healing & wellness spaces_apa workshop2 (1)

Healing & Wellness Spaces An Overview of Indigenous & Contemporary Practices

InFusion A + UD, LLC c 2016

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Wanda Mills-Bocachica, Ph.D. Presenter – AZ APA Chapter Workshop

Snell and Wilmer Conference Room, One Arizona Center, Phoenix, AZ

19-August-2016


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Indigenous Workshop Goals

TO EDUCATE by engaging faculty, students, professionals, and policy leaders in culturally appropriate design and planning practices.*

COMPARATIVE LEARNING EXERCISE

Burton Barr Library DESIGN APPLICATION of INDIGENOUS HEALING MODEL: Chinese five elements theory (4000 years in existence).

APPLIED LEARNING EXAMPLES: Review of Healing and Wellness spaces case studies.

Indigenous Healing & Wellness Examples

Contemporary Healing & Wellness Examples

INFORMAL DISCUSSION

* Mission statement phrasing borrowed from University of Calgary

“This knowledge can

help ensure that the

places we create, will

support and enhance

the lives of the people

who live [here], and

for visitors, keep them

coming back!”

Kevin Walters


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Working Definitions & Relationships


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Health & Wellness

Space/Spaces

Soul Healing

Quality of Life

Energy Healing

Indigenous

Planning Social & Environmental

Determinants of Health

Five Elements of

Chinese Healing

(indigenous example)

The Unlimited & Specific Parameters of Space

A region beyond the earth’s atmosphere

or solar system.

A boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction.

An opportunity to assert or experience one’s identity

or needs freely or an opportunity for privacy or

time to oneself.


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SOURCE: Miriam Webster’s Online Dictionary.

Indigenous Worldview (in a nutshell)

Humans

Earth & Environment

Cosmos (Heaven)

Heaven’s Blessing

Defined by birth characteristics, such as specific date and time of birth; birth location; cultural heritage and family.

Human’s Blessing

How one uses or expands talents and intelligence. Attitudes and behaviors are reflected in the circumstances of daily life experiences [or physical, emotional, mental and spiritual experiences and responses].

Earth’s Blessing

Positive or negative influence of the chi in the surrounding environment impacts daily life and work environments: home, workplace, community, country and the earth. Feng shui practices aim to reduce negative chi in the environment.


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PSYCHOLOGIST: “Tell me how you think, how you feel, how you act and

I will tell you your life.”

FENG SHUI SPECIALIST: “Show me your home (or space) and I will tell

you your life.”

Indigenous Cosmological

Perspective NATURAL WORLD

■ Everything is alive

■ Each is endowed with a soul and energy

■ Places have much to teach us (plants, animals, rocks,

mountains, rivers, places large and small).

HUMAN WORLD

■ Transmission of memory

■ Oral histories

■ Storytelling

■ Performances

■ Traditional ceremonies, songs & prayers

ANIMAL WORLD

■ Belief that animals have powerful souls

■ Animals sustain and inform

■ Can carry spiritual energies & possess healing powers

SPIRIT WORLD

■ Belief that invisible forces abide in sacred sites

■ Spiritual traditions & practices of indigenous peoples and

communities

(altars, religious practices, prayers and meditations)

Distinct cultures with diverse customs & practices

• BALANCE: Avoid too much emphasis in one direction (mentally, physically and materially).

• CONNECTION TO THE CELESTIAL WORLD: Knowledge of heavens and how things happen in the universes and the planet earth.

• Earth cycles (earth’s relation to the sun, moon, stars; tides and currents; seasons of the year; agriculture)

• Belief that everything is connected (sun, moon, stars, mother earth, wind, rocks, plants, animals, humans)

• HEALING SPACES

• Springs & Waterfalls

• Places where medicinal plants & special animals can be found

• Places for celestial observation (sacred forests)

• Places for dreaming, visioning, listening to the land (i.e. waterfalls, exposed boulders, organic patterns, flowing stream, plants with healing qualities, man-made environments)


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SOURCE: The Land Has Memory: Indigenous Knowledge, Native Landscapes and the NMAI. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, 2008.

