Our 4 selves, physical, emotional, thinking intellectual, and our spiritual self is important to ourselves mentally and physically, as it is described in the article, “Sharing One Skin,” by Jeanette Armstrong. They allow us to be human and what makes us human. They help us understand a bigger part of ourselves beyond our physical being. Armstrong explains what each capacity means in her Okanagan tradition. Our physical self is what interacts with the environment. Our emotional self is which connects to other resources of our larger selves around us and forms bonds with particular aspects of our surroundings. Our thinking intellectual self can create or destroy, it’s a spark that ignites. Lastly, our spiritual self is our true self, it holds great power. Which all results in the body being earth itself. “We think of our language as the language of the land. This means that the land has taught us our language.” (p. 465)   I feel it’s important for everyone’s identity to be known. It’s how we make relations with others. We all have been taught in our tradition, language, and culture what different aspects mean. For example, Armstrong told us what each capacity meant in her Okanagan language.

Armstrong, Jeanette. “Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community,” in Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith (eds), The Case Against the Global Economy. San Francisco, CA, Sierra Club

It it known that every community and tribes have their own ways of connection to their landscapes and environments, as it is where our identity comes from, which is very well understood in the article, “How place names impact the way we see landscapes,” by B.Toastie. Toastie talks about how all places have a name due to its story behind it. It’s how we perceive and connect to the landscapes in our communities. It falls along our identity because it was where our ancestors once resided. As Mr. Toastie identifies as a Dine, I am familiar with the teachings they shared in the article. It’s important we know the teachings and stories of our landscapes. In the Native American Church setting, as my father is a road man, he always preached a saying to me, that if you are inside a ceremony, you sing loud to make it lively so that the fire can glow as it resembles the patient's future. I found that teaching is very similar to B. Toastie teaching as he quoted, “You cannot do whatever you want on the mountain or in the water, if you introduce yourself, approach it respectfully, it will help you.” (p. 3)

Toastie, B. “How place names impact the way we see landscape.” High Country News:    Know the West, 1 May 2022, https://www.hcn.org/issues/54.5/people-places-how-place-names-impact- the-way-we-see-landscape.

Boarding schools back then compared to present day is so much more different compared to one another, as it is described in the article, “And Then I Went To School,” by Joe Suina. Suina shares his experience as a Pueblo child in the early fifties. He grew up in Cochiti plaza with his grandmother, as he learned when he was in preschool, how to cut wood and haul water. Suina’s grandmother was apart of an important women society, which he attended every traditional function. As he got older and went to school, Suina has a hard time with the new expectations such as speaking english and leaving his traditional knowledge at home. He started to think how it could be “a heck” of alot better if he had what the white man had. Suina then accepted both lifestyles of his life. It was lonely, like Suina said “he longed to take part in a buffalo dance.” (p. 4) It was the same with me, I always wished to be home for ceremonies my family had at our home stead.

Suina, Joseph “And I went to school” memories of a pueblo childhood,”. New Mexico Journal of Reading, Winter 1985, Vol. V, No.2.

Native Americans always had knowledge but always failed to be recognized and taken advantage of, by the government. As Mrs. Danelle Reano quoted “Traditional medicine has always been around in my Pueblo, we would use it for prayers, ceremonies, and multiple things,” this interview with Reano allowed me to have a better glimpse in the fact that Traditional medicine has always been used, as it is addressed in the article “Learning from Native American Medicine” by Nancy Bonvillian, she explains that European explorers, travelers, missionaries, and settlers on the Iroquois land recognize the value of natural remedies that the Native people always had. Bonvillain explains examples about how non-native used traditional medicine to cure their illnesses and turned to traditional healers. Traditional medicine became so popular that non-natives started using them for other purposes such as dying wool cloth and using it as an insecticide for bugs and months. Traditional medicine eventually started to be shipped across the world.  “Sassafras was used by Native people in ways: as blood purifier, treatment for rheumatism, a diuretic, and a tonic taken after childbirth, after learning about it’s healing properties from southeastern Native, 16th century spanish settlers shipped large quantities to spain for distribution throughout Europe.” (p. 3) is a perfect example of how Native American knowledge has always been around but always failed to recognize, even when it was recognized, Native Americans were always taken for granted and being mistreated

Bonvillain, Nancy. “Learning from Native American Medicine.” Native American Medicine, Chelsea House, 2014. American Indian History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=18626&itemid=WE43&articleId=185019.

