What is Naturopathy?

Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine is a fast growing health modality around the world. It is a system of healing that takes a completely holistic approach. Meaning, we look at a person's current health state from many aspects such as diet, genetics, lifestyle, environment. It seeks to heal someone from a multi-factoral perspective rather than just by using medication; as in modifying the diet, using natural/ herbal supplements and tonics, lifestyle changes, exercise plans, to name a few.

Central to naturopathy is 6 key principles, which are:

1. The Healing Power of Nature (Vis Medicatrix Naturae)

Using natural remedies to help and boost the system rather than chemical based products. Learning from plants and the earth to cure the body, rather than simply treat the symptoms.

2. First do no harm

Alleviate doing any harm to the client as well as the earth. First making sure the person is safe from harm, and using sustainable and well sourced products to insure longevity of the medicine itself.

3. Find and treat the cause whenever possible, not only the symptoms (Tolle Causum)

What is the root of the problem? Let's take eczema as an example. Modern practises may prescribe an steroidal cream to reduce the outside appearance of the eczema on the skin. A naturopath would rather ask, “What is causing the eczema?” Perhaps it is an allergy to something in the diet or environment, perhaps a lowered immune system, it may even be a sign of something deeper going on like an auto-immune disorder. Basically we try to get to the root of the problem, so that we can heal the area causing the disturbance which would in turn alleviate symptoms and heal the body as a whole.

4. Treat the whole person

As mentioned, naturopathy looks at the person from all angles. They body is amazingly connected in ways we couldn't even imagine. Many parts of us seem unrelated but in naturopathic medicine we connect the dots and find patterns you might not have expected!

5 & 6. Education and Prevention

We do not believe in simply giving a client meds and ushering them out. We aim to educate people about their health so that they can go out and continue on their healing journey with some understanding of what is going on.

Prevention is better than cure! Naturopaths aim to prevent illness, or further regression, by educating and treating the root cause.

Now that you have an idea of the principles, you may be wondering where all this came from? Naturopathy dates all the way back to the ancient Eqyptians. It was then used by the ancient Greeks, who used herbs to make medicines and defined the medical system for hundreds of years to come. Tribes and indigenous people from all over the planet have used natural remedies to cure all forms of disease in the past, and today. In fact, there has recently been a dramatic rise in modern people going back to traditional medicines and methods to heal. The yogis have always used natural medicine in Ayurveda, as well as the Chinese in TCM, which is all becoming increasingly popular in western culture these futuristic times.

Today naturopathy is both a science and an art. Practitioners uses evidence based medicines that have undergone extensive clinical trials. We also incorporate traditional knowledge but in modern clinical practise most medicines prescribed are now evidence based. So much so that many pharmaceutical companies are buying out natural brands – does this say something?

With all this said, what kind of treatments can you expect from a naturopathic consult?

• Herbal tonics (liquids can be made to suit individual needs)

• Herbal supplements

• Nutritional supplements

• Homeopathy

• Flower essence remedies

• Diet modification / Food as medicine

• Lifestyle tips

• Environmental advise

• Referrals to suitable practitioners in other modalities

Something else important to clear up is that natural medicine does not necessarily work against western medicine. It can be used very effectively in conjunction with certain treatments, for example, someone undergoing chemotherapy could use natural medicines to increase stamina, reduce nausea and improve mood. In this case both modalities can collaborate to create a more positive experience for the client. We can also use western diagnostic tools such as blood tests and scans to gain greater insight into our client's condition.

To sum it up, naturopathy strives to get to the bottom of the issue and help people for good, as well as prevent future problems. We work in a safe and non-invasive way to minimize risk and further damage. Us naturopaths use the recourses given to us by our incredibly abundant earth to heal people from the inside out.

If you have any further questions about this topic, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Peace and love to all x

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