Welcome to a journey of discovery of the mystical and healing powers of Indigenous Healing.
Since Time Immemorial, Indigenous people in Canada have used traditional healing methods to address physical, psychological, and emotional imbalances that ail us.
We believe that everything in the world is interconnected and that to heal, one must take a holistic approach, tapping into the natural connection between mind, body, and spirit.
The beauty of Indigenous healing methods lies in our focus on healing as a process of becoming whole, by embracing and balancing all aspects of oneself. We invite you to be open to de-colonizing to explore the benefits of Indigenous Healing so that it can take its place amongst mainstream methods of counselling, psychology, and life.
1. Healing as an Expression of Wholeness:
Indigenous healing focuses on the individual’s holistic wellbeing and promotes a return to balance, harmony, and wellbeing through various practices.
These can include but are not limited to smudging, sweat lodges, Elders and Ceremony. These practices enable a person to reconnect with their inner self and their natural surroundings, embodying wholeness and a sense of connectedness. As Indigenous Healers we believe that a person’s health is influenced by their connection to themselves, others, and the environment around them.
2. Cultivation of a Sense of Community:
Indigenous healing recognizes the importance of community in fostering healing and creating a sense of belonging.
In this day and age that can mean a lot of things like a support network. Through the interdependent relationships with nature and one another, we as Indigenous people believe that healing can be facilitated within a group. We incorporate cultural and traditional practices, along with non-traditional practices in the blending and evolution of who we are and who we are becoming, and customs that foster relationships that ground individuals in their roots as they experience wholeness.
3. Balancing the Ego and Connecting with Nature:
Indigenous healing practices demand humbleness, humility, and surrender to the universe’s will.
These traditional practices connect people with nature, whose grounding power fosters a sense of belongingness and interdependence. As Indigenous Healers we often create solutions that involve reconnecting with the earth, living a balanced life in harmony with nature. The healing journey involves acknowledging humbleness, humility, and the interdependence and interconnectedness of the individual within the overall context of the natural world. And remember, we try. No one is perfect and it is constant work to try and be a better you.
4. Embracing Spirituality and Mindfulness:
Indigenous healing promotes spirituality and mindfulness as essential practices in the journey towards wholeness.
Indigenous healing strives to engage the spiritual aspects of a person. The spirit, or the inner self, is believed to be of great importance in achieving balance, harmony, and health. By perfecting the personal approach to wellness via spirituality, people develop a broad base of emotional resilience and mindfulness that grounds them in their values.
5. Benefits of Indigenous Healing becoming mainstream:
The significance of Indigenous healing becoming more widely accepted lies in the wider availability and recognition of the benefits.
Prior to colonization, we addressed and took care of every aspect of our lives which included healing. Providing access to Indigenous healing approaches offers people the opportunity to explore their health from multiple approaches and the costs of limiting solely to clinical approaches can be steep. The benefits include promoting physical, emotional and spiritual healing, which can lead to a happier and healthier life. Introducing traditional healing practices as a complementary tool in health care can reduce dependency on medication and provide more opportunities for holistic healing treatments.
Indigenous healing encompasses a holistic approach to wellness that can offer different facets of healing that clinical therapies may not.
With more exposure and integration of indigenous healing systems, there is an emerging body of literature showing that indigenous healing practices should become more widely known to provide all people with access to more diverse health care treatment options.
Indigenous healing can provide people with a unique perspective on their physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being. With all these benefits, it’s time for us to embrace these new perspectives in conjunction with traditional medical care. Let us cultivate a new type of wholeness, grounded in community, nature, spirituality, and mindfulness to heal ourselves and create a healthier, happier world for all.