Alaska's Native peoples relied on the natural environment to sustain them. Individual and community health depended upon maintaining a balance with the environment, using resources wisely, careful preparation and observance of cultural morés. This month, the Alaska Native Heritage Center begins a yearlong exploration of how traditional knowledge helped Alaska's Native people achieve a healthy harmony of mind, body and spirit. The human and cultural consequences of introduced diseases, and the revival of traditional healing will also be explored.

"'Our Healing Ways: Mind, Body & Spirit' will focus on how our ancestors maintained their health," commented Margaret Nelson, president and chief executive officer of the Heritage Center. "In their remote, largely homogeneous cultures, health was not so much a matter of recovering from disease, but rather maintaining the delicate balance within oneself, the community and the larger environment."

According to Nelson, 'Our Healing Ways' will include a variety of medicinal, ritual and healing practices, including: plants used for maintaining or restoring health; rituals that promoted health; ritual preparation and remedies that pervaded Alaska Native cultures; harmony with the environment that required mental, physical and spiritual preparation for many activities; spiritual healing; the devastation of introduced diseases and the deliverance of Western medicines; and traditional healing today.

"Our theme programs provide us with the opportunity to delve into a particular aspect of Native life and incorporate it throughout the programs offered by the Center," Nelson added. "With 'Our Healing Ways,' we hope to illustrate and share the unique connections that Alaska Natives have with their natural environment, and how that connection brought harmony to mind, body and spirit."

Beginning May 12 through Sept. 30, 2002, the Alaska Native Heritage Center will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The cost of admission is $19.95 for adults, $14.95 for children (7 - 16 years old), $17.95 for seniors (62 years or older), and free for children six and younger and for members.

In early April, as part of CIRI's Native Pride program for Anchorage youth, second place Iditarod 2002 finisher Ramy Brooks spoke with students of Central Middle School and Wonder Park Elementary about what it is like to run the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Brooks is an Athabascan Indian and Yup'ik Eskimo who was reared in Rampart, Alaska, on the Yukon River with a dog mushing heritage extending back several generations. His mother Roxy Wright and his grandfather Gareth Wright hold world dog-racing titles. Brooks and other Native mushers hope that the exposure of racing will encourage other Alaska Natives to keep dog mushing alive.

CIRI strives to build awareness of the vital role that Alaska Native and Native American people play in the economic, social and cultural development of Alaska and the nation. Placing a high priority on supporting youth and education, CIRI is committed to helping youth develop leadership skills and lifelong learning habits by introducing them to Alaska Native leaders and role models.

In partnership with the Anchorage School District Indian Education Program, CIRI's Native Pride program is designed to increase identity and pride among Alaska Native and Native American students. The Native Pride program supports youth by providing positive Alaska Native or Native American role models to either mentor students individually or to provide presentations to all participants.

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