If Healing Arts Had Been Around for the First Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims had endured an exhausting Atlantic crossing followed by hunger, illness, exposure to harsh weather, enormous stress, and the challenge of surviving in an unfamiliar environment. The Wampanoag had a very different health history, including devastating epidemics that swept through Native communities before the Pilgrims established Plymouth.

If Dr. Armitstead could go back in time, what illness would she find and how could she use modern-day natural therapies to improve their health?

The Pilgrims: Exhaustion Would Have Been Just the Beginning

Imagine spending weeks aboard a crowded wooden ship and then arriving just as a New England winter was beginning.

By the time the Pilgrims began establishing their settlement, their bodies had been subjected to an extraordinary combination of physical and emotional stressors. Limited nutrition, disrupted sleep, cramped surroundings, physical exertion, severe weather, illness, and uncertainty could all take a toll.

Today, someone coming into our office after prolonged physical hardship might say: "I'm exhausted, and I don't feel like myself." But fatigue is a symptom, not an explanation.

Nutrition Response Testing is one of the tools Dr. Armitstead uses to evaluate a patient's physical and nutritional needs and develop a personalized nutritional program. Rather than looking at fatigue as an isolated complaint, the goal is to explore what the individual body may need for better support. For the Pilgrims, nutrition certainly would have been an interesting place to start.

Imagine the Aches and Pains

Next comes the physical toll. Weeks aboard ship, followed by the demanding work of establishing a settlement, could leave the body sore, stiff, and exhausted.

If a modern patient walked in with similar complaints, Dr. Armitstead could consider whether PEMF Therapy might be an appropriate modality for that individual. PEMF stands for Pulsed Electromagnetic Field. At Healing Arts NYC, it is one of our available wellness modalities for supporting the body and cellular function. It's fascinating to imagine what someone accustomed to life in 1621 would think if we showed them a modern PEMF device!

What About Their Respiratory Health?

Now imagine winter weather, close quarters, smoke, environmental changes, and illness. Respiratory discomfort and congestion would hardly be surprising.

Healing Arts NYC offers Halotherapy, also known as dry salt therapy, in our Salt Booth. Micronized salt is dispersed into the enclosed environment while the patient relaxes and breathes normally. Salt therapy is one of the modalities we use to support respiratory wellness, making it another fascinating modern-day contrast to the conditions people endured hundreds of years ago. Someone stepping off the Mayflower probably would have found sitting quietly in a salt room pretty appealing.

And Then There Was Stress

We sometimes underestimate how strongly prolonged stress can affect how we feel physically. Imagine leaving your home behind, spending weeks crossing an ocean, experiencing illness or loss around you, arriving somewhere unfamiliar, and then immediately facing the demands of survival.

There was no weekend off. No warm bed waiting at a hotel. And there certainly wasn't an opportunity to say, "I think I need a mental health day." Today we understand much more about the relationship between emotional stress and physical well-being.

Emotional Release Therapy at Healing Arts NYC is a gentle, body-based technique that helps the nervous system release stored emotional tension. Dr. Armitstead also incorporates other energy and mind-body modalities when appropriate for the individual. The circumstances are obviously very different today, but our bodies still respond to prolonged stress.