How to Proceed in a Friendly Universe
Albert Einstein thought that the supreme question is “Is the universe friendly?”
Wow! the implications if it is friendly . . .
- Is everything working towards my greatest good?
- Will I be provided everything I need?
- Are there resources to fulfill my fondest dreams?
- Is everything conspiring to support me?
- And especially, what around me is providing for my optimal health?
Ponder that in relation to health and the prevalent health-care system.
Health in a Friendly Universe
Naturopathic Medicine has its philosophic base in the self-organizing, intelligent, healing force in a benign universe. It is know as the “Vis Medicatrix Naturae,” the Healing Power of Nature, or the Vital Force.
In a friendly universe, health is our natural state of being. Do you believe that? Do you see it in your life? Let me explain.
Health manifests as a matter of degree, and ill health is an adaptive response to the disturbance of the organism. Let me say that in a different way. What we percieve as illness is what the Vital Force within is producing in an effort to balance and regain health.
When there are disturbing factors, the Vital Force kicks in and has the ability to react, and is so doing, creates a discharge which restores health. This is the optimal scenario. Too often, that reaction is halted or compromised (as when an aspirin is given to bring down a fever, a decongestant given to dry up a nose, or antibiotics given to clear up an ear infection) setting up a chronic reaction which leads to degeneration.
The “Vis” acts to restore health. Therefore, the Healing Power of Nature is that friendly force that we work with in Naturopathic Medicine.
How Does this Work?
In allowing the healing power of nature to balance and heal, we find a process that is ordered and predictable. The Naturopathic doctor following nature cure principles will follow a therapeutic order in designing a treatment.
The most elegant way to honor the Vis is to identify and remove the cause, then in natural course complete healing will take place. This is our ideal, and in this complicated world, we rarely are provided with a clean slate in order for this to happen.
More often, we find patients in a degenerated state, in which a simple solution is not available. That is to say that in no case is it hopeless. More therapeutics can be added in order to support, augment or remove obstacles to the work of the Vis.
1. Establish the Conditions for Health
Identify and remove the cause of what’s disturbing the vital force.
The cause can be rooted in a combination of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual imbalances. What can be very tricky is that the cause can be interpreted according to the practitioner’s prevailing paradigm.
In Chinese Medicine, the cause lies in which organ systems are excess or deficient, or where the chi is not flowing. IIn Auryvedic Medicine, the dosas must be balanced with food choices, activites of living and cleaning practices. In the paradigm of functional medicine, the cause lies in which biochemical pathway is not working optimally and needs to be supplemented.
For an eclectic Naturopathic Physician, these paradigms and more can be operating at once.
The bottom line are the factors that most disturb the Vis: inappropriate diet, excessive stress, toxemia and spiritual disharmony.
Although the usual domian of the physician is the physical body, we must recognize that out spirit animates the body and they only separate on death. Therefore, if the spirit is disturbed, the body cannot be healthy.
Toxemia is a Naturopathic term for accumulation of metabolic wastes and exogenous toxins within the body. These may be the result of a disturbed digestion, metabolites that are not taken to completion leaving them harmful, environmental xenobiotics, metabolites of disturbed colon flora, and so on. These toxins become irritants in the body, inflamming tissues and interfering with metabolic processes. The Deep Cleanse is a wonderful way to clear out toxins while resetting the body to continue to be efficient in processing and removing metabolic and exogenous wastes.
Eating foods which are not compatible with the individual, which are too hard to digest, and have inapprorpiate nutrient balance can result in metabolic toxins in the intestines. Stress reduces blood flow to the intestines, resulting in inefficient digestion, an imbalance in intestinal flora, and toxemia.
Establish a healthy regimen
This involves living a dynamic pattern of
- exercise and rest
- healthy environment, including sunshine, air & water,
- diet
- moderation of stress
- spiritual connection
The real question is how to do this, which sparks controversy.
The goal of dietary improvement is to reduce the consequences in terms of symptoms from the diet, as well as providing optimal nutrition.
