For those we refer to as native peoples, everything is connected: nature and health, symbols and nature… without this connection, we get sick or lose our minds. Journalist Frederika Van Ingen’s wonderful research has provided us with a thorough book, opening doors to a new understanding of illness, healing shamanism… She attempts to shed light on how we can build bridges between modern and traditional societies.– Psychologies Magazine.

When it comes to our health and our connection to ourselves and the world around us native peoples have a lot to teach us: Catawba shamans, Kogi medicine men and Massai healers explain their ancestral knowledge…

For the North American Lakotas, Colombian Kagabas, Tibetan Amchis, Amazon Quechuas and many other native peoples, good health rhymes with a balance. According to the shaman, medicine man or healer, illness is a symptom of an imbalance that goes beyond the individual’s body.

This viewpoint changes everything: our bodies are cells making up the world, our societies its organs and our mental and physical pain are signs of the illness living among us.

Frederika Van Ingen looks into the ways these health professionals use their knowledge to heal wounds, often with surprising success. Sweat lodges, plant-based diets, sand painting, shamanism, trance, ritual, offerings, symbols, tales, myths, song, dance and arts: as nebulous as they can seem at first, can act is true catalysts for universal change.