Written by Before there was western psychology, Africans posited knowledge of self as the objective for understanding human behavior. The principles that exemplify health are: The Divine Image of Humans; The Perfectibility of Humans; The Teachability of Humans; The Free Will of Humans, and The Essentiality of Moral Social Practice (The book of coming forth by day). Healing (maat) and illness (isfet) are also viewed through the union of opposites.
Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea. African people may suffer from historic trauma. This trauma may be genetically encoded and appear as post traumatic slave syndrome. Genetic trauma moves from one generation to the next. Without healing the cycle trauma continues. In addition, there may be other visible manifestations of this trauma that requires healing.
Maat (healing) connotes union between physical and spirit. Healing between physical form and human form requires an acceptable adjustment to one or both forms to intersect with the other. Health is not only the presence of maat, it is the lessing of isfet. Trauma is the disconnection of the physical and spirit.
According to Rkhty Amen in A life centered life living maat, Maat is the laws and rules, that govern and maintain the forms of existence, and allows everything to exist in its form and order. Maat is balance, truth, justice and righteousness. To live maat is to live a productive healthy life.
The maafa has been called the misery of the misery. According to Marimba Ani in Let the circle be unbroken, the Maafa is the holocaust (dehumanizing circumstance, human response). Europeans created an inhuman circumstance in which to enslave African humanity. The maafa in the circle of healing also reflects trauma. Trauma can be the intense harm caused by enslavement, white supremacy or discrimination that shaped Africans life choices. In addition to the misery of miseries there is also the mini maafas (illnesses and minor traumas).
Sankofa means to go back and get it. As a principle it relates that there is a connection to our historic past. Doing Sankofa to heal trauma is to journey beyond the incident(s) to find maat. There, before the event(s) the individual family or community can be healed. Whether it is through the events of the past (history) or the ancestors (spiritual), solutions to our present can be found. It does not mean that the past is determinant of the present but that there is no present without a past. Utilization of the past provides the resources for a successful present. Depending on the intensity of the maafa, knowledge of self provides the key to understanding the behavior of African people. To seek healing is a return to the source (origin of understanding) of knowledge of human behavior. Sankofa means to return to the time before time or yesterday to seek the solution. One can always utilize the ancestors to provide guidance. The solution exists on the continuum. The greater the knowledge, the lesser the impact of maafa.
The purpose of the healing cycle is to liberate individuals, families and communities from the restrictive limits of the constricting oppressive environment. African centered healing works to increase perceptual choices while at the same time maintaining a harmonious relationship within the African world. This healing approach is grounded in health utilizing the basic philosophical principles (Maat) of traditional African beliefs. In concert with these principles are the constructs of the Maafa and Sankofa.
As time is cyclical, one can always do Sankofa. Past, present and future are all available. The healing cycle provides a blueprint to heal trauma. The maafa (trauma) exists in the present, in order to return to maat, one must use Sankofa. The objective of health and wellness is to practice maat. Sankofa properly used is the process of using what has occurred to provide a blueprint for reaching maat in the present. The maafa (major or minor trauma) will appear in life. The more one can rely on Sankofa, the more effectively the individual, community or nation will be able to overcome and return to maat.