Naturopathic Philosophy

• Traditional medicine practitioners using such
• therapies as water treatments, dietetics and fasting, with a background of philosophic and often religious customs. Elsewhere, they utilize latest diagnostic and treatment techniques available, nutrition, herbal medicine, homoeopathy, acupuncture, hydrotherapy and technical iris diagnosis.

A system of alternative medicine based on the theory that diseases can be successfully treated or prevented without the use of drugs, by techniques such as control of diet, exercise, and massage.

• The “Father of Medicine” believed that disease was an outcome of imbalances – both externals and internal. Therapeutic
• approach ‘the healing power of nature. Believed the body contains the power to
• re-balance and heal itself. Hippocratic therapy focused on supporting this natural process.
• Doctors swore on the Hippocratic Oath

Travelled extensively, had enormous output of books, which earned him a great reputation as a philosopher, teacher and physician. His herbal contains information on each plant & its habitat & a note about its use in medicine.

Considered the father of American naturopathy; studied with Father Kneipp; opened the American School of Naturopathy in New York & the first health food store. He believed in the ability of the body to heal itself, restore its balance & function and & ability to adapt to environmental changes.

• Wrote Canon Medicinae- information about
• diseases, drugs and medical theories known in the Arab world. This was later translated and became a standard work at Universities and was still a prescribed textbook as late as 1650.

The Doctrine of Signatures

The Doctrine of Signatures

• Defined as a system of building the body in harmony with the constructive principal in nature of the physical, mental and moral
• structures of existence.

Nature cure

• First do no Harmfree treatment, non-invasive & avoids suppressing symptoms & prescription of harmful doses of medicine.
• Treat the Whole PersonHealth and disease are the results of an intricate and intimate interplay of physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, social, familial and occupational factors. Failure to address all
• aspects relevant to a patient’s pattern of health and disease fundamentally
• ignores the complexity of the human being.
• Doctor as Teacher – Educate the patient and encourage self education.

• Prevention – Treating primary complaint can
• result in overall wellbeing & removal of susceptibility to chronic or new disease

Identify and Treat the Cause – Understand all illness has a cause which must be removed to restore health.

• The Healing Power of Nature –The use of nature’s healing agents (air, earth, water and sun) in combination with a clean diet, exercise, good sleep, relaxation, medication and an optimistic outlook are examples of
• external factors that can influence and support the body’s innate ability to heal. The naturopath’s role is to support and facilitate the body’s natural
• ability to heal.

• He looked beyond the plant kingdom to include minerals as potential therapeutic substances. By applying principles of the Doctrine of Signatures with his alchemical and medical knowledge, he was able to make
• significant advances in both diagnostics and treatments. His principal contributions include the doctrine of signatures, astronomical, medical, alchemical and psychological insights. Continuously challenged the norm, was misunderstood and eventually discredited
• and thrown out.

• Philosophy, the science of the material and
• elemental aspect of creation

Anatomy, the science of the sidereal aspect if creation (these two disciplines in their interrelations and their essence are the prerequisites for penetrating the structure of man, who is a microcosm exactly corresponding to the macrocosm, or the whole of creation)

Alchemy, the science of these natural phenomena and of their inner meaning

Virtue (proprietas), the fourth pillar, which gives the physicians the support without which the other three could never be solid.

Paracelsus

Paracelsus

• A table, similar to the periodic table was created that shows the affinities between substances, but not their chemical properties.
• Elements were considered the basic building blocks or influences that governed the formation of animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms.

• Air – Gaseous nature that is motion, flow,
• diffusion
• Fire – Plasma, electric, expansive, radiant
• Water – Liquid nature that is magnetic, contracting
• Earth – Solid nature that is inertia, resistance, fixed.
• Phlogiston– ‘life force’
• described as spirit, as it is volatile, flammable (not literally) penetrating & life giving. Think vitality or energy in people, plants & animals.

The concept that living things are always seeking balance and the central goal of treatment is to assist this natural process.

• Early form of chemical technology exploring the nature of substances. It is also a
• philosophy of the cosmos and of mankind's place in the scheme of things.
• Alchemy developed an amazing language of emblematic symbolism which it used to
• explore the world. It had a strong philosophical basis, and many alchemists
• incorporated religious metaphor and spiritual matters into their alchemical ideas.

