Native American Medicine Essay

The medical cures and healing traditions used by the Native Americans are rather interesting and different compared to modern day Anglo Saxon cures. Native Americans, using their basis of ideas and beliefs, have developed a general idea of naturalistic cures and healing processes. Although the cures and healing processes are much different than Anglo Saxon ideas of curing and healing, the Native American processes tend to work well and even better than many Anglo Saxon cures. Native American medical and healing beliefs and processes are generally based on a more natural curing or purification process than the processes of modern day Anglo Saxons. Many Native American healing processes have been practiced for around 40,000 years. Different Native American healing traditions have appeared to share roots with different cultures, such as ancient Chinese traditions. Although many of the Native American healing traditions appear to share roots with ancient Chinese traditions, the greatest influence on Native American healing is the environment in which they have lived. The different plants and animals around them influenced their healing practices to be all natural. Another influence on their healing practices was other tribes. The migration of tribes around them allowed the tribes to share their knowledge of natural cures. Trade was also very helpful in Native American healing practices because many of the natural remedies required herbs from surrounding environments or long distances, and being able to trade with traveling tribes saved much travel time and risk. Although Native American healing practices have proven to be successful, a lot of their traditions have been lost. Many of the practices were driven underground and lost because they became banned or illegal in many parts of the United States. After 1978, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed, and the Native Americans were once again allowed to practice their healing traditions. The long gap without practicing certain healing processes resulted in the loss of many of their practices, however. Even today, there are still difficulties with Native Americans being allowed to perform different ceremonies and rituals because the land serves other purposes. (www. cancer. org). Native Americans have successfully lived for many years by using their own idea of natural cures and purification. Native American healing is a broad term that includes different healing beliefs and practices of hundreds of indigenous tribes or North America. It combines religion, spirituality, herbal medicine uses, and purification rituals that are used to treat the indigenous people either medically, emotionally, or behaviorally. According to Lakota Sioux, the basis of natural beliefs and connections comes from the story of the white buffalo. The story begins with a woman appearing during the time of famine. She was wearing a white buffalo skin and carrying a sacred pipe. After appearing to the tribe, she explained to them that the wooden stem was for the trees and everything growing on earth. Her red bowl was to symbolize the flesh and blood of all people and the smoke was the breath of their prayers going to Wakan Tanka, the creator. The woman then presented the pipe ceremony to the tribe, which included offerings made to the four directions while drums were played and sacred songs were sung. The people then began to understand the connection between sky and earth and the unity of all life. Before leaving, the woman said she would return when the time was right and turned into a buffalo, changing colors several times. Finally, she became a white buffalo calf and disappeared. The people followed her teachings and were no longer hungry. Years later, a white buffalo calf, very rare, appeared and changed colors throughout its life. The calf is believed to be the woman. (www. native-americans-online. com). Through this story, many indigenous tribes have believed nature to be the cures and purifications needed for the soul to become whole. There are many types of Native American healing practices, and they are promoted to help with a variety of ills. Some of the most common aspects of Native American healing include the use of herbal remedies, purifying rituals, shamanism, and symbolic healing rituals to treat illnesses of both the body and spirit. Herbal remedies are used to treat many physical conditions. Practitioners use purifying rituals to cleanse the body and prepare the person for healing. Shamanism is based on the idea that spirits cause illness, and a Native American healer called a shaman focuses on using spiritual healing powers to treat people. Symbolic healing rituals, which can involve family and friends of the sick person, are used to invoke the spirits to help heal the sick person. (www. cancer. org). The Native American belief in spirituality caused the Native Americans to believe that diseases are caused by an object piercing the soul through sorcery. A disease can also be believed to be the complete absence of a free soul. Their naturalistic beliefs allowed them to believe that even diseases are considered natural occurrences, and because they occur naturally, they can be cured naturally as well. By using natural remedies, â€Å"medicine men† attempted to cure diseases that have invaded tribal villages. Natural remedies used by the medicine men included different concoctions of plants, fungi, or animals that could be eaten or rubbed on a certain area of the body to cure the illness. Before Europeans invaded Native American land, Native Americans had not had an extreme amount of experience in the treatment of disease. However, after the Europeans invaded their land, they (the Europeans) brought many diseases with them. Some of the deadly diseases included smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, typhoid, influenza, and pertussis or whooping cough. At the first sign of the diseases, the indigenous people continued trying their natural remedies, but after many failed attempts at curing the diseases, the people would often avoid the sick and leave them to die because they believed that evil spirits had taken over their soul. With the Europeans bringing many diseases to the indigenous land, the indigenous people believed the Europeans to be evil spirited and deadly. The many diseases brought by the Europeans caused a major Native American depopulation. In order to try to cure these diseases or other illnesses, Native Americans relied on the use of what they referred to as the â€Å"medicine man† or â€Å"healer†. The medicine man was very well educated on the surrounding nature and knew what natural remedy would cure the illness. Often times, the medicine man would have to travel to other lands in order to find a certain plant or a fungus that