Honoring the Medicine

 

Healing consultations available in-person, by phone or zoom. Lecture queries for virtual or in-person presentations are also welcome. For more information, please call 720-985-6445 or email info@sacredearthcircle.com.
 

Indigenous Healing & Biomedicine in Dialogue: Opportunities & Challenges

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What are the possibilities for respectful dialogue between biomedicine and First Peoples' healing traditions? Indigenous medicine does not require science to prove that it works any

more than science must demonstrate knowledge of healing powers. We will examine health and disease from these two perspectives. Ken will also identify points of connection among indigenous medicine, biomedicine, and mind-body healing (Complementary & Integrative Medicine).

OBJECTIVES:

• Describe why the term "shaman" is an inappropriate label for a Native American/First Nations healing practitioner.

• Explain the types of evidence and criteria of efficacy in indigenous science compared to conventional western science. 

• Identify variables that make it difficult to measure or quantify the effects of Native American healing.

• Describe ways in which Native American medical ethics differs from Western medical ethics.

[Previously offered at the International Energy Psychology Conference. Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico]

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Honoring the Medicine: Native American Healing

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Kenneth Cohen will share cross-cultural perspectives on the principles, ethical values, and practice of Native American/First Peoples medicine. He will explore Native American medicine not as a thing of the past but as a living and still evolving tradition. Information will be presented from traditional and modern

perspectives. Interspersed with songs and stories, Ken will share his understanding of health, disease, and common healing methods, such as counseling and herbs. He will discuss barriers to understanding created by stereotypes and misconceptions promoted by the media, Hollywood, and New Age “shamanism.” You will also learn about innovative programs that encourage respectful dialogue between western and indigenous science. [Previously offered as keynote for the San Diego county opening of the US National Library of Medicine exhibit: Native Voices: Native Peoples' Concepts of Health & Illness; keynote for All Nations Hope Aboriginal Health Conference, and for many Native communities and medical schools.]

 

Indigenous Protocols: Respect & Reciprocity

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In the context of First Peoples culture, protocols mean much more than good manners and correct etiquette. It refers to many widespread and some culture/Nation specific ways of interacting with men, women, children, elders and with medicine (such as tobacco), as well as behavior during cultural and spiritual activities such as pow-wows, story-telling, and ceremonies. Protocols are also important in everyday activities such as food preparation and sharing, giving and receiving gifts, styles of dress and regalia, and much more. These are learned over time, in family, in community. However, for harmony and understanding, it is also important that anyone interested in First Peoples cultures have basic protocol knowledge. Ken will share protocol teachings and tell stories of how these protocols shaped his meetings with esteemed elders and medicine people. [Previously offered as a benefit for indigenous COVID relief and for indigenous cultural organizations such as the Keepers of the Sacred Tradition of Pipemakers.]

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My Life with the Pipe: Stories, Songs & Teachings

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The Way of the Pipe is my religion. It is my way of connecting with the Divine Mystery, the Great Spirit. With prayers, songs, and words, I speak with Creator and His/Her helpers and listen to their guidance. It is not a peace pipe. It is a prayer pipe, a sacred pipe, sometimes shared with a circle of other worshippers. As I join the long wooden stem to the red pipestone bowl, I join the living, growing, green of the plant people with the quiet strength of the mountain. In this sharing, I will not give “how-to” instructions. A pipe must be earned and the ceremonies transmitted with specific protocols. But through the pipe teachings, we can learn more about what it means to be a whole human being and good relative to each other and Mother Earth. [Previously offered in person at the Annual Gathering of the Keepers of the Sacred Tradition of Pipemakers and in zoom presentations.]

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Elders Lodges

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Ken has served as Elder-in-Residence, offering cultural teachings and traditional healing at the Iskotew and Kumik Elders Lodges and other First Nations centers. Tobacco accepted- no fee for these events. "The lodges are Aboriginal teaching and healing centres that regularly provide teachings, Elder consultations, story-telling to First Nations and bring cultural awareness to employees - especially the ones who provide health services to Aboriginal peoples. People of all faiths are welcome."

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