Spiritual connection most often involves the use of a tool to bring us back to the Source. Common tools include mantras, chanting and praying. The tool I have found to be most effective and life-changing is The Ishayas’ Ascension Meditation.
2. Stimulate the self-healing mechanism
Once the “swamp is drained” meaning, we have removed disturbing factors and established a healthier regimen, we may proceed to work directly with the Vis. This may be done any number of ways including
- appropriate exercise
- hydrotherapy
- acupuncture
- homeopathy
- or other energy medicine.
3. Support weakened or damaged systems.
Some systems or functions need more than stimulation to improve. When some organs are damaged or weakened, such as adrenal fatigue after prolonged stress, and some systems are blocked and congested, like liver detoxification pathways, we use our natural medicinary to help out.
- Strengthen the Immune System.
- Decrease toxicity.
- Normalize inflammatory function.
- Optimize metabolic function.
- Balance regulatory systems.
- Enhance regeneration.
- Harmonize with your Life Force.
This is the level at which the Funtional Medicine practitioners work. An array of botanicals, glandulars, homeopathics, nutriceuticals, or physiotherapy can be used. In addition, there are systems of yoga and qi gong to strenthen organs.
4. Correct structural integrity.
We often think of musculoskeletal problems originating in an injury. As well, we see structural problems stemming from stress on internal organs. For example, mid-back pain and misalignment may be coming from digestive distress in the organs which correlate with the innervation to those back segments.
Structural integrity can be restored with a variety of bodywork techniques involving joints, soft tissue, force or non-force, as well as specific exercise and subtle energy work.
My favorite is Bowenwork, because we are working with physiological feedback loops in the body to create a profound balance, both in musculoskeletal structure and in the underlying associated organs.
5. Address pathology with natural means.
Having gone through the first four steps, most people see significant improvement. The underlying causative factors are removed, and the Vis is allowed to work to restore health.
Sometimes it is necessary to address the pathology directly first when it is threatening life or limb. Naturopathic means can be used directly to deal with conditions such as serious infection, even gangrene in a limb, an acute poisoning such as an insect bite or chemical exposure.
A wide variety of natural means can be used. Botanicals, nutrients, homeopathy, homeopathic drainage, acupuncture, exercise, and bodywork are a few examples. The Naturopathic treatments of pathology directly still follow the oath to “Do No Harm.”
What happens with medical doctors who wish to practice alternative medicine is that they start at this stage. It is called “green allopathy” because the means used to treat are natural or “green” but the paradigm they are using to treat is allopathic. This paradigm sees the disease as something “allo-” or other than the patient, an invading force that needs to be erradicated.
By skipping the first four steps, what you lose is the effecitveness in treating chronic disease by removing the original causative factors. In addition, in cases where there is no evidence-based criteria for the symptoms presented, there is no obvious means of treatment.
6. Address pathology with specific pharmacological or synthetic substances.
Specific prescription drugs may be a choice when recognized as necessary. However, we also recognize that such treatment carry consequences which then must be addressed.
Naturopathic physicians in the state of Arizona may prescribe pharmaceutical drugs, and are specifically trained to do so. As well, we may refer to a Medical or Osteopathic doctor, whose daily life is the prescription of such drugs.
7. Suppress or surgically remove pathology.
Drugs and surgery are sometimes an appropriate choice when the vital force is too weak to go it alone, or the mental state of the patient is more accepting of it than natural means.
We recognize that much of the pathological symtoms are due to the action of the self-healing mechanisms, such as inflammation, when they are suppressed, we are suppressing the Vis. The result of suppression is that the original disturbing factors are still at play in the person, disrupting function to some extent, while the suppression reduces symptomatic expression which would normally lead to the resolution of the disturbance.
One example of this is the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and anti-histamines in the treatment of acute asthma. The life is saved during an asthma attack, opening the airways. In the long run, however, the person is weakened through immune compromise, osteopenia, and even psychological disorders.
Suppression is the primary way that physicians inflict harm, even with the best of intentions.
How do you proceed now?
Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.
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