Healing Practices

Thai Vang was a refugee at Ban Vanai, Thailand, for the first several years of his life. His father had two wives, and he had four sisters and seven brothers. When he was 4 or 5 the spirits started sending him messages through dreams, signaling for him to become a shaman. He had become very sick, and was reborn a shaman. A shaman is a Hmong doctor that heals people with troubles, whether it’s stress, or a car accident or anything. Basically he can just tell if he looks in the victim’s eyes what is their problem, he can also tell whether he’ll be able to help, and if the person will live or die. Even if he knows the patient will die, he still says they’ll be fine, and does his best to heal them. He helps them by going into a trance. He goes into the trance by having helpers beat drums and shake rattles because the instruments will help his body spirits fight the bad spirits. Once he is in the spirit world he makes a deal with the spirits, like “I’ll give you a chicken if so and so is well in 2 days.” And I guess the spirits agree and he comes back. If you are asked by the spirits to be a shaman you must not refuse, but it is such a great gift Thai doubts anyone would.

–Sarah M.

People think that Thai is the youngest shaman in Hmong history. He was 5 when he first became the youngest shaman ever. Usually a shaman is sick before they become a shaman. That happened to Thai. He was so sick, nothing would cure him. Then the spirits told him that if he became a shaman, he would get better. So he became a shaman. Unlike other shamans, he had no tutoring from an older shaman. One of his abilities is being able to find out what happened to the patient even if they don’t tell him. He just looks into their eyes. He can heal non-Hmong, also.

–Izzy L.

Thai Vang is proud to be a shaman, because it is a gift to be a shaman. Thai Vang was born in Thailand, and is very traditional. He has been to the spirit world many times, and I wonder what it is like? If it is a good place or a bad place? And why they go to it? His more recent shaman act was helping a woman give birth to a child.

–Mariah

You have to be a good person to be a shaman. It is a big responsibility because if that person dies it’s your fault. Not all good people become shamans. The spirits choose you and if you don’t accept you will get sick and won’t get better. When he helps someone he knows right away if they will be ok but he isn’t allowed to tell the people. Shamans bring back spirits to people’s bodies. Every person has 12 spirits and the main spirit is the body spirit. The bone spirit never goes away. Sometimes he has to tie the spirit to the body so it won’t go away. He has a net that catches the spirits. After you have it you cover it with the buffalo horns. Shamans think that sicknesses are spirit losses. Shamans work with doctors because sometimes the doctors can’t find anything physically wrong but there might be something mentally wrong.

–Gabby

To become a shaman you must be a good person with a good soul because if you have a bad soul the people you try to heal will only become much sicker. Different shamans have different powers, for instance one shaman may have a stronger soul so that would make them more powerful. The human body is made up of twelve spirits, your ears, your eyes, your nose, your mouth, your body, your arms, your hands, your legs, your feet, your head and your shadow. If you lose your shadow you die. When Thai was 4 or 5 he died and was reborn as a shaman.

–Nate

Thai’s grandma was a shaman who helped people from their sickness. Shamans can be an old person or a young one. There are men and women shamans. The shaman has 12 spirits in the house, I think. The special spirit is the body spirit because it has bones and it can break easily. Some people tie a white or a white and red thread to your hand to make you feel better and sometimes that person has to say something to make you become better.

–Pakou

About one out of one hundred Hmong People are shamans. Most Hmong shamans become shamans when they are over sixty. Every person has twelve spirits. One spirit is your shadow. The main spirit is your body spirit. That’s the one that shamans talk to when they are in a trance. If one of your spirits dies, a shaman tries to make the spirit alive again. All kinds of Hmong people are shamans. You could be a house builder and a shaman. Thai lives in two different worlds: the spirit world and the earth world.

–Emma

Thai has been a shaman since he was 4-5. The spirits came to him and taught him how to be a shaman. A lot of people were shocked to find out about such a young shaman. Thai might be the youngest Hmong shaman in America. He goes to emergencies and also goes to hospitals. He started healing when he first became a shaman. His tools to use in the spirit world are a big ring and buffalo horns. He goes into a trance to get into the spirit world. If he fights a spirit it is hard on his physical body too. He is very glad he is a shaman.

–Dylan

Thai is a shaman. There are many shamans but there are not a lot of shamans in Madison. A shaman is a healer. Thai is happy that he is a shaman. Thai has an ordinary life. Shamans use instruments to help them. They use buffalo horns. Shamans sometimes fight the spirits and the music helps them.

–Mark

I never knew shamans are never allowed to say somebody is going to die or that they are very sick. I also had no idea shamans actually communicated with spirits. It’s amazing how shamans go into the spirit world. I wonder how you feel when the spirits talk to you. I wonder what Thai felt, maybe he was very happy or nervous. I would feel excited and worried. Maybe he felt that way. I don’t know.

–Martha

Dr. Bee Lo is a naturopathic doctor. He went to medical school for six years.

–Gabby

He has a degree in medicine, but he is mostly a natural healer. He uses everyday veggies to heal you.