Native Americans always relied on traditional medicine and ceremonies, as it is explained in the article, “Medicine” by Taylor Katherine, Katherine explained the importance of traditional medicine and the importance of ceremonial healing of the Native Americans, which they relied on it for several reasons such as diseases, illnesses, and wounds until Europeans made their arrival in 1492. Katherine explains the Europeans introduced diseases and sexually transmitted illnesses to Native Americans that they’ve never encountered before. They didn’t have any cure to heal them which eventually caused them to lose faith within their leaders, healers, and traditional natural remedies. Katherine states that this causes Native Americans to face wars, near death diseases, and alcohol use.  “Native American medicine men had very effective practical treatments in addition to the, spiritual and herbalist aspects of their profession,” (p. 3) 

Taylor, Kathrine. “Medicine.” Encyclopedia of Native American History, Volume 2, Facts On File, 2011. American Indian History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=18626&itemid=WE43&articleId=358865.

Natural remedies can be used for a various of reasons such as “protection and it’s strong healing purposes,” as quoted by Mrs. Denelle Reano in an interview. Which is also explained in the article, “Medicine for the Mind and Body” by Emory Keoke and Kay Porterfield. The Europeans always made fun of the traditional healing until the middle of the 20th century, when they recognized how beneficial it was. Most Native Americans had their own beliefs about how different illnesses occurred, which allowed them to rely on mainly traditional ceremonies to help them recover but also more so how different fragrances from herbs could relieve any bad and negative emotions upon the person, which was explained in an interview I had with Mrs. Denelle Reano as she states “People in her community including herself still use traditional medicine for protection and for its strong healing purposes.” Keoke and Porterfield explained 

the health care benefits Native Americans have to support the Native people, which includes a mix of both modern and traditional healing methods.

Keoke, Emory, and Kay Porterfield. “Medicine for the Mind and Body.” Medicine and Health, Chelsea House, 2005. American Indian History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=18626&itemid=WE43&articleId=581977.

Native americans struggle with substance use and have relied on traditional healing, as it is shown in the article, "healing through culture" by laura bargfeld. IN the article wilson explained he grew up in a toxic household of domestic violence and alcohol, which resulted in him having a complex relationship with alcohol. wilson said he eventually got "fed up" with himself and decided to get sober through an environment that practiced traditional healing and became a medicine man himself. Bargfeld explained many Native americans struggle with substance use from "multigenerational trauma"caused from colonization, which results in suicide rates being higher than any other race. Traditional healing has always been around way long before social workers and nurses became a thing, as now traditional healers are more than likely to be employed at hospitals that provide these practices to patients, but are a struggle to supply these practices. For years arizona and many other states have been fighting the federal government to be okay with reimbursing the cost of traditional healing services through medicaid but has so far been declined. Which results in ihs facilities and clinics to use their own money to provide the infrastructure and staff for traditional healing and herbal usage. the navajo nation is one of several tribes pushing for this reimbursement as they believe and acknowledge that a lot of people may need both to help them. ¨people need to have the language be fluent to understand the prayer, the story, and the songs because the oral history, the whole piece, is all healing.¨ (p. 13) I was always preached this and im glad others understand this, growing up my grandpa was very strict on us all about paying attention to learn the oral meaning behind these powerful ceremonies. 

Bargfeld, Laura, et al. “Healing through culture • Source New Mexico.” Source New Mexico, 22 November 2022, https://sourcenm.com/2022/11/22/healing-through-culture/. Accessed 4 November 2024.

Climate Chaos is a big issue within tribal communities, because it affects many of individuals lively hood, as talked about in the article ¨Rematriating Seeds in the Face of Change¨ by Laura Paskus. Paskas interviewed Aaron Lowden from the pueblo of Acoma. Lowden explains they're experiencing ¨telltale¨ signs that a lot of changes are coming. The lands are becoming severely dry, theirs inconsistency of rain and radic patterns that are occurring in the weather and climate. Lowden explains that Mount Taylor also known as ¨kaweshtima¨ has always shared signs about when it was the right time to harvest, a bare peak would mean no runoffs for fields, and deer as well as elk would roam down from the dry forest. Which also resembles a threat of wildfire. He claims the sign of no snow is scary to think about, as it could lead to forest fires and the compounding effects of it such as the mountain not recovering for generations, which means the roots that stabilize the soils aint gonna be there. This has inspired Lowden by his late uncle who was a seed keeper, to connect youth to farming. An important quote to me was, ¨I could feel it, feel it in myself. They always say that when there's no rain, the land and animals get sick, and I could feel it in my bones, like almost sadness in the air, sadness in the land and the animals¨ (p.2) I feel we can all have a sense of emotion for many things within our communities, and I feel for the animals in this situation because I was taught in Dine culture that our livestock resembles resourcefulness, prosperity, and social status. As my topic is connected to natural resources such as plants, herbs, etc. I feel very worried about climate change as it could weaken plant resilience, disrupt the structure, pest and disease outbreaks, impact on pollination, which could all ruin our traditional plants we rely on. 

Paskus, Laura. “Rematriating seeds in the face of change.” 2 August 2024, https://sourcenm.com/2024/08/02/rematriating-seeds-in-the-face-of-change/. Accessed 4 November 2024.

