Native American Medicine Essay

The medical examination curatives and ameliorate traditions utilise by the vivid Ameri bums atomic number 18 quite an interesting and different comp ard to modern mean solar solar day Anglo Saxon therapeutics. inborn Ameri shadows, using their behind of appetencys and depressions, take a shit developed a general idea of indispensableistic cures and handsd attendes. Although the cures and busheling memberes ar some(prenominal) different than Anglo Saxon ideas of curing and improve, the inbred American makees hunt to wee well and even split up than more Anglo Saxon cures. innate American medical and better dogmas and passagees ar in the main found on a more graphic curing or purge process than the processes of modern day Anglo Saxons. some primordial American healing processes rent been practiced for around 40,000 years. Different natural American healing traditions fuck off appe ard to conduct roots with different cultures, such as ancient Chinese traditions. Although umteen of the Native American healing traditions appear to destiny roots with ancient Chinese traditions, the superlative influence on Native American healing is the environment in which they wipe out lived.The different workingss and animals around them influenced their healing practices to be completely natural. An separate influence on their healing practices was other kinsfolks. The migration of tribes around them allowed the tribes to piece of land their knowledge of natural cures. Trade was besides actually admirerful in Native American healing practices beca physical exercise many of the natural remedies required herbs from environ environments or prospicient distances, and creation able to trade with change of location tribes saved much travel m and insecurity. Although Native American healing practices come proven to be successful, a hooking of their traditions have been lost.Many of the practices were driven immunity and los t beca habituate they became banned or wicked in many parts of the unify States. after(prenominal) 1978, the American Indian phantasmal Freedom Act was passed, and the Native Americans were at one metre again allowed to practice their healing traditions. The big gap without practicing certain healing processes resulted in the loss of many of their practices, however. Even today, on that point are still difficulties with Native Americans be allowed to perform different ceremonies and rituals because the land serves other purposes. (www. cancer. org).Native Americans have successfully lived for many years by using their consume idea of natural cures and catharsis. Native American healing is a broad endpoint that overwhelms different healing beliefs and practices of hundreds of endemic tribes or North America. It combines religion, lifetimeuality, herbal euphony uses, and purification rituals that are employ to deal out the natal mess either medically, franticly, o r behaviorally. gibe to Lakota Sioux, the basis of natural beliefs and connections comes from the story of the snow-clad buffalo. The story begins with a woman show during the snip of famine.She was wearing a snow-clad buffalo skin and carrying a saintly pipe. After appearing to the tribe, she explained to them that the wooden ascendent was for the trees and eitherthing growing on earth. Her red cast was to symbolize the flesh and blood of all bulk and the smoke was the breath of their prayers discharge to Wakan Tanka, the creator. The woman wherefore presented the pipe communion to the tribe, which included offerings made to the four directions art object drums were played and sacred songs were sung. The people accordingly began to understand the connection between flip out and earth and the unity of all life. earlier leaving, the woman differentiate she would return when the time was right and turned into a buffalo, ever-changing colors several times. Finally, she became a sporty buffalo calf and disappeared. The people followed her t for each oneings and were no longer hungry. Years later, a innocence buffalo calf, genuinely rare, appeared and changed colors end-to-end its life. The calf is viewd to be the woman. (www. native-americans-online. com). Through this story, many endemic tribes have believed nature to be the cures and purifications undeniable for the mortal to become whole. on that point are many types of Native American healing practices, and they are promoted to help with a variety of ills. Some of the most usual aspects of Native American healing include the use of herbal remedies, amend rituals, priest-doctorism, and emblematical healing rituals to treat affectiones of both the physical structure and spirit. Herbal remedies are utilize to treat many physical conditions. Practitioners use meliorate rituals to cleanse the body and prepare the nous for healing. Shamanism is based on the idea that liquor cause illness, and a Native American healer called a shaman focuses on using spiritual healing powers to treat people.Symbolic healing rituals, which can involve family and friends of the sick individual, are used to invoke the spirits to help heal the sick soul. (www. cancer. org). The Native American belief in spirituality caused the Native Americans to believe that illnesss are caused by an object keen the soul by means of sorcery. A disease can also be believed to be the complete absence of a get around office soul. Their naturalistic beliefs allowed them to believe that even diseases are considered natural occurrences, and because they occur naturally, they can be cured naturally as well.By using natural remedies, medical additionalty men attempted to cure diseases that have invaded tribal villages. Natural remedies used by the medicine men included different concoctions of plants, fungi, or animals that could be eaten or rubbed on a certain area of the body to cure the ill ness. Before Europeans invaded Native American land, Native Americans had not had an thoroughgoing amount of implement in the treatment of disease. However, after the Europeans invaded their land, they (the Europeans) brought many diseases with them.Some of the deadly diseases included smallpox, measles, violent fever, typhoid, influenza, and pertussis or whooping cough. At the startle sign of the diseases, the innate people move trying their natural remedies, but after many failed attempts at curing the diseases, the people would often avoid the sick and leave them to die because they believed that loathsomeness spirits had taken over their soul. With the Europeans expressing many diseases to the indigenous land, the indigenous people believed the Europeans to be evil spirited and deadly.The many diseases brought by the Europeans caused a major Native American depopulation. In sound outing to try to cure these diseases or other illnesses, Native Americans relied on the u se of what they referred to as the medicine man or healer. The medicine man was very well educated on the surrounding nature and knew what natural remedy would cure the illness. Often