the bark from a willow tree which contains a compound called acetylsalicylic acid which we know it to be called Aspirin. Another example of a natural plant that the Native Americans used is the Juniper plant. This Evergreen shrub or small tree which bears berry like cones is used to make tea to relieve colds, joint pain, and stomach aches. Studies show that juniper can inhibit prostaglandin synthesis. This may show that the use of juniper for easing joint pain may have some scientific basis.
One of new berry kids on the block beingseriously looked at by medical research is the lingonberry. Lingonberry appears to have higher concentrations of plant polyphenols, and may confer even greater health benefits than its other berry cousins. Native Americans in North America have a history of using this berry to help their people suffering with diabetes and cardiovascular illness. Modern research is starting to catch up with what the Native Americans already knew. A 2010 Canadian study with First Nation Cree subjects found that lingonberry was able to reduce the effect of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs).
AGE’s are by product of sugars and heated protein molecule in the body’s that accumulate in patients with high blood sugar. These AGE’s contribute to the damage in a diabetic’s vessels. This damage is a major contributor to kidney disease, eye disease, and circulation problems that can lead to skin sores and amputation. Native Americans also used a type of Purification and purging known as sweat lodges or sweat baths. The sweat leaving the body helps to purify and detoxify the system causing it to heal and balance itself.
They also believed that doing this, helps to get rid of any evils that may have entered their body causing their ailments. In this ritual, a person may use the hide of an animal, a heavy woven blanket, or branches to get the affect of what we call a sauna today. They also would create a structure that would be covered with animal skin and would be placed out in direct sun light. In the middle of the structure they often placed a fire with large stones where they would put water on the hot stones to create a steam bath type of environment.
The Medicine Man or Woman may perform a prayer, possibly sing, or drum to help with the purification process of the spirits. For up to 40,000 years Native American’s have been practicing the art of healing through ceremonies and rituals. People believe that that some of the practices stem from ancient Ayurvedic and Chinese traditions, while others feel that they were influenced by the environments and or the location in which the Native Americans settled such as the nature, plants and the surrounding animals.
Migration of the tribes also played a key role in the Healing practices of the tribes. Most tribes would have to move from location to location, due to the seasons, the land, or if natural resources were not viable any longer. This would cause tribes to cross paths during these migrations, and may share certain healing practices, or types of herbs that may help to heal and prevent. Over time many of the Native American medicine practices were forced to cease or were forgotten as they were banned or dubbed as being Illegal in certain parts of the United States.
Thanks to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act , (4) “The American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Public Law No. 95-341, 92 Stat. 469 (Aug. 11, 1978) (commonly abbreviated to AIRFA), codified at 42 U. S. C. § 1996, is a United States federal law and a joint resolution of Congress that was passed in 1978. It was enacted to protect and preserve the traditional religious rights and cultural practices of American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, and Native Hawaiians.
These rights include, but are not limited to, access of sacred sites, freedom to worship through ceremonial and traditional rights and use and possession of objects considered sacred. The Act required policies of all governmental agencies to eliminate interference with the free exercise of Native religion, based on the First Amendment, and to accommodate access to and use of religious sites to the extent that the use is practicable and is not inconsistent with an agency’s essential functions. It also acknowledges the prior violation of that right.
” This gave the Native American Tribes certain freedoms to practice their healing methods, but these activities are sometimes forbidden as the land they use served other purposes. Still, even today, the Native American Community and their tribe members abide by the practices and rituals of Native American healing. Native American Medicine is a tradition that is rich in intricacy, and difficult to explain outside of its varied traditions, and ceremonies. This collection of knowledge is spread across hundreds of active tribes, and spans for thousands of miles.
Passed down from generation to generation via oral, and visual means, each tribe has some distinctive similarities in the approach, the differences are also clear due to each specific region, as well as medicinal properties of the plants that are native to the region of the tribes. Because most of these medical traditions were never recorded in writing, so death of the individual that would perform the rituals / ceremonies would directly end the path of ancestral chain stretching back thousands and thousands of years.
In other words, this one individual who collected the ways of their ancestors through hands on experience with the rituals they were a part of and practices would be gone in an instant upon said person’s death. In today’s world you may have heard of all sorts of alternative medicine that are out there, and some you may clench up with disbelief of their medical theories and approaches to the individual, science, and specific case. In an interview with Albert Laughter, he explains how Native American War Vets use the Native American ways to help with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ) . ( Interview – http://youtu. be/scAgN__svvY ).
Interview with Doctors who practice in Native American alternative medicine. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=kN2NIlE9VLg;feature=player_embedded Interview with Albert Laughter with PTSD http://youtu. be/scAgN__svvY (1)http://www. cancer. org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/mindbodyandspirit/native-american-healing? sitearea=ETO (2) http://www. legendsofamerica. com/na-medicine. html (3) http://www. cancer. org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/mindbodyandspirit/native-american-healing (4) http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/American_Indian_Religious_Freedom_Act.