Book excerpt: A traditional Native American healer from the Karuk tribe shares his personal story of reconnection to the Great Spirit in contemporary America. • By Bobby Lake-Thom, author of the bestseller Native Healer. • Provides Native American shamanic perspective on disease and healing. • Explores indigenous social identity in a spiritual and political context. • Reveals authentic indigenous traditions and ceremonies from numerous tribes. This redemption story of Native American healer Bobby Lake-Thom invites the reader to enter a world of authentic indigenous traditions and ceremonies. Bobby, also known as Medicine Grizzly Bear, didn't recognize his shamanic calling at first. He didn't know that his vivid dreams, psychic abilities, and visitations by wild animals and ghostly figures were calls from the Great Spirit. In the age-old shamanic tradition, it took a near-death experience for the message to get through to him. Though still a young man, he was wracked with debilitating arthritis. Unable to handle the physical and psychic pain, he set out into the wilderness determined to kill himself with an overdose of drugs and alcohol. But before downing the substances, he approximated a Native American ceremony as best he could, sending a heartfelt prayer for assistance to the Great Spirit. He woke up--alive--the next morning and received a message from Eagle, telling him to seek help from Wahsek, a medicine man in the northern mountains. And so Bobby's apprenticeship began. Forbidden to reveal Wahsek's secrets until 10 years after his death, Bobby is now free to share this fascinating story with the world.