Spiritual Healing Methods in Los Angeles: the Cultural Heritage and Western Representation of Alternative Medicines

Abstract

Throughout the United States of America, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has become increasingly popular over the past fifty years. These include any practices that stem from tradition and spirituality rather than practices that are derived from empirical evidence. With many popular spiritual healing practices originating from specific traditions across the world and across a wide range of time, there is much to explore about the mechanisms through which culturally specific spiritual healing practices adapt to Western consumerist culture. In the current study, we examine the cultural origins and development of CAM, mostly the use and popularization of Reiki, Yoga, and ayahuasca. We interviewed six spiritual health practitioners in the greater Los Angeles area to understand the modern CAM practitioner’s perspective on how spiritual healing methods have taken hold in Western culture, how they align with the original practice’s tradition, and how they have adapted to modern consumer culture. This study explores how Los Angeles’ cultural emphasis on individuality and marketability has cultivated an environment for its population to disseminate and recontextualize traditional spiritual healing methods to fit contemporary mental health demands.