Indigenous Healing Traditions

An umbrella label, not a single tradition

Indigenous healing traditions is an umbrella label for many unrelated systems of health care, ceremony and plant use. A United Nations report on Indigenous peoples' access to health services estimates about 370 million Indigenous people in roughly 90 countries, and notes that no United Nations body has adopted a formal universal definition of the term. The healing practices attributed to such peoples, among them the Māori of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Anangu of Central Australia and the Huni Kuin of the Amazon, have separate histories and are not variants of one system.

Colonial suppression and revival

Canadian authors writing in the Canadian Medical Association Journal state that Indigenous health inequities in Canada follow from colonization, including systematic suppression of traditional health knowledge and healing practices. The United Nations report likewise says Indigenous peoples have historically suffered the effects of colonization and assimilation policies. The sources reviewed for this page do not give a dated chronology of suppression or revival for each tradition, so no such timeline is given here.

Dated points for selected practices

Dates in the sources mostly concern contact with outsiders, not origins. A 2025 study in Oaxaca states that R. Gordon Wasson published an account of Mazatec mushroom ceremonies in 1957, which led outsiders to look for them. An anthropologist's overview says iboga reached the West in the 1890s and France by the 1930s, was linked to addiction treatment from the 1960s, and spread through detoxification programs from the 1990s. A toxinology review dates researcher and company interest in kambô secretions to the 1980s.

Indigenous, First Nations and related terms

The sources use different national terms for different peoples. Canadian authors write of Indigenous Peoples including First Nations, Inuit and Métis, United States research uses American Indian and Alaska Native, Australian medical sources speak of Aboriginal healers, and New Zealand scholars write of Māori. Generic names such as Native American, First Nations or Aboriginal practices therefore label different groups and are not names for one practice.

Shaman, plant medicine and ceremony

The word shaman derives from the Tungusic saman. An anthropologist traces its path through Russian and Dutch travel accounts into European languages, and notes that scholars later applied it to ritual specialists worldwide, replacing older terms such as witch doctor or healer. Plant medicine, sacred ceremonies and shamanic healing are likewise broad English labels. Peoples use their own terms, for example ngangkari in Central Australia, rongoā among the Māori, sangoma and nyanga in KwaZulu-Natal, and yachakkuna among the Saraguro of Ecuador.

Plant, product and compound names

Some names refer to a plant, others to a product or an isolated compound, and the differences matter. Iboga is the plant, while ibogaine and noribogaine are its primary alkaloids. Rapé, also spelled hapé, is described in a chemical study as a diverse group of South American nasal snuffs, with Nicotiana rustica as the tobacco species in the products analyzed. A Brazilian review calls Tabernaemontana sananho sananga, or forest eye drops. Findings about an isolated compound or a manufactured product should not be read as findings about the ceremonial practice.

Practitioners and settings

Practitioners and settings vary widely. A roundtable of 18 Native American healers, clinicians and researchers described healing as relational, tied to Indigenous spirituality and to the maintenance of traditional life, with healers expected to work for the community. Ngangkari are described by a physicians' college as using hands-on techniques, breathing methods and plant remedies, and as working in some hospitals, clinics and Aboriginal health services. Interviews in KwaZulu-Natal with four sangoma and four nyanga found that these healers reported disclosing diagnosis, risks, benefits and options to patients.

Plant and substance based practices

Several members involve plants or animal products, and this page does not describe ceremonial procedures. Native American Church members use peyote, which contains mescaline, in religious settings. Saraguro healers in southern Ecuador described using San Pedro cactus, Brugmansia and tobacco for diagnosis and rituals aimed at what they call supernatural illnesses. A Peruvian case report describes ingestion of liquid tobacco in a weeklong retreat led by a traditional Amazonian healer. Kambô involves skin secretion of a giant leaf frog, and sananga is applied as eye drops.

Bodywork and community programs

Bodywork and community programs form a further group. Lomi Lomi is described as Hawaiian massage with a spiritual component, offered with nurse practitioner care in clinics for uninsured Native Hawaiians on Hawai'i's North Shore, as described in 1997. A midwife's account in a trade magazine describes Maya abdominal and uterine massage. A pilot program at an urban American Indian clinic in Detroit built a twelve-week curriculum around the sweat lodge ceremony, delivered with community partners. Alberta health services allow Indigenous patients to hold smudging ceremonies on premises.

Uses described within traditions

Within the traditions described, uses are broad and are framed in each people's own terms. Ngangkari are described as addressing physical ailments, grief, depression and other mental health concerns. Māori healers and patients describe rongoā as linked to identity, land and wellbeing. The Huni Kuin are reported to regard tobacco as a quintessential healing substance. A review attributes use of sananga for eye health to the Aguaruna, Kichwa, Kaxinawá and other peoples, and a toxinology review says kambô is used among the Katukina and Kaxinawá as a medication, an invigorator and an analgesic.

A systematic review found that women of Mexican origin in the United States report using traditional practices from Mexico, including those grouped under curanderismo, for health promotion, shaped by community ties and understandings of illness. The Zapotec community studied in Oaxaca uses Psilocybe mushrooms for healing and divination.

