Wellness can be found in traditional teachings

Posted by Christopher S. Pineo | Mar 17, 2016 | Community, Health |

Navajo Times | Adron Gardner
Lillie Pete addresses explains her traditional methods of mixing blue corn meal and ash before a food demonstration during the Navajo Wellness Model Conference recently.

WINDOW ROCK

At home as a young person, Cheryl Willie of Rough Rock Chapter learned her traditions.

But outside the home, modernism challenged the values she learned. So now she works to share those traditions with her children.

“When I was growing up I was both introduced to being traditional and then also living in the modern world, so that kind of confused me as a child,” she said.

Like other Diné who came from all over the Navajo Nation for the Navajo Wellness Model Conference March 1 through 4, Willie hoped to add more teachings to her cultural knowledge – knowledge she shares with her children at home.

“I’m teaching my children, value those things,” she said. “Always continue to value the way you dress and the way you wear your turquoise.”

Presented by IHS, the conference highlighted the Navajo Wellness Model, or Shá Bik’ehgo As’ah Oodááł, for those who attended.

Navajo Times | Adron Gardner
Sandra Deswood, left, assists Lillie Pete with dah’njilo’ii as Ruth James turns blue corn pancakes during the Navajo Wellness Model Conference.

The wellness model, based on Navajo culture, incorporates Navajo philosophical teachings on wellness according to natural daily cycles. Marie Nelson, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention coordinator with HPDP’s specialists planning team, explained the four elements of self-care that the model incorporates and takes root in.

“The four core values of the Navajo Wellness Model are thinking for self, respecting self, taking care of self, and knowing your limits,” she said. “It’s key to know those four and practice those four to have a healthy lifestyle.”