Naturopathy

What is Naturopathy?

Naturopathy is a distinct system of primary health-care based on the principles of holism and vitalism. It involves the practice of preventing, diagnosing and treating various conditions affecting the human mind and body – including emotional complaints. Aside from restoring health and averting illness, natural medicine attempts to establish optimal wellbeing by supporting an individual’s inherent self-healing process, known as “vis medicatrix naturae”. It is the catalyst for restoring an individual’s overall health and vitality by stimulating the various systems of the body to re-establish inherent balance and harmony.

Natural medicine concerns itself with the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical elements of an individual and seeks to treat the causes of ill-health and disease triggered by genetic predisposition, psychosocial influences, lifestyle, pollution and dietary imbalances. A naturopath therefore not only acts as a physician remedying the entire being, but also as an educator, helping the client to identify the uniqueness of their own health patterns and fostering autonomy for one’s self-care and wellbeing.

Naturopathy utilizes individualized combinations of the following modalities to make certain each client is benefiting from a unique and tailored treatment program that will ensure success:

• Herbal Medicine
• Nutritional Supplementation
• Homoeopathy
• Flower Essences
• Dietary & Lifestyle Advice
• Counseling

When prescribed by a qualified physician, natural medicine is a very safe and effective form of health-care, supported by ongoing scientific research substantiating its efficacy and benefits. It can be used to treat generations alike, from infants through to the elderly.

It is important to appreciate that some chronic conditions may require several weeks or months of treatment. Disease is not a state, it is a process, and just as it took time for the body to manifest a particular condition, it may take time for it to heal.

In conclusion, natural medicine examines the various practices of an individual’s life, coupled with their own unique intrinsic factors that are impeding their resistance to disease and causing discord in the various planes of their being. It then stimulates the natural recuperative processes of the body to not only reduce symptoms but to also restore harmony and balance, resulting in wellness and increased vitality.

A non-exhaustive list of conditions that may benefit from natural medicine: