The Science of the Sacred: Bridging Global Indigenous Medicine Systems and Modern Scientific Principles

by Nicole Redvers

Indigenous naturopathic doctor Nicole Redvers pairs evidence-based research with traditional healing modalities, addressing modern health problems and medical processes

Modern medical science has finally caught up to what traditional healing systems have known for centuries. Many traditional healing techniques and medicines are often assumed to be archaic, outdated, or unscientific compared to modern Western medicine. Nicole Redvers, a naturopathic physician and member of the Deninu K'ue First Nation, analyzes modern Western medical practices using evidence-informed Indigenous healing practices and traditions from around the world--from sweat lodges and fermented foods to Ayurvedic doshas and meditation. Organized around various sciences, such as physics, genetics, and microbiology, the book explains the connection between traditional medicine and current research around epigenetics and quantum physics, for example, and includes over 600 citations. Redvers, who has traveled and worked with Indigenous groups around the world, shares the knowledge and teachings of health and wellness that have been passed down through the generations, tying this knowledge with current scientific advances. Knowing that the science backs up the traditional practice allows us to have earlier and more specific interventions that integrate age-old techniques with the advances in modern medicine and technology.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Indigenous, Health, Medicine, Spirituality, Self Help

296 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2019

About the author

Dr. Nicole Redvers, ND, MPH, DPhilc, is a member of the Deninu K’ue First Nation (NWT) and has worked with Indigenous patients, scholars, and communities around the globe her entire career. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and is a Western Research Chair and Director of Indigenous Planetary Health at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University. She has been actively involved at regional, national, and international levels promoting the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives in both human and planetary health research and practice.

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. It fell flat for me in a big way. I'm probably going to get flack because I'm a physician, but I am a pretty alternative one, and wanted to read this to see if I could broaden my horizons more. The issues I had with this book were not anything to do with discussion on traditional medicine techniques or history, but about how some of the science was portrayed and cited. A lot of claims are made by the author which are very poorly supported and even leaning into pseudoscience - not the information about traditional healing mind you, but a lot of what I would consider modern questionable correlations that have made herbal supplement producers a lot of money.

An example: the author makes an assertion that leaky gut is causing ME/CFS. I have a deep interest in chronic illnesses like this and I had never seen evidence of this claim, so I was curious to check her sources cited in the bibliography. The source directed me to a random chiropractor's office website and blog.

Whether or not this assertion ends up being true this kind of sloppiness calls into question the validity of other assertions present.

I will also say this writing is incredibly dense and inaccessible to people without a strong background in biology - I'd argue it'd be almost impossible to read and understand without undergrad training in the subject. That itself doesn't make the book bad, but it should be noted.

I do support her call to arms to invest time, resources and energy toward preserving Indigenous healing wisdom. I just wish it didn't come with the baggage the rest of her discussions brought.

[Elyse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not read the chapters in order of presentation, but rather in order of interest to me. The first two chapters weren’t really what I was interested in at the time so starting there would have been dry. Really well written, I found this book to discuss medical and traditional knowledge in a language that was quite accessible to me. The presentation of traditional knowledge being reintegrated into every facet of medical practice is the integral takeaway here. I’ve seen other reviews get nit picky about the scientific validity of examples used from the medical world, but I personally wasn’t reading the book for scientific solutions to issues so that thought is redundant. We all read from our own lens, and I know to think critically when receiving any information. The takeaway is that traditional practices and ideologies that have existed for centuries have answers for us in every realm of the mind and body, if we allow them to. I wish to learn more from Dr. Redvers and other practitioners revitalizing traditional ways. Well done.

[Heidi Gardner · Rating 2 out of 5]

So disappointed in this.
Parts of this book are interesting - using smell for disease diagnosis, forest bathing, etc etc.

What annoyed me was that the author refers to autism as a ‘mental health disorder’ throughout, and also discusses vaccines being linked to autism when we know this is not the case. The language is ableist, and discussion around ‘overweight’ and obesity as a disease is fatphobic.

I was also disappointed with the references cited - so many of them are crap, poor science and have no evidence behind them. The author also seems to contradict themselves throughout - if certain groups are so genetically linked that they should eat the same food, then what’s the point in the huge section on epigenetics and how the environment can change the genome?

