When I was out in California at Spirit Weavers Gathering this Spring, I learned about 3 medical models. There is the ‘Wise Woman Way,’ the ‘Heroic’ model, and the ‘Scientific’ model.
These three traditions of healing have different values in relation to about 25 or so subjects – this chart explains each of them as a symbol (for example Scientific world view is linear, heroic is round, Wise Woman, a spiral), and showcases the different perspectives on the role of the healer, the body, the disease or imbalance, treatments, and many more. I have taken a photo of it, so you can see what I mean:
There are a few ways that I feel Ayurveda falls into the ‘Heroic’ category too often. For example, check out the lines “Healer says’ and ‘Disease’ and’Body view.’ Lots of cleansing, purging, viewing body as dirty. Now, I totally agree and have felt that cleansing is important to healing. So I’m not saying that is ‘wrong.’ It’s more the view, the approach. The subtle difference is how we talk about our bodies and our imbalances. What I love most about the Wise Woman approach to medicine is that it is the most empowering of the client or patient or individual.
I have felt this sort of “heroic’ energy in Ayurveda before – especially earlier on in my practice. This is also what discouraged me from thinking I could help any one – as many of us do, we undermine the knowledge we do have. I, and my colleagues, was asking ‘Who am I to heal someone?’ ‘How can I help someone with an advanced disease?’ These turned out to be the wrong questions, and all it really takes is a shift in perspective.
What I have come to realize over my first 5 years of practice is that I have adopted the Wise Woman way of sharing Ayurveda – I am not the healer, or the hero. I help people find that in themselves, by showing them the patterns in nature. The patterns that Ayurveda outlines quite nicely.
I am offering my 10 week course, The Healing Diet, for the third time now. And I am not ashamed, nor afraid, to shout it from the rooftops. Each time, I believe in this way of sharing the knowledge, the information, more and more. Each time I am able to sit even farther back, and just watch the Ayurveda, the Ayurvidya, speak and flow through my work and my words.
You’re here because you believe in natural ways of healing and well being. Do you have the tools? Are you able to practice that believe, to live it to feel what healing feels like in your body? I find that even the believers don’t have the right tools, even if they have the knowledge. And that’s who this course is for. Whether you have digestive troubles, or other aches, pains, and imbalances, or not.
And even so, if you are the lucky one who has the right tools, come in and get the incentive, the support, the guidance, in a community that shares your values. Needing support is human. Community is what makes us human.
In The Healing Diet we embody what we learn. It’s not just adding to our already full headspace. Come in. Do. Be.
I’ve extended the Early registration pricing one week because I wanted to get this out to you earlier, but alas, new baby demands more ebb and flow.
Thanks for being here. I look forward to living and learning with you this year.
PS: Judi was kind enough to share her experience in The Healing Diet – she joined us last Spring, put in good effort, and was a successful member! Thank you, Judi! See you in our THD continuum program.
Love,