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www.shamansociety.org 27 devil worship. However what has survived in pockets around the country along with Zuni and Navajo healing and bone- setting is Cherokee bodywork which was surely similar to Shawnee practices since they were neighboring tribes in Vir- ginia. Cherokee Bodywork today is practiced and taught by Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona MD PhD of Cherokee and Lakota heri- tage professor at a number of colleges and universities most recently Dartmouth Maine medical researcher and author of many books including Coyote Medicine. His thesis along with some of his colleagues is that Dr. Still learned much of what would become Osteopathy during his years assisting his father in his medical duties among the Shawnee. Dr. Mehl-Madrona who is seeking to honor and preserve Cherokee Bodywork came to this conclusion after experiencing and seeing the many similarities between Cherokee Bodywork and Osteopathy. Interestingly this would indicate that the origins of both Craniosacral and Polarity therapy also lie in traditional American Indian bodywork since both Dr. William Garner Sullivan DO 1873-1954 the originator of Cranial Osteopa- thy the foundation for todays Craniosacral therapy and Dr. Randolph Stone DO DC ND 1890-1981 the originator of Polarity therapy were Andrew Taylor Stills students. Cherokee bodyworkers reports Mehl-Madrona who learned the method from two traditional Cherokee women are masters at working with energy and the breath and they also move cranial bones seeking the ridges albeit with more force than Craniosacral practitioners. They do this along with osteopathic-like massage and manipulation of musculoskeletal tissues organs and joints as well as acupressure on points and energy channels that in fact correspond to the meridians. They combine all this with gentle rocking and with narrative healing both verbal and energetic using story telling and dialogue with the musculo- skeletal system and with the client and intense breathwork to restore spirit to all parts of the body when giving treatments that they commonly refer to as doctoring. There is in addition a very important spiritual component to Cherokee Bodywork which can appear as elements of tra- ditional ritual and ceremony which might mean using smoke offering herbs such as sweet grass cedar sage and tobacco feathers crystals imagery and intent to move energy and work with the spirit world or prayer. Interestingly in addition to the physical bodywork that Osteopaths do Dr. Mehl-Madrona has found one more similarity between Osteopaths and traditional American Indian bodyworkers many Osteopaths although they dont normally talk about it publicly like the Cherokees and other American Indians converse with guides and other spirit beings and use dialogue and intent during their practice. And both Polarity and Craniosacral therapists are known to do the same. Widely-recognized Biodynamic Craniosacral and Polarity teacher Franklyn Sills in one of his training books describes the parallels between shamanistic or traditional healing and Craniosacral therapy Shamanism is a healing tradition found in almost all ancient and primitive cultures. It recognizes a divine ordering principle at work in the universe and spiritual roots of creation. The work we do in craniosacral biodynamics has direct sha- manistic resonances. We orient to deeper forces at work and to ordering principles that are not made by human hands.11 Sills goes on to talk about the striking similarity of ap- proach among very diverse cultures including Navajo shamanistic healing and soul retrieval in classic cultures.12 Likewise in the companion article to this Craniosacral and Po- larity instructor Gary Strauss talks about the similarities in his work with shamanistic practices. I say isnt it a sweet irony or poetic justice rather that we apparently owe Osteopathic Medicine Polarity and Cra- niosacral therapy to the original inhabitants of this land the American Indians And isnt it time that we give them the credit due and that we help them restore their spiritual healing traditions to their rightful place in Americas healthcare system We can do this both by supporting traditional healers in their work and by honoring their systemslearning and practicing them so as to make their healing methods more available. In this way as was done with traditional practices such as Chinese medicine we can follow in Lewis Mehl-Madronas footsteps helping to bring about the inclusion of American-Indian or Native American traditional healing practices into mainstream integrative medical services. AUTHORS NOTE Although the word shaman origi- nally came from the Siberian Tungusic Evenki language it now has a far wider and more generic meaning working or mediating between the invisible and visible worlds or between the physical and spirit worlds to effect changehopefully beneficial in health or other. It is in this sense that I use the term. Endnotes 1 Mehl-Madrona MD PhD Lewis. One Road Many Branches. A Journal of Contemporary Shamanism. Vol. 7 2 Fall 2014 p. 32. 2 Booth PhD DO E.R. 1906 History of Osteopathy pp. 2-4. Stills ancestors bloody encounters with the Shawnee in Virginia httpwww.mcmillinmedia.comeamtfilesbooth chapter01.htm 3 Paulus DO MS Steve. Andrew Taylor Still 1828-1917 A Life Chronology of the First Osteopath pp. 1-4. httposteopathichistory.compagesside2LifeChronology. htmlAnchor-11481 4 Andrew Taylor Still. KansasBogusLegislature.org p. 1. httpkansasboguslegislature.orgfreestill_a_t.html 5 Andrew Taylor Still. Pulpdiddys Place p. 1. httpwww.pulpdiddyspermutations.com20140910 andrew-taylor-still-8