Healing Across Cultures: Learning From Traditions

Our optimal health and wellness is absolutely dependent upon the healthful states of mind, body, and spirit which are inextricably intertwined with the energies of our environment and nature. Oddly, Western culture often seems to disregard this holism, especially our essential connection to nature, in its considerations of health and wellness as described by modern medicine.
            This disregard for the sanctity of nature and nature’s nurturance of our health is unlike that of many of the traditional cultures in the world. These cultures focus more on balance in the context of environmental respect and harmony. Varied cultures share remarkable similarities in their healing modalities, especially considering relative isolation from one to another—evidence that there is much truth to the healing knowledge they possess. We as a global people are not disconnected from the natural world in terms of health, but dependent and interconnected within ourselves and to everything around us. Social change is essential to assure that the mainstream practice of modern medicine evolves to incorporate this integral aspect of health and wellness, and this can be done through partnerships with cultural leaders, elders, and traditional healers.
            There is a growing demand for wellness and earthly responsibility. It is time to appropriately learn from age-old societies and their healing traditions for they do have answers we are seeking in sustainability and harmony, environmental stewardship and planetary respect, and holistic health. For thousands of years our ancestors have known the secrets of long life—this knowledge needs to be preserved through the apprenticeship of future generations. We must continue to work in collaborative form to develop mutually beneficial learning partnerships combining components of modern medical knowledge with the wisdom of traditional healers around the world.
            By developing the knowledge of traditional healers in a mutually beneficial exchange of wisdom and practice, all global communities can reap rewards through not only the development of holistic collaboration and innovation in healing, but also the generation of economically viable outlets for cultural self-empowerment and ecological integrity.
            This approach to global health and wellness will provide not only ways of healing ourselves as nature had intended, but also a reawakening to the benefits and health-giving resources of nature’s bounty. Along with this newfound awareness will emerge an inevitable respect for maintaining the environment that nurtures the world—people, animals, and plants. The growing realization of the intricate connections among mind, body, and spirit in the context of our natural world is long overdue within modern society. Our understanding of Healing Across Cultures sets us on a path that can lead only to a better sense of self within the context of the universe—a more and more appropriate idea as we increasingly discover ourselves as a global community.