An Introduction To Naturopathy
Welcome back to Welluvia. Having shared extra articles the week before last, I took a week off writing and research to be able to rest and reset. That being said, I’m excited to share this week’s article as a lot of the concepts and ideologies behind what I talk about on Welluvia comes from naturopathy.
First introduced to naturopathy when I was younger due to my mother becoming a naturopath, it’s become an integral part of my understanding of health and lifestyle for as long as I can remember. Originally I had wanted her to write today’s article as the first guest post on the blog, but having just gotten back from overseas and already super busy with clients, I asked her to give me some basic fundamentals to base today’s article on - and here they are.
Naturopathy is a modality with a holistic approach to wellness, where all the aspects of an individual, the body, mind and emotions, are supported during the healing process. It is based on the principle that one’s body has the inherent ability to heal itself, with the assistance of the healing properties of nature and gentle therapeutic techniques.
Naturopathy has six distinct principles:
Primum non nocere - firstly, do no harm
This principle refers to using the least invasive means possible to treat a client. This means avoiding harmful drugs or remedies which have side effects or suppress symptoms rather than cure.
Vis medicatrix naturae - the healing power of nature
The body can heal itself. By using the body natural healing process and making positive changes to your lifestyle or diet, naturopathy focuses on using the healing power of nature to treat.
Tolle causam - identify and treat the cause
Symptoms are the body’s response when something is out of balance. Naturopathy is based on treating each person as an individual and as a whole, not just their symptomatic area. Treating symptoms can help temporarily, the cause of the symptom remains. Naturopathy focuses on assessing the cause and making adjustments to let the body heal itself.
Docere - doctor as teacher
Naturopaths aim to educate their clients on why or how illnesses occur and how to prevent them in the future.
Tolle totum - treat the whole person
Taking a holistic view of a client through physical, emotional, mental, occupational and environmental factors, naturopathy is able to find imbalances and work on improving their health.
Praevenic - prevention
Prevention of illness comes through learning and making positive lifestyle and dietary choices. This education and changes are cultivated through naturopathic treatments.
Many people with limited understanding of naturopathy think it is a new-age invention, considered contemporary with no valid history. This, however, is not true. Components of naturopathy go back thousands of years to traditional Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic medicine. These ancient modalities’ fundamental principles built on wholeness, along with the values such as those of Hippocrates, are complied with modern research in nutrition, lifestyle and phytotherapy to make up naturopathy. Modern forms of naturopathy can be traced to 18th and 19th century medical systems. Systems such as hydrotherapy (water therapy) that were popular in Germany and natural cures developed in Austria that were based on food, air, light, water and herbs to treat illness, were all early forms of naturopathy.
Benjamin Lust, a German immigrant, first introduced naturopathy to the United States in 1902 when he founded the American School of Naturopathy. The school focused on the use of natural cures, proper bowel habits, and good hygiene as the essential tools for health. This was the first time that dietary principles, like increasing fibre intake and minimising saturated fats, became popular in the west. In the mid-1920s-1940s, allopathic medical training, pharmaceuticals and newer medical technologies became popular and naturopathic methods declined. In the 1960s, the naturopathic style of holistic medicine regained popularity, and today naturopaths are licensed primary care providers offering information and advice on alternate and complementary health and therapies.
Trained naturopaths use a variety of techniques such as herbal medicine, vitamin and mineral supplements, traditional Chinese medicine, hydrotherapy, dietary, nutrition and lifestyle advice as well as additional therapies such as flower essences (excited to talk about this in an in-depth article in the future!), soft tissue manipulation, homeopathy, biochemical medicine (such as Dr Schuessler’s cellular therapy), and bio-resonance assessments. Through naturopathic treatments, the body’s natural healing potential is boosted, bringing the body’s defence system to its peak. During the process of learning and lifestyle corrections, equilibrium in the body can be achieved, and new knowledge can assist in keeping this harmony, preventing the development of future chronic diseases.
There are so many topics to dive into further within the spectrum of naturopathy, and I hope to in the future. However, I wanted to keep this introductory article short and concise. Hope you all enjoyed reading and wishing you all a great week.
With wellness,
Aleksandar
Fact-checked by Nataša Zarić
Photographs by Aleksandar Zarić for Welluvia
