Medicine Man
I was a medical doctor and surgeon with a successful practice for forty years. I often provided volunteer medical service to Native American communities and Mexican migrant farmworkers in Southern California and Arizona. These underserved groups often displayed amplified problems compared to patients within my daily practice. My frustrations grew year after year with simply treating symptoms and not getting to the core of the problems. It was seeming like much time was spent attempting to educate patients how to lead a healthier lifestyle. As a result, I eventually shifted my focus to a more preventative approach.
I realized that for thousands of years many tribal nations had their own healers, spiritual leaders, midwifes, herbal specialists, and ceremonial practitioners. There was never one universal Native American “medicine man”. It is now recognized that Indigenous traditional healing has existed “since time immemorial”.
The so-called medicine men did not disappear with the advent of modern medicine but rather went through a period of suppression and replacement, especially during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Traditional medicine, religion, and ceremonies were prohibited. Federal policy became less hostile mid-century. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 formally protects Native people’s right to practice traditional religions and ceremonies.
In general, my bulk of knowledge related to pharmaceutical prescriptions. I felt that I had a good basic understanding of natural products but certainly required a deeper dive into a natural health balance and potential treatment. I researched and studied everything I could on the natural healing world. This included attempting to learn as much as possible about traditions passed on for centuries from one Indigenous healer to another. I had the good fortune to meet such a person who was aligned with Washington’s Columbia river valley region. He spoke emphatically about the benefits of the Tawtnuck Apan mushroom. We developed a mutual admiration for one another. I greatly embraced his knowledge, while he was thankful that I was looking back to preserve tradition.
Over the last fifteen years I have been fully dedicated to assisting people in a more natural approach to physical and spiritual well- being. I have done this on a personal and business consulting level. I am now a recognized and sanctioned medicine man under the name Many Irons Healing. I do not claim Native American ancestry and am simply imparting knowledge from the past in terms of natural health and my medical experience. I chose Many Irons Healing as an identity because it covers the basics of all the varied tribes in history. One must address their physical, emotional and spiritual balance for true health.
I consult with my friends at Mederiorganics and will continue to write blogs that share any information I may have to impart. Their website connects directly to PubMed so you can read medical peer reviewed articles on any or all their ingredients. These posts are not meant to prescribe, but simply to give you a perspective to make your individual choices.
Many Irons Healing
