What Is Native American Healing?
Most tribal people have one or more types of healthcare specialists that frequently
overlap. Some Native healers use herbs, some heal with songs, and some with spiri-
tual rituals. A midwife or a medicine woman or man might focus on natural medi-
cines such as herbs and hands-on techniques but also use prayer and ceremony.
Shamansor holy people emphasize spiritual healing but are often also knowledge-
able about natural medicines. Kahunasare people, usually of Hawaiian ancestry,
who have developed a level of spirituality that joins them with many of the spirit
powers allowing direct communication about the healing process.
To learn, people must be open to the ancient wisdom and understand it in the con-
text of the entire Native American experience. It is not something to be trivialized by
simply purchasing medicine objects and trying them out at home. As one Sioux
leader said, “First they took our land, now they want our pipes ... all the wannabees,
these New Agers, come with their crystals and want to buy a medicine bag to carry
them around in. If you want to learn our ways, come walk the red road with us, but
be silent and listen.”The Spiritual Foundation of Native American Medicine
Spirituality and medicine are inseparable in Native American tradition. Essentially
no distinction is made between religious and medical practices. “Making medicine”
is an important part of traditional life. It is how people give thanks to the Spirit who
helps, guides, nourishes, and clothes them. Medicine is the constant pipeline to the
Creator. In Native American tradition, making medicine is a process for achieving a
variety of positive outcomes: a good hunt, plentiful crops, connecting with someone,
healing someone, a successful birthing, and so on. Medicine is the way people keep
their balance; it provides them with the opportunity to grow in new and healthier
ways
Native Americans believe in a singular living God, but also believe that same God
may be contacted in many different ways. In Native languages, God is given such
names as Great Spirit, Creator, Great Being, Great Mystery, Above Being, The One
Who Oversees All Things, and He Who Gives Life. The missionaries mistakenly
thought that Native American people worshiped trees, eagles, the Pipe, and many
other things. What was misinterpreted was the use of these objects as gifts from the
Creator, put here to help and to serve as conduits to greater understanding of the
Creator’s ways. Using these gifts is one way to create an atmosphere conducive to
addressing the Creator.
Gratitude is a central aspect of Native American culture. Every day is a spiritual,
sacred day. One morning prayer, for example, is, “I thank You for another day. I ask70 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOALTERNATIVE MEDICINE