Episode 157 - Healing and Spirituality in Diverse Indigenous Cultures

Bob Vetter is a healer and cultural anthropologist whose life work concerns the intersection of spirituality and healing in diverse indigenous cultures. He studied the traditional Mesoamerican healing system called Curanderismo with teachers both in the United States and Mexico, and maintains a healing practice and community temazcal (traditional Mesoamerican sweat lodge) in New York. In this episode Bob tells his unique story that begins when he was a graduate student at University of Oklahoma, seeking the last Comanche medicine man to interview for his graduate studies. It then traverses a multitude of relationships with Native American elders, ultimately resulting in Bob becoming an adopted nephew, son and grandson, and healer in his own right. Along with his adopted uncle, medicine man Richard Tartsah Sr., he authored the book Big Bow: The Spiritual Life and Teachings of a Kiowa Family. He currently hosts the podcast, “Healing and Spirituality in World Cultures."