March 19, 2025 • 12 mins
Welcome back to The Most Painful Podcast! We're continuing our Live from Invictus series, bringing you exclusive conversations straight from the 2025 Invictus Games in Vancouver, BC. In this episode, we sit down with Clara John from the Liìote Nation, who carries a deep-rooted background in traditional medicine passed down from her uncle. Clara shares her personal experiences with the effects of traditional healing practices and their role in health and well-being. Join us as we explore the intersection of ancestral wisdom and modern recovery, and how these practices continue to support Veterans and athletes alike.Stay tuned for more inspiring stories from Live from Invictus!
For more about the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence visit https://www.veteranschronicpain.ca/
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For more about the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence visit https://www.veteranschronicpain.ca/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is SSN Story Studio Network.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome to this special series of the Most Painful Podcast,
recorded live from the twenty twenty five Victus Games at Vancouver, BC.
I'm your host, Tom Hoppey. On this episode, I'm joined
by Clara John from the Littwet Nation and she has
a background in traditional medicine that was passed down from
(00:28):
her uncle and will speak to us about our own
experience with the effects of traditional medicines. Clara, Welcome to
the show.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I've been through two bulks of cancer twenty eighteen and
twenty twenty and I took after I was done with
my chemon radiation, I took Chaga mashoon one hundred percent
allo silver water, juniper tea, mull and tea, and there's
(00:59):
also another measure and then it's called five Alive. It's
got five different medicines in there, and US First Nations,
amongst ourselves, we call it five Alive because we know
if other people get a hold of it, they'll be
trying to sell it or whatever, and we don't want that. Yeah,
(01:19):
but yeah, there's a lot of medicines out there that
can help you, for event from getting cancers too. After
I had it. I learned that like your body's either
acidic or elk wine, and if your body's acidic, everybody's
got the cancer gene. It's just a matter of when
you get it.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
And so where did you learn was this passed down
from elders? Where did you learn this about the medicine?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
A lot of the medicines we learned from our uncles.
For years. We went to my partner and we went
to sweats with our uncles and every weekend they would
like we would sweat every Sunday and they had a
different medicine in this wet and the what we call
the medicine bucket, they would have a different one, Saint
(02:08):
John's wort or red willow or juniper or that was
always something different, and they would teach us about the medicine.
And then from there, I guess I just started expanding
more and more and learning more and more. I just
know a little bit.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
So the sweats, which is I guess for people who
don't know, it's similar to a sauna, I guess in
a sense, right, And then from there you use different
medicines within the sweat and within the water. Is that
how it's done?
Speaker 1 (02:40):
We you put the medicine in the in a bucket
and that's what you use. The splash on the rocks
and the sweat launch. So yeah, I forget that people.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
So the chuga, I've heard about that before. Maybe you
can tell us a little bit about that. Where it's from.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
The chago comes from the birch tree and it's how
do you say the a fungus. It's the fungus that
comes off the birch tree and you boil that and
make a tea out of it. And they found out
there it's got quite a bit of medicinal purposes. So
a lot of people have been using that recently.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
So how would you prepare that? I mean, I've seen
it on a tree before, but how is that prepared?
Can anybody do it?
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Or yep, you just take it, take the fungus and
you break pieces off and you boil it in the
tea and then you just drink it from there. And
say with the juniper, you just you can boil the
branches or you can boil the green and then you
just drink the tea because juniper is for detoks behind
(03:44):
the body. That's why I took that after I finished
my chem on my radiation, So.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Is there any I guess there's quite a bit of
knowledge to know what plant to pick and how to
do it safely.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, because our protocol First Nations protocol, we offer tobacco
before we collect our medicine, and when we ask for it,
we ask the good grandfathers and good grandmothers to allow
us to pick this medicine so that it will help
people in a good way.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And then also just knowing like what plant to pick
is important as well, so it's not the wrong one, right,
because I guess some of them are poison too as well.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yes, when you go out there, like you should have
somebody that has a bit of knowledge about the plant zerbology,
because there's some people that will try to go out
and pick the mushrooms especially, and there is some mushrooms
that are very dangerous and poisonous, so they got to watch,
like we pick pine mushroomers. And we're learning now too
(04:48):
that there's a lot of like Turkey Tale and there's
how many different mushrooms. There's so much medicines out there,
Like we we've had our own pharmacy in our backyard
for all these years and now we're just learning about it.
