The Natural World
Overview
The natural world therapy mindset uses the five senses as a way to help balance the body. This means that the therapy is designed to help contend with chemical inequality and restore equilibrium to the system. There are many different forms of sensory therapies that work to help align the body and renew a person’s sense of wellbeing. The therapies that are part of the natural world school of thought work with sight, smell, sound, taste, touch, and even the sense of a person’s body movements.
Natural world therapies can be found throughout the world, and include some practices that have become mainstream such as yoga. Some of the other areas that can be considered part of the natural world school of