80 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
The Absolute Minimum
■ Native American medicine creates healing experiences by deepening the con-
nection and understanding between the patient and the natural world.
■ Ritual has a vital place in Native American healing, with ceremonies such as
the sweatlodge, pipe ceremony, and vision quest being used by medicine men
and women to increase the natural balance that leads to healing.
■ Although poor health is now chronic in much of the Native American com-
munity, increased interest by the alternative medical community and con-
sumers is creating a renaissance in Native American healing.Resources
■ Bear Heart, The Wind Is My Mother, Berkley Books, New York, 1996
■ Dance of the Deer Foundation
http://www.shamanism.com
■ The School of Lost Borders (Vision Quests)
http://www.schooloflostborders.com
■ The Featured Pipe Ranch
http://www.featheredpipe.com/ranch