The Indigenous Wisdom and Permaculture Convergence - Thoughts on Traditional Medicine and Healing
Hi everyone! I want to share some thoughts that a medicine man, Andrew, shared with many of us. I recently experienced a deeply connected week at Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I was attending the Oglala Lakota Indigenous Wisdom and Permaculture Convergence (IWPC) hosted by the Oglala Lakota Cultural and Economic Revitalization Initiative (OLCERI) Ecoranch. We spent 5 days at OLCERI learning traditional ecological knowledge, gathering in ceremony, deconstructing our own ancestral relations, engaging in cross-cultural dialogue, and envisioning a future where we may live in harmony with each other and with the earth.
Everything has the potential to be medicine and everything has the potential to be poison
Medicine assists you and restores your wellbeing
We're taught that the sun will kill us through cancer and burned retinas, so we're taught to put toxins on our skin to prevent cancer which in turn give us cancer
- However, without the sun we would all die, and too little sun leads to depression
For something to be medicine for us, we must love that thing
For sun to be medicine for someone, they must love the sun
For a healer to be effective, they must love their patient
There is a healer in Mexico traveling from sick person to sick person to heal them and never accepts any money
Don't put your hands in the pocket of a sick person
Curandero means curer
To cure you must look for the root of the illness so that the healing doesn't become a revolving door
You have to apply the right medicine to the right problem
The majority of problems that people have stem from toxic thoughts, others stem from food or DNA
If you hold onto grief for a long time you will physically damage your heart
If you hold onto anger for a long time you will physically damage your liver
If you hold onto anxiety for a long time you will physically damage your stomach
Our emotions dictate what we eat - if we feel life is bitter to use then we want a lot of sugar in order to feel something sweet
Present day medicine tends to treat the symptoms rather than the root of the illness. Another problem is that patients are very impatient to get cured. The natives of Borneo turned to the tropical rainforest to get their traditional medicines.
It's becoming more and more clear to me that all illness originates with thoughts. These may be seen as negative thoughts but it might be more accurate to see hem as conflicting thoughts, thoughts ha that conflict with who we know ourselves to be deep down, and with our desires that we know are within reach, as well as fears left unchecked. These thoughts not only influence the muscles and the nervous system in ways that western medicine has not fully understood, but they also influence our decisions, leading us to go against what our body might be telling us, most of us can't even hear what our body is telling us because our reception is so distorted, but in clearing up that "negativity" or distortion, we can begin to know what is best for us at all times, which is a large part of healing.
I agree with your comments. Thoughts carry their own vibrational quality - negative or positive and they definitely play a part in our day to day health. Everything on earth has a vibrational quality - that is why chanting and mantra are super powerful too when practised to their full potential.
Great. Thanks for sharing. I vote for you and begin to follow you. And Resteemed...
Wow...I feel so blessed that these wisdoms have been shared here. Thank you Andrew and thanks to you too @anwenbaumeister for writing it out.
Going back to basics with Traditional Healers and healing ailments with plant roots and leaves extracts is still very much alive and well in Africa. When you find natural remedies and good traditional healers hang on to them, they have a wealth of knowledge passed down through the ages.
Thanks for this thought provoking content @anwenbaumeister
@anwenbaumeister The world is lot impatient today, to get immediate or so to say instant relief...we cannot bear much pain today...allopathy perhaps gives fastest relief/treatment but we fail to realize our immunity being suppressed and more resistant bacteria causing more harm in the long run.
Homeopathy is good, but extremely slow in response.
Therefore Naturopathy ( that I strongly believe in !!!) is my first and foremost choice. There are abundant herbs on earth that can help treat lots of diseases, infact prevent and even cure them totally... regular use of turmeric, ( as an example) has been found to be very effective in killing harmful bacteria and even preventing cancer. Regular healthy diet is perhaps a key to healthy life !!!
Upvoted!
Cheers!
Posts are very useful and interesting to read. Here I know about medicine and health @anwenbaumeister
Very good post thanks - I am very interested in health and natural plant medicine.
What an experience! Thanks for sharing!
I like your posting this, I have up your vote, please also see my introduction post in steemit, Do not forget to comment and up vote I thank friend @sylviaa