{"id":31,"date":"2019-08-14T09:06:37","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T09:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernmelanin.com\/staging\/2019\/08\/14\/can-nutrient-therapy-boost-your-energy\/"},"modified":"2019-08-14T09:06:37","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T09:06:37","slug":"tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernmelanin.com\/mb\/2019\/08\/14\/tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"Traditional Medicine vs. They Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"

People of color have used holistic approaches (like the ones in this book) to heal their ailments for hundreds of thousands of years. And not just bug bites and stomach aches, either.\u00a0I can show you records of Black and brown people doing brain surgery 6,000 years ago.<\/strong>\u00a0Don\u2019t believe me? As always, you can look it up (but we\u2019ll go into full details in\u00a0The Science of Self<\/em>).<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve gotta give you both sides of the story. Even with our incredible collective knowledge of traditional healing, I wouldn\u2019t advise you to go see the roots man when you\u2019ve got a bullet wound or a serious life-threatening condition that requires immediate attention. Why? The following excerpt from\u00a0The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees\u00a0<\/em>by James Mooney illustrates an important reality:<\/p>\n

SHAMANS AND WHITE PHYSICIANS<\/p>\n

Of late years, especially since the establishment of schools among them, the Cherokees are gradually beginning to lose confidence in the abilities of their own doctors and are becoming more disposed to accept treatment from white physicians. The shamans are naturally jealous of this infringement upon their authority and endeavor to prevent the spread of the heresy by asserting the convenient doctrine that the white man\u2019s medicine is inevitably fatal to an Indian unless eradicated from the system by a continuous course of treatment for four years under the hands of a skillful shaman. The officers of the training school established by the Government a few years ago met with considerable difficulty on this account for some time, as the parents insisted on removing the children at the first appearance of illness in order that they might be treated by the shamans, until convinced by experience that the children received better attention at the school than could possibly be had in their own homes. In one instance, where a woman was attacked by a pulmonary complaint akin to consumption, her husband, a man of rather more than the usual amount of intelligence, was persuaded to call in the services of a competent white physician, who diagnosed the case and left a prescription. On a second visit, a few days later, he found that the family, dreading the consequences of this departure from old customs, had employed a shaman, who asserted that the trouble was caused by a sharpened stick which some enemy had caused to be imbedded in the woman\u2019s side. He accordingly began a series of conjurations for the removal of the stick, while the white physician and his medicine were disregarded, and in due time the woman died. Two children soon followed her to the grave, from the contagion or the inherited seeds of the same disease, but here also the sharpened sticks were held responsible, and, notwithstanding the three deaths under such treatment, the husband and father, who was at one time a preacher still has faith in the assertions of the shaman. The appointment of a competent physician to look after the health of the Indians would go far to eradicate these false ideas and prevent much sickness and suffering; but, as the Government has made no such provision, the Indians, both on and off the reservation, excepting the children in the home school, are entirely without medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did You Know?<\/em><\/p>\n

For thousands of years Indian villagers have used an extract from the Neem tree as an insecticide. So when a US company patented a process for producing the substance in 1994, India reacted with outrage. After spending millions of dollars in legal fees to successfully overturn the patent, India\u2019s government is now creating a 30-million-page database of traditional knowledge to protect against \u201centrepreneurs\u201d trying to patent the country\u2019s ancient wisdom. The database, called the Traditional Knowledge Data Library, will help ensure that traditional remedies are not presented as new discoveries.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This book was written in 1891, and Native\u00a0Americans are still underserved by American healthcare. Not to mention that they\u2019re still dying at record numbers. In fact, healthcare is so lacking in Native American, Black, and Hispanic communities in America\u00a0to the point where we might as well be living in a third-world country (yet we never stop bragging about this golden land we live in, huh?).<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s talk about the story above. What went wrong? Was the shaman clueless? A stick in her side? Sounds stupid right? Not really. You see, \u201cconsumption\u201d was an old word for the disease we now call tuberculosis, which got its name from tubercles bacillus, a stick-shaped bacterial microorganism that attacks the lungs, the kidneys and other organs on the side of the human body. Chew on that for a minute. So what this says to me is that our traditional healers have some incredible knowledge from a remote past when we understood way more than we do now, especially considering that Europeans named tuberculosis \u201cconsumption\u201d because they believed \u201csomething\u201d was eating people up from the inside. Before that, they called it \u201cKing\u2019s Evil\u201d because they believed it could be cured by the touch of a king.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s be real. This knowledge we \u201conce\u201d had, we don\u2019t all have it anymore. Some of these traditional healers are just traditional crooks. They make their living selling hope to people who are willing to believe them, and unwilling to consider a second opinion. Some of them haven\u2019t been properly trained by anybody, and don\u2019t have a medical degree, a naturopathy degree, or even a high school degree. But they\u2019re getting paid. Some of these folks have even killed their \u201cpatients\u201d through their bad advice, while some of us have killed ourselves trying to treat infectious diseases with roots and candles.<\/p>\n

