Natures Healing Powers
The Power of Nature in the healing process has been known for centuries by the various civilizations of the world. The process of engaging nature in the healing process is done in a variety of way. It can be through the action of some herbs, performing meditation on mountains, relaxing in a windflower terrain/field or even by strolling by a slow flowing stream.
In this paper however, we are going to critically focus on the psychological, emotional and culturally healing power of nature as seen by indigenous peoples of the world-including Native Americans, Inuit, and Inughuit, African, Aboriginal, Asian cultures
The Native American nature healing process comprises of several beliefs and practices which make part of the life of the native tribesmen, women and children. The process is made up of several elements. These elements include religion, herbal medicines, spirituality and several other rituals that are all combined so as to treat people who have either emotional or psychological imbalance. A Native American's perspective of nature's healing powers is that its medicinal aspect is concerned more with the healing of the patient than the curing of the sickness or disease. The role of the traditional healers is to seek to restore the well-being of a person to the harmonious relationship with the entire community and nature's spirit. The spirit of nature in this case refers to God or the Great Mystery. The Native American healing process has its basis on the fundamental belief that everything and everyone on earth are all interconnected. All the people, the animals and plants have elements of spirit and essence. This form of healing goes further to include innate objects such as river, rock and earth itself among the categories of objects that do have spirit.
The major theme in the Native American Spirituality is the process of honoring Mother Earth and other activities that are geared towards the coexistence of life with animals and nature as a whole. The existence of nature is portrayed to be intertwined, animated and highly connected. Ceremonies such as Dance, Tamazcal Sweat Lodges and drumming often played a fundamental role in the spirituality of native Americans.
Ceremonies and rituals like Dance, drumming and Temazcal Sweat Lodge play an important role in Native American Spirituality.
Temazcal is one of the ancient spiritual dances that were practiced by the Native Americans. It involved a sacred ritual of healing coupled with purification. The timing of the ritual is very critical since it is believed that it is most powerful at night. For many years, prior to the arrival of Spaniards, the native people of the Mesoamerica came up with a highly developed civilization. Several herbal medication and natural health activities and practices were common throughout the period and location. The herbal steam bath, also referred to as Temazcal was a critical aspect of the traditional lifestyle.It was administered for the purpose of wellness, illness treatment and it also had religious aspects. The word Temazcal has its derivation from the native language, Nahuatl, that was basically being used by the Aztecs.Temaz was used to mean bath and calli mean home. This ceremony was practiced by the Aztecs, the Mixtecs, the Zapotecs, the Mayans and many other native groups as a purifying and therapeutic ritual. The Temazcal ritual is believed to have the power of invoking the magical and spiritual realms of ones consciousness. When one undergoes the Temazcal, one has to learn the process of relaxation, silencing of the mind and the development of a template attitude.There is meant to be a general feeling of being harmonized in a human gathering, in order to respect the forces plus the living elements of the Counciosness.It is also critical that one realizes and appreciates their weaknesses and limitations. This process should be focused on ones daily activities and interactions.
The religious beliefs of the early Native Americans were therefore very diverse and had a common characteristic of being common among the many subtribes.Many of them believed in the Great Spirit that encompassed the very nature of everything in their environment. They believed in the interconnection that existed in all aspects of life with the spiritual dimension. The existence of seasons and even the moon were considered as the fundamental marking times of the spirits and even prosperity.
The native Asian communities such as the Hindu also believed on the process of natural healing. This was also invoked through a series of rituals such as Samkaras.Samkaras involved a series of purificatory rites that were performed in order to sanctify the...
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