Frame of Reference: Eastern & Western Parameters for Workshop Presentation

Central Pennsylvania –

Amish Country

NY/NJ/PA: Historic Colonial Corridor Ohio – Native American

(Indian) Mounds

Native

American

peoples in

urban areas

(Minneapolis/St

. Paul). The

stress of

displacement

and alcoholism

common health

challenge. Indigenous native

American culture,

memory, agency and

evolution are visible.

Health conditions such

as diabetes, obesity,

heart disease and non-

healthy dietary

practices are of

alarming concern.

Puerto Rico:

Long-term

research on

indigenous

Afro-Puerto

Rican

settlements &

communities.

U.S. Virgin Islands:

Traditional (post-hurricanes

Hugo & Marilyn) & colonial

historic preservation

research (direct linkages to

US & Europe). InFusion A + UD, LLC c 2016

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Indigenous & Indigenous Origins

Native Americans

Europeans

Africans

Asians

Australians/South Pacific Islanders

Trace your indigenous origins… and you will discover how interrelated we all are!


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…or we can simplify and follow migratory

routes of the ancient wild camels!

Source: http://quatr.us/economy/camels.htm

Wild camels first originated in North America, and then, before the last Ice Age, they spread from North America to East Asia and then across to Central Asia and Iran and Arabia (and also south to South America where they became llamas, vicunas and alpacas). While they survived in Asia and Africa, the camels became extinct in North America possibly during the Ice Age. K.E. Karr, Ph.D.

in North America!


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We all carry indigenous memory in our DNA!

So, let’s explore what we have in common.

How is the human race (inter)related?

How can indigenous healing and wellness

traditions inspire and design the indoor and

outdoor spaces that we live in?


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Finding the Balance

Documented Historic & Contemporary Knowledge

Systems

(top down)

Indigenous (Ancient & Rooted) Knowledge Systems

(bottom up)


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Desert and Tropical Landscapes: Yin and Yang Natures in the Natural World

Arizona/Phoenix Metro Region U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico

The yin and yang in Chinese philosophy considers opposite or contrary phenomena to be complimentary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world. They give rise to each other through their interrelated natures.


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Indigenous Desert & Tropical Plant Materials? Finding common ground through shared experiences with vegetation.


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Intuitive Memory & the Leatherback Turtle Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge. St. Croix, USVI


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Defining Your Reference Points: The Four Cardinal Directions

Nearly every culture on earth has a concept of the cardinal directions: north, south, east and west.

The four directions are a means of establishing basic geographic orientation to many indigenous peoples.

Cardinal direction markers are represented in ceremony, art, clothing and architecture.

The four directions are often imbued with metaphor and supernatural powers that relate to our existence as human beings.

Many native peoples associate colors, seasons, and animals with the four directions, which form the basis for the medicine wheel.


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Echo Canyon/Camelback Mountain north

South Mountain south

Papago Buttes west Red Mountain east

SOURCES: Morrison-Meyer, L. Sacred Home: Creating Shelter for Your Home, 2004 and Henry, J. P. & K. Brumley. “Cardinal Direction Markers: Bringing the Four Directions to NMAI” in The Land Has Memory, 2008.

Angeles Arrien, Ph.D. is an anthropologist, who bridges cultural anthropology, psychology and comparative religions. She queries indigenous wisdoms to better understand our relationships to our families, our professional lives and the planet earth.


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Indigenous Planning Highlights

Planning practices that incorporate traditional knowledge systems, cultural identity, and stewardship over land and its resources.

Indigenous planning paradigm is actually a reformulation of practices that have been used by “traditional” communities for millennia. Seven generations…

Land is a birthright and collective stewardship is the primary mode of maintaining it.

Transformation is tempered by the need to assure the community that new ideas are mindful of the past, cognizant of the present, and suitable for the future.

World-views embodied values that are essential toward attaining a balanced and symmetrical interrelationship between humankind and the natural environment.

SOURCE: Ted Loyola. Indigenous Planning & Tribal Community Development, 2000.


