The Philosophy of Naturopathy (Nature Cure)

Naturopathy (Nature Cure) is a distinct system of non-invasive healthcare and health assessment in which neither surgery nor drugs are used, dependence being placed only on education, and counseling, Naturopathic modalities and natural substances, including without limitation, the use of foods, food extracts, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, digestive aids, botanical substances, topical natural substances, homeopathic preparations, air, water, heat, cold, sound, light, the physical modalities of magnetic therapy, naturopathic non-manipulative bodywork (acupressure, reflexology) and exercise to help stimulate and maintain the individual's intrinsic self-healing processes.

What is a Traditional Naturopath?
Although the term "Naturopathy" originated in the late 19th century, the art can be traced back through Germany into Greece, to Hypocrites himself, and even beyond. There have always been people who understood that healing occurs naturally in the human body, if it is given what it truly needs -- proper diet, pure water, fresh air, sunlight, exercise, and rest. For these people, the emphasis has not been on finding a disease and killing it, but rather on helping the body establish its own state of good health. Today, these people are known as Traditional Naturopaths. Traditional Naturopaths recognize that allopathic health care is, at times, necessary. They also know that many people can maintain good health through the use of naturopathy.

What a Traditional naturopath does NOT do.
A Traditional naturopath avoids procedures common to medical care. Among them are: diagnosing disease, treating disease, prescribing drugs and pharmaceuticals, and performing invasive procedures. In determining the root cause of a patient’s problems, Traditional Naturopaths do not diagnose or treat disease, but instead focus on health and education. They teach patients how to create an internal and an external environment that is conducive to good health, enabling the patients to make their own choices. Traditional naturopathy is not a medical practice. Major and minor surgery, prescribing drugs and pharmaceuticals, giving injections and drawing blood should be limited to medical doctors only and not performed within the scope of naturopathy.

Nature Cures, not the Physician.
- Hypocrites-
Nature cure is a constructive method of treatment which aims at removing the basic cause of disease through the rational use of the elements freely available in nature. It is not only a system of healing, but also a way of life, in tune with the internal vital forces or natural elements comprising the human body. It is a complete revolution in the art and science of living.
Although the term ‘naturopathy’ is of relatively recent origin, the philosophical basis and several of the methods of nature cure treatments are ancient. It was practiced in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Hypocrites, the father of medicine (460-357 B.C.) strongly advocated it. India, it appears, was much further advanced in older days in natural healing system than other countries of the world. There are references in India’s ancient sacred books about the extensive use of nature’s excellent healing agents such as air, earth, water and sun. The Great Baths of the Indus Valley civilization as discovered at Mohenjodaro in old Sind testifies to the use of water for curative purposes in ancient India.
The modern methods of nature cure originated in Germany in 1822, when Vincent Priessnitz established the first hydropathic establishment there. With his great success in water cure, the idea of drugless healing spread throughout the civilized world and many medical practitioners throughout the civilized world and many medical practitioners from America and other countries became his enthusiastic students and disciples. These students subsequently enlarged and developed the various methods of natural healing in their own way. The whole mass of knowledge was later collected under one name, Naturopathy. The credit for the name Naturopathy goes to Dr. Benedict Lust (1872 - 1945), and hence he is called the Father of Naturopathy.
Nature cure is based on the realization that man is born healthy and strong and that he can stay healthy by living in accordance with the laws of nature. Even if born with some inherited affliction, the individual can eliminate it by putting to the best use the natural agents of healing. Fresh air, sunshine, a proper diet, exercise, scientific relaxation, constructive thinking and the right mental attitude, along with prayer and meditation all play their part in keeping a sound mind in a sound body.
Nature cure believes that disease is an abnormal condition of the body resulting from the violation of the natural laws. Every such violation has repercussions on the human system in the shape of lowered vitality, irregularities of the blood and lymph and the accumulation of waste matter and toxins. Thus, through a faulty diet it is not the digestive system alone which is adversely affected. When toxins accumulate, other organs such as the bowels, kidneys, skin and lungs are overworked and cannot get rid of these harmful substances as quickly as they are produced.
Besides this, mental and emotional disturbances cause imbalances of the vital electric field within which cell metabolism takes place, producing toxins. When this electric field is undisturbed, disease-causing germs can live in it without multiplying or producing toxins. It is only when it is disturbed or when the blood is polluted with toxic waste that the germs multiply and become harmful.

Basic Principles
The whole philosophy and practice of nature cure is built on three basic principles. These principles are based on the conclusions reached from over a century of effective naturopathic treatment of diseases in Germany, America and Great Britain. They have been tested and proved over and over again by the results obtained.
The first and most basic principle of nature cure is that all forms of disease are due to the same cause, namely, the accumulations of waste materials and bodily refuse in the system. These waste materials in the healthy individual are removed from the system through the organs of elimination. But in the diseased person, they are steadily piling up in the body through years of faulty habits of living such as wrong feeding, improper care of the body and habits contributing to enervation and nervous exhaustion such as worry, overwork and excesses of all kinds. It follows from this basic principle that the only way to cure disease is to employ methods which will enable the system to throw off these toxic accumulations. All natural treatments are actually directed towards this end.
The second basic principle of nature cure is that all acute diseases such as fevers, colds, inflammations, digestive disturbances and skin eruptions are nothing more than self-initiated efforts on the part of the body to throw off the accumulated waste materials and that all chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, rheumatism, asthma, kidney disorders, are the results of continued suppression of the acute diseases through harmful methods such as drugs, vaccines, narcotics and gland extracts.
The third principle of nature cure is that the body contains an elaborate healing mechanism which has the power to bring about a return to normal condition of health, provided right methods are employed to enable it to do so. In other words, the power to cure disease lies within the body itself and not in the hands of the doctor.

Nature Cure vs. Modern System
The modern medical system treats the symptoms and suppresses the disease but does little to ascertain the real cause. Toxic drugs which may suppress or relieve some ailments usually have harmful side-effects. Drugs usually hinder the self-healing efforts of the body and make recovery more difficult. When drugs are used, the patient has to recover twice - once from the illness, and once from the drug. Drugs cannot cure diseases; disease continues. It is only its pattern that changes. Drugs also produce dietary deficiencies by destroying nutrients, using them up, and preventing their absorption. Moreover, the toxicity they produce occurs at a time when the body is least capable of coping with it. The power to restore health thus lies not in drugs, but in nature.
The approach of modern system is more on combative lines after the disease has set in, whereas nature cure system lays greater emphasis on preventive method and adopts measures to attain and maintain health and prevent disease. The modern medical system treats each disease as a separate entity, requiring specific drug for its cure, whereas the nature cure system treats the organism as a whole and seeks to restore harmony to the whole of the patient’s being.

Methods of Nature Cure
The nature cure system aims at the readjustment of the human system from abnormal to normal conditions and functions, and adopts methods of cure which are in conformity with the constructive principles of nature. Such methods remove from the system the accumulation of toxic matter and poisons without injuring the vital organs of the body. They also stimulate the organs of elimination to proper functioning.
To cure disease, the first and foremost requirement is to get rid of accumulated toxins and to regulate the diet. To and restore the equilibrium of the system, it is desirable to completely exclude all solid food from the diet for 3 days or more and to confine the diet to Raw Juices which will disinfect the stomach and alimentary canal and vitalize every cell in the body. A simple rule is: do not eat when you are sick, stick to an all raw juice diet. Wait for the return of the usual healthy appetite. Loss of appetite is Nature’s warning that no burden should be placed on the digestive organs. After the 3 day “raw juice fast” foods such as raw vegetables and sprouted whole grain may be added to the diet.
Another important factor in the cure of diseases by natural methods is to stimulate the vitality of the body. This can be achieved by using water in various ways and at varying temperatures in the form of packs or baths. The application of cold water, especially to the abdomen, the seat of most diseases, and to the sexual organs, through a cold sitz bath immediately lowers body heat and stimulates the nervous system. In the form of wet packs, hydrotherapy offers a simple natural method of abating fevers and reducing pain and inflammation without any harmful side-effects. Warm water applications, on the other hand, are relaxing.
Other natural methods useful in the cure of diseases are air and sunbaths, exercise and massage. Air and sunbaths revive dead skin and help maintain it in a normal condition. Exercise, especially yogic asanas, promotes inner health and harmony and helps eliminate all tension: physical, mental and emotional. Massage tones up the nervous system and quickens blood circulation and the metabolic process.
Thus a well-balanced diet, sufficient physical exercise, the observation of the other laws of well-being such as fresh air, plenty of sunlight, pure drinking water, scrupulous cleanliness, adequate rest and right mental attitude can ensure proper health and prevent disease.