• He started studying medicine at age 15; worked in Rome as a physician to the gladiators where he gained significant practical knowledge. This experience as a trauma & sports medicine specialist cemented
• much of his understanding about the human body, & how to care for & optimise healing and function. This experience and knowledge meant his thinking had influence all over the world.

• The Doctrine of Signatures is a system used to determine the therapeutic properties
• of plants. It is based on matching a plants’ appearance, structure & biological behaviors with the symptomatic disease expressions of the human body.

• Ayurvedic medicine is the art of restoring and
• preserving wholeness.
• The ancient people of India used meditation, yoga and astrology as ways of attaining this. According to Ayurveda, humans consist of three bodies or aspects: the physical, the subtle, the casual. In modern western language the Ayurvedic system of health care emphasises that health is a harmonious functioning of three bodies; body, mind & spirit.

• 1. Ether (space)
• 2. Air
• 3. Fire
• 4. Water
• 5. Earth

The use of therapeutic methods of internal cleansing is specific to Ayurveda. Prior to this treatment patient follows a specials diet along with herbs to improve digestion 2 wks to a few months. This clears the system of toxins that inhibit the balanced functioning of the system. Preliminary treatment involves daily massage with special medicated oils and sweating therapies. This process allows the humours to be brought into the gastrointestinal tract for elimination from the body.

• * Therapeutic emesis (vomiting
• for kapha)
• * Purgation for pitta
• * Medicated enemas for vata
• * Therapeutic bleeding at special sites on the body
• * Oils or decoctions taken through nose to cleanse or nourish the brain & nervous system.

Ayurvedic medicine

• Vata– The Vatadosha made up of either & air “that which blows”.
• Pitta – The Pitta dosha made up of
• fire & water “that which cooks and digests things”.
• Kapha– The Kaphadosha is combination
• of water & earth “that, which sticks or clings”.

• Breathing, blinking of the eyelids, muscular and
• tissue movement, heart beats, contractions & expansion, cell membrane movement.

Nervousness, fear, anxiety, pain, tremor, spasms.

Digestion, assimilation, body temperature, skin colouration, lustre of the eyes, intelligence, understanding

Anger, hate, jealousy

• Resistance, strength, joint lubrication, skin
• moisture, wound healing abilities, biological strength, memory retention, energy of the heart and lungs.

Emotional attachments, greed, long standing envy, calmness, forgiveness, love

• A
• vision quest was undertaken by the North American Indian during training to insure the continuation of the native healer tradition were the basis of the ecological religious beliefs. It involved self-denial, with no food, water or shelter, continuing until the person had what they considered a suitable vision. This was usually undertaken at puberty & sometimes repeated later in life.

• N’anga is a Zimbabwe practitioner; a minister of religion & a diagnostician & healer. Claimed to achieve this skill by being spiritually endowed & is able to contact the spiritual world to learn which of the ancestral spirits in a family is responsible for the illness or
• death, or if it should be an evil person, who caused it, what measures should be takes to remove this influence.
• Once the n’anga has learned the reason for the illness , he proceeds to find out what are the requirements or offerings which have to be made in order to placate (satisfy) the offended spirit or, in the case of a witch, what actions should be taken to eradicate (destroy) the evil already done.

• * Prevention
• * Finding the cure
• * Curing the illness

A system of building the body in harmony with the constructive principle in nature of the physical, mental and moral structures of existence.

• Nature cure emphasised the importance of natural living, eating a vegetarian diet and the use of light and air to promote recovery and sustain
• wellbeing.

The primary cause of disease, barring accident or surgical injury to the human organism and surroundings hostile to human life, is violation of nature’s laws.

• - Lowered vitality
•  - Abnormal composition of blood & lymph
•  - Accumulation of waste matter, morbid
• materials & poisons

• An acute reaction, resulting from the ascendancy of nature’s healing forces over disease conditions. Its tendency is towards
• recovery, and it is therefore in conformity with nature’s constructive principle.

• An acute reaction resulting from the ascendancy of disease conditions over the healing forces of the organism. Its tendency is
• therefore, toward fatal termination.

Yin and Yang is the concept of two things being opposite and complimentary to each other. Yang is the positive, bright warm element while yin is the negative, cool element.

Bowels are yang, viscera are yin, the back is yang and the abdomen is yin, vital energy is yang and blood is yin.

The yin imbalance tends to manifest in cold deficiency symptom complexes such as debility and depression, cold limbs and a fondness for warmth.

