Dear Friends, Colleagues and BCA Community,
Thank you everyone for your support and donations towards my recent trip to Navajo Lands to aid in the current pandemic through Traditional Chinese Medicine. Through your donations, I was able to get masks, gloves and other supplies to 4 Medicine People so that they can be protected as they continue their work. I was also able to provide substantial preventive and first stage treatment in the form of herbs and supplements to 3 separate elders to distribute within their communities. And I was equipped best I could with raw herbal formulations and instruments to treat the current family that I am working with who are in the more advanced stages of the virus. Perhaps most importantly, I was supported and emboldened in my work by my connection to you, my community, in all forms, through prayer, donations and positive regard.
For TCM practitioners, you know that our medicine, especially here in the US, is not cut out to be emergency medicine. It’s best suited for prevention and early stages. Yet even then, it can play a strong role in inhibiting the virus, blocking the infection, regulating the immune response, cutting off the inflammatory response and promoting the repair of the body. With TCM’s tool set of herbs and acupuncture, the best practice requires differential diagnosis, ongoing care, supervision and raw herbs. I knew I would not be able to provide the optimal care of standard practice to the treatment of the family with only 4 days in Navajo country. There would be further difficulties like treating in full PPE, no tongue diagnosis through a mask and pulse is sketchy through double layered gloves. With distributing preventive and first stage herbs, there would be the obstacle of making sure clear instructions are communicated as well as encouraging patient compliance. Even with our own patients who are familiar with the medicine and with full access to herbs, compliance is an issue.
It was a huge task before me and I had to take some time to meditate upon Medicine and Healing in the biggest sense, not limited to our fears and desired outcome. I had to remind myself that our medicine is one in support of Life, not really the prevention of death. That is modern medicine’s realm.
What does it mean when a Medicine is in support of Life? To understand what that means, it is crucial we understand what Life is--what is this existence that we are gifted with? Perhaps this is the contemplation that many of us are confronting as we navigate this era of uncertainty wherein death and disease are front and center in our collective consciousness. Perhaps we are figuring out for ourselves what is important to us, what our Life is for and how to cultivate that life.
To understand what that means, it is crucial we understand what Life is--what is this existence that we are gifted with? Perhaps this is the contemplation that many of us are confronting as we navigate this era of uncertainty wherein death and disease are front and center in our collective consciousness. Perhaps we are figuring out for ourselves what is important to us, what our Life is for and how to cultivate that life.
My work with the Navajo community began with a chance meeting with former Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation Robert Yazzie. He attended a talk I gave on TCM as a medicine that rests on a different outlook and understanding of Life than modern medicine. TCM rests on a worldview of connection and relationship, harmony and balance. What I spoke about in that talk resonated with his Navajo worldview of Life and Peacekeeping and a friendship developed as we continued the conversation through long phone calls, visits and medicine exchange. We understood and recognized that our work rests upon the same Truths. Through him I developed other relationships in the community where this mutual recognition is supported. The relationships themselves give life to the Medicine.
I understood early on that what I was attempting to bring to Navajo country would not be effective if I didn’t go deep enough into the medicine to discover a common root that respected Life in both traditions. The common root is the affirmation of Medicine as connected to all our Relations on earth (human, plant, animal) to Nature and to spirit and to the Creator. In the worldview that TCM rests on, we acknowledge this as the Tao. Living in harmony with all these things is what is healthy. A disconnect from these relationships can weaken us and make us susceptible to illness and disease. Medicine therefore is a restoration of sacred connection. To understand fully all our connections, we must step back from putting our personal selves front and center in this picture. We are just one small part in the miraculous universe, like the ancient Chinese landscapes where the human beings are small specks within the majesty of Nature. small and great in our inseparable connection to all that is. We do our work from this place, our small efforts in understanding our great connections.
There is a growing disconnect in modern times that calls for the restoration of our greatness through our Connection to one another and all that is. Through our small acts, may each of us one by one, rebuild and restore the lifeline to Oneness with one another. If we give medicine without understanding that connection and the inseparable connection between who we are and what we give and who we are giving to, then it will be ineffective. At best, it may prolong a life of disconnection for a little while, but it can’t restore the true essence of Life itself. If, however, we bring to what we do this understanding of Connection and Love, then even if life is lost, Love and Connection flourishes for all of us. In that sense, we all must become the Medicine in our lives for the people and relations we are connected to.
And so when I bring Traditional Chinese Medicine to the Navajo people, for it to be effective, I must bring it with prayer and Connection. I must acknowledge all the hearts and prayers and people who infused it with a desire to restore Healing (you). I must acknowledge the plants that offer their very beingness for the medicine and I must acknowledge the sun and the rain that grew those plants. And most of all I must give praise and acknowledge the Divine Great Mystery, the Tao, the Creator that orchestrated all this, that connected me to you and to all the wonder of this Life and I must Trust in that orchestration to be Perfect and Complete. When we do this, Medicine in whatever form we may bring to our communities will take root. It may take time but I know TCM will take root in Navajo Nation for the benefit of the people as what is there is already taking root inside me.
In Community,
