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TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVES
WITH NATURAL MEDICINE
Article by herbalist
Dave
Hawkins, MH, CNC
It
is fascinating to study the traditional healing systems of
the planet earth and to realize how the use of foods and
herbals has driven the course of medicine.
There are many traditional systems still in use
today. Ayurveda from India, Traditional
Chinese Medicine (TCM), Native American, and Greek systems
that view the body from what is termed an energetic point
of view.
This viewpoint goes beyond the realm of
science with its mechanistic approach to body systems.
The natural system approach views the body as a
total entity, and it is the interrelated systems and their
imbalances that support or prevent disease process.
This is the basis of a holistic model meaning body,
mind, and soul. In today's modern world
we can learn much from these ancient systems and know how
to prevent many disease processes.
We are living at a time when
people are looking for more information about their bodies
and how to prevent disease. In
medicine, bridges are being built between the East and
West, the ancient and modern forms of understanding bodies
and their processes. Acupuncture is a
good example of this change. The
ancients of the East and the West saw the world as a
unified whole in that we are all intimately connected.
Our modern view has lost that sense, and we are
struggling to find it again. By opening
ourselves to these more wholesome approaches, we are
bridging that gap.
One common thread that is
seen in all these healing systems is the role of herbs. The
World Health Organization estimates that over 80% of the
world population uses herbs and some other form of
traditional healing systems. Even in many modern countries,
herbal medicines are still available and prescribed by
physicians.
The
United States is the only
country that does not honor its traditional system and
incorporate it into its health care system.
It is estimated that if we had a preventive area of
medicine with the use of natural substances, we could
reduce health care costs dramatically.
It gets back to the idea that prevention is worth a pound
of cure.
Let's look at some of the
key points of these natural healing systems.
Health is defined as a state of balance and
wholeness, governed by a universal life force.
Illness is caused when one or more of these forces
is imbalanced and blocks this life force from flowing
freely within the body. Symptoms are
viewed as the body’s attempt to heal
itself. Medicine's role is to
restore this balance.
Hippocrates said that
although health is the natural state of humans, disease is
also a natural process that follows an organic pattern.
During illness there are key points at which healers
can intercede and assist the patient in restoring health.
These are called points of crises or opportune
moments at which balance can be restored.
This is another way of stating the regeneration or
degeneration process.
As seen in Chinese medicine
and virtually all the Native systems, there is an extensive
array of foods, herbs, and physical therapies used to
restore balance.
How did traditional people
discover their methods? Many say trial
and error. There is some truth to that when we understand
the doctrine of signatures. Some
examples of this are: Ginseng, whose roots resemble that of
a human figure and whose general use is as a tonic; Blood
Root, whose roots are blood red and used as a blood
purifier; and Goldenseal whose yellow-green root signifies
its use in jaundice as well as infections.
Plants have been used as medicines since the dawn of
animal life.
Observation of animal
behavior revealed that many animals would eat plants that
would heal them. It is also believed
that humans possessed that ability at one time.
It was commonly believed that plants were signed by
the creator with some visible clues that would show their
therapeutic use.
From this experience
thousands of years ago materia
medicas (books
containing prescribing notes on herbs) began to surface.
Chinese,
Babylon, Egyptian, Indian, Grecian,
and many other cultures developed and kept concise records
of healing systems. These same records
are in use today and still apply in our modern day world.
There is a Cherokee Indian
story about how the animals took issue with the humans
because they were abusing nature. The
animal and the insect kingdom decided to afflict disease on
to the humans as a way to reduce their population and thus
preserve themselves. The plants
found out about this plot and decided that they would
provide healing powers to heal the humans if they
approached the plants with honor and in a sacred way.
We owe a lot to the Native
Americans when it comes to passing on their knowledge of
the healing plants that are still in use today.
Examples are goldenseal, black
cohosh, ginseng, lobelia,
Mayapple, and slippery elm – to mention a few.
To traditional people the
world is alive with powers, life force, and spirit. Their
oneness with nature was not an abstract concept but a deep
spiritual relationship with the creator. The perception of
life was not linear but circular. Thus,
treatment included the physical and spiritual in the form
of food, herbs, and physical therapy along with ritual,
jewels, crystals, and prayer.
Today modern science knows
that these methods work and much research is being
conducted on the mind/body connection. A new therapy,
psychoneuroimmunology, is
surfacing and deals with the concept.
We are living in uncharted
times. Never before have we as humans
living on the earth experienced the type of life we are
experiencing now with pollution, automobiles, chemical
derived foods, and the list goes on.
How is our genetic programming dealing with these issues?
Look at the statistics for
degenerative diseases, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and
arthritis. They are all epidemic, and
modern medicine can't seem to stop its growth.
Why? We
have been living against the natural order.
That is why many of the natural approaches seem to
bring benefits when those afflicted bring back the harmony
or balance to their lives.
It takes a new awareness and
an appreciation for life in general that can establish a
preventive viewpoint. As quoted by
Hippocrates, "It is more important to know what kind of
patient has a disease than what kind of disease a patient
has."
The book World Medicine
by Tom Monte gives very in-depth information concerning
many of these natural systems and how they can be applied
today.
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