Notes on Cordillera Indigenous Healing and Wellness
Cordillera Indigenous Worldview: Core Features
Wellness is embedded in Cordillera Indigenous worldview and is transmitted orally across generations. The worldview centers on holism and interconnectedness among land, community, and unseen spiritual beings. It acknowledges both body and spirit as part of health, and it situates healing within relationships that span the person, family, community, land, and the unseen realms. The Cordillera worldview has faced discrimination under colonial history and is now practiced alongside Western allopathic medicine.
The Circle Model of Holism
A guiding circle model is used to visualize holism: a center rooted in the land, a middle circle belonging to the community, and an outer circle connected to unseen spirits. This triangle expresses the three core domains of health: rootedness in the land, social belonging, and connection to the unseen (God, ancestors, and nature spirits). The circle symbolizes interdependence and balance across these domains, yielding wellness when all are harmonious.
Four Interconnected Relational Axes of Wellness
There are four essential relationships for good health:
An individual’s relationship with their body, feelings, thoughts, and spirit (body–emotions–thoughts–soul).
The relationship between the individual and family/kinship within the household or clan.
The relationship between the individual/community and the land and its resources.
The relationship between the individual/community and the unseen (God, ancestors, nature spirits).
Land, Community, and Unseen Spirits: Key Relationships
Land: People are rooted in mountains, rivers, plants, animals, and resources; the land sustains subsistence and life. In return, people care for the land with gratitude and restraint, valuing frugality and honest labor.
Community: Belonging to a family, clan, or intercommunity network provides physical, psychological, and spiritual support. Mutual aid practices (e.g., bin nadang, sagaok) and social norms (Inayan/Panillo) regulate behavior to maintain harmony.
Unseen spirits: The Cordillera worldview sees the supreme God, ancestor spirits, and nature spirits as ever-present guides. Rituals, offerings, and prayers ensure safe use of resources and health across communities.
Cultural Values and Practices Shaping Health
Key values include mutual aid, sharing of harvest, and social harmony. Practices such as bin nadang (mutual aid at births, weddings, deaths), kasinaya/kasinayan (cooperation and harmony), and Panillo (taboos) support wellness and protect the unseen and the land. The Peace Pack (Budong/Vuchong) is a community mechanism to maintain safety and health between villages. These values influence health outcomes by fostering strong social ties and respectful engagement with land and spirits.
Healing Resources and Ritual Practices
Nature’s healing resources: Medicinal plants (wild and cultivated), minerals/stones, sun warmth (helot), healing oils (e.g., coconut oil), water, hot springs (e.g., Ma’init, Assin), sapoy (breath/energy), saliva, and healing massages.
Indigenous healing rituals: Prayers, offerings, cleansings, and other rituals to diagnose illness through signs, dreams, and visions; reconnect spirit and body when separation occurs.
Other wellness modalities: Simple prayer, touch, clairvoyance, and holistic approaches that address spiritual and emotional well-being.
Community initiatives: Rituals for birth, death, harvest thanksgiving, and peace settlements between communities contribute to holistic well-being and safety.
Interplay with land: Sacred spaces (springs, rivers, forests) are home to unseen beings; respect and permission are required when using resources.
Indigenous Healing in Cordillera: The PIKP Study (2022–2025)
Purpose: Document Indigenous healing and wellness practices to support advocacy and integration with mainstream health systems.
Methods: Key informant interviews, group discussions, literature reviews; target population included healers, patients, and witnesses; target area: Baguio and nearby areas; consent and privacy protections used.
Core findings: Indigenous health practices are rooted in land, community, and unseen spirits; there is a need to mainstream IK/IKSP within health systems; legal and policy support (IP rights, cultural sensitivity) is crucial.
Categories of healing resources documented: Nature’s healing resources (medicinal plants, minerals, sun, stones, honey), Indigenous healing rituals, other wellness modalities (prayer, touch, clairvoyance), and community/ institutional initiatives (integrating IK with health policy, birthing facilities, and health research collaborations).
Implications: Emphasizes the value of place-based, culturally sensitive approaches; advocates for safe, integrated care that respects IK and voice of IP communities.
Methods and Scope
Data sources: 27 informants, 35 stories; 121 respondents across healers, patients, and witnesses; majority of healers over age 50, some younger representatives; geographic focus on Baguio and nearby Cordillera communities.
Analytical emphasis: Document experiences, beliefs, and practices; analyze how IK healing coexists with Western medicine; assess policy and programmatic opportunities for integration.