I want to read more on the topic of indigenous medicine because I know it has value, but this book didn’t present it in a positive way at all.

[Savanna Basina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think a lot of the poor reviews come from physicians/medical individuals who want access to indigenous medicinal knowledge but without hearing it from a complete indigenous perspective. This book doesn’t have just the meat and potatoes, but forces the reader to understand and acknowledge where the meat and potatoes came from. I think intentions of this book are to broaden people’s ways of thinking when it comes to receiving medical care. Most people in western society DO feel brushed off. A diagnosis is given and prescription is written. If you came to read this wanting to prey on indigenous knowledge but then leave a bad review because it’s not spoon feeding you the herbal tinctures, energy healing magic you desperately want but also discredit it because it’s not what you were taught, then keep walking- don’t read this. For me, this was the best book I read all year.

[Nicholas Brink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review – The Science of the Sacred: Bridging Global Indigenous Medicine Systems and Modern Scientific Principles by Nicole Redvers, N.D., Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2019.
Dr. Nicole Redvers is Dene, a member of the Deninu K’ue Band of Canada and a doctor of naturopathy. She resides in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territory and is a cofounder and chair of the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation whose purpose is to revitalize traditional wellness services and to focus on the preservation of Traditional Medicines. It was her story that attracted me to review her book, The Science of the Sacred.
Redvers opens the book with a description of how we are composed of no more than vibrating energy. This is seen from the relatively recent discoveries of modern physics that everything when broken down to its source, i.e. broken down from the cell to the atom and then to the subatomic particles that when examined turn out to be only electromagnetic vibrations. Though this is a recent discovery in our world of contemporary medicine, it is something that most all indigenous societies from India, the orient, and other indigenous cultures have known since ancient times. These energy vibrations have been called by many names, e.g. in India the vibrating sound of Aum and in the orient the flowing energy Qi. These vibrations bring about healing as do the vibrations of drumming that exists in many indigenous cultures, drumming that has become important to me in my practice of ecstatic trance with its vibratory connection with all that is of the Earth.
Redvers carries this bridging journey from the physicist next to the geneticist, before carrying it on to other sciences the biochemistry, physiology, dietetics, microbiology, psychology, nature and astronomy. Beginning with Darwin and on to now with completion of the massive Human Genome Project along with the new understanding of epigenetics, modern genetics is catching up with the ancient understand of the indigenous medical traditions. The human genome is no longer considered stable or fixed but a genetic structure that is constantly changing within the individual, changes caused by the many environmental and chemical stimuli to the human body. Redvers uses as an example how trauma changes a person’s genes, changes that are then passed down from generation to generation, creating genetic predispositions that can resist the drugs used to treat the anxiety and depression caused by the original trauma, drugs that can make the treated problem even worse. Much genetic information is now available regarding an individual’s predispositions that when considered can be used to tailor make what the person needs. Again, the ancient medical systems that recognize and assess individual differences or characteristics have throughout the ages been more effective in offering what an individual needs than the global approach that is used now. Modern research has only recently found that these individual differences can be seen in the genetic patterns of the individual.
What is lacking in our contemporary medical system is a concern for the cause and purpose of a disease, aspects of the disease that are central in traditional medicine. Contemporary medicine focuses on the symptom, e.g. the cancer and its removal, but in doing so the purpose or cause is ignored with the likely return of the cancer as it calls out for remediation of the cause. The biochemistry involved in this process is very complex, yet in recognizing cancer as a metabolic disease there are metabolic/biochemical markers that can point to the cause. Traditional medicine systems have ways to diagnosis these diseases with sensitivity to purpose and cause before the symptoms develop by using such biochemical indicators as breath, body or urine odor, skin and tongue color, and breathing and pulse rate. My continued journey with prostate cancer might have been diagnosed by the odor of my urine more reliably or sooner than the PSA test. Though our current medical practitioners have lost the olfactory sensitivity to such odors there is considerable evidence that this sensitivity can be relearned as it is learned by the indigenous shamans and is now used by those involved in the wine and perfume industries.
Learning to control different physiological processes of the body that are believed to be out of conscious control is one way of traditional healing, whether through sweat baths, meditation, or breath control. Traditional medical ways have been developed over thousands of years through observation and experimentation without the double-blind placebo controlled research of modern western medicine. The traditional healer has ways of sensitively feeling variations in a person’s pulse/heart rate, assessing the pulse on 26 different dimensions. Observing respiratory and kidney functioning as well as digestive functioning enhances their skill in diagnosing illnesses in the individual. The sacred sweat lodge and sauna provide the cleansing of the many chemical toxins that have invaded the body and the rituals of these sweats increase spiritual and emotional wellness. Such sweats have been demonstrated to retard the proliferation of certain cancer cells, enhance other cells that can kill cancer cells, and enhance resistance to viral, bacterial and parasitic infections. Redvers presents much evidence for a person’s ability to learn to control heart rate, breathing rate, and brain waves through various forms of meditation. I can personally attest to this ability to control these physiological functions with my own 40 years experience with using hypnosis, biofeedback and more recently ecstatic/shamanic trance, i.e. trance induced by the vibrations of drumming.
