Importing Well-Researched Practices from Other Traditions: Thoughts from a Conservative Society

Editor's Note: M.K.M. Khalil is an Egyptian-educated medical doctor with a background in public health and pediatrics who currently serves as the head of the Research Unit for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia. He served recently on the International Organizing Committee for World Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health (Berlin, May 2017) and is an Associate Editor of JACM. His column reminds us how each of our nations has distinct challenges in finding the best ways to integrate traditional and complementary products, practices, and practitioners to meet the WHO goal of primary care for all.—John Weeks, Editor-in-Chief

Although the power of organized religion has declined in Western societies, ¹ this is not the situation in the Middle East. In this region, this power has the ability not only to stigmatize but also to resist any practices that may be viewed as suspicious due to being built on foreign beliefs or philosophy that can cause a conflict with our religious beliefs. This is the most important obstacle to the use of certain practices such as yoga or Reiki in our region. Although local traditional medical practices in Muslim societies ^2,3 are actively promoted, those from abroad and categorized to be “Eastern Religious-Inspired Health Practices” (ERIHPs) are not officially available.

Yet in this world of global communication, many people in the Middle East learn about and develop interest in such practices. Ironically, despite geographical proximity with eastern Asian countries that are the origins of these practices, and despite the large number of Asian expatriates working in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, the surge in the interest in ERIHPs came to the Middle East from the West.

Different pathways have been attempted to introduce practices such as yoga or Reiki in our region. One concept was to take away religious overtones and origins. “Secular meditation” was a term used. It did not prove a convincing approach, especially since “secularity” itself is a suspicious term in conservative societies like that of Saudi Arabia. Of course, for certain practices like yoga, stripping away its religion of origin and attempting to market it as something other than an ERIHPs in a conservative society are not a practical approach as the label itself still evokes a foreign philosophy.

Another approach has included practice relabeling. In Saudi Arabia where Islamic-based traditional healings are leading traditional medicine practices, ² some practitioners of Reiki, touch therapy, or other forms of energy medicine tried another approach. They first remove reference to the original philosophy or religion from such practices, then complement the practices with Islamic rituals or prayers. This makes them more acceptable to local communities. Since meditation, which is a core part of many ERIHPs, has been a part of Islam—as it is of many religious philosophies—calling it “Islamic meditation” can be an ideal solution as long as meditation is used as a part of religious rituals. ⁴

In another twist, although ERIHPs grew in the West in part as a reflection of what has been called The New Age Spirituality, ¹ the most important driver of interest in the Middle East comes from the evolution of “mind–body practices” in the modern and scientific and research-driven framework as a part of medicine.

In the West in the more religious conservative 1970s, Herbert Benson faced many critiques when he first researched the Eastern stigmatized term “meditation.” He avoided them by describing the “relaxation response.” ^5,6 Today, including relaxation technique and the concept of mind–body in scientific research has proven the most practical way to respond to these critiques. ^5,7 The practice became associated with science and medicine, rather than religion. It is worth studying this model for our region, taken into consideration our own culture.

In our community, the resistance is not to all foreign traditional practices. Acupuncture, for example, is regulated and legally practiced in the region, including in Saudi Arabia. The resistance is mainly to ERIHPs.

The rising hope among some of us for a holistic healthcare system and integrative health in our region comes at a time of healthcare transformation and privatization presently underway in Saudi Arabia. ⁸ Our hope is tied to these scientific breakthroughs. The way forward for the concept of traditional health practices from other regions will likely come from the intersection of scientific applications and our own culture.