Uses promoted beyond origin communities

Outside origin communities, claims shift. Kambô is marketed to urban users, and the toxinology review links this spread to reports of severe adverse effects and deaths. Iboga entered Western detoxification programs from the 1990s, where the anthropologist notes the focus fell on the isolated molecule and self-reflection, unlike the multi-year initiation described in Gabon. A Zapotec study reports community members' concern that commercialization has diluted the healing and divinatory powers of Psilocybe mushrooms and threatens transmission between generations.

No evidence base for the family as a whole

No trial evidence assesses Indigenous healing traditions as a family, and none could be expected to, given how different the members are. Searches of PubMed for traditional healing among American Indian and Alaska Native people, Māori healers, Ngangkari, Maya abdominal massage and sananga returned little or no outcome research. The research found is mostly qualitative, descriptive or toxicological. Examples are a qualitative study of 49 rongoā practitioners and patients, and a pilot evaluation of a sweat lodge based program with nine interviewed participants and no comparison group.

Findings for individual members

Findings must stay with the member studied. A study of Navajo members of the Native American Church who regularly ingested peyote, compared with former alcohol-dependent and low-use groups, found no psychological or cognitive deficits, and its authors say this may not apply to illicit users. Of ayahuasca, a global online survey reports adverse effects but cannot establish causation. A systematic review of ibogaine found 24 studies with 705 people, mostly open-label, and reports reduced withdrawal symptoms alongside severe complications. That review concerns isolated ibogaine in clinical settings, not Bwiti initiation. The sananga review finds plausible links between traditional uses and pharmacology and calls for more research, and the Lomi Lomi review is conceptual.

Descriptions of programs add context but not proof. A CMAJ article on Indigenous-led partnerships in Canada reports program-level outcomes, and does not test any single healing practice against a comparator. A single-patient report of ritual tobacco ingestion in Peru reported improved symptom scores, and its authors note it is a case report with limited generalizability. A San Pedro cactus study measured mescaline at 0.053 to 4.7 percent of dry weight, which is chemistry, not outcome data.

Health inequities and data gaps

A Lancet and Lowitja Institute collaboration compared 28 Indigenous populations in 23 countries with benchmark populations. It found poorer life expectancy for 16 of 18 populations with data, and states that outcomes are not uniformly worse. The United Nations report adds that lack of data disaggregated by Indigenous identity limits analysis, and lists barriers including distance, language and cultural differences, and cost. These documents describe inequity in conventional health services and outcomes, not the effects of traditional healing.

Cultural safety in care settings

A literature review of 59 articles, informed by consultation with Māori medical practitioners, recommends cultural safety over cultural competency, with organizations held accountable for care as defined by patients and communities. Writing on northern Canada, Redvers and colleagues report that fire ceremonies and smudging were prohibited in hospitals there for fire safety reasons, and recommend co-produced care. Alberta's smudging policy, described by Indigenous and health system authors, had to resolve open flame and smoke concerns and racial bias. The CMAJ authors describe Indigenous-led partnerships as positioning Indigenous healing as primary.

Traditional knowledge and appropriation

The World Health Organization's Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034 sets four objectives: strengthen evidence, ensure safety and regulation, integrate traditional medicine into health systems, and optimize its cross-sectoral value. A commentary in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization acknowledges that misappropriation of traditional knowledge raises concerns for the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Sources on specific practices raise related points about commercialization of mushroom ceremonies, outsiders' use of kambô, and the divergence between Gabonese iboga initiation and Western ibogaine use.

Kambô and ibogaine

Kambô has documented serious harms. A Slovenian case report describes a 44-year-old woman who developed severe hyponatremia (116 mmol/L), seizure and reduced consciousness after kambô applied to burned skin and drinking 6 liters of water, attributed to inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion. A toxinology review reports severe adverse effects and deaths after use by urban users and says indigenous cultural traditions provide relative safety. For ibogaine, a toxicology review counted 27 fatalities, describes QT prolongation and arrhythmia, and notes that CYP2D6 variation and other medicines can alter blood levels.

Plant-based and substance-based practices

Most reports on mescaline describe intoxication as mild, but a pharmacology review says exposure was often unconfirmed. In the global ayahuasca survey, about 70 percent reported acute physical effects, mainly vomiting, 2.3 percent needed medical attention, and about 56 percent reported adverse mental health effects over weeks or months, though about 88 percent saw these as part of growth. Non-supervised settings raised the likelihood of adverse effects. Rapé products analyzed in Brazil contained up to 47.6 mg per gram of nicotine and some carcinogenic compounds. A review notes the irritant alkaloid in sananga.

Suitability and care boundaries

Suitability depends on the specific practice, the person's health and the setting. Community members in a Zapotec study described fear after distressing visions and, for those without a need, discomfort or dependence. Smoke used in ceremonies has prompted fire and air quality concerns in health facilities. Traditional and conventional care are described by ngangkari services as complementary, and the sources reviewed do not support delaying or replacing necessary medical care. Ibogaine and kambô reports in particular involve heart rhythm and electrolyte effects, and the sources do not describe screening in ceremonial settings.