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TIMELINE (1992-95) Started with the Community

Fellows Program in the MIT’s

Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Advanced “postmodernist discourse” among students from “communities of color”

regarding grassroots activism and culture.

Formulated of a new theory of action that is coined indigenous planning.

Aimed to radically reexamine

contemporary planning practice to:

(1) Promote long-term

learning about communities;

(2) Empowerment of the community voice; and

(3) Advocacy defined by cultural and traditional

knowledge systems and intelligence.


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“We are still here…

We still practice what our

ancestors passed on to us,

and our beliefs and

traditions live!”

John Paul Jones

Cherokee/Choctaw

Seattle, WA

Burton Barr Public Library Phoenix, AZ

DESIGN APPLICATION of the INDIGENOUS HEALING MODEL:

The Chinese Five Elements Theory.


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Monument Valley Butte

Burton H. Barr Library – East Facade

The Five Elements Chart (Abridged)


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ELEMENT YIN ORGAN YANG ORGAN UNBALANCED

EMOTION

BALANCED

EMOTION

COLOR SEASON DIRECTION ENERGY

WOOD Liver Gallbladder Anger Patience Green Spring East Generative

FIRE Heart Small

Intestine

Depression,

Anxiety &

Excitability

Joy Red Summer South Expansive

EARTH Spleen Stomach Worry &

Depression

Love &

Compassion

Yellow Change of

Seasons

Central Stabilizing

METAL Lung Large

Intestine

Grief &

Sadness

Courage White Autumn West Contracting

WATER Kidney Urinary

Bladder

Fear Calmness Blue Winter North Conserving

The Five elements in Barr

Library architecture.


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Fire, Earth &

Metal

Earth, Light &

Shadows

Fire, Light, Air

Water

Is this façade

made of

wood or

metal?

Crystal Canyon

What qualities or

impressions do you

receive or perceive

from this space?


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Water Feature (a

rectangular reflective

pool; complimented by

the therapeutic sounds

of flowing water)

Source

of Fire:

The Sun

Source

of Fire:

The Sun

Color Applications


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Exterior Building Facades

What natural qualities

or impressions do you

receive or perceive

from the Burton Barr

Library façades?


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Wellness is much

more than merely

physical health,

exercise or nutrition.

It is the full

integration of states

of physical, mental,

and spiritual well-

being.


27 Health and Wellness for All Arizonans! Motto: Arizona Department of Health Services

Seven Dimensions of Wellness. University of California, Riverside

[https://wellness.ucr.edu/seven_dimensions.html]

Indigenous Healing & Wellness Examples (East)

• Pinones & La Torre Communities. Loiza, Puerto Rico

• El Barrio San Anton Community. Ponce, Puerto Rico

• Moravian Multipurpose Education Center. St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands


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Indigenous Case Study: Pinones (Loiza), Puerto Rico

Wellness Qualities & Characteristics (circa 1995 - 2002)

• High life expectancy rates.

• Food security: natural and cultivated

• Inspiring environment (paradise): phosphorescent pools; inland pools replete with fish; therapeutic sound of the ocean;

• Trusting environment (8-9 historic family clans)

• Privacy & safety: cryptic network of canals and concealed developable land.

• Calm demeanor even during stressful times. Until the late 1990’s, and over the centuries, residents were constantly under threat of being displaced.

• 7.5 bicycle & walking trail along the coast.

Healing Qualities & Characteristics (circa 1995 - Present)

• Indigenous technique for regenerating plant growth after the branches are cut to make charcoal.

• Able to harvest produce in sandy soils.

• Coconut derived products, including coconut water, is a primary staple for the well-being and healing qualities among the residents.

• Therapeutic sounds and vistas. Numerous environmental opportunities to exercise the mind and body.

• Popular gastronomic center. Conserves Taino, African, Arabic and Spanish culinary traditions.