I understand the fear many of us have about going in for a routine physical and then being told we have HIV (See \u201cFalse Positives in HIV Testing\u201d). But Western medical science has made a lot of progress in terms of diagnosis.\u00a0And if you can find a doctor you trust, preferably one who is also familiar with traditional medicine, that\u2019s a lot better than choosing someone who doesn\u2019t have a proven track record of success with traditional healing.<\/strong>\u00a0The key is finding someone with expertise in their field, who values your approach to health. If you\u2019re trying to avoid pills and prescriptions, find a doctor who understands that and who can suggest alternatives. If you\u2019re using a healthcare provider directory, I suggest checking out people who have Asian or African\u00a0names. But just be warned. A so-called holistic doctor nearly killed my wife with her backwards approach to her hyperemesis gravidarum. (See \u201cI\u2019m Not a Doctor\u201d) Again, the key is expertise. This lady was clueless. We saw it in our first conversation with her, but we weren\u2019t smart enough to run when we should have. Now, our family\u2019s approach to medicine and healing looks like the following:<\/p>\n

Whenever we aren\u2019t super-sick, we strive to heal ourselves through our diet. Either we fast, eat foods that have the appropriate healing properties (See \u201cThe Health Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables), or we take the appropriate herbs (See \u201cHerbs\u00a0= Medicine\u201d).<\/p>\n

In more serious cases, we consult with someone we know who is very knowledgeable in treating such cases holistically. If we decide that we most likely need an antibiotic, we go to the CVS Minute Clinic (it\u2019s quicker and often cheaper than waiting for a doctor\u2019s appointment) for a prescription.<\/p>\n

In the most serious cases, particularly when there is significant pain or need for immediate attention, we go see our doctors, who are all familiar with our family\u2019s approach to health (meaning they\u2019re not going to prescribe any medicines that aren\u2019t absolutely necessary).<\/p>\n

In closing, there are traditional methods to cure just about anything. There are even traditional methods to treat bullet wounds. But, unfortunately, the roots man down the street probably doesn\u2019t know how to do it right. So, don\u2019t be dumb about your well-being \u2013 go to a doctor when you need to. On the other hand, if you don\u2019t believe that traditional medicine \u2013 when done correctly \u2013 is all you really need, check out the following story about rapper MCA from the Beastie Boys, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, but beat it after going to India and following a traditional Tibetan approach:<\/p>\n

MCA (Adam Yauch), 45, now says that he is on the road to recovery and getting healthier and stronger daily\u2026He reportedly feels that he is hopeful that he has beaten the cancer after undergoing successful surgery and visiting Tibetan doctors in Dharamsala (India). He has been reportedly taking medicine recommended by these practitioners of Tibetan medicine and eating a vegan\/organic diet, which he said was helping\u2026Welcoming Yauch\u2019s interest in India and its institutions, acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has wished him a speedy recovery. According to Zed, Tibetan medicine is an art, philosophy, and science combined, which provides a holistic approach to health maintenance, and it includes the key Buddhist principles of karma, ethics, and altruism. According to Tibetan medical theory, all things in the world are made up of the five proto-elements: chu (water), me (fire), nam-mkha (space), rlung (wind), sa (earth). Changing a patient\u2019s lifestyle and\/or diet is the first form of treatment in Tibetan medicine. Medicines are considered only if lifestyle-diet change fails to cure an ailment\u2026Zed, who is president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, says that India also offers another herbal-based health care system known as ayurveda (life-knowledge) whose thesis is that disease is due to imbalance of three bodily humours \u2013 pitta (bile), kapha (phlegm) and vata (wind) \u2013 and balance can be recreated by changing person\u2019s diet, thoughts and habits. Ayurveda covered complete wellbeing of the person \u2013 mental, physical, and spiritual.<\/p>\n

See the common denominators here? Among Original people (not just those in the East), we have traditionally recognized that health and illness prevention are accomplished through a healthy diet, a healthy mind, and a healthy lifestyle, even down to how we treat other people. This is why you hear about those \u201cmedicine men\u201d in different societies telling people they need to \u201cappease the gods\u201d before they can get well. That\u2019s just a corrupted form of the original science of \u201cmaking yourself right with the universe\u201d and \u201ccleansing your mind and body.\u201d Doing these things won\u2019t cost any money on their own, but if the medicine man or healer tells you that you need \u201cspecial\u201d items, which only he can provide (and bless appropriately), then you\u2019ve gotta spend money with him to get better. Hence, even the first instances of medical corruption (putting profit before the patient\u2019s health) can be found amongst us. That should be expected, considering that we\u2019ve been on the planet for millions of years, which is plenty of time for some of us to start becoming selfish. But this type of behavior isn\u2019t a characteristic of the ENTIRE system, as you\u2019ll find with Western medicine, which is almost entirely built on staying in business by keeping people sick and in need of more medicine and more diagnosis. Instead, you can still find plenty of examples of traditional healers who will teach you how to get your body (and mind) so \u2018right\u2019 that you\u2019ll never have to visit them again. And ain\u2019t that the kind of doctor you\u2019d want to see? Always check credentials and background.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People of color have used holistic approaches (like the ones in this book) to heal their ailments for hundreds of thousands of years. And not just bug bites and stomach aches, either.\u00a0I can show you records of Black and brown people doing brain surgery 6,000 years ago.\u00a0Don\u2019t believe me? As always, you can look it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-and-wellness"},"yoast_head":"\nTraditional Medicine vs. They Medicine - Melanated Body<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernmelanin.com\/mb\/2019\/08\/14\/tradition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Traditional Medicine vs. They Medicine - Melanated Body\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People of color have used holistic approaches (like the ones in this book) to heal their ailments for hundreds of thousands of years. 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