times, the medicine man would have to travel to other lands in beau monde to find a certain plant or a fungus that was needed in the remedy. Medicine men were very potent at curing illnesses because of the knowledge they had of nature.not only did the Native Americans use natural remedies to cure illness, but they also used natural purification processes in rules of order to purify or cleanse their soul in an emotional healing process. The purifying ritual is a ceremony know as a sweat cling, where the indigenous people would sit in extreme temperatures and sweat out the evil in them which allowed them to be cleansed. To begin the sweat companionship process, one must offer a pouch of tobacco to the medicine man. The tobacco is used to represent the spirit of the someone presenting it.By offering the tobacco to the medicine man, one is asking him to work on their behalf in the spiritual world. When presenting the tobacco, one would also bring forth their specific desire such as an alcohol or drug problem. The sweat lodge process begins with the passing of what are known as tobacco ties. Many tobacco ties are hung around inside the sweat lodge and each tobacco tie represents a prayer. The four sacred herbs, sage, sweet grass, cedar, and tobacco, are used in order to help purify the room and allow the spirits to work. Then rocks, primarily lava stones from volcanoes, are modify using a fire until they are uncontaminating hot.Once the rocks are clear hot, they are brought into the lodge in order to begin the sweating process. To keep the rocks hot, piss is poured onto them making an immense amount of go and heating the lodge. Now that the purification process has finally begun, everyone sits in a round of golf and goes around, one person at a time, offering prayers. Afte r all prayers have been given, the medicine man blends them all in concert in a mystical process altering the state of capitulum to something beyond the physical form. This is where the real healing takes stain. As the purification process comes to a conclusion, a new ceremony known as wopela begins.Wopela is simply giving thanks. whole participants bring in gifts for the medicine man in order to thank him for leading them through the purification process. The medicine man begins a prayerful state and takes the prayer ties and sets them up in the north end of the center. This allows the prayers to be carried to the Great Spirit in a good track. The medicine man then blows out the candles the lodge becomes pitch dark. some other emotional healing strategy is the use of the medicine wheel. The medicine wheel was an Copernican transformation in the process of Native American tribes realizing that they are much different from each other.Basically, the medicine wheel was a sheet de corated in special symbols, colors, or stones that allowed others know about the inhabitants of the tribe. unrivaled was calculated in front of every tepee or hut to force out others of that individuals strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, each individual had their own guidelines to follow for in the flesh(predicate) growth by realizing what one needed to name and what one needed to teach. After many generations, the people began to lose the fantasy of blame and anger upon others. star tribe member from Arizona states If I said to you, Does anyone ever make you angry? you would rank yes.But in reality, this is totally impossible. You discern to be angry by the way you process the event. This is something you were taught to do as a child. If you could imagine not one person in all of New York urban center having the concept of anger, thats what it was like during that time period of no wars before the white man came. (www. native-americans-online. com). By placing a ele mentary wheel outside their homes, the Native Americans began to learn to cope with their anger and not place blame upon others. This shows a strong pagan emotional healing process because it resign the tribes of anger and blame on others. innate people also believed in psychiatric healing beliefs by altering their state of sagacity. They were able to alter their state of mind through events such as beat and chant rituals, Salish spirit dancing, and visual stimuli. All processes were used in order to tranquillise down an individual. The drumming or chanting of rituals acted as a concentration turn to its listeners. A constant beat or pattern would reduce the tendency of the mind to wander. It would also enter the brain brandish patterns and sometimes the subjects brainwaves would change to match the absolute frequency of the drumming or beating.As for the modify states produced in the Salish Spirit Dance, the sensory comment would release neuro-endocrine opiod agents that would produce a crown experience during that dance performance. It is quite unambiguous that the healing processes of the indigenous people part greatly from the healing processes of modern day Anglo Saxons. For example, in seeking a cure, Anglo Saxons look to for a man made find to lead to a cure where as the indigenous people rely on nature for their cures. Although the Anglo Saxon solutions are very effective, the natural remedies also work and are less harmful.All Anglo Saxon cures endure quick solutions but at the risk of side effects which are not present in natural remedies. One belief of the indigenous people was that the illness was caused by nature, so nature can cure the illness. Another difference in Anglo Saxon healing processes is emotional or psychiatric healing. Anglo Saxon traditions in emotional healing include the use of a therapist or other person to talk to in order to mould the problem. The indigenous people use a similar cure, except they seek a higher cure such as the sweat lodge in order to be in contact with the spirit world.Anglo Saxons also place blame and problems on others in an attempt to relieve themselves of the jam or danger of events. The indigenous people however, do not like to place blame on others, but on themselves. The indigenous people begin flavour for a cure inside oneself in order to fix the problem. Although many rituals and healing processes of the indigenous people are much different than the processes of the modern day Anglo Saxons, the processes of the indigenous people have proven to work effectively in curing the illness. Their belief in having a pure soul contributes to the rituals they perform in order to heal.both Anglo Saxon and Native American healing processes have been proven effective, with the difference being the focus of the solution. Native American medical and healing beliefs and processes are generally based on a more natural curing or purification process than the processes of modern day Anglo Saxons. Sources Used http//muwww-new. marshall. edu/jrcp/VE13%20N1/jrcp%2013%201%20thomason. pdf http//www. native-americans-online. com/index. hypertext mark-up language http//www. cancer. org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/mindbodyandspirit/native-american-healing.