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Indigenous Case Study: Barrio

San Anton Neighborhood Ponce, Puerto Rico


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Indigenous Case Study: El Barrio San Anton Ponce, Puerto Rico

Indigenous Case Study: Moravian Multipurpose Education Center – St. Thomas, USVI


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CREDIT: Weddle & Gilmore Architects, 2012.

Indigenous Case Study: Moravian Multipurpose Education Center – St. Thomas, USVI


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Reduction of proposed building’s volume Weddle & Gilmore Architects – Scottsdale, AZ

Nisky Moravian Campus - circa1830

Charlotte Amalie Historic District

Contemporary Healing & Wellness Examples(West) • Apartment Home Development – Phoenix, AZ

• Rejuvenate Healing Center – Paradise Valley, AZ

• Mathnasium Learning Center – Chandler, AZ


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Energy Healing

Energy medicine proposes that imbalances in

the body's "energy field" could result in illness. By

re-balancing the body's energy-field, health can

be restored. Source:

VERITABLE ENERGY

THERAPIES - Examples

Magnet therapy

Colorpuncture

Light therapy


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Biofield energy:

hands are used to

direct or modulate

energies.

Veritable energy: non-

hands on. Identifiable

energy source.

BIOFIELD HEALING

THERAPIES - Examples

Therapeutic touch

Healing Touch

Esoteric healing

Magnetic healing

Qigong healing

Reiki

Pranic healing

Crystal healing

Distant healing

Intercessory prayer

Other

Soul Healing Heal the soul first through the healing qualities of the mind’s thoughts and its physical

environment. Physical healing will follow. Master Zhi Gang Sha

Compas- sion

Forgive- ness

Visualized

Healing Light Love

Gratitude

Service

Humility Flourish- ing

Enlighten- ment


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SOURCE: Soul Light Institute

Catholic Miracle Hour

Prayer Wheel

Apartment Home Development Residences @ 4225 (Near to 44th Street & Mc Dowell intersection)


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Urban Living in Action Central City/Arcadia Village

• Located on the edge of the Arcadia urban village

• Diverse population of residents; pets allowed

• Major employment center, including the Sky Harbor airport

• Major highways, along the 44th corridor that connects sky

harbor airport and Paradise Valley

• Walkable and bikeable district; safe environment for

outdoor exercising

• Proximity to natural reserves, including the Papago Buttes

InFusion A + UD, LLC c

2016

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Residences @ 4225 Development


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For the love of

animals…


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Dog Park and Retention Pond

Other Nature Inspired Indigenous Healing

Remedies

Difficulty in expressing oneself. Indecisiveness. Excessive shyness or the reverse, excessive talking about trivialities. Fear of being judged.

• POTENTIAL FOR BALANCING

• Observing a boundless, transparent sky and water.

• Contemplation of clear blue sky in water.

• Listening to wave sounds

• Neroli to calm

• Sage to loosen the tensions in the throat.

• Element: ether (spirit)

See obstacles everywhere. Sense that “life is a struggle.” Feelings of low self worth. Need to manipulate others.


• Warm golden sunlight.

• Contemplation of sunflowers or sunny yellow scenes.

• Lavender to calm

• Rosemary to stimulate and refresh.

• Element: fire

Over-emphasis on the rational mind or the reverse: confused, irrational states. High-mindedness.


• Contemplation of starry, inky blue skies.

• Listening to music that evokes images or feelings of the cosmic dimensions.

• Contemplation of pink sunsets and flowers.

• Pinks and greens in your living space or clothes.

• Walks in the green countryside.

• Rose to heal old wounds and geranium to calm and soothe.

• Jasmine to sharpen the senses and connect energies of the heart and brow.

• Element: all elements.


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SOURCE: Mystery Arts. United Kingdom. (www.mystery-arts.co.uk)

Proactive preventative approach to healing and wellness by combining knowledge of Western medicine and Eastern medicine

Foundation in traditional Chinese practice

Practice concentrates on inner health and wellness for balance and harmony in life.

Empowers clients to create abundance, fulfilling work, self-expression, better health and a deeper spiritual connection.

Space Qualities

Ordered Space; feng shui applications.

Energetic vibrations permeate the space.

