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Native American medicine is a complete system that addresses both healing and cure. Health requires balance in every sphere of one's life, from the most personal inner world to lifestyle and social connections. Native medicine places the roots of any imbalance in the world of spirit. Spiritual interventions are thus seen as critical to the success of any treatment plan. There are many ways to restore balance, and it is understood that each healer will have her own perspective drawn from her unique set of skills and life experience. Someone in need of healing looks for a practitioner who has been successful in similar situations.
Native American understanding of harmonious balance is highly sophisticated. It demands that a unique treatment plan be designed to match the uniqueness of each case. From the Native American perspective, standardized practices, including even standardized fees, do not address the individual's needs and therefore compromise the integrity and power of the treatment. Although it is understood that the healing process is an exchange and involves a fee, native healers are proscribed from ever setting prices for their work. Native healers are aware that treatments are most effective when the patient is a deeply engaged participant. The process of negotiating a fee is often the beginning of the healing process.
The healing elder is the culture's primary access to healing power. In a system without technology and standardized practice, the responsibility for treatment failure falls squarely on the practitioner. There is simply no one else to blame. A practitioner who has too many failures loses the reputation as a powerful healer. Thus the medicine person is careful to evaluate each situation carefully, only accepting those cases he feels confident he can help. He makes subtle assessments of the patient, knowing that subjective factors such as readiness to heal, value placed on treatment, and strength of will are powerful determiners of outcome.
The client assesses his situation, makes an offer to the medicine practitioner, and waits to see if it is accepted. Negotiations are never carried out face to face. The client might leave an offering outside the healer's door. If it is still there in the morning, the healer has not accepted the case. The patient can go elsewhere or make another offering. Once the healer and patient come to an agreement, treatment may start with a behavioral prescription to strengthen the client's commitment, such as performing a selfless act, making amends with an estranged family member, or climbing a sacred mountain. The hierarchy of interventions chosen depends on the healer, the family, and the situation. Native healers choose the simplest interventions judged effective for a specific situation. Techniques commonly recommended include self-inquiry to identify what needs to be changed, lifestyle modification, herbs (echinacea, goldenseal, burdock root, sage, among others), prayer, various types of massage, and ceremonies such as sweat lodge and vision quest.
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