So that's the whole point, I guess, is to get
(05:10):
more people to use their backyard medicine.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And there is more research happening on this too. People
are looking into what you know this type of medicinal
medicine can provide for people. I know you, So when
you're taking this, like is it on a daily thing
or like how much do you know you should take?
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And when when I was taking it, I would take
like June and per for a day. Then I would
do chagas and anything I drank, I would put one
hundred percent alo on there. And just what else was
I taking?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
I was taking what they call silver water. I've talked
to a lot of people about that. And for me,
in January twenty twenty, I had limph all over my chest,
all over my neck and they scanned me and they thought,
we can't do anything for her. She's like stage four.
(06:06):
I was taking silver water from my uncle. He gave it,
he introduced it to me, and then they scanned me
again in April and they couldn't find anything. Then when
they were scanning me, they asked me how many times?
What's your name? What's your birthday? And I was like
what's going on you guys? Are you guys are scaring me? No,
we know it's you, Clara, but we can't find anything.
(06:29):
So whatever you're taking, they couldn't tell me that, but
I had to wait for the doctor to tell me that.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah. So, I mean, sometimes we can't explain why, but
we know that it happens. And like you said, there's
history with that as well too, from the past. So
so there you know, were you kind of giving guidance
on what to take and how to take in the
dosage and that or was it just you just kind
of went went went as it is or I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
The guidance that I was given was from our late
uncle Frasier, when I was going through all this stuff.
He says, go have your tantrum, Go do whatever you
got to do. Get mad about it, he says. Then
after that you accept and you heal. He says, when
you're done having your tantrum, that's it no more. Then
(07:21):
you start healing. When you accept and heal, then you
can fight it. But if you try to fight it,
you just get mad and you try to fight it,
it's going to fight back. The illness is going to
win it. So you accept and you heal. That's what
I did both times.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I really like that accepting heal. I think that's important
because we talk about inflammation and how the mind will,
for stress will increase inflammation which will then make our
body sick. So I like that, you know, accepting heal
and then move on.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I really like that, Yeah, because that's what Uncle said
to me. He says, go have your tantrum, Go do
whatever you gotta do. Go scream down the river, or
throw yourself on ground and kick and scream, and he says,
when you're done, you're done. He says, accept and heel,
then carry on no more.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Well, I think if I walk away with anything today,
it's that accept in heel. I think that is so
important because of this stress and the like I said,
the stress in the mind body. I think that's awesome.
So you talked about Chugga, you talked about juniper, So
a lot of these would be teas in that kind
of thing.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yes, when I was taking it, I was taken in
tea form, and like I said, when I had juniper tea,
I would just put some one hundred percent alow in
there and not the alloe you get that has grape
juice in there. You want it to be one hundred
percent yallow. So that's I really believe in all this stuff.
And my oncollegiest in twenty twenty Clara, we'd like to
(08:49):
know what you're taking and the part of my language.
But I looked at her and I said, I'm sorry,
But I said, I'm I'm not telling you crap. I said,
because I've been coming here for two years. You never
healed me. I said, I helped heal myself. I said,
so you guys will try to commercialize it and do
(09:10):
whatever and profit off it. I said, I'll tell everybody
else in this country clinic what I'm taking to make
myself better, but I'm not telling doctors nothing.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Well, and I think that's important. You know, you got
to do what works for you. So this is interesting.
So let's talk a little bit about some of the
bulls you have here. I mean we sow smudge balls.
