We want to put good things into our bodies while protecting it from the things that can harm it. Diet and nutrition are an important element. Because this new life is a beginning, the earthly journey has its start in the east.įirst, there is the need to feed and nourish the body so that it has everything it needs to perform at its optimum capacity. When a child is born, he enters the first of four phases in the growth cycle: infant, child, adult and elder. Just as the sun rises in the east signaling the beginning of a new day, of new life, or of a new cycle – so, too, do we put “new beginnings” in the east on the Medicine Wheel. Like a father, the sun provides for us and gives us heat and light – and works with mother to provide food for us. The sun is our father in the same way that the earth is our mother. The importance given to the sun by Indian people is marked by the reverence they show it. The sun is a life-giving source that is central to all life on the earth. These represent the social and occupational aspects of our well-being. We will also discuss the two other directions – above and below. Our focus will be on the four bodies and their interconnectedness to health. When you work with this knowledge and place your footsteps in harmony with this ancient wisdom, you will find power! Such is our health – physical, spiritual, mental and emotional. The spirit returns to the spiritual realm.Īll things are related and all things work together. ![]() Indians believe that when the spirit leaves the body that it goes into the west. You may have heard reference to the “twilight years” or maybe you have heard the term “the sun setting on your life”. Just as the sun rises in the east to provide for our physical needs and then turns into twilight as it slips into the west, so, too, can you think and be reminded of the spiritual connection to the west. We need its light, its warmth and its energy to physically survive. ![]() To remember the east (physical) and the west (spiritual), just remember that we depend on the sun for our literal physical existence. The heart (emotional) is in the south just as the heart is lower in the human body. The head or mind (mental) is in the North just as north is always “up” on a conventional map. An easy way to remember the way the four bodies relate to the four directions is to think of the Medicine Wheel like a human body. The east corresponds with the physical, the south with emotional, the west with the spiritual and the north with the mental. (There are actually six directions in the Wheel because there is also “above” and “below” sometimes referred to by Indian people as the “above world” and the “below world”, or Father Sky and Mother Earth.) Each of the four bodies corresponds with the four directions. Like a conventional map, there are reference points that serve as navigational landmarks or may be symbolic starting points that we know as the four cardinal directions – east, west, north and south. All things are in and a part of this circle.Īs a tool and a guide we can think of the Medicine Wheel like a map. The circle is perfection, balance, life, the Universe, infinite potential the glyph is neither plus nor minus. The circle and/or glyph is symbolic of many things, in fact ALL things. This cross and circle are the symbols for the Medicine Wheel. ![]() ![]() The physical, spiritual, mental and emotional bodies are represented in the four quadrants of the equilateral cross found in the center of a circle. The approach to wellness is more holistic – one that looks at a larger picture for possible causes and solutions. In the Great Wheel, everything is connected all things are related. Our happiness and attitudes are an important part of healing when we do get sick. It has been known for some time that stress and anxiety are linked to health. In general terms, illness is the physical manifestation of spiritual, mental and/or emotional imbalance. The Medicine Wheel is both a tool and a guide that was given to us by the Creator and used by Indian people for many things, including healing and wellness.
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