The Need of Holistic Treatment That Is Individualized

Every disease has certain characteristics that never change that allow it to be always recognized and named. But when a person gets a disease, that disease will be modified within that person depending on that person’s physical and psychological strengths and weaknesses.
Every disease has its’ basic Holistic treatment that will be the same for each person. But this is a starting point; each case requires individualized treatment that is designed specifically for that person to improve their overall health. This is done by supporting the strengths and strengthening the weaknesses by the use of a holistic wellness program designed specifically for that person.
When the total (overall) health is improved the body is able to cleanse and heal itself. Disease cannot survive in a healthy body, and healthy people do not get disease. Yes people will get a cold and no there will never be a cure for the common cold BECAUSE THE COMMON COLD IS THE CURE. It is a method used by the body to eliminate wastes, bacteria, toxins, and virus. If you suppress the symptoms of a common cold you are in reality suppressing the immune system. If you use a decongestant to dry up a runny nose and stop nasal discharge, all that catarrh (nasty diseased filled phlegm) stays in you. When you suppress a fever you are actually taking away the bodies ability to react to the disease as quickly as it is able to if the fever is not suppressed. For every degree above 98 f. your immune system can react 100% faster and this is exponential. The medical term for this is Leukotaxis which means the positive response of the immune system involving white blood cells and other disease fighting mechanizations that are inherent to the human body. Of course a fever must be kept under control. Holistically this means that during a fever there must be perspiration which is elimination through the skin and is also the bodies’ way of keeping the fever safe. If a fever is “dry” (no perspiration) steps must be taken to bring on perspiration with the use of holistic methods such as the yarrow, elder, or peppermint tea and hot baths.
We do not catch disease, we build disease by living an unhealthy lifestyle and eating foods (if you can call them that) that are conducive to sickness. Your body is made of what you eat, the better the diet the healthier the body.
We do not treat disease, we treat people. When people are healthy they have a natural resistance to disease. In order to give their body the maximum opportunity to have the best health possible you must design a program that will treat the whole person not a named disease or a body part. That program must include all the methods of therapy in this book as needed by each individual.
Many people use one method of nature cure at a time and if it does not work they try another method of nature cure hoping the next or the one after that will work. They may get some results that way, but to get consistent positive results all the time you must put together a program designed for each person according to their needs.
Developing a unique holistic program for each person has become the lost part on natural medicine. And when it is rediscovered and utilized, sick people will get well and that is the bottom line.
There are no incurable diseases. I say this because disease is made by doing the wrong things so if we change our ways and turn from the things that allowed us to earn the disease, we can get well. And that is the good news about disease; it is not some mysterious entity that randomly seeks helpless victims. We caused it and we can cure it. Of course we all try to do the best for ourselves and our families and we do this based on the health information we read but if this information is flawed we cannot be as healthy as we could be.
There are people who will not get well, for some there time has come and no matter what they do they will not get well and will die, you must remember that death is a natural part of life and we can’t stop that, but we can increase the quality of life while we are alive and by doing so lessen suffering and prolong life.
There are other people who won’t follow the program you design for them because they do not want to take responsibility for there own health, they won’t get well either.
There are also those who like being sick they will stay sick enough to always have people around but well enough to enjoy their company.

The Definition of a Toxin

A toxin is any substance that is not conductive to cellular growth, function, replacement, and repair. Toxins create a metabolic burden on the body because the body has to use energy to contain the toxin or carry it out of the body and this energy could better be used cellular growth, function, repair, or replacement.

The Healing Crisis

The healing crisis is Flu like symptoms that are sometimes produced by the body as it starts to heal. Systems include: fever, perspiration, nasal discharge, and body aches. This sometimes happens because the body, through proper herbal treatment is finally able to repair or replace damaged tissue and cells and expel toxins and the waste matter from these repairs out of the body through the various body openings (pores, nose, and lower orifices).
The body is either constantly repairing and replacing cells, (the repair and building mode) or in a state of degeneration and break down. The Goal of the Natural Healer is to use a holistic program to stop any further breakdown “right now” and to start the repair and rebuilding mode back up. When a person starts on a natural healing program they will start to feel better then they have in a long time as their body stops degenerating and as the body gets strong enough and every cell in their body is vitalized, it will be repaired or replaced, and toxins that have settled in the weakest tissue will be thrown out as the body gets stronger. At this point the body will start an eliminating process which is called a healing crisis; I think that is not a very good term because healing to me is not a crisis it is a blessing.
Sometimes symptoms of old health problems will reappear temporarily because the body finally has the energy and nutritional resources to heal them correctly. This is sometimes called a REVERSAL.
If there is going to be a healing crises it will come when the patient is feeling his best.