People in our modern culture suffer with much more back, joint and muscle pain than do the people of traditional societies even though these traditional people typically carry heavy load on their back or head and walk much longer distances in a day’s time. Our hunched-over sedentary lifestyle is the culprit, and the medications prescribed for symptom relief again do not go to the cause. Traditional medicine practitioners advise to keep your joints moving and may place special smooth heated stones on the painful areas to sooth and relax. Some rocks like magnetite are mildly magnetic which may add to their effectiveness by aligning with the body’s natural magnetite, but more research is necessary to understand this. The most important factor is moving and working with a strong core and straight spine, a natural posture that in our modern culture has been unlearned. Traditional people did not sleep in soft beds with pillows, but slept on firm flat surfaces. Regarding foot pain our highly supportive shoes do not do us a favor. The traditional societies typically wore moccasins which are next to going barefoot as is becoming popular in some sporting events.
For generations the foods available from the land of a specific indigenous group have produced or caused genetic mutations such that their acceptable diet is different from that of other groups. Their diet also changes from season to season when they eat what is available during the season. But since the middle of last century with the infiltration of invading and migrating people and the marketing of processed and packaged “synthetic” foods that are easily available, the availability of their natural diet has diminished causing decreasing health and promoting new illnesses. Such governmental laws as the banning of hunting Caribou have added to this problem when replaced by fattier beef. With the detrimental effect of such changes in diet and health, the traditional elders and grandmothers are trying to find the right balance for a healthy diet between the new ways and returning to the old ways, many of which have been forgotten or are no longer possible because of the changes in the environment.
The stomach microbes or flora, both beneficial and pathogenic, are much more numerous in traditional people than for the people of non-traditional societies that eat primarily sterile process packaged foods. Also, when the stomach flora is destroyed by antibiotics the flora may not grow back as it should. Many infectious and autoimmune diseases are caused by an imbalance in stomach flora. Alterations of the gut microbe composition have also been shown to be related to such psychological disorders as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. One science commentator put it, “Americans’ digestive tracts look like barren deserts compared with the lush, tropical rainforests found inside Indigenous people.” The lack of beneficial stomach flora weakens the immune system. Fermented foods, probiotics and organically produced foods promote the growth of beneficial flora and aid in maintaining the healthy microbe balance.
Depression, anxiety and other mental health problems caused by the frequency of severe trauma occurring around the world is on the increase. But thinking that we can help by sending counselors creates problems when the counseling methods do not fit with the traditional culture. Opening up to a stranger in expressing emotional pain does not make sense when to them dancing, singing, spending time outdoors and giving comfort likely makes much more healing sense. In most traditional cultures hallucinations are seen as a sign of being gifted and likely lead the individual to becoming a shaman. For traditional society the elders used to have greater authority than now, but there is a movement to again place them in this place of higher authority. Traditional healing includes valuing and providing greater strength, showing love, praying, sharing, crying and laughter. In some societies psychedelic drugs have been used ceremonially but now should be used only with supervision and with great caution.
Another important source for healing a myriad of disorders is nature. Forest bathing is becoming popular in Japan. Walking among trees has been shown to increase the killer white blood cells that help fight infections and cancer, and decreased cortisol levels decreasing stress and blood pressure. Time in nature increases cognition, creativity, and empathy, and decreases hostility. Our ancestors spent 99.9% of their time in nature. Our airtight buildings with high levels of volatile organic compounds and without indoor plants or even windows to look out into trees have proven to be very unhealthy. Current deforestation by large scale cutting and forest fires has become a serious problem, whereas the indigenous fire-keeper knew how to use controlled fires to keep the forests healthy and productive for all life. The smoke of burning plants for smudging is also another source of healing to reduce aerial bacteria. We must work to recreate a relationship with nature to counter the great power that electronics and urban development currently has over our lives.
“The spirits of the universe placed Earth where it with respect to the sun that brings us night and day and the seasons of the year, and the moon that brings us the tides of the oceans. The stars have provided us with the atoms of which we are composed.” This is part of the litany I use in calling the spirits from the six directions in our ritual of inducing ecstatic trance, a shamanic form of trace that I practice, teach and write about. These spirits are appreciated by Nicole Redvers in her description of the influence of the cosmos on the human body and traditional societies, a spirit world or universal consciousness found in the belief of panpsychism. Research in quantum physics has shown that when attempting to measure characteristics of subatomic particles the particle becomes what is observed, i.e. what is observed is not independent of the observer, or the observer affects what is observed. The link of our mind with the cosmos can be observed when in a trance state. Trance transports us on our journeys through the universal consciousness or the world of the spirits. The Elders of Earth’s Traditional Societies have known how to access the thousands of years of collective knowledge, knowledge that is often passed down through myths or experienced when in the altered state of ecstatic trance. This collective knowledge is on the verge of extinction unless we relearn how to access it through altered states of consciousness.
The traditional medicine ways have existed for thousands of years, much longer than our western medical establishment, yet this western way of medicine puts itself above all others and devaluates them. What is dearly needed is open communication and open mindedness between all. Many traditional medicine elders acknowledge the advances made in modern medicine and recognize the benefits of an integration of the ancient and modern, and though some that practice the modern ways are starting to show some appreciation for what the ancient ways have to offer, there is a long ways to go. The elders that are familiar with the traditional ways are far and few between and time is running out for the ancient ways to be remembered.
The Science of the Sacred well provides the bridge between the ancient and modern, laying the groundwork for a healthy integration of both ways of medicine, a book that provides hope for the future.

