Native American Medicine Essay Example for Free

Native American Medicine Essay The medical cures and healing traditions used by the Native Americans are rather interesting and different compared to modern day Anglo Saxon cures. Native Americans, using their basis of ideas and beliefs, have developed a general idea of naturalistic cures and healing processes. Although the cures and healing processes are much different than Anglo Saxon ideas of curing and healing, the Native American processes tend to work well and even better than many Anglo Saxon cures. Native American medical and healing beliefs and processes are generally based on a more natural curing or purification process than the processes of modern day Anglo Saxons. Many Native American healing processes have been practiced for around 40,000 years. Different Native American healing traditions have appeared to share roots with different cultures, such as ancient Chinese traditions. Although many of the Native American healing traditions appear to share roots with ancient Chinese traditions, the greatest influence on Native American healing is the environment in which they have lived. The different plants and animals around them influenced their healing practices to be all natural. Another influence on their healing practices was other tribes. The migration of tribes around them allowed the tribes to share their knowledge of natural cures. Trade was also very helpful in Native American healing practices because many of the natural remedies required herbs from surrounding environments or long distances, and being able to trade with traveling tribes saved much travel time and risk. Although Native American healing practices have proven to be successful, a lot of their traditions have been lost. Many of the practices were driven underground and lost because they became banned or illegal in many parts of the United States. After 1978, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed, and the Native Americans were once again allowed to practice their healing traditions. The long gap without practicing certain healing processes resulted in the loss of many of their practices, however. Even today, there are still difficulties with Native Americans being allowed to perform different ceremonies and rituals because the land serves other purposes. (www. cancer. org). Native Americans have successfully lived for many years by using their own idea of natural cures and purification. Native American healing is a broad term that includes different healing beliefs and practices of hundreds of indigenous tribes or North America. It combines religion, spirituality, herbal medicine uses, and purification rituals that are used to treat the indigenous people either medically, emotionally, or behaviorally. According to Lakota Sioux, the basis of natural beliefs and connections comes from the story of the white buffalo. The story begins with a woman appearing during the time of famine. She was wearing a white buffalo skin and carrying a sacred pipe. After appearing to the tribe, she explained to them that the wooden stem was for the trees and everything growing on earth. Her red bowl was to symbolize the flesh and blood of all people and the smoke was the breath of their prayers going to Wakan Tanka, the creator. The woman then presented the pipe ceremony to the tribe, which included offerings made to the four directions while drums were played and sacred songs were sung. The people then began to understand the connection between sky and earth and the unity of all life. Before leaving, the woman said she would return when the time was right and turned into a buffalo, changing colors several times. Finally, she became a white buffalo calf and disappeared. The people followed her teachings and were no longer hungry. Years later, a white buffalo calf, very rare, appeared and changed colors throughout its life. The calf is believed to be the woman. (www. native-americans-online. com). Through this story, many indigenous tribes have believed nature to be the cures and purifications needed for the soul to become whole. There are many types of Native American healing practices, and they are promoted to help with a variety of ills. Some of the most common aspects of Native American healing include the use of herbal remedies, purifying rituals, shamanism, and symbolic healing rituals to treat illnesses of both the body and spirit. Herbal remedies are used to treat many physical conditions. Practitioners use purifying rituals to cleanse the body and prepare the person for healing. Shamanism is based on the idea that spirits cause illness, and a Native American healer called a shaman focuses on using spiritual healing powers to treat people. Symbolic healing rituals, which can involve family and friends of the sick person, are used to invoke the spirits to help heal the sick person. (www. cancer. org). The Native American belief in spirituality caused the Native Americans to believe that diseases are caused by an object piercing the soul through sorcery. A disease can also be believed to be the complete absence of a free soul. Their naturalistic beliefs allowed them to believe that even diseases are considered natural occurrences, and because they occur naturally, they can be cured naturally as well. By using natural remedies, â€Å"medicine men† attempted to cure diseases that have invaded tribal villages. Natural remedies used by the medicine men included different concoctions of plants, fungi, or animals that could be eaten or rubbed on a certain area of the body to cure the illness. Before Europeans invaded Native American land, Native Americans had not had an extreme amount of experience in the treatment of disease. However, after the Europeans invaded their land, they (the Europeans) brought many diseases with them. Some of the deadly diseases included smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, typhoid, influenza, and pertussis or whooping cough. At the first sign of the diseases, the indigenous people continued trying their natural remedies, but after many failed attempts at curing the diseases, the people would often avoid the sick and leave them to die because they believed that evil spirits had taken over their soul. With the Europeans bringing many diseases to the indigenous land, the indigenous people believed the Europeans to be evil spirited and deadly. The many diseases brought by the Europeans caused a major Native American depopulation. In order to try to cure these diseases or other illnesses, Native Americans relied on the use of what they referred to as the â€Å"medicine man† or â€Å"healer†. The medicine man was very well educated on the surrounding nature and knew what natural remedy would cure the illness. Often times, the medicine man would have to travel to other lands in order to find a certain