Heat and excessiveness syndromes with symptoms of hot body, fondness of cool, hyperactivity, excitability, heavy breathing, and cracked lips.

Qi is the basic element or energy which makes up the human body and supports vital activities.

That we have two types of Qi, 1st is present at birth and believed we are given enough to allow us to live for 100 yrs, the 2nd is manufactured from the air we breathe & the food & drink we consume.

Strong organ function & efficient metabolism are the results of the two essences being full & abundant, allowing us to generate an excess of energy each day. However, when we reach middle age, we constantly draw on energy reserves, & we use energy that should take us through to old age.

Kidneys deficient of this essential energy Symptoms - premature ageing, poor memory, dental problems, brittle bones, senility, grey hair, lower back problems, sexual dysfunction and prostate disorders.

• Wind
• Dampness
• Cold
• Dryness
• Heat
• Summer heat

• Anger
• Joy
• Grief
• Fear
• Shock
• Reminiscence
• Worry

• Deficiency of vital energy & blood (paler than normal tongue)
• Heat (redder than normal tongue)         Intense Heat in stomach (thick, slimy yellow coated tongue)
• Heat in the interior & deficiency of yin (tremor in the tongue)
• Interior heat & blood stasis (black, dry coating on the tongue)

• Chills and fever
• Perspiration
• Headache and general pains
• Micturition and defecation                Appetite
• Feelings in the chest and abdomen          Hearing
• Thirst
• Pulse taking and observation         Auscultation and smelling

• Inspection – observe and also tongue & nail
• Auscultation - audio-olfactory investigation, patient’s voice, breathing, cough &belching
• Palpation - is pulse taking using  the index, middle and ring fingers
• Imbalances - External factors excesses of cold & wind, heat & dampness, dryness a& fire. Internal dysfunctions of blood, moisture & Qi (the vital life force energy)
• Common sense- mod exercise, sexual activity, work, leisure, drinking, sleeping, talking & listening.

Theodore Schwann - some authorities regard him as thefounder of the germ theory of disease.

Published a paper “The Etiology of Traumatic InfectiveDiseases” which proved the germ theory of disease beyond the shadow of doubt. 

To prove a particular bacterium produced a specific condition, four requirements much be met

• The organism must be shown to be present in every case of the disease        
• The organism can be cultivated in pure culture
• Inoculating an animal with culture will reproduce the disease
• The organism can be recovered from the inoculated animal and grown again in a pure culture.

Sanitation, hygiene and nutrition.

The administration of an antigen as a killed micro-organism, a component of a micro-organism, or a live, attenuated (weakened) organism.

A system of building the body in harmony with the constructive principle in nature of the physical, mental and moral structures of existence.

Natural living, eating a vegetarian diet, theuse of light & air to promote recovery & sustain wellbeing.

The primary cause of disease, barring accident or surgical injury to the human organism and surroundings hostile to human life, is violation of nature’s laws.

Abnormal composition of blood & lymph,  Accumulation of waste matter, morbid materials & poisons

An acute reaction, nature’s healing forces overdisease conditions. Its tendency towards recovery & in conformity with nature’s constructive principle.

An acute reaction resulting from disease conditionsover the healing forces of the organism. Its tendency is toward fatal termination.

Opened the ‘American School of Naturopathy’ in New York City – 1st  naturopathic medical school in the world; establish health resorts known as ‘Yungborn’; founded the American NaturopathicAssociation, the first national professional organization of naturopathicphysicians; published the Universal Naturopathic Encyclopedia for drugless therapy and also published Nature’s Path magazine.

 “Father of Naturopathy” in America, his writings introduced Americans to a range of natural healing concepts & therapeutics, inc Ayurvedic medicine & Yoga.  

The prime object of natural healing is to givethe principle of life the line of least resistance, that it may enable man to possess the most abundant life.

Elimination of lifestyle habits - tea, coffee and cocoa that contain poisons, meat, improper hours of living, waste of vital forces, lowered vitality, sexual & social abnormalities, worry etc.

Correct breathing, correct exercise, right mental attitude.Moderation in the pursuit of health & wealth.

Proper fasting, selection of food, hydropathy, light & air baths, mud baths, osteopathy, chiropractic, organic mineral salts, electropathy, heliopathy, steam or Turkish baths, sitz baths, etc.

