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Physical Activity and Healing through the Medicine Wheel
Lavallee, Lynn F.
Lavallee, Lynn F.
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n616041236.pdf
Adobe PDF, 215.69 KB
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Abstract
According to Wesley-Esquimaux and Smolewski (2004), Indigenous people have experienced unremitting trauma as a result of colonization. The unremitting trauma of colonization included physical disconnection with children being removed from families and communities; mental disconnection with forced assimilation, forbidding the use of Aboriginal languages; changes in political and social structures; emotional disconnection by enforcement of the stereotypical view of “savage Indians” needing assimilation; and spiritual disconnection by banning of Indigenous cultural ceremonies (Chansonneuve, 2005). Unremitting trauma has produced intergenerational “post-traumatic effects” demonstrated today in many Indigenous communities (Wesley- Esquimaux and Smolewski, 2004). Evidence of post-traumatic effects manifests among Indigenous communities throughout the world. For example, globally, Indigenous people experience higher rates of illness and death compared with non-Indigenous people (World Health Organization, 2001). The generational impact of colonial trauma and forced assimilation has been termed historic trauma transmission (HTT) (Wesley-Esquimaux and Smolewski, 2004). Historic trauma has removed many Indigenous people from their traditional values and beliefs. The maintenance of these values and beliefs is critical to good health. Although values and beliefs vary greatly across Indigenous nations there are many similarities; for example, many Aboriginal cultures approach health, wellness and healing through the “medicine wheel.” In the medicine wheel balance between all four spheres of humanity is required: the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual. This includes balance within ourselves, between other living things and Mother Earth (National Aboriginal Health Organization, 2005). An individual’s health and wellness is based on maintaining balance between the emotional, physical, mental and spiritual realms. Healing from trauma and grief includes re-establishing a balance between these four realms (Anishnawbe Health Clinic, 2006).
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2007
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With permission of the license/copyright holder