plant or a fungus that was needed in the remedy. Medicine men were very effective at curing illnesses because of the knowledge they had of nature. Not only did the Native Americans use natural remedies to cure illness, but they also used natural purification processes in order to purify or cleanse their soul in an emotional healing process. The purifying ritual is a ceremony known as a sweat lodge, where the indigenous people would sit in extreme temperatures and sweat out the evil in them which allowed them to be cleansed. To begin the sweat lodge process, one must offer a pouch of tobacco to the medicine man. The tobacco is used to represent the spirit of the person presenting it. By offering the tobacco to the medicine man, one is asking him to work on their behalf in the spiritual world. When presenting the tobacco, one would also bring forth their specific desire such as an alcohol or drug problem. The sweat lodge process begins with the passing of what are known as tobacco ties. Many tobacco ties are hung around inside the sweat lodge and each tobacco tie represents a prayer. The four sacred herbs, sage, sweet grass, cedar, and tobacco, are used in order to help purify the room and allow the spirits to work. Then rocks, primarily lava stones from volcanoes, are heated using a fire until they are white hot. Once the rocks are white hot, they are brought into the lodge in order to begin the sweating process. To keep the rocks hot, water is poured onto them making an immense amount of steam and heating the lodge. Now that the purification process has finally begun, everyone sits in a circle and goes around, one person at a time, offering prayers. After all prayers have been given, the medicine man blends them all together in a mystical process altering the state of mind to something beyond the physical form. This is where the real healing takes place. As the purification process comes to a conclusion, a new ceremony known as wopela begins. Wopela is simply giving thanks. All participants bring in gifts for the medicine man in order to thank him for leading them through the purification process. The medicine man begins a prayerful state and takes the prayer ties and sets them up in the north end of the center. This allows the prayers to be carried to the Great Spirit in a good way. The medicine man then blows out the candles the lodge becomes pitch dark. Another emotional healing strategy is the use of the medicine wheel. The medicine wheel was an important transformation in the process of Native American tribes realizing that they are much different from each other. Basically, the medicine wheel was a sheet decorated in special symbols, colors, or stones that allowed others know about the inhabitants of the tribe. One was placed in front of every tepee or hut to notify others of that individual’s strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, each individual had their own guidelines to follow for personal growth by realizing what one needed to learn and what one needed to teach. After many generations, the people began to lose the concept of blame and anger upon others. One tribe member from Arizona states â€Å"If I said to you, ‘Does anyone ever make you angry? ’ you would say yes. But in reality, this is totally impossible. You choose to be angry by the way you process the event. This is something you were taught to do as a child. If you could imagine not one person in all of New York City having the concept of anger, that’s what it was like during that time period of no wars before the white man came. †(www. native-americans-online. com). By placing a simple wheel outside their homes, the Native Americans began to learn to cope with their anger and not place blame upon others. This shows a strong cultural emotional healing process because it rid the tribes of anger and blame on others. Indigenous people also believed in psychiatric healing beliefs by altering their state of mind. They were able to alter their state of mind through events such as drumming and chanting rituals, Salish spirit dancing, and visual stimuli. All processes were used in order to calm down an individual. The drumming or chanting of rituals acted as a concentration device to its listeners. A constant beat or pattern would reduce the tendency of the mind to wander. It would also enter the brain wave patterns and sometimes the subjects’ brainwaves would change to match the frequency of the drumming or beating. As for the altered states produced in the Salish Spirit Dance, the sensory stimulation would release neuro-endocrine opiod agents that would produce a peak experience during that dance performance. It is quite obvious that the healing processes of the indigenous people vary greatly from the healing processes of modern day Anglo Saxons. For example, in seeking a cure, Anglo Saxons search for a man made discovery to lead to a cure where as the indigenous people rely on nature for their cures. Although the Anglo Saxon solutions are very effective, the natural remedies also work and are less harmful. All Anglo Saxon cures provide quick solutions but at the risk of side effects which are not present in natural remedies. One belief of the indigenous people was that the illness was caused by nature, so nature can cure the illness. Another difference in Anglo Saxon healing processes is emotional or psychiatric healing. Anglo Saxon traditions in emotional healing include the use of a therapist or other person to talk to in order to solve the problem. The indigenous people use a similar cure, except they seek a higher cure such as the sweat lodge in order to be in contact with the spirit world. Anglo Saxons also place blame and problems on others in an attempt to relieve themselves of the pressure or danger of events. The indigenous people however, do not like to place blame on others, but on themselves. The indigenous people begin looking for a cure inside oneself in order to fix the problem. Although many rituals and healing processes of the indigenous people are much different than the processes of the modern day Anglo Saxons, the processes of the indigenous people have proven to work effectively in curing the illness. Their belief in having a pure soul contributes to the rituals they perform in order to heal. Both Anglo Saxon and Native American healing processes have been proven effective, with the difference being the focus of the solution. Native American medical and healing beliefs and processes are generally based on a more natural curing or purification process than the processes of modern day Anglo Saxons. Sources Used http://muwww-new. marshall. edu/jrcp/VE13%20N1/jrcp%2013%201%20thomason. pdf http://www. native-americans-online. com/index. html http://www. cancer. org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/mindbodyandspirit/native-american-healing.