was needed in the remedy. Medicine men were very effective at curing illnesses because of the knowledge they had of nature. Not only did the Native Americans use natural remedies to cure illness, but they also used natural purification processes in order to purify or cleanse their soul in an emotional healing process. The purifying ritual is a ceremony known as a sweat lodge, where the indigenous people would sit in extreme temperatures and sweat out the evil in them which allowed them to be cleansed. To begin the sweat lodge process, one must offer a pouch of tobacco to the medicine man. The tobacco is used to represent the spirit of the person presenting it. By offering the tobacco to the medicine man, one is asking him to work on their behalf in the spiritual world. When presenting the tobacco, one would also bring forth their specific desire such as an alcohol or drug problem. The sweat lodge process begins with the passing of what are known as tobacco ties. Many tobacco ties are hung around inside the sweat lodge and each tobacco tie represents a prayer. The four sacred herbs, sage, sweet grass, cedar, and tobacco, are used in order to help purify the room and allow the spirits to work. Then rocks, primarily lava stones from volcanoes, are heated using a fire until they are white hot. Once the rocks are white hot, they are brought into the lodge in order to begin the sweating process. To keep the rocks hot, water is poured onto them making an immense amount of steam and heating the lodge. Now that the purification process has finally begun, everyone sits in a circle and goes around, one person at a time, offering prayers. After all prayers have been given, the medicine man blends them all together in a mystical process altering the state of mind to something beyond the physical form. This is where the real healing takes place. As the purification process comes to a conclusion, a new ceremony known as wopela begins. Wopela is simply giving thanks. All participants bring in gifts for the medicine man in order to thank him for leading them through the purification process. The medicine man begins a prayerful state and takes the prayer ties and sets them up in the north end of the center. This allows the prayers to be carried to the Great Spirit in a good way. The medicine man then blows out the candles the lodge becomes pitch dark. Another emotional healing strategy is the use of the medicine wheel. The medicine wheel was an important transformation in the process of Native American tribes realizing that they are much different from each other. Basically, the medicine wheel was a sheet decorated in special symbols, colors, or stones that allowed others know about the inhabitants of the tribe. One was placed in front of every tepee or hut to notify others of that individual’s strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, each individual had their own guidelines to follow for personal growth by realizing what one needed to learn and what one needed to teach. After many generations, the people began to lose the concept of blame and anger upon others. One tribe member from Arizona states â€Å"If I said to you, ‘Does anyone ever make you angry? ’ you would say yes. But in reality, this is totally impossible. You choose to be angry by the way you process the event. This is something you were taught to do as a child. If you could imagine not one person in all of New York City having the concept of anger, that’s what it was like during that time period of no wars before the white man came. †(www. native-americans-online. com). By placing a simple wheel outside their homes, the Native Americans began to learn to cope with their anger and not place blame upon others. This shows a strong cultural emotional healing process because it rid the tribes of anger and blame on others. Indigenous people also believed in psychiatric healing beliefs by altering their state of mind. They were able to alter their state of mind through events such as drumming and chanting rituals, Salish spirit dancing, and visual stimuli. All processes were used in order to calm down an individual. The drumming or chanting of rituals acted as a concentration device to its listeners. A constant beat or pattern would reduce the tendency of the mind to wander. It would also enter the brain wave patterns and sometimes the subjects’ brainwaves would change to match the frequency of the drumming or beating. As for the altered states produced in the Salish Spirit Dance, the sensory stimulation would release neuro-endocrine opiod agents that would produce a peak experience during that dance performance. It is quite obvious that the healing processes of the indigenous people vary greatly from the healing processes of modern day Anglo Saxons. For example, in seeking a cure, Anglo Saxons search for a man made discovery to lead to a cure where as the indigenous people rely on nature for their cures. Although the Anglo Saxon solutions are very effective, the natural remedies also work and are less harmful. All Anglo Saxon cures provide quick solutions but at the risk of side effects which are not present in natural remedies. One belief of the indigenous people was that the illness was caused by nature, so nature can cure the illness. Another difference in Anglo Saxon healing processes is emotional or psychiatric healing. Anglo Saxon traditions in emotional healing include the use of a therapist or other person to talk to in order to solve the problem. The indigenous people use a similar cure, except they seek a higher cure such as the sweat lodge in order to be in contact with the spirit world. Anglo Saxons also place blame and problems on others in an attempt to relieve themselves of the pressure or danger of events. The indigenous people however, do not like to place blame on others, but on themselves. The indigenous people begin looking for a cure inside oneself in order to fix the problem. Although many rituals and healing processes of the indigenous people are much different than the processes of the modern day Anglo Saxons, the processes of the indigenous people have proven to work effectively in curing the illness. Their belief in having a pure soul contributes to the rituals they perform in order to heal. Both Anglo Saxon and Native American healing processes have been proven effective, with the difference being the focus of the solution. Native American medical and healing beliefs and processes are generally based on a more natural curing or purification process than the processes of modern day Anglo Saxons. Sources Used http://muwww-new. marshall. edu/jrcp/VE13%20N1/jrcp%2013%201%20thomason. pdf http://www. native-americans-online. com/index. html http://www. cancer. org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/mindbodyandspirit/native-american-healing.

