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The Dancing Healers

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This is a great read for anyone in the helping professions. I am a Social Worker, and I enjoyed this book. It shows us that we need to be able to help ourselves, before we can help anyone else.

A worthwhile read!

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Everyone has a journey. Living the journey is important but one learns in reading The Dancing Healers by psychiatrist Carl Hammerschlag that the sharing of the journey can be equally as important. He shares personal stories and stories of those Native Americans who taught him his knowledge of life and healing. This is an opportunity to see the physical and spiritual life from another's perspective, and it contributes to a greater understanding of different life views.

Following medical school, Hammerschlag chose to serve New Mexico's Native American population rather than serving in Viet Nam, and later he continued this service in Arizona. It was through this 20-year immersion in the Native American culture that Hammerschlag, a Jew, learned the difference between healing and curing-and reconciled his own issues as a member of an oppressed people.

If Hammerschlag came to "Indian country" a naïve young physician, he soon learned to listen to those who knew more than he did. He also learned to serve his patients in the places they frequented-bars, street corners and barbershops because people talked more easily in those places. He sharpened his listening skills, understood the value of "the doing, not talking," began to understand prejudice (including his own), and experienced the give and take of forgiveness and compassion. And he learned that if he was to survive in Indian country, he'd have to learn how to deal with his own anger and that of his patients.

Hammerschlag's experience is a loving, thoughtful and respectful view of the Native American culture. We might all do better to listen more; "do rather than talk"; respect others and learn from them; and be quick to give love and forgiveness in equal parts.

The Dancing Healers is a thought-provoking view of one man's life. Read it with an open mind and learn and apply the concepts to your own life.

A "dancing," but limited, introduction

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--The author is a psychiatrist with apparently excellent credentials, and the book is an interesting, easily read introduction to the art of Native American Healing. He uses several case studies from his own experience to illustrate how "healing" differs from "curing." "Healing" involves creating a healthy attitude toward the person's pain or loss, while "curing" tries to end the person's disease (as in the Western medical model). Healing is a dance; curing is a technique. Both demand training and intuition, and they work best when they work together (and hopefully they will work; the Native American health system needs help). These points seem simple but worthwhile.
-- He also gives a good idea how Native Americans are faring, in an exhaustingly unhealthy situation. The third or fourth world exists here in the USA, on nearly any Reservation, and is likely to be here for some time. Speaking of which, the author also gives a good perspective on ethnic prejudice -- after being stereotyped as just another pushy white transient Reservation doctor, he quickly developed a better understanding of prejudice, forgiveness, and compassion. He also improved his listening skills!
--I hope we don't expect too much from any charming and appealing concept like "dancing healing," or we may become disappointed. People have ignored the wisdom of "curers" to live a responsible and healthy lifestyle, and they are also likely to ignore the wisdom of "healers," which can be pretty disappointing for the "healers." The "dancing" described by the author is very difficult to qualify or compare, it is vulnerable to shallow understanding, and it depends greatly on charisma -- and charismatic leaders often turn very bad, very quickly. Like many others who sort of slam Western medicine, the author conveys a poor understanding of the scientific method or evidence-based medicine (perhaps we should focus attention on interesting more Native Americans in the sciences, which is a tradition universal to all of humanity. Science is, at least in large part, a method rather than a culture and if Judaism and Christianity can be compatible with science, so can Native American traditions. It's a safe bet that without an appreciation of, and education in science, conditions on the Reservations won't improve much). The author seems to highlight the worst cases of Western medicine in his apologia, and seems to imply that Western medicine is responsible for alcoholism, diabetes, and the other conditions leading to the deplorable state of much of our health system. This ignores the vast benefits medicine has given to nearly every person on this planet. I certainly hope "dancing healing" works well; I'm just saying I would be realistic with my expectations.
-- The author alludes to several technical papers he has written, and a bibliography would have been helpful. The reader may want to look into L. Irwin's "Native American Spirituality" and "Dream Seekers" (with V. DeLoria), and may want to examine Drs. B. Lown and R. Remen for other physicians who want to heal as well as cure.

In short, this is an eminently readable book. It's brief and informative, it's interesting and enjoyable, and it seems positive. It's a good introduction; I wish the author well with his work and his dance, and wish those who seek to improve the health of Native America well with theirs.

Don't Give a Person Who Can't Dance a Stethoscope

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"All stories speak to each of us. Understanding this connection is crucial if we're to be able to live together and to live with ourselves. We must learn to feel how other people connect to one another and to the universe." (Preface)

After completing his internship, Hammerschlag joined the Indian Health Service and began a personal and professional journey in the Southwest. Although he thought he was bringing his healing skills to impoverished people who would be grateful for his gifts, he had no conscious clue that he had chosen a place for his own healing.

Weaving together stories of the brutal destruction of Native American culture by the "White Man" with vignettes and reflections, Hammerschlag suggests a paradigm that goes beyond Western medicine, pronouncing that true healing is impossible without a connection to community, to spirit, and to the land. He compares the work of his mentors, Milton Erickson and Eric Fromm, with Native American healing and spiritual traditions. His journey led him to discover that the keys to healing are to be found, not in some magical external repository, but within the patient her/himself:

"Patients are the principal agents in their lives, and as much as they want to be well, they want peace and understanding." (p. 137)

"All of us have the keys to our own enlightenment. The therapist uses whatever symbols mean something to that patient. Patients already have the answers to their questions. As the therapist listens to the problem, the patient will also tell the solution." (p. 140)

An excellent book, full of powerful stories and brilliant reflections. A must read for anybody interested in personal growth, in helping others, or in the healing process. Details about the abuse of Native Americans may prompt even the most detached narcissists into caring action.

(If you'd like to discuss this book or review in more detail, please click on the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)

Brilliant, must read.

Customer Rating:
Dr. Hammerschlag weaves his journey of healing with insightful stories and personal anecdotes. This book shares his experiences he had working in medicine and psychiatry among Native Americans of the Southwest. It is a description of his growth as a healer. "Dancing Healers" encourages everyone to look at anything and everything that can promote better health in ourselves. The examples of healing ceremonies and rituals, promote a holistic approach to medicine. It is not meant to replace "Western Medicine" but to be used in conjunction with it to achieve complete healing. "Dancing Healers" above all else offers hope. The reader walks away from the book with a renewed or altered sense of spirituality. I found Dr. Hammerschlag's storytelling compelling. Once started, it is impossible to put down. It was so riveting, I read the entire book in one night. ALSO RECOMMENDED: Dr. Hammerschlag's "The Theft of the Spirit"