Native American medicine wheel
As part of my ethnic American history curriculum, I introduce the students to the art of Native American healing traditions. I love teaching this material, because most of them, at their age, really don’t know anything about the culture and history of our nation’s native tribes.
We discuss the concept of the Native American life-force, called ni by the Lakota and nilch’i by the Navajo, which is viewed as an integral part of the healing process. From this perspective, the patient’s family, community and greater environment must all be taken into account when creating a healing paradigm for the patient. This represents a great contrast for my students, who are used to modern medicine’s view of each body part and person as discrete units that must be viewed individually in order to be treated appropriately.
Some of the students definitely shy away from our discussions of this alternative form of medicine, but many actually get into it. I always feel like it’s certainly worth it to explore the many aspects of Native American culture with the students – you never know how one student will be influenced by material of this sort!