Strategy at Different Levels of a Business Essay

Strategy at Different Levels of a Business - Essay Example It defines the tactics that will assist the company to realize its objectives. The business strategy also defines the number of resources that an organization requires and it is going to manage in order to achieve its goals. This business plan dictates the steps to be followed and the responsible persons for each step. Â  Business strategy is more than visioning, forecasting, and planning. Implementation is what matters most and this should be done carefully to ensure that there is a match between the internal capabilities of the organization and its external environment. The strategies should influence the position of the organization at any time. It should enable the stakeholders to understand the better ways of realizing the desired objectives. Application of the business strategy is very paramount as it bounds business operations together. Â  Corporate Strategy- business should meet the expectations of the diverse stakeholders; customers, employees, and the owners. This level of strategy deals with the objectives and the purpose of the business in satisfying the stakeholders. At this level, the owners or the investors are very influential as they act to guide the decision makers to achieving the stated goals. Â  Business Unit Strategy- Fair competition is a factor that cannot be neglected by the organization. It is imperative that the organization is in a position to compete successfully in the economy. This strategy is governed by the demands of the market hence the organization is obliged to ensure that the right products of the right quality are supplied in the market to enable it to compete with others competitively. At this level, the products should meet customers needs enabling the organization to outwit the competitors.

Critical analysis of the learning environment in the community Essay

Critical analysis of the learning environment in the community - Essay Example Modern nursing is changing with new roles and working practices. They are leaders, coordinators, teachers and practitioners. There is still a need for nurses to care for patients in hospitals, but much nursing practice now takes place in the GP surgery, in peoples homes and in specialist clinics in the community. Laschinger (1992) used the Kolb’s learning theory (ELT) to study 179 generic baccalaureate students’ perception of the contributions of different types of nursing learning environments to development of adaptive competences. Nursing learning environments were thought to contribute most to divergent competencies, reflecting the importance of both people-oriented and scientific skills in nursing. However it was found that clinical experience and senior preceptorship experience contributed significantly more to the development of these competencies than typical nursing classes and non-nourishing classes. Besides, the students considered assimilative competencies such as leading and influencing others relatively unimportant to successful functioning in nursing learning environments. The preparation for the practice of professional nursing occurs in the early training program for nurses that integrate liberal arts and sciences, as well as nursing theory and practice. Beside s this program need to develop altruistic values, an understanding of and appreciation for the social and ethical issues of life in a global society, the conceptualization and synthesis of general education and nursing knowledge and the development of affective, cognitive, and psychomotor skills and behaviors to function as a caring, beginning practitioner in nursing. The clinical learning environment creates many opportunities for student learning and the development of critical competencies in the nursing profession. The learning that takes place in this environment, however, confronts the first year nursing