[Shhhhh Ahhhhh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way too much going on in this book to summarize it effectively but, at the risk of being overly reductionist, this book is about the knowledge we lost through imperialism, what we're currently doing to get it back and what more is available to learn there.

This isn't a primer. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone not already familiar with many of the ideas independently because I wouldn't expect them to believe it. As an aggregate, if the ideas presented are novel, it borders on the unbelievable. Who will believe that ancient peoples had more effective treatments for anxiety, depression, and psychosis than we do today? Who would believe that they were more effective at managing forest fires than we are? Who would believe that oral traditions encode real historical events stretching back tens to hundreds of thousands of years? Who would believe that yogis reach out to infinity and touch interdimensional truth or that ancient mythology bears any relationship with quantum physics? Only someone who already read The Teachings of Don Juan. Only someone who already read The World Until yesterday. Only someone who has already read Ishmael. Only someone who has read Who We Are And How We Got Here. Only someone who has read When They Severed Earth From Sky. So, if you're reading my review and questioning whether you should pick this up, I recommend picking up all of those other books first, and maybe also Thinking in Systems.

Here are some of the novel points that grabbed me from this book.

Ailments of the body and mind should be treated as a whole-person phenomena. Not a whole body phenomena, buying into the cartesian-newtonian philosophy of health as mechanical and as health treatments as divisible into their most effective components but truly holistically. This means understanding the ways that trauma can impact health and working with it as the root, the root to methylation issues in the genes, the root of organ dysfunction, the root of the things that cause the things that make us sick.

