Indigenous Native American Healing Traditions

Abstract

“Desbah,” a 99-year-old Native American woman, enjoys a solitary life tending to her sheep on an isolated Native American Indian reservation in Arizona. Her home consists of a modified railroad boxcar without plumbing or electricity. She is a tiny, delightful woman whose serenity fills the waiting room during visits to her primary care provider. She is gracious and animated, her conversations often peppered with humor. Her longevity, sharp mental acuity, and overall good health and wellbeing beg the question: how does she maintain such positive physical and mental health when she has so few of the basic amenities that most of us take for granted? Unlike allopathic systems of care where health is defined by the physical condition of the body or emotional/mental capacities of the mind and described as diagnoses that note differences from “the norm,” health and wellbeing are viewed as intrinsically linked to spirituality in Native American culture.