The Healing Power of Nature - Norwegian Journal of Friluftsliv

Indigenous Consciousness
Indigenous Consciousness, or Intra-Indigenous Consciousness (IIC), seemingly closely related to TEK,
is a knowledge system that is taught through beliefs, rites, and ceremonies. This consciousness includes
spirituality, responsibility, reciprocity, the earth, animals and many other facets (Martinez, 2008). Many
early medical systems such as Tibetan Medicine and Native American Medicine encompassed and have
been sustained through indigenous consciousness. Today Martinez’s research with seven nations has
shown that medicine and health and healing paradigms are a central manner in which indigenous
consciousness is both used and maintained, including helping to temper colonizer affects.
James Neill (2004) theorizes that everybody is indigenous and that indigenous consciousness can be
unlocked through reconnection with nature perhaps using experiences which were significant to one’s
ancestors, such as being outdoors. Neill proposes that intra-indigenous consciousness is genetically
stored. Once again there are connections and overlap among friluftsliv, TEK, and indigenous
consciousness. A question remains as to what may be genetic and what may be learned.
Psychoevolutionary theory (PET)
Evolutionary psychologists see certain behaviors (memory, perception, language) as adaptations
that have been selected for in a population in a similar manner as we think of natural selection selecting
for a physically well adapted individual. A well-used example is that humans may have inherited certain
mental capacities for acquiring language making language acquisition seem almost automatic. Neil, et al.
(2004) proposed that humans have a mental link that knows that we, as humans, need time outdoors.
Therefore outdoor education occurs in industrialized societies and is a form of ritualistic or
compensatory cultural adaptation to deal with the disconnection of nature from daily life.
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