What is Naturopathy?
Naturopathy is a multi-disciplinary approach to health care that recognises the body´s innate power to heal itself, if provided with the right environment to encourage healing.
Naturopaths work from the premise that your body needs certain basics to function properly; the correct nutrients, adequate rest and relaxation, appropriate exercise, fresh air, clean water and sunlight. Whilst recognising the limitations of our modern world, your naturopath will assist you to create a healthier diet and lifestyle that will help your good health to return. Often your body needs assistance to function properly. Naturopaths are skilled in tailoring natural health programmes to your unique requirements.
There are four basic principles of naturopathy:
-The individual is unique
-The practitioner should determine the cause(s) rather than treat the symptoms of ill-health
-Individuals posses the power to heal themselves
-The practitioner should treat the whole person not only the area of the body affected
Naturopaths use various modalities, including nutrition, herbal medicine, homoeopathy and flower essences, enabling them to provide the best treatment for the individual using the appropriate therapies suited to that person.
The essence of Naturopathy is getting to the cause of the problem ; finding out where it all started and why. This takes a bit of detective work, as often the patient does not see the correlation between their illness and what was happening in their lives when it all started.
Educating the person about how to live a healthy lifestyle that suits them as an individual is what Naturopathy is all about.
It is also about preventative medicine. It is a good idea to have a 6 monthly check up with your Naturopath, like you should with the dentist, to make sure you are well and eating the right foods. Naturopaths take notice of all those little symptoms that you may think are insignificant, as they can be deficiency signs of vitamins or minerals or the start of toxicity building up in the body. The old analogy of the body being like a car is a good one – it is important to get it serviced regularly and change the oil (detoxify), top it up with water, give it the correct fuel, clean the engine, or it will not run efficiently. It is important to keep it free of rust, as we can keep the body free of rust, or oxidation, by giving antioxidants.
Naturopathy shares a common ground in history with some of the ancient holistic health systems including Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine. In these holistic systems many aspects of the individual are evaluated and the resulting treatment takes into account the physical and emotional type, diet, exercise and rest requirements. Such approaches mirror the holistic philosophy of naturopathy.
Many Naturopathic principles are based on the teachings of Hippocrates (c460 – 375 BC), the “father of medicine”. He maintained that health was dependent upon eating simple good quality food and exercising, and that disease occurred as a result of a disturbance in the balance of the body.
The term Naturopathy was first used in the 19th century when “nature cure” systems were evolving both in the USA and Europe.
Naturopathy is now practised in many countries and Naturopaths are recognised as primary care physicians in some US states and Australia.