–Emily

He can tell you what herbs to use. He can also perform iridologies on you (looking at irises to see personalities). He’s also a good chiropractor. All of his medicines are naturopathic. Another thing about Dr. Bee Lo is that is that he is married to a white woman and that is odd in Hmong culture.

–Thomas

Medicines

Next Doctor Lo told us a little about all the medicines.

–Sara K.

One of the medicines that he showed us was ginger root. He said that if you ate it [raw], it would help motion sickness and also helps if a pregnant women is feeling nauseous.

–Gabby

(He said that) …ginger is a strong medicine that Asian cultures use a lot. It helps with allergies and motion sickness.

–Sara K.

Or you can put it on your throat for a sore throat remedy.

–Emily

Ginger is a plant that is formed under the ground and it takes a very long time to form. When it forms it is usually shaped like a human body. It is very spicy and is good for many sicknesses and is very healthy.

–Thomas

Another one is garlic. Garlic is a very strong medicine. It is supposed to help prevent cancer.

–Gabby

Garlic is very good for people to take for high cholesteral. It is also a good mosquito repellant.

–Emily

He also had pills made of garlic that kills germs.

–Sara K.

Shiitake mushrooms really help people who are fighting cancer.

–Emily

He has a pill made of mushroom that helps fight cancer. The pill is used by the Hmong, the Japanese, and the Americans.

–Sara K.

Another herb is green onion. It helps with low cholesterol. Also onions can help with sore throats. You can squeeze it and get the juice and drink it if you want.

–Gabby

Green onions work almost as well as the garlic, but not as strong.

–Emily

Onions and green onions, eaten raw…these don’t taste very good either, but they are vegetables and help sore throats, help you stay healthy, and make you strong.

–Maggie

Tomato is another one that can take away cancer and is good for the digestive system.

–Gabby

One thing he said was that the smell makes the medicine work, so if you cook the medicine, some of the smell comes out and the medicine isn’t as good.

Bee said that if you put the Aloe Vera on a sunburn, the sunburn would go away in five minutes.

–Sara K.

Aloe Vera comes in a leaf and is a gooey, clear-ish green color. You can eat it, but it is too toxic to eat raw. But it helps heal sunburns, burns, and chapped lips.

–Maggie

He also uses processed natural medicines like ginkgo and some herbs.

–Thomas

The last medicine he showed us was juice from a ginkgo tree. It didn’t look that natural because it was in a bottle, but it was. Bee said ginkgo juice helps with circulation and memory.

–Sara K.

Ginkgo fruit shouldn’t be eaten raw, as it has a very bitter taste. It relaxes your blood vessels.

–Maggie

These medicines are natural, but you have to know how to use them. The medicines in the hospital are different. People who come to Dr. Lo sometimes don’t get better and then have to go to the hospital and get stronger medicines.

–Gabby

Another thing Bee said was that if you go to the doctor and the doctor tells you to take a certain amount of pills and you take more than that, you could die. But if you get some natural medicine from a naturopathic doctor and you take tons of what they give you, you will not die.

–Sara K.

Treatments

There are some small things that he does to patients. One is called cupping. You take a glass jar and put some fire in it for about 3 seconds and then take it out and immediately put it on some part of the body. It sucks on and doesn’t come off unless you pull. This is supposed to suck the evils spirits out of your body. If you leave it on too long, you skin will turn dark purple.

–Gabby

This [cupping] requires a cup, cotton balls, alcohol, a candle, and some scissors or something. You put a little alcohol on a cotton ball to help it set alight, light it with the candle, all the while holding it with the scissors and put the cotton momentarily in the cup to warm up the inside. Then you quickly put the cup on a hurting spot. It will suck up the skin part way into the cup. It is supposed to take away pain.

–Maggie

Another treatment is called spooning. That is when you take a spoon and put something called monkey balm on it. Monkey balm is a kind of cream. Then you start rubbing the spoon on your skin until your skin gets all red. Other people use coins, but that hurts more.

–Gabby

This (spooning) requires a spoon, something like monkey balm medicine paste, and a sore place. You rub the monkey balm on the sore place with the spoon. After a couple minutes, it starts to get red, but it is supposed to take the pain away.

–Maggie

The monkey balm feels cold, but hot at the same time.

–Sara K.

Dr. Lo could look into somebody’s eyes and tell what kind of person you are. Like if you were shy, or if you talked a lot or talked little, even if you would be a leader when you grow up.

–Gabby

Martha and I put on a two-person stethoscope and heard each others’ heartbeats. Bee had made the stethoscope because he thought kids would want to hear their heart beat.

…I went on a tour to see what Bee’s office looked like. Bee’s wife (who is not Hmong) was leading it. First she took us to the room where Bee massages people. In the middle of it there was a massage table and off to the side there were cupboards with pill medicine in them. Next Bee’s wife showed us Bee’s office. Bee talks to his patients there to see exactly what is wrong with them. In the office there was a desk and a cupboard. On the cupboard were some trophies and on the desk there were some business cards and flowers. He told us the Hmong used everything he showed us. It was so fun watching Bee show and talk about naturopathic medicines. I hope if I get sick I can use them some time.

–Sara K.