Native Foods and Healing Ways

Salmon promotes a healthy heart.

Clarke said science confirms that sweats are among the most beneficial practices for good health. Sweats rid the body of salt and also of hormones such as adrenalin, which results in the "flight or fight" and fear response.

Adrenalin makes the heart beat faster and blood sugar rise. When the body is cleansed during the sweat, body processes normally decline, such as blood pressure, pulse rate and breathing. When the body is cleansed, the mind can think clearly and profoundly.

"It allows individuals to tap into their inner core and make contact with the Supreme Being," Clarke said, during his research in the 1980s. "The mind does the thinking and reasoning, the spirit is our claim to immortality."

While most people are aware of the body's need for oxygen and food, fewer people realize the spirit's need for meditation, he said. Unless the needs of the body, mind and spirit are met - there is an imbalance. The mind needs discipline, knowledge, freedom and security. The spirit needs self-worth, belonging, faith and fun.

Clarke said modern medicine has finally discovered the concept of faith. Research concludes that patients must have faith in the healer, the procedure and themselves to be healed. Among the most profound scientific proof of the healing force of traditional ways, is the effect of the chant, drum and rattle.

Clarke said the rhythmic beat of a rattle or drum affects the body. The heart rate, speed of circulation and brain waves are actually changed by the rhythmic beat that accompanies chants. The beats slow the inner rhythms of the body and make clear thinking or meditation possible.

Research scientists have proven that drum beat or rhythm leads the brain to deeper alpha waves and makes more profound thought possible for thinking and learning. A medicine man is a true practitioner of holistic health, because he treats the body, mind and spirit, he said.

Clarke said modern medical doctors are usually only the equivalent of a traditional herbalist, a person who treats only the body.