Key Findings and Implications for Health Systems
Indigenous healing is undervalued and discriminated against; there is strong desire to mainstream IKSP within the healthcare system while preserving safety and efficacy.
Integration should be culturally sensitive and rights-based (IPRA, NCIP, DOH policies) with clear guidelines to protect intellectual property and community ownership.
CAM among cancer patients shows high use of ready-to-use products and medicinal plants, guided by referrals and family networks; emphasis on safety and physician communication is critical.
Place-based healing concepts (Ili) stress that healing is relational—between person, kin, land, spirits, and ancestors—and should inform mental health and general wellness strategies.
Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM) in Cancer Patients: Benguet Study
Scope: 121 respondents; identification of 135 medicinal plants; 70 plants reported; 18 plants identified and 4 DOH-approved.
Categories of CAM: (i) processed/ready-to-use products (teas, supplements, vitamins, oils), (ii) medicinal plants (boiling, decoction, topical preparations), (iii) holistic/manual therapies (Hilot massage, acupuncture, meditation).
Commonly used plants: sambong, lagundi, guava, garlic, turmeric, ginger, paragas, makabuhay, malungay, etc.; preparation methods include boiling, decoction, topical application.
Motivations and patterns: CAM use is often due to perceived natural/holistic benefits; referrals and family networks strongly influence adoption; no strong association with cancer type; patients often use CAM alongside conventional cancer treatments.
Implications: Health professionals should recognize patient beliefs, ensure safe use, and support integrated care that respects patient choices while safeguarding against harmful interactions.
Kadot and the Ibaloy Healing: Kadot as Living Heritage
Kadot is seen as a living heritage and a healing practice for long-standing illness, often used where hospitals are inaccessible.
It serves as thanksgiving and reverence to ancestors, strengthens clan ties, and involves community support and resources; rituals can be costly, so communities negotiate to reduce expenses.
Initiatives to sustain Kadot include availability of elders, ritual leadership by knowledgeable practitioners, and community fundraising/negotiation to maintain practice while balancing contemporary realities.
Ili and Place-Based Healing: Rootedness and the Unseen
Ili = social community plus spiritual dimension; healing is deeply tied to place, ancestors, land, and unseen guardians.
Four stories illustrate: detachment of the abducted soul (ababik) requires ritual repair; returning home after death; takba (sacred ancestor bundle) and its care; polluting the land disturbs guardian spirits and triggers illness.
Proposal: place-based attachment healing that integrates spiritual, social, and land connections offers an alternative to strictly biomedical models; healing is the reconnection to self, kin, land, and spirit.
Experience of Mental Illness in Indigenous Communities
Elders identify multiple non-biomedical causes rooted in relationships to self, environment, and spirit (e.g., spirit-related influences, headtaking, the “gift” of healing, mushrooms, drugs).
Healing is relational and communal: Western psychiatric models alone are insufficient; healing requires community-driven involvement, relational healing, and integration with IK frameworks.
Implication: Mental health services should be community-driven, incorporate IK beliefs, and align with local Il/ili structures; emphasize preventive and holistic approaches rather than purely individual psychotherapy.
The Healing Journey of Mamangu: Seeded Kawilta Kawilthan Taot
Cultural perspectives on patient care emphasize integration of indigenous practices with Western medicine, respecting ritual boundaries (e.g., the cafe as a Thanksgiving ritual; three days and three nights of preparation to maintain healing purity).
Aims to harmonize physical health with spiritual and social well-being, recognizing that healing is not solely medical but culturally congruent and relational.
Open Forum and Policy Implications
Stakeholders highlighted the need for greater policy support, safer integration of IK with health systems, and respect for IP rights and governance structures.
Emphasis on cultural sensitivity in health, joint memoranda, and the role of IPMRs in local health boards to help shape inclusive health planning.
Takeaways for Exam Preparation
Cordillera health is grounded in four elements: land, community, unseen spirits, and the individual’s body/psychology; healing is holistic and relational.
The circle model (center–land, middle–community, outer–unseen) captures the three core domains of health in this worldview.
Mutual aid, taboos, and peace-building institutions are essential to community health and harmony.
Nature-based healing (medicinal plants, oils, waters, hot springs) coexists with rituals and prayers for healing.
Place-based healing theories (Ili) stress reconnecting people to land, ancestors, and spirits for holistic health.
CAM usage in cancer patients is widespread and complex; integration with conventional care requires safety, open communication, and physician guidance.
Policy and practice should support culturally sensitive health care that respects IK/SP while ensuring safety and evidence-based care.
Education and documentation efforts (e.g., PIKP) are critical for protecting IK, informing policy, and promoting respectful integration.