The opportunities for YSL to expand into the youth market Dissertation

The opportunities for YSL to expand into the youth market - Dissertation Example This essay discusses that luxury fashion now plays a significant role in society and the economy, the revenue has raised every year no matter in western or eastern countries. More and more people are willing to put their budget on buying luxury goods even for their children. Globalization has made luxury fashion consumers have more choices to purchase, based on this circumstance; luxury brands need to create their brand strategy, unique selling proposition or market extension to face competitors. YSL is a French luxury brand with high reputation in the field of fashion industry, although its legendary concept has been deeply rooted in people for a long time, however, with the changes of time, it is a fact that YSL does not make a significant profit than in the past. How could YSL restore its splendid time and create its niche are the purposes of the dissertation. Many cases have shown that there is an increasing number of brands to launch second line to expand young market, it is bel ieved that younger consumers are lucrative consumers, in addition, teenagers are more and more considered as potential luxury consumers and are therefore the focus of some firm’s marketing investments in an attempt to construct a solid and loyal consumer base. It is undeniable that today’s young consumers are tomorrow’s adult consumers, with more purchasing power; therefore, having them as loyal customers early will result in a loyal adult consumer base. Based on this trend, it could be an opportunity for YSL to launch a secondary lines in order to attract youth market. Luxury fashion industry commonly manipulates advertisement which "feature products, models, celebrities and society personalities in advertising to reflect the brand essence and message" to communicate with their consumers (Okonkwo, 2007). Advertising is regarded as an important instrument which facilitates the decision making of the young customers, if they are going to buy the products offered by YSL. Different claims had already been regarded about the influence and impact of advertisement to a specific target market. While it has been associated to other determinants, the impact of advertising with the perspective of aesthetics and beauty, specifically for women have became renowned in the global market. In this regard, this part aims on discussing the importance of advertising specifically to attract the attention of the young customers for YSL. In a common aspect, advertising has been used to impart to the target customers of a specific brand or product and how it can be accessed and purchase. In addition, it also provides crucial data and information, specifically the characteristics and features of the customers. When an efficient advertising is attained efficiently, this can result to an enhanced demand of the brand. The main goal and purpose of visual analysis is to attract young generation by using the aspect of advertising. Contents Essay 1 Context issue: critic al evaluation of the relationship

Guitarist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Guitarist - Essay Example Three years later, King relocated to West Memphis where he hoped to make several performances. In 1948, he got the chance to perform on Sonny Boy’s radio show and began to get audience. His popularity expanded during his ten-minute stint at Memphis radio station. The radio spot later changed to Sepia Swing Club (BBKING). His music career officially started in 1949 when he started recording with RPM records based in Los Angeles. Shortly before then, he had made his debut with a single titled â€Å"Miss Martha King† but is reception was poor. He assembled his named as the B.B King Review that toured across the U.S. while performing in major theaters (Morris). His name became one of the most prominent in R&B music in 1950s after his 3 O’clock Blues hit ranked number one on the Rhythm and Blues chart. After several releases, his earnings rose to the excess of $2500. In 1956, he founded his record label named as Blue Boys Kingdom. He engaged in rock music in the 1960s, and the Grammy Award in 1970 saw his song, The Thrill is Gone, list among the 500 greatest songs in history. Since 1980 till his death, he made several appearances on television shows, as well as, live performances (BBKING). King focused much on blues and led him to writing his autobiography titled â€Å"blues all around me.† His delta blues style is characterized by an emphasis on instrumentation and rhythm. His wailing guitar and world-weary voice brought to the global scene and at the top of American blues. He had a voice that groaned with love and lust and was recognizable to millions of people. During performances, he wrung notes with the guitar resting on his neck. Most of his songs, including the thrill is gone, were of pain and perseverance in love (Morris). King was simplistic in terms of the equipment he used. He played guitars and people associated him with the Lucille model. He also used amplifiers such as the Lab Series L5 2x12. The combo amplifier was the work of Norlin

