Greetings Sentient ones!

I had an interesting weekend attending a surgery conference. On the whole it was most enjoyable, but it did raise my awareness that there is still an ignorance about what the term holistic entails. Holistic practitioners embrace a “heal the wholeness” of the individual.

There are many therapeutic models that are employed by the Naturopath, some would say this type of para-professional medical team member uses functional pathology, analysis of physical features and dietary/lifestyle/developmental history in a thorough way.

Often I am approached by clients and requested to “get to the bottom” of why they are experiencing different signs and symptoms. This means that I require a whole history and also review of their previous test results. (There is no point in spending extra dollars retesting eg. intestinal biopsies, recent blood work etc if they have recently been done!).

What I find fascinating is that some GP doctors or even specialists completely discredit the word “Holistic” as they simply have no idea about the meaning of the word. These doctors are simply confused about the terminology.
Although I have clients that tell me incredible stories about their, or their relatives healing at the hands of a Homeopathic practitioner, (ie this is a Homeopath- using a diluted water based therapy orally) many doctors assume that the word Holistic equals Homoeopathy=water=nothing in it (equates to quackery in their mind). They then further confuse the word Holistic with Naturopath and rudely disregard an entire profession of Natural healers!

I do wonder why these otherwise intelligent people (Doctors, Specialists) have no understanding of the functional pathology and mind-body medicine that Naturopaths practice. It seems that there is a separation of body parts in the minds of the standard western medical paradigm. That is the process by which emotions, and the hormones released by certain thinking processes (anxiety, worry, anger) leading to a cortisol stress response and physical body breakdown, is simply not recognised. Naturopaths like to delve down and get to the bottom of WHY this is happening, correcting the gut biome and changing diet, attitudes, and lifestyle while doing so.

It is for this reason that multiple supplements and lifestyle/nutritional changes are recommended. This may take several visits to the Naturopath while the client undergoes paradigm changes and baby steps forward. Its not too different to “going on a diet” and “getting more exercise” which is REALLY what the medical profession should be recommending anyway- instead of drug therapies!

In my Animal work I find that many of my veterinary patients reflect lifestyle concerns of the owner- that is the stresses of the home are also impinging on the health of their pet. Diet is also implicated as a factor, or cause of some of the dis-ease.

A Holistic practitioner recognises this, and although some Naturopaths also use Homoeopathy, most of us do all the above, and include diet recommendations, some form of body work, exercise, Herbal therapies and macro and micronutrient changes.

So please, inform your doctors and let them know that Naturopaths CAN and DO work with the medical profession as allied health care professionals. We ARE covered by most health care funds.

Go and drink some water now! 😉