Harmonious arrangement of objects.

Balance, contrast and harmony between light and dark colors.


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Master Debra Manning,

RN, LPN - Owner

Rejuvenate Center

Paradise Valley

Wellness Space – Business Mathnasium Chandler

Ordered space.

White upper walls and tables

reflects clarity and courage.

Black strip provides grounding

and establishes spatial and

perceptual boundaries.

Red in the lower half of wall

coincides with the base

chakra that guides successful

performance and outcomes.

Results: mental stimulation and

high success rates for student

success.


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Psychology, Transformational

Wisdom & Planning Practice

Gary Zukav

Wayne W.

Dyer

Esther M. Sternberg

•Exploration of Soul Relationships

•Dancing Wu Li Dancers

“Indigenous peoples are one of the world’s most persistent voices of conscience, alerting humankind to the dangers of environmental destruction. And as the world searches for alternative strategies to deal with global problems, it is turning more and more to indigenous peoples. Much of their respect for nature, their methods of resource management, social organization, values, and culture are finding echoes in the writings of scientists, philosophers, politicians, and thinkers.”

---Julian Burger

The Gaia Atlas of First Peoples: A Future for the Indigenous World

InFusion A + UD, LLC

c 2016

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Transforming from

the Ego to the Sacred Self Your Erroneous Zones

• Intuitive Power

(Carol Myss)

• The Science of

Place and Well

Being

Could we have a design conversation?


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References Arrien Ph.D., Angeles. The Four Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior,

Teacher, Healer and Visionary. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993.

Blue-Spruce, Dwayne and Tanya Thrasher. The Land Has Memory: Indigenous Knowledge, Native American Landscapes and the Museum of the Native

American. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2008.

Healthy Community Design Collaborative. Healthy Community Design Toolkit: General Plan Updates. 2014.

Jojola, Theodore. Indigenous Planning & Tribal Community Development.

Planner’s Network Magazine. NY:NY, 2000.

Matlin, Stuart M. & Arthur J. Magida. How to Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook. Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2006.

Morrison-Meyer, Lisa. Sacred Home: Creating Shelter for Your Soul. St. Paul,

MN: Llewelyn Publications, 2004.

Robin, Sean & Wanda Mills-Bocachica, Editors. Indigenous Planning & Development Times (Vol. 4). Manhattan, NY: 2000.


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References (Cont’d)

Sha, Zhi Gang. The Power of the Soul: The Way to Heal, Rejuvenate,

Transform and Enlighten All Life. New York: Atria Books, 2009.

Skinner, Stephen. Feng Shui Style: The Asian Art of Gracious Living.

Rutland, VT: Tuttle Publishing, 2004.

Seven Dimensions of Wellness. University of California, Riverside.

[https://wellness.ucr.edu/seven_dimensions.html]

Sternberg, Esther M. Healing Spaces: The Science and Place of Well-Being.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.

Tsosie, Rebecca. “Exploring the Politics and Practice of Religious

Sustainability”. In Sustainability at ASU: 2014 High lights. See

sustainability.asu.edu/thought-leader.


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Local Energy & Soul Healing Resources

Bart Standish & Marjorie Rosenman

Tao YiBiZi

Tao Calligraphy Soul Master Healing

6217 North 29th Place, Phoenix, AZ 85016

www.TaoYiBiZiCalligraphy.com

[email protected]

Debra Manning RN Lac

National Board Certified in Acupuncture

Rejuvenate Center

Tatum Professional Plaza

14640 N. Tatum Blvd., Ste 8

Phoenix, AZ 85032

602-923-1125

www.balanceandharmonyforlife.com

[email protected]

http://www.taoyibizicalligraphy.com/

mailto:[email protected]

A Special Thank You

Sandra Hoffman, AICP

Abraham Bernard James III

Shern Willie, M.D.


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Contact Me:

Wanda Mills-Bocachica, Ph.D.

(In)Fusion Architecture + Urban Design, LLC

(602)418-8890

[email protected]

www.infusiondesignaz.com

http://www.infusiondesignaz.com/

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