Off-balance sheet banking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Off-balance sheet banking - Essay Example On the other hand, if the customer sells the investment and again deposits the amount in the Bank account, it becomes a liability for the bank. For instance, Citibank maintain an off-balance sheet asset of 960 billion $ which accounts for 6% of the GDP of United States. The formal distinction between On & Off-Balance sheets is quite critical and depends largely on the decisions of management. In true sense, a company would include assets and liabilities in their balance sheet if it either actually owns or for which it is legally responsible. For including an asset or liability in the Balance sheet, the asset or liability has to be probable, measurable as well as meaningful. Otherwise, the financial company or the Bank would treat the assets or liabilities as Off-balance sheet items. For example, a Bank which is facing a legal issue due to non-fulfilment of its liabilities would not include the amounts in its balance sheet until a complete judgment is received, until the amount of com pensation or recovery is delivered through judgment, or may include the risk in its balance sheet if it is negligible until the entire legal process is over. Importance of controlling Off-Balance Sheet Banking and Role of Financial Regulators Over the last thirty years, there has been a scenario of increasing crisis while the banks have increased their portfolio of Off-Balance sheet activity through securitization, mainly short term asset backed by commercial paper. This has produced linkage between the banking system and the shadow-banking system. Thus, the importance of regulation off-balance sheet banking by financial regulators is a very...Fall of Lehmann Brothers is an ideal example. Depositors not only withdrew money from their Bank accounts leading to sharp decline in deposit base of the banks but market investor also refused to invest in the share and stocks of the banks for which the share price of the banks fell steeply. This turmoil in the financial industry leads to incr easing accountability for the financial regulators for controlling Off-Balance sheet banking. Regulators control Off-balance sheet activity of Banks in order to safeguard their solvency and maintain the health of the national economy. Banks are expected to keep their Off-balance sheet assets and liabilities within a safe limit and also diversify the risk of Off-balance sheet activity. Banks are required to do a portfolio analysis of their borrowers through securitization and the offer financing to the selected parties in order to hedge the risk (Greuning and Bratanovic, 2009, p.48). Financing to a single large customer would affect the solvency of the bank based on the projected performance and repayment of a single party. On the other hand, diversifying the asset would reduce the risk the Off-Balance sheet risk. Banks are expected to look at the viability of settlement of funds before lending in Off-Balance sheet items. This would reduce the settlement risk of the Banks. Banks should look into comprehensive country risk in terms of irrevocable commitments, contingent liabili ties and foreign-exchange positions to reduce off Balance sheet risk

How Useful is it to See the World as a Society of States Essay

How Useful is it to See the World as a Society of States - Essay Example These individuals will experience a sense of solidarity and unity which drives them to establish, in essence a common social identity (Bar-Tal, 2000, 1). Conversely, the state is the body that according to Weber has the sole right or monopoly of power over anyone living within its jurisdiction. Lenin, on the other hand, has a similar definition of the state as being bodies of armed men (Parkin, 2003, 13). In the definitions of both men, one overriding theme in the interpretation of the state is the monopoly of power. If a body of people can claim this monopoly and have legal backing, for example, through elections or constitutions, they will then have then the right to claim the state tag on them (Dunne, 1998, 124). Origin of societies, states and man The societies and states have their origin in the Homo Sapien Sapien. This is the modern man starting from the Cro-Magnon Man all the way to the current man. There are a number of evolutionary stages, three in number that led to the com plex societies that exist today (Buzan, 1992, 343). The first stage is the structure of consciousness emerging, which consists of the magical, the mythical, the deep consciousness, and the ego-focused mental consciousness. The second stage is that of the development of communication from development of speech, writing, print, wired and wireless, electronic and now internet, and the third stage is that of three evolutionary stages namely the â€Å"human revolution† causing emergence of the Homo Sapien Sapien, the agricultural revolution and the scientific plus industrial revolution (Banathy, 2000, 107). This article wishes to recognize the Genesis story in the bible and will continue to draw comparisons between the evolution story and the creation story. A lot of similarities will be drawn from the two stories. For example, the evolution of agriculture features on both stories. The creation story is based around this stage, for example, the statement in Genesis chapter 3 verse s 17-19 where man is cursed to tend to the ground so that it may produce food for him. This ground is cursed to produce weeds and thorns as per the need to punish man. The bible is replete with agricultural settings that enhance this argument. The same applies to print technology, which allows the ancient writers to preserve the various works of God and Jesus as they form the state of Israel. Though many may beg to differ with this article, the facts are that the two stories are more similar than they are different. Back to Banathy’s argument, there are six stages of the change to the current status of man. These stages are archaic sapiens at the bottom; the Cro-Magnon Man who comprises the first stage in Homo Sapien Sapien’s evolution, the next stage is that of agriculture/ancient Civilizations, the next stage is that, of scientific and industrial evolution, the next stage is emerging stage. The final stage comprises the consciousness, intellect and the way of life cl usters. It is not easy to quantify the actual origin of human society. Question that begs an answer is when exactly human society began. Early man was quite social. This is driven by the fact that evidence points to small groups coming together to hunt, gather fruits as well as protection. At