Indigenous Concepts of Healing

          Native American wellness embodies the world of the spirit as much if not more, than the world of the physical body. Not only is wellness a mostly metaphysical construct, the restoration of health usually incorporates an element of spirit into healing modalities. Native American wellness reflects a relational view of well-being that considers the delicate balance between body, mind, spirit, and emotions, harmonious relationships with self, others, the Creator, and the environment, and the moral, spiritual, and physical repercussions of disease-causing behavior and activity (Alvarado, 2005; Cohen, 1998; Garrett & Garrett, 1994; Locust, 1988). The indigenous concepts of healing described below reflect this worldview.

The Healing Powers of Water

According to Gene Thin Elk, a Lakota spiritual leader, the first medicine for Indian people is the sacred water or mni wakan (G. Thin Elk, personal communication, 1994). Indeed, the healing powers of water are reflected in many Native American stories and legends. According to the Kiowa, healing powers come from deep underwater and are a gift of the Spirit (Baines, 1993). Seawater has been used by the Tlingits to purge impurities from inside one’s body, and many tribes use water to carry the healing properties of certain plants into the body in the form of teas. Water also plays a crucial role in many ceremonies, most notably, the sweat lodge ceremony (Baines). Additionally, some medicine people have the ability to instill healing powers into an ordinary glass of water through prayer, and the patient is healed by drinking the blessed water. For example, the Navajos share a belief that an ordinary glass of water can become holy and medicinal if placed in an east window where it is touched by the rising sun (H. Davidson, personal communication, 1996).

The sweat lodge ceremony is a purification ceremony designed to cleanse one’s mind, body, heart, and spirit through structured ritual, prayer, and the use of water. This ceremony is probably one of the most widely recognized forms of Native healing. Healing occurs by embracing the natural healing powers of the Universal Circle, which utilizes the gifts of the four sacred directions in a powerful and transformative experience. The person crawls into the lodge, referred to as the womb of Mother Earth, is engulfed in the steam of the medicinal water and through ceremony is purged of physical, emotional, and spiritual impurities. When the ceremony is complete, the person crawls out of the womb as if they are reborn.

Indigenous Knowledges: Healing through Creative Arts and Living Texts

          The use of Native American art forms in the delivery of wellness services to Native American populations has been suggested as a viable and effective means of intervention. Herring (1997) cited four specific reasons for integrating the use of Native American art forms in wellness services.

          The first and most obvious reason is that Native American healing and spiritual concepts have historically been enmeshed in the process of creative art forms. Second, the cultural practice of the use of silence in personal and social interactions, particularly in the presence of authority figures, would provide Native clients with a means of nonverbal expression. Third, healing in the Native American context should include ritual, and because ritual incorporates a variety of expressive art forms and encompasses the whole life process, it is an integral aspect of wellness. Finally, art is fully integrated with the manner in which cultural knowledge is transmitted through the generations. The use of metaphor and symbolism is involved in the natural language of Native people, and thus, makes for an effective means of communication in the helping process (Morrissey, 1996; 1997). 

          Many years ago, the investigator sat with a Navajo elder prior to participating in a sweat lodge ceremony designed for healing and purification. During a discussion about healing, the elder drew a simple diagram on a piece of paper, handed it to the investigator and stated “Everything you ever need to know about healing is in the creation story. If you don’t know the creation story, you will never know healing” (Anonymous, personal communication, 1993).

          The preceding is a prime example of how indigenous knowledge is scripted in the hearts of

American Indians and burned in the collective memories to be shared with each other and future generations. Indigenous knowledge means knowing the creation stories and legends completely, because they contain the sacred teachings and cosmological foundations of indigenous cultures (Solomon, 1990). Relationships with self, others, and the environment are maintained through the stories, balance can be restored through knowledge of the legends, and ways of healing and wellness are embodied in the stories as living, three dimensional texts (Solomon). According to Solomon and Wane (2005):

          The songs, dances, ceremonies, sacred medicines, and traditional languages serve as

          the vehicle and tools of the healer. Consequently, it is with certainty and caution that

          the Elders and spiritual teachers remind us not to write or record the ceremonies: To do

          so would take the life out of them. (Solomon & Wane, 2005).

          Narrative art in the form of traditional storytelling has been utilized to promote wellness in Native American communities. Hodge, Pasqua, Marquez, and Geishirt-Cantrell (2002) utilized storytelling as a research intervention to help motivate tribal members to adopt traditional, healthier lifestyles. The researchers suggested that Native American stories are effective because they present information in an entertaining, often metaphorical fashion. Further, traditional storytelling is constructed in a manner in which morals are illustrated or taught through demonstrating the consequences of certain characters’ behaviors; thus, listeners arrive at their own conclusions after personal reflection.

Balance, the Good Medicine

          According to Native American traditions, balance is a state of being in harmony with the universe (Garret & Portman, 2006). Walking in balance is walking in accordance with the natural way of things, where there is harmony among human, natural, and spiritual systems. Balance is often referred to as Good Medicine. On the other hand, Bad Medicine is the result of being in a state of dis-ease or disequilibrium. When one is not living harmoniously with self, others, the environment and spirit, illness happens (Baines, 1993; Garrett & Portman). Thus, healing involves the restoration of balance.