I mean people can't see it, but basically what they
are there rocks and they're they're carved out to have
a bit of a ball in the center. So why
why smudging? Maybe you can tell people a little bit
(09:41):
about that.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
We chose mudgeballs because, as our banner says, cleaning body, mind, spirit, emotions.
Because when you're you're cleansing, you need to be doing
need to be doing all of it, not just one
or the other. You have to be doing all of it.
And so when you're smudging, that's what you're doing. You're
(10:06):
cleaning the body, the mind, the spirit, emotions. And like,
you can't take care of anybody else unless you take
care of yourself, and a lot of us we carry
a lot of extra baggage, I guess, and that's one
(10:27):
thing that we were taught also from our uncles, is
do not carry what is not yours to carry. And
it's like saying, if I say something to you today,
like I don't like that shirt on you, oh well,
have a nice day. That's it. You just prush it
off and you carry on, like you know, other people
are going to have their opinion, and they say it
(10:47):
a lot too. What other people think of you is
none of your business. So you just carry on and
do the best that you can do by you, and
then everything else will fall into place.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Yeah, And so it goes back to that whole thing
about mindfulness and just being trying to calm your system down,
and then just being who you are I guess in
the world. Any last words, I just will.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Cho everyone like good health throughout the year and to
take care of themselves. Now that's what our uncle told
us too. He says, don't wait till you're twenty thirty, forty,
fifty sixty. Take care of yourself. No today, do not
eat processed food, Stop drinking pop, Stop drinking red bull
(11:35):
or energy drinks or whatever they are. They're so bad
for your heart. And there is natural medicine out there
if you want it, you'll find it and learn about it.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I think that those are really good words, and I
like the everything you said, especially the accept it and
then just move on. Really, at the end of the day,
thank you so much for being on the show, and
I'm looking forward to learning more because now you got
me interested in this too. Really appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
For feedback about the show or more information on chronic pain,
you can visit our website Veterans Chronicpain dot Ca. And
if you want more information on Invictus, you can go
to their website Invictusgamesfoundation dot org. Remember to like, follow, subscribe,
and share this podcast. Thanks for listening to a special
Invictus Live series as part of the Most Painful Podcast.
(12:33):
I'm your host Tom Hoppy. Stay safe and keep the
hope alive.
This is SSN Story Studio Network.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome to this special series of the Most Painful Podcast,
recorded live from the twenty twenty five Victus Games at Vancouver, BC.
I'm your host, Tom Hoppey. On this episode, I'm joined
by Clara John from the Littwet Nation and she has
a background in traditional medicine that was passed down from
(00:28):
her uncle and will speak to us about our own
experience with the effects of traditional medicines. Clara, Welcome to
the show.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I've been through two bulks of cancer twenty eighteen and
twenty twenty and I took after I was done with
my chemon radiation, I took Chaga mashoon one hundred percent
allo silver water, juniper tea, mull and tea, and there's
(00:59):
also another measure and then it's called five Alive. It's
got five different medicines in there, and US First Nations,
amongst ourselves, we call it five Alive because we know
if other people get a hold of it, they'll be
trying to sell it or whatever, and we don't want that. Yeah,
(01:19):
but yeah, there's a lot of medicines out there that
can help you, for event from getting cancers too. After
I had it. I learned that like your body's either
acidic or elk wine, and if your body's acidic, everybody's
got the cancer gene. It's just a matter of when
you get it.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
And so where did you learn was this passed down
from elders? Where did you learn this about the medicine?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
A lot of the medicines we learned from our uncles.
For years. We went to my partner and we went
to sweats with our uncles and every weekend they would
like we would sweat every Sunday and they had a
different medicine in this wet and the what we call
the medicine bucket, they would have a different one, Saint
(02:08):
John's wort or red willow or juniper or that was
always something different, and they would teach us about the medicine.