A lot of Indigenous tribes face challenges in their culture which allow us to gain new experiences. Which is shown in the article, “Experiences and Challenges of African Traditional Medicine: Lessons from COVID-19 Pandemic” by Polydor Ngoy Mutombo. Mutombo explains that the African traditional medicine was the main cure to treat covid-19, due to the high cost vaccines and conventional medicine in a low cost population. With this being the new way of treatment, many health facilities initiated the use of herbal medicines as a component of healthcare delivery. Mutombo states the future of African traditional medicines is bright. This resulted in WHO and African scientists to accelerate research in the development of traditional medicines for COVID-19. African traditional medicine became so popular that many countries received marketing authorization to sell herbal medicine products. An important quote that stood out to me was, “There is an urgent need to encourage and provide the resources needed for continuous research into ATM’s based herbal medicines with a view to provide necessary safety and efficacy data” (p. 3) This overall is very important to the medical fields and that’s something I would like to major in, so it allows me to see the importance of exact data is needed in everything, even traditional medicine. Many communities were very worried for there people during COVID-19, many lockdowns occurred and social distancing was expected of everyone during that time. The Navajo Nation offered many drive up vaccines and many kits were handed out to elders such as PPE items. Whenever someone would get sick, there was no exact medicine to cure covid, it was more of a matter of staying isolated. In addition to that, the Africans discovered inhalation of vapour produced by boiling a combination of plants and spices while covered with cloth like Tanzania, Zambla, and Uganda to use this. I connect to this because during covid, the usage of sage became popular across the Navajo nation, that even urban relatives would pay their relatives to send some to them. This shows how beneficial traditional herbs can be and how impactful it is on your community.

Mutombo, Polydor Ngoy et al. “Experiences and challenges of African traditional medicine: lessons from COVID-19 pandemic.” 9 August 2023 BMJ global health vol. 8,8 (2023): e010813. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2022-010813. Accessed 5 February 2025. 

Native communities all rely on a specific herb for ceremonial purposes. Which is shown in the article, “Traditional Medicine in India” by Shi Yu. Mr. Yu explains the main traditional Indian treatment is Ayurveda. Ayurveda is known as the oldest documented comprehensive medical system in the world and it focuses on the management, education, regulation, development, and growth of Indian pharmaceutical systems and to promote good health care for the local people. In 1970, India changed its pre-independence policy and recognized Ayurved, Since then a large number of Ayurveda hospitals and clinics have been established throughout the country. Mr. Yu explains that Ayurvedic medicine is used for respiratory disease. Gastrointestinal diseases, geriatric medicine and immunotherapy, metabolic diseases, liver diseases, and malaria. An important quote that stood out to me was, “the national health system can only cover up to 30% of the total population, and the rest rely on local Ayurvedic medicine” (p. 53) This allows people to see the use of traditional medicine may be the only type of healthcare some countries have access to. It allows me to show my audience that traditional Medicine is very important and beneficial. Traditional medicine has always had a history. This connects to my topic of traditional medicine in that way. Ayurveda is the main traditional medicine usage in India. For Navajos, I would say we use corn pollen for everything and every ceremony, corn pollen is involved. It may not be useful for any severe emergencies but it does resemble a balance of harmony. 

Shi, Yu. “Traditional Medicine in India.” sciencedirect.com, 8 December 2020, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095754820300594#section-cited-by. Accessed 5 February 2025.

“La’au lapa’au” by Natalie Young and Kathryn Brown explains La’au lapa’au is a traditional medical practice of Native Hawaiins. This practice was deeply embedded in pre-colonial Native Hawaiian society but eventually was later affected by colonial influences. However in 1919, the territorial legislature created a Hawaii Medicine Board that was responsible for licensing La’au lapa’au practitioners. After this, La’au lapa’au was recognized as a traditional medicine in Native Hawaiian Health care act passed by the US congress in 1988. Many health clinics and organizations have begun to employ an integrative approach that combines La’au lapa’au with western primary care. Which relies on collaboration between a physician and traditional healer to cultivate trust and culturally-competent care. A quote that stood out to me was, “today students can learn about La’au lapa’au at the University of Hawaii and at the University of French Polynesia” (p. 7) It shows the Hawaiian culture are putting in an effort to teach their ways because nowadays it’s hard to see many Native communities try, due to the lack of knowledge and diseased practitioners. A lot of Native Americans were punished for practicing their traditions in the Code of Indian Offences of 1883. Where if anyone was to practice this, they would be sent to an agency prison for 10 days. It connects to when the practice of La’au lapa’au was banned and people who would practice it, would face fines or 

imprisonment for practicing healing arts. This shows that the government did not care and did everything they could to ensure the practice of our traditions didn’t exist. 

Wikipedia contributors. "Lāʻau lapaʻau." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 20 Dec. 2024. Web. 11 Feb. 2025.