Aside from clinical skills and didactic learning what I least expected was my deep and profound interest in traditional medicine and healing practices. Even though I grew up on the boarder edge of my reservation our Navajo traditional healing practices have always been apart of my life. However, while growing up specific prayers and taboos were never clearly explained to me and it is only recently that I have taken an interest in the meanings behind what the elders having been telling me for years. I am happy to say that while at the tender age of 12 my mother made it a priority for me to have my Kinaaldá or Navajo puberty ceremony. This ceremony is a representation of Changing Women and signifies a young girls transformation from childhood into womenhood. Changing Women, the most honored of all Navajo Holy people, was the first women to undergo this ceremony. I didn't know it then, but this ceremony was a milestone for me and I still have memories of that night. The memories from that night I hold dear to my heart and I hope to one day have a Kinaaldá for my daughter. Each prayer and song in this ceremony have proven to provide strength in my ability to be a mother and to give justice to the essence of womanhood. I feel to deny my daughter the same opportunity for a life long foundation would mean that I am not carrying on my duty as a woman.
On my way to becoming a mother I experienced a very personal loss of three babies. My losses occurred early in pregnancy, but never the less they were a loss. After the third loss, I decided that I needed healing from a medicine man. He was able to restore balance and harmony within my womb by a ceremony called "Blessingway." This ceremony combines positive, beauty and goodness concepts within a person. Traditional health has a belief and understanding that any specific health problem doesn't only have outward physical manifestations, it can take form in other ways. We have an understanding that one must have proper conduct to have a relationship with all in ones environment. Our thoughts, prayers, and mannerisms effect more than just ourselves, it can affect an unborn child and our family relations.
It is hard for me to say when my interest was sparked and a deeper realization of what my future would entail was revealed. I find comfort in that I am being guided by a force bigger than myself and that certain individuals have been placed in my life to mentor me on my journey. I find it even more interesting that those special women are related to me by my clan and have been my auntie and grandmother long before I new them. Perhaps a predestined relationship that only could be reveled to me now that I am in a place to receive knowledge.
With each step I take towards my future my desire and interest grows stronger in returning to my traditional ways so that I may have it within myself to help convey this way of life to families I care for. This realization is a big surprise to me and yet it feels like this was my path all along. Who knew I had it in me to be this person?
