Breanna Watson
Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity
HLT-310V Spirituality In Healthcare
June 27, 2012

As healthcare providers we are going to always encounter patients of different cultures, beliefs, and religions. Because of the diversity we face, we are also going to also have to learn to at times push our beliefs aside to be able to support and help care for our clients with unbiased opinions. Being that there are so many different religions, philosophies, etc knowing some background on them will help us better understand their needs. Buddhism (founded in Northern India) is one religion little known about, but widely practiced. It currently has about 376 million followers. It is the fourth largest practiced religion after Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Their spiritual beliefs concerning healing are somewhat different to what others may sometimes believe. For example Buddhists believe that the body knows that it is supposed to heal itself. However if your “spirit” is not as it is supposed to be things will not go as they are supposed to. In other words a healthy mind ensures a healthy body. A critical component of healing is somewhat the same as a Christian. Whereas Christians pray, Buddhists meditate daily. They mediate often and not always for self improvement. They believe in accepting all sickness as a process of exchanging themselves for another person. They use prayer wheels (a wheel inscribed with prayers that are spun to symbolize the repition of prayer,) incense, among other things to help the healing process. Buddhists also believe in using herbal medicine in healing illnesses and staying healthy. Sikhism is a religion not heard of very often. It was founded by Guru Nanak. In this religion they believe in one formless divinity. This formless divinity manifests everywhere in the world he has created. They believe that religion is