And then from there, I guess I just started expanding
more and more and learning more and more. I just
know a little bit.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
So the sweats, which is I guess for people who
don't know, it's similar to a sauna, I guess in
a sense, right, And then from there you use different
medicines within the sweat and within the water. Is that
how it's done?
Speaker 1 (02:40):
We you put the medicine in the in a bucket
and that's what you use. The splash on the rocks
and the sweat launch. So yeah, I forget that people.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
So the chuga, I've heard about that before. Maybe you
can tell us a little bit about that. Where it's from.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
The chago comes from the birch tree and it's how
do you say the a fungus. It's the fungus that
comes off the birch tree and you boil that and
make a tea out of it. And they found out
there it's got quite a bit of medicinal purposes. So
a lot of people have been using that recently.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
So how would you prepare that? I mean, I've seen
it on a tree before, but how is that prepared?
Can anybody do it?
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Or yep, you just take it, take the fungus and
you break pieces off and you boil it in the
tea and then you just drink it from there. And
say with the juniper, you just you can boil the
branches or you can boil the green and then you
just drink the tea because juniper is for detoks behind
(03:44):
the body. That's why I took that after I finished
my chem on my radiation, So.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Is there any I guess there's quite a bit of
knowledge to know what plant to pick and how to
do it safely.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, because our protocol First Nations protocol, we offer tobacco
before we collect our medicine, and when we ask for it,
we ask the good grandfathers and good grandmothers to allow
us to pick this medicine so that it will help
people in a good way.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And then also just knowing like what plant to pick
is important as well, so it's not the wrong one, right,
because I guess some of them are poison too as well.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yes, when you go out there, like you should have
somebody that has a bit of knowledge about the plant zerbology,
because there's some people that will try to go out
and pick the mushrooms especially, and there is some mushrooms
that are very dangerous and poisonous, so they got to watch,
like we pick pine mushroomers. And we're learning now too
(04:48):
that there's a lot of like Turkey Tale and there's
how many different mushrooms. There's so much medicines out there,
Like we we've had our own pharmacy in our backyard
for all these years and now we're just learning about it.
So that's the whole point, I guess, is to get
(05:10):
more people to use their backyard medicine.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And there is more research happening on this too. People
are looking into what you know this type of medicinal
medicine can provide for people. I know you, So when
you're taking this, like is it on a daily thing
or like how much do you know you should take?
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And when when I was taking it, I would take
like June and per for a day. Then I would
do chagas and anything I drank, I would put one
hundred percent alo on there. And just what else was
I taking?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
I was taking what they call silver water. I've talked
to a lot of people about that. And for me,
in January twenty twenty, I had limph all over my chest,
all over my neck and they scanned me and they thought,
we can't do anything for her. She's like stage four.
(06:06):
I was taking silver water from my uncle. He gave it,
he introduced it to me, and then they scanned me
again in April and they couldn't find anything. Then when
they were scanning me, they asked me how many times?
What's your name? What's your birthday? And I was like
what's going on you guys? Are you guys are scaring me? No,
we know it's you, Clara, but we can't find anything.
(06:29):
So whatever you're taking, they couldn't tell me that, but
I had to wait for the doctor to tell me that.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah. So, I mean, sometimes we can't explain why, but
we know that it happens. And like you said, there's
history with that as well too, from the past. So
so there you know, were you kind of giving guidance
on what to take and how to take in the
dosage and that or was it just you just kind
of went went went as it is or I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
The guidance that I was given was from our late
uncle Frasier, when I was going through all this stuff.
