Naturopathy…people often ask me what a naturopath does and I felt this excerpt offered a succinct response.

“Naturopathy: an eclectic healthcare practice…In Australia, the two core modalities of naturopathy are herbal medicine (phytotherapy) and nutritional medicine. A key feature of naturopathy is the holistic approach to the patient, who is not simply seen as a biological organism but also as an emotional and social being, whose health is affected by many external factors. Accordingly, treatments are highly individualised to meet the specific needs of each individual patient.

While the clinical side of naturopathy is becoming more homogenised with medical science, this need not be at the expense of its intrinsic core principles – ‘treating the causes and the whole person’, or ‘supporting the body/mind to heal itself via the least harmful methods’.  Indeed, naturopathy takes its very name from one of these principles – ‘nature cure’.”

Using our food as medicine, the medicinal use of herbs, the subtle healing properties of flower essences and looking at the way we choose to structure our lives are simply tools to attend to these core principles of wellbeing.  The power is in our own hands.

(excerpt from Clinical Naturopathy – An Evidence-Based Guide To Practice, 2010, Sarris & Wardle, Elsevier Australia).