Return to nature in methods of living and treatment. It makes use of the elementary forces of nature, of chemical selection of foods that will constitute a correct medical dietary

When the strength & activity of the eliminativechannels is increased, toxins and poisons are eliminated by the body. A mark ofprogress is the healing crisis.

An acute reaction wherein the vital force is onthe offensive and is able to overcome the toxic manifestations of disease. A healing crisis results in an improved condition.

The body only cleanses down to the point where the body can tolerate the poisonous waste & does not completely eliminate it all (this is why diseases reoccur many times).

The body has the ability to complete eliminateall the toxic waste that the body has at that time.

Approx 4-7 days.

• Do no harm –Discard harm causing treatment or diagnostic technique unless absolutely necessary.
• Seek and remove external causes - Toxic working conditions, drug use, stresses, lack of exercise
• Attend to nutrition - Remove bad food, introduce nutritional plan
• Detoxify the patient - Through fasting, hydrotherapy, homoeopathy, breathing, exercise, herbs, massage, manipulation & nutrition
• Prescribe the indicated homoeopathic remedies. Done one at a time.
• Correct any musculoskeletal defects. For example subluxations, adhesions, fixations etc through massage, manipulation, physical therapy, neural therapy, acupuncture etc. Educate the patient to maintain his or her improved health and prevent the recurrence of old disease or development of new disease by rational use of the previous six principles.

• Eliminative
• Transitional
• Building

During the transitional period, the time whenthe new tissue has matured sufficiently to take the functions o f a moreperfect body.

An industrious effort by every organ in the bodyto eliminate waste products & set the stage for regeneration. It conforms to Herings law of cure.

All cure starts from within out and from thehead down and in the reverse order as the symptoms have appeared.

“Cure takes place from above downward, from withinoutward, from an important organ to a less important organ; symptoms disappearin the reverse order of their appearance, the first to appear is the last todisappear.

• Heavy metals
• Toxic chemicals
• Microbial Compounds

• Lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, nickel and aluminium.
• The brain, kidneys & immune system.

industrial sources, tin cans, pesticide, cookingutensils, cigarette smoke, mercury in dental fillings, contaminated foods,cosmetics & aluminium found in cookware & antacids.

headache, fatigue, muscle pains, indigestion,tremors, constipation, anaemia, pale complexion, dizziness and poorco-ordination.

• Drugs, alcohol, solvents, formaldehyde,pesticides, herbicides & food additives.
• Primarily affect the liver.

Neurological and psychological symptoms -depression, headaches, mental confusion, mental illness, tingling in theextremities, abnormal nerve reflexes and other signs of impaired nervous systemfunction, respiratory tract allergies & cancer

 Toxins from bacteria & yeast in the gut can be absorbed, causing significant disruptionof body functions. Gut derived microbial toxins have been implicated in avariety of diseases including liver diseases, Crohn’s disease, ulcerativecolitis, thyroid disease, psoriasis, lupus erythematosus, pancreatitis,allergies, asthma and immune disorders. Auto immune diseases linked tocross-reacting antibodies includes rheumatoid arthritis, myasthenia gravis,diabetes and auto immune thyroiditis.

Have diet rich in fibre, particularly water-soluble fibres such as those found in vegetables, guar gum, pectin &oat bran. Fibre can bind to toxins within the gut and promote their excretion.

•  * To have a complete rest 
• * To treat chronic disease or a feverish condition 
• * To clear toxins from the body

Hydrotherapy  involves  all therapeutic applications of water. bathing,hot/cold packs, sprays, spas, saunas. can bring about stimulation, relaxation,re-energisation, healing, sedation

Circulation - enhances the flow of blood throughthe eliminative organs thus eliminating the undesirable elements and toxins.

• Short hot < 5 minutes stimulates circulation– Intrinsic effect; direct result of the heat is transferred to the body
• Long hot (> five minutes) depresses circulation – reactive or reflexiveeffect; is a result of the body’s protective reaction to the heat applied to it.

• Short cold (<1 minute) stimulates circulation –reactive
• Long cold (> 1 minute) depresses circulation – Intrinsic or a directmechanical effect

• Increase in oxygen absorption·         Increase in carbon dioxide excretion         Increase in nitrogen absorption and excretion
• Increase in tissue tone
• Increase in peripheral white and red blood cell count
• Decrease in blood glucose levels.

• Increase in oxygen absorption
• Increase in carbon dioxide excretion        Decrease in tissue tone
• Decrease in peripheral white and red blood cell count
• Increase in blood glucose levels