Elmer Gantry Essay -- Essays Papers

Elmer Gantry The majority of all books are trash. Sinclair Lewis’ Elmer Gantry is a great book because it has credibility, a timeless theme, and it has the necessary action. Any book that can do that is a great book. The credibility of Elmer Gantry is something that will keep this book eternally great. Although the actual time period is dated, the plot is not dated. Most people can relate to the different characters in the book. Elmer is a pompous football player who thinks that he is higher than any religion. However, people try, and successfully convert him. He attempts to please two masters at first: his vices and God. He eventually makes the decision to live by God, but of course he will occasionally fool around with his old vices, especially adultery. Most people know someone who is like this and still somehow succeeds although he shouldn’t have. Although Elmer is more extreme than the people the reader is likely to know, he is still a very credible characters. Another thing th at makes this a timeless novel is that it has the needed action to attract the reader who only wants entertainment. Elmer often gets into fights that will keep the reader in the edge of their seat. He will face odds that most would run away from, but also has times when he backs down from a fight, such as when Brother Naylor and Brother Bains confront him about â€Å"fooling around† with Lulu. It also has enough opportunities for the modern person to think about sex although it doesn’t graphical... Elmer Gantry Essay -- Essays Papers Elmer Gantry The majority of all books are trash. Sinclair Lewis’ Elmer Gantry is a great book because it has credibility, a timeless theme, and it has the necessary action. Any book that can do that is a great book. The credibility of Elmer Gantry is something that will keep this book eternally great. Although the actual time period is dated, the plot is not dated. Most people can relate to the different characters in the book. Elmer is a pompous football player who thinks that he is higher than any religion. However, people try, and successfully convert him. He attempts to please two masters at first: his vices and God. He eventually makes the decision to live by God, but of course he will occasionally fool around with his old vices, especially adultery. Most people know someone who is like this and still somehow succeeds although he shouldn’t have. Although Elmer is more extreme than the people the reader is likely to know, he is still a very credible characters. Another thing th at makes this a timeless novel is that it has the needed action to attract the reader who only wants entertainment. Elmer often gets into fights that will keep the reader in the edge of their seat. He will face odds that most would run away from, but also has times when he backs down from a fight, such as when Brother Naylor and Brother Bains confront him about â€Å"fooling around† with Lulu. It also has enough opportunities for the modern person to think about sex although it doesn’t graphical...