          Ancestral teachings specify ways of healing and purifying the environment, relationships, and the self for actions resulting in disequilibrium (Solomon, 1990; Wane, 2002). Some of the ways used to restore balance include prayer, fasting, right relationships, right speech, and herbalism, singing, and dancing (Perrone, Stickell, & Krueger, 1993). Quartz crystals also aid in the restoration of balance by acting as tuning forks, resonating at particularly high frequencies, transforming and amplifying energy and vibrations. According to Cherokee Medicine woman Dhani Ywahoo:

          The healing is to bring again the right resonance, the right frequencies, to the organ   

          system, and it is first to make clear the aspects of consciousness that have caused

          the discord. Always, this is a participatory exercise. One who comes to us for healing    

          must also take responsibility for their own process. The person who is being healed is

          very much involved in the process. The whole Indian medicine way is that nothing is done   

          for you except that which you create. Basically, you help the person recreate the tones  

          of their harmony. (Perrone, Stickell, & Krueger, 1993, p. 74).

          According to traditional Navajo beliefs, being in balance is to be in harmony with the universe (Perrone, Stickell, & Krueger, 1993). Balance is expressed in the phrase Walk in Beauty.  To Walk in Beauty is to have faith in healing, and to act in accordance with natural and spiritual laws. It is doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason, with the wellbeing of all as the underlying intention (Perrone, Stickell, & Krueger, 1993).

          Balance is the closest Native American descriptor of the Western construct of wellness or

holistic health. Wellness is the expression of the proper balance and harmony of the mind, body, spirit, emotions, and natural environment in relation to all things (Garrett & Portman, 2006). Illness is the result of the disruption of the natural balance of the relationship among any of these areas.

The Power of Thought and Voice

         According to Dhani Ywahoo, the most important aspect of wellbeing is the power of thought and voice. All manifestations of illness and disease “whether they occur in the individual or the Nation, are seated in the mind” (Ywahoo, as cited in Perrone, Stickell, & Krueger, 1993, p. 65). Thoughts generate actions, and the way people think and act, and what they do to the earth, has a profound impact on the quality of life and wellbeing of the people, community, and planet (Perrone, Stickell, & Krueger, 1993).

          Just as words can cause illness to manifest, so can the voice heal. According to Ywahoo, “the voice is our greatest medicine” (Perrone, Stickell, & Krueger, 1993, p. 71). The power of voice, song, and prayer has the ability to draw life force into the body so that a person can become whole (Perrone, Stickell, & Krueger).

Community Healing

          Recognizing that acculturative stress, internalized oppression, discrimination, and other phenomenon related to historical trauma impact entire communities, some tribes have adopted a means of healing called community healing (McBride, 2003). The Sault Sainte  Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is one such community that has felt the disastrous results of genocidal thinking and actions in the form of a myriad of social ills, loss of identity, a high degree of assimilation, the impact of gaming, and a high incidence of violence, child abuse, alcoholism and family dysfunction (Antone, 2000). Referred to as ethnostress or loss of joyful Native identity (Antone et al., 1986, p. 7), these social ills were addressed by the Sault Sainte Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in a cooperative effort by community members to restore balance through a Community Healing Process. The process consisted of, but was not limited to, three main objectives:  (a) assimilation factors in the Indigenous community, (b) restoration of clan identity and structure into the community, and (c) the importance of sense of belonging to healing and joyful identity. Six months of planning discussions were held in a traditional talking circle format, where ceremonial smudging and prayer preceded each meeting. The community was included in the planning and implementation stages of the Community Healing Process, and a training group engaged in a number of cultural activities such as sharing meals and praying before meals, while other community members volunteered to provide childcare.

          Essentially, the Community Healing Process training was a combination of group therapy in a traditional Native American context and education based on circular concepts, Native thought processes, and theoretical constructs (McBride, 2003). Among the information presented was a chart of assimilation factors on Aboriginal health that was adopted from a Canadian First Nations training and adapted for use with the Sault Sainte Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The six factors identified, within which are indicators of wellness, are listed below:

1.         Physical health: aging, body weight, mobility/activity.

2.         Mental health: memory, thinking, learning.

3.         Emotional health: feelings, relating, pride. 

4.         Spiritual health: futuring, inner signs, cultural connection.

5.         Whole person health: food, identity, lifestyle, extended family.       

6.         Health care systems: health care service, personnel, management, social health, political health, educational health, language, economic health, environmental health. (McBride, 2003, p. 74).                                                       

   Respondents were asked to first assess their personal assimilation using the factors on the chart, and second, their perception of community wellness. The findings indicated that when individuals were highly confident in their lack of assimilation, they held a lesser degree of negative perception about their community wellness (McBride, 2003). Final outcomes of the Community Healing Process have not been reported, as the healing process is ongoing with subsequent phases of healing and intervention.

Another noteworthy attempt at community healing of historical trauma was undertaken by the Lakota, although in a slightly different manner than the Sault Sainte Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. This community healing model incorporated a communal memorialization, where community members retraced the path of the Hunkpapa and the Miniconju massacred at Wounded Knee (Brave Heart-Jordan, 1989). This experiential intervention model “includes catharsis, abreaction, group sharing, testimony, opportunities for expression of traditional culture and language, ritual, and communal mourning” (Duran, Duran, & Yellowhorse-Brave Heart, 1998, p. 72). Brave Heart-Jordan reported 75% of those who participated experienced a positive effect on their mental health, and overcame a sense of cultural shame. Additionally, 97% reported feeling they could make a “constructive commitment to their ancestors” (1998, p. 72)  after participating in the intervention. Brave Heart-Jordan further found that education about the historical trauma increased awareness about the trauma, its intergenerational effects, and associated grief, thus reducing the risk of intergenerational transfer of psychopathology (1998).

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