Further, it is a fundamental misunderstanding of the human as a phenomena that occurs on a single level of abstraction (that of physio-electro-chemical reality) rather than a thing that defies those sorts of borders. Through understanding humans as meat puppets animated by sparks, we have missed the point and closed ourselves off to effective treatments for illness and, importantly, effective ways of living life and ending it as well. We view ourselves as electric meat puppets, so we don't care what happens to other animals despite the fact that their flesh becomes our flesh when we eat it. Does their stress become our stress? Does their pain become our pain? We kill trees without blinking an eye.

Trees that we are in a directly symbiotic relationship with and which we depend on, desperately, for our health. We cover the ground in concrete, not realizing that our feet are not meat wrapped in bone but have an adaptive and responsive relationship with the ground. We treat the pulse as a meter, a sign the ticker is still working, without understanding it as deeply informational signal, and thus we do not interpret our own fingers as signal receptors despite knowing how dense and fine the receptors there are.

We view ourselves as individuals, so we dismiss collective solutions to what occurs to us as individual problems. We say a person has an alcohol problem, not a family has a connection problem that results in one family member using alcohol to cope, yet addiction counselors know that if you try to treat addiction as an individual issue, a personal sin, it will recur. We are not individuals. We are not meat puppets. We are not separate. We are a part of a natural whole. When we do not acknowledge that, when we fail to account for that, when we see ourselves as fundamentally different from and outside of that, terrible things happen to everyone and everything in that system.

We do not understand. if there is anything I am taking away from this book, it is that we truly and deeply do not understand an that our seemingly earnest attempts to help often lead to profound and lasting harm (residential schools mentioned in the book are but one example of what Nassim Nicholas Taleb would call 'naive interventionalism').

I don't know how much longer we'll last like this.

[Selina Streahorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully well written book. Should be read by everyone. It would help those who are trying to understand proper reconciliation motivations moving forward and the concepts westerners clearly don't understand. Thoroughly enjoyed it and will be recommending it to many others now too.

[Jaime M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hi, after reading some of the reviews, I got a bit worried about what I was going to find in the book. I can confirm what others have written about in terms of the author’s research not being completely sound. I felt like some of the aspects to health and wellness were extremely relevant and pan-Indigenous (which is fine), though I wish that was explicit from the beginning that the joinery would wind that way. I recently read a book called “FireWater” and I spend 30 minutes listening to the credits because I was aware of the research he spoke of but also there were some valuable ones I hadn’t read before. That to say; she could have totally spent more time connecting her theories to credible sources.
I like hearing about other Indigenous Peoples’ practises around healing and wellness because it helps inform me of what else is going on in the world. I think this book could be paired with a book called The Eagle’s Cry about a Cree Healer which is a practical account of Indigenous and Western medicine being practised in the two-eyed seeing practise: the term two eyed seeing was coined by a MiKma’q elder and is understood by Indigenous people around the world.
In any case, about this book: I think all the right things are there, it just needed to be organized with a clearer narrative to connect the ideas and concepts together.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in a warm and caring manner, I enjoyed aspects of this book. Although to me, it seemed to be too far-reaching and the chapters skipped around to various indigenous peoples throughout the world, often with the danger that they sometimes seem to be lumped into one "Indigenous" culture.

Some interesting factoids and observations from the author, and I actually liked her epilogue where she told her amazing family story, as one of the best parts of the book.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can be dry if you aren’t interested in medical and research topics. The end chapter was my favorite and hit home for me. But I loved how the chapters are linked with western medicine science. I could relate that much easier, being brought up and studying western medicine in school, but understanding that some things are inexplicable with nursing background made complete sense to me.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! All health care professionals should read this book

[Clivemichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dry to start but tied together comprehensively. Timely knowledge worth understanding

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

PCT-W read #5

First couple chapters had me doubting what this book was gonna be about but the second half in particular explored curiosities in a way that filled me with optimism

[Benja · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really appreciated this book but it is very science-y and a lot went over my head... lol

[Dorette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Redvers writing extends 'holistic' method to include indigenous medicine not usually considered in current common use of the term. I am not in the medical profession so did not always follow her research and analysis but one could given the extensive end notes. She find commonality among ancient indigenous practices and offerings. She expressed grave concern about the important knowledge being lost as key elders are aging out.