1) What are the basic elements of the technique (how is it practiced?).

The Hmong people use two different treatments: spiritual treatment and natural treatment.
Spiritual deals with the psychological curing of illnesses whereas natural treatment deals with the
use of herbs and medicinal plants. The Hmong people have their own ethics and have a unique
culture. They are particular and constant in their ways of curing diseases. They seem to believe
in the more spiritual side of curing diseases. According to the Hmong people’s belief, diseases
affect a human when the internal soul is affected and that is why they rely on spiritual healing to
replace the bad vibrations and regenerate the soul that is affected by a disease. Considering the
natural side of treatments, natural herbs and medicinal plants are used because they have been
proven to have natural healing properties.
2) How do Hmong believe that it treats maladies?
The Hmong people believed in natural medicines will help tackle any disease or illness but, in
the book, there is no specific background information as to how they knew certain natural
medications will help cure certain conditions of diseases and illnesses. They basically relied in
the rejuvenation of the people’s soul by conducting rituals to cure the conditions. They also
utilize heat as a form of treatment. They eat hot foods and they believed this destroys the
blocking of the spiritual form of the soul from healing.

3) Do you believe that it is a useful practice? Or do you believe that Hmong would be just
as well without it? In answering this last question, be careful to define your criteria for
"useful" or "not useful."
Both approaches have their own benefits. But choosing a side highly depends on the situation
and the disease that the person has. For deadly diseases like cancer or AIDS, there is no cure so
people would have to rely on the spiritual side for treatment. But if the person has a cold or
fever, natural treatment is more likely to provide the best treatment compared to the spiritual
approach. So, the situation depends on the type of treatment preferred. So in my opinion, the
spiritual approach is not useful, and the natural approach is useful. Supernatural forces can help
but not in all cases. But natural approach can definitely be the best alternate that will provide
better results. The Hmong people would need both forms of treatment but natural treatments will
provide better scientific results and it’s a safer approach.

4) Based on your criteria for whether the practice is useful or not, what kind of evidence
would help you bolster your claim?
Some aspects I agree with Hmong people. Such as eating hot foods might be helpful to an extent
by killing of bacteria, but I don’t think it will be effective to cure diseases. Likewise, I like their
approach on using natural herbs and medicinal plants to cure diseases and illnesses. This is a safe
alternate to traditional medications as there wont be any side effects. But in my opinion, I
support the natural approach more than the spiritual approach. I feel like there would be more
cure if the natural approach was used on humans.