Essay 2 PDF

Preview

Summary

essay 2...

Description

Native American Healing in the 21st Century In the video “Native American Healing in the 21st Century” video, there were multiple themes presented. But the one that I decided to go with and the one that I found best fit is the question of what is medicine? Traditional Indian Medicine is based on faith, and relying on the “good earth and everything it carries with it.” We now have modern medicine, but we continue to go back to the indigenous times because medicine today is impersonal or costs too much. We continue to go back to what the indigenous people used to heal because we know it works. More doctors today are recommending alternative remedies for healing powers. Most traditional healers use plants or other herbs to treat diseases. For example, in the early colonies a doctor Withering discovered the plant foxglove, which was used to treat heart failure and is still used as an alternative remedy for treating it. Another key component into what medicine was defined as is a blending of mind, body and spirit. This is apparent in chinese culture when they are performing acupuncture. This is a procedure that helps connect your mind, body and soul to treat diseases and ailments without medication that is harsh on your body. The World Health Organization recognizes that these alternative remedies work, and recommend that doctors recognize this as well because it can be a good way to treat some patients. Traditional Indian Medicine and Traditional Indigenous Medicine is fact, folklore and superstition based. It focuses on prayer and offerings before taking something away from its environment. For example, tobacco is used as a offering while praying, so you can gather the plants you need. The tobacco acts as a visual prayer from the smoke which goes everywhere to meet the needs of all of the different spirits. Cedar is also used to clear the air from dark energies, which helps make the healing process successful. After gathering these plants to use for healing and treatments, you can create different types of teas, or use them for different procedures. Ear coning, for an example, has been around for centuries. It helps fight ear aches, infections and rids the ears of toxins. This procedure is performed by a traditional healer and is beneficial because the herbs that are in the cone and the smoke burning out is absorbed into your tissues, and removes all the toxins creating a healthy ear canal. These traditional methods of treatment thousands of years ago started off fairly basic. With them teaching that leaves that looked like the liver were used to treat the liver, red plants were used to treat the blood and yellow plants were used for jaundice. That was the base for Traditional Indian Medicine to learn from and helped create a more specific healing process later down the line. Most people do not recognize Traditional Medicine or alternative methods as real medicine. They believe that invasive surgerys, radiation, and pills are medicine. Which is not incorrect, the video is talking about how we may not need these invasive treatments for most things. We, as a society, have to be open to trying new things. The Indigenous people gave the world well over 200 drugs that are used in today's society. To name a few examples, aspirin, the cure for scurvy and malaria and various muscle relaxers. Without the Traditional Healers, we

wouldn’t have some of the most important and common cures or medications today. The majority of people in today's society do not know that, and if they did they might be more open to receiving alternative treatments. Health food stores are even starting to sell these natural alternative remedies for over-the-counter use. There is no specific one definition for medicine. It really depends on the person you ask and their upbringing. To the Indigenous Traditional Peoples, medicine is gained from knowledge that is passed down from century to century, and involves prayer and understanding the delicate relationship between every mountain, and living creature because they all have a soul. To most people in today's society medicine is going to a doctor and getting pills to treat their illnesses. Instead of using plants and different rituals that have been here longer than modern medicine. All in all, there is no right one single definition of what medicine is, it just depends on the person you ask....