OKIE, Owen
(USA)
Title of contribution:
Integral Healing and Herbalism for ME/Fibro/CFS
Nature’s we-space, home of the ecocentric self.
Where & when:
Catalonia.
Friday, May 29th, 2020
15:30 – 18:00
Integral Healing and Herbalism for ME/Fibro/CFS
Though excelling at “heroic medicine” biomedicine is often stumped by conditions involving holarchical organisation within the body and neglects the multiple dimensions of being. Research is increasingly aware of the complex nature of organisms. Fields such as (eco)-psychoneuroendoimmunology are beginning to provide us with glimpses into the intermeshing nature of complex systems and the dynamic between the interior and exterior of individuals. However the translation of this knowledge into practice has barely begun. “Wicked problems” require complex solutions generally not available in biomedicine. How can this new knowledge be enacted in effective treatments for complex conditions? Generally abandoned by conventional medicine, individuals with ME/Fibromyalgia/CFS require support by a diversity of treatment modalities in order to address its multifactorial etiology. An integral meta-framework for healing provides us with the capacity to synergistically coordinate a comprehensive array of modalities addressing all dimensions of AQAL for the effective treatment of conditions such as ME/CFS. Integral Herbalism provides me with a core modality, one that takes a functional and systems perspective, for addressing an individual’s, mental, emotional, physical and spiritual dimensions within the context of their socio-economic, cultural and ecological environment. Come and learn how this is applied to the treatment of individuals with ME/CFS.
Nature’s we-space, home of the ecocentric self.
Join EarthMind in exploring how an interpersonal relationship with nature can be cultivated, and support our individual and collective healing and growth. UR and LR focus on technology, political and socioeconomic solutions fail to move the hearts of people into action. Ego, ethno, and worldcentric levels of self-identity must transform into ecocentric identities including the interiors of living organisms and systems.. By reducing a subjective other to an objective it, we can justify actions which protect our ego and ethnocentric self. Relegating other humans to the status of animals, or removing sentience from the world around us, allows us to treat all living things as inanimate objects subservient to our own needs or desires. Can our capacity for empathy and perspective taking restore a sense of kinship, of relatedness, that extends between all human and to the more-than-human world? The animistic worldview, so natural to children, where everything we encounter in the world is experienced as a sentient being, is rejected by traditional, modern, and post-modern worldviews and cast into shadow. Can its gifts be reintegrated in our development? Can reestablishing an interpersonal, I-Thou relationship to other lifeforms and to ecosystems and returning to a we-space which includes the interior of rocks, plants, animals, and nature support transformation of the individual and the collective and heal the rift we have created between us a them?
About Owen Okie:
Herbalism weaves my diverse interests. Science, nature, hiking, music, spirituality connect via the role of herbalist. Yet the unifying framework was invisible till I discovered Integral and the exigency of individual transformation to heal our world. Since then I’ve been exploring the application of IT as a healer and PhD student. I’m also founder of EarthMind, a social enterprise for nature-based therapeutic exploration. I live in Scotland where we are creating a retreat for Integral Healing.