Resistance to Change Paper Essay

Introduction Resistance to change comes along quite a bit in all organizations; and individuals are comfortable with what he or she knows. Organizations are constantly struggling with combating resistance to change, and all the while keeping individuals ideas and concerns in mind. In order to make things a little easier Lewin’s theory can be used, to make this transition to change a little easier. There is also organizational and individual resistance, and what major factors can cause resistance to change. Resistance to change can be managed, and how it does solely relies on the organization. Organizations have a lot to cope with on a daily basis, and when changes are made this impacts the company as a whole. Many things can contribute to resistance to change, and listed below are factors organizations face when changes are implemented. Organizational Resistance to Change When it comes to organizational resistance to change this has to be done very carefully. Resistance to change does not only affect just an individual it affects the organization as a whole. Some of the examples of organizational resistance are structural, threats of power, a sinking in costs, special treatments, groups, etc. The structure of the organization is one of the most important things; the structure is the stability, what makes the organization what it is. Power, if an individual or a group feels like their position is being threatened, resistance will be the first thing that happens. Power wars can hurt the memento of work that has been occurring before the changes. Upper management may be a little more resistance when they determine the costs of training; changes happen and learning all again. Special treatments could be given to certain individuals, and the newer individuals are getting tasks, the older staff used to have. An organization has to keep all these in mind when trying to transition organizational change with resistance. There are some individuals that belong to a certain group, and listening to others how the changes are not necessary, so the  individual will be a little more resistant to the changes. Individual Resistance to Change The individual’s resistance to change can be brought on by many different things. One of the challenges faced by an organization is other employees or other individuals not going along with the changes. Some examples of resistance to change can include fears of the unknown, employee relationships, routines, failure of communication, and economical conditions. Fears of the unknown can do an individual in. An individual that is resistant can make it quite difficult when changes do occur. Within an organization, relationships are built, and sometimes when changes occur individuals feel threatened, to the point of feeling their relationships with others will no longer be. Also, the employees that are in a group or working with one individual are normally friends. By moving he or she, this will mess up the routine, and its takes them out of what they are comfortable with. Employees are used to their routines, and when taken out of their comfort zone, he or she can be more resistant to change. Failure of communication can be a big problem. If employees feel there was a blind side, and nothing communicated about these changes, this can backfire. Setting up a meeting with employees can make the transition go a lot easier, and not resistant to these changes. Economical conditions are a factor, and if the employee feels that there is nothing in it for them. Then he or she can be more resistant to change. Employees want to feel that there will be some reward to compensate for the trouble he, or she will be put in to accept the changes. There are a lot of factors for an organization to consider, especially when changes are made. If done properly, an organization can have the proper reactions from employees, and the transition will be a complete success. Also, management needs to listen to any apprehensions, or fears employees may have. There are multiple methods that can be used when changes are taken place; one of the most successful is Lewin’s Theory of Change. Lewin’s Theory of Change Kurt Lewin is best known for the 3-Stage Model of Change. Lewin developed  the 3-Stage Model in the 1950’s and is still used to this day. The three stages are unfreezing, changing and refreezing. â€Å"The model represents a very simple and practical model for understanding the change process (2014).† This model is still used widely and does serve a purpose for multiple modern change models. If an organization follows the 3-Stage Model of Change, the transition of change will be more effective. â€Å"For Lewin, the process of change entails creating the perception that a change is needed, then moving toward the new, desired level of behavior and finally, solidifying that new behavior as the norm (2014).† Unfreezing The first step is unfreezing, for example if there is something frozen in one’s freezer; it needs to be taken out and thawed out. This is what occurs when changes take place. When a change needs to be implemented, the first step is unfreezing. It is common for individuals to resist change, and in order for this to be successful, the unfreezing step is implemented, and to let others be conscious of what is hindering the organization. During the unfreezing step, it is highly important communication is used to make the transition a lot smoother. Also, it is crucial for individuals to realize how important it is to be accepting to the changes and the logic and reason for why this is occurring. Once the individuals in the organization know how imperative and essential the changes the more beneficial it is to them and the company. Changing The second step is changing, for example once something is unfrozen then changes can now take place. â€Å"This changing step, also referred to as ‘transitioning’ or ‘moving,’ is marked by the implementation of the change (2014).† Now that this step is implemented new behaviors, values, attitudes, and ways of thinking are all put into practice. It will be easier for employees to embrace changes the more prepared they are. It is important there is communication, support, education of changes, and time is what is needed for changes to be successful. Change needs to be planned and carried out carefully. With proper support and mentoring the change process should run smoothly, and all involved can transition easily. Refreezing The third step is refreezing; for example, this is the process of  reinforcing the act. This step stabilizes after the change has taken place. If this step is not carried out, this can lead to employees retracting back to the way things were done before the change was implemented. It needs to be carefully planned out to ensure that retraction does not occur, and enforced that this will not happen. The changes also need to be normal and part of the culture of the organization. The success of this can be rewarding to the employees, and organization when the help of the individuals reached goals during the changing process. The leaders can also acknowledge the hard work put into reaching these goals, and embracing the changes. Conclusion Resistance to change occurs quite a bit in any organization. In order for this to be successful, there are certain steps to be taken to ensure the organization embraces the changes. Transition to changes can come easy or be a nightmare to the whole organization. Kurt Lewin’s theory of change has worked for a long time and is still used for modern change models. Changes are key to the growth of the organization, and that of their employees. Using the 3-Stage Model of Change has been a success and has worked for many years. To obtain success, the organization has to embrace the changes, and to work together, not against one another. Resistance to change is a given, it is a fear of the unknown, educating employees are key to how successful an organization will be once it has been implemented. If used correctly Lewin’s Theory of Change should work successfully for any organization. Change is not always easy for some, but if communication, mentoring, and support are all used, then the organization should have complete success. Today, tomorrow, months, and even years from now Lewin’s Theory of Change will still be working for organizations trying to prevent resistance to change. Reference Lewin’s 3-Stage Model of Change: Unfreezing, Changing, Unfreezing. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.education-portal.com/academy/lesson/lewins-three-stage-model

Leadership Is The Condition Of Being A Leader - 1300 Words

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