He says, go have your tantrum, Go do whatever you
got to do. Get mad about it, he says. Then
after that you accept and you heal. He says, when
you're done having your tantrum, that's it no more. Then
(07:21):
you start healing. When you accept and heal, then you
can fight it. But if you try to fight it,
you just get mad and you try to fight it,
it's going to fight back. The illness is going to
win it. So you accept and you heal. That's what
I did both times.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I really like that accepting heal. I think that's important
because we talk about inflammation and how the mind will,
for stress will increase inflammation which will then make our
body sick. So I like that, you know, accepting heal
and then move on.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I really like that, Yeah, because that's what Uncle said
to me. He says, go have your tantrum, Go do
whatever you gotta do. Go scream down the river, or
throw yourself on ground and kick and scream, and he says,
when you're done, you're done. He says, accept and heel,
then carry on no more.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Well, I think if I walk away with anything today,
it's that accept in heel. I think that is so
important because of this stress and the like I said,
the stress in the mind body. I think that's awesome.
So you talked about Chugga, you talked about juniper, So
a lot of these would be teas in that kind
of thing.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yes, when I was taking it, I was taken in
tea form, and like I said, when I had juniper tea,
I would just put some one hundred percent alow in
there and not the alloe you get that has grape
juice in there. You want it to be one hundred
percent yallow. So that's I really believe in all this stuff.
And my oncollegiest in twenty twenty Clara, we'd like to
(08:49):
know what you're taking and the part of my language.
But I looked at her and I said, I'm sorry,
But I said, I'm I'm not telling you crap. I said,
because I've been coming here for two years. You never
healed me. I said, I helped heal myself. I said,
so you guys will try to commercialize it and do
(09:10):
whatever and profit off it. I said, I'll tell everybody
else in this country clinic what I'm taking to make
myself better, but I'm not telling doctors nothing.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Well, and I think that's important. You know, you got
to do what works for you. So this is interesting.
So let's talk a little bit about some of the
bulls you have here. I mean we sow smudge balls.
I mean people can't see it, but basically what they
are there rocks and they're they're carved out to have
a bit of a ball in the center. So why
why smudging? Maybe you can tell people a little bit
(09:41):
about that.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
We chose mudgeballs because, as our banner says, cleaning body, mind, spirit, emotions.
Because when you're you're cleansing, you need to be doing
need to be doing all of it, not just one
or the other. You have to be doing all of it.
And so when you're smudging, that's what you're doing. You're
(10:06):
cleaning the body, the mind, the spirit, emotions. And like,
you can't take care of anybody else unless you take
care of yourself, and a lot of us we carry
a lot of extra baggage, I guess, and that's one
(10:27):
thing that we were taught also from our uncles, is
do not carry what is not yours to carry. And
it's like saying, if I say something to you today,
like I don't like that shirt on you, oh well,
have a nice day. That's it. You just prush it
off and you carry on, like you know, other people
are going to have their opinion, and they say it
(10:47):
a lot too. What other people think of you is
none of your business. So you just carry on and
do the best that you can do by you, and
then everything else will fall into place.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Yeah, And so it goes back to that whole thing
about mindfulness and just being trying to calm your system down,
and then just being who you are I guess in
the world. Any last words, I just will.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Cho everyone like good health throughout the year and to
take care of themselves. Now that's what our uncle told
us too. He says, don't wait till you're twenty thirty, forty,
fifty sixty. Take care of yourself. No today, do not
eat processed food, Stop drinking pop, Stop drinking red bull
(11:35):
or energy drinks or whatever they are. They're so bad
for your heart. And there is natural medicine out there
if you want it, you'll find it and learn about it.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I think that those are really good words, and I
like the everything you said, especially the accept it and
then just move on. Really, at the end of the day,
thank you so much for being on the show, and
I'm looking forward to learning more because now you got
me interested in this too. Really appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
For feedback about the show or more information on chronic pain,
you can visit our website Veterans Chronicpain dot Ca. And
if you want more information on Invictus, you can go
to their website Invictusgamesfoundation dot org. Remember to like, follow, subscribe,
and share this podcast. Thanks for listening to a special
Invictus Live series as part of the Most Painful Podcast.
(12:33):
I'm your host Tom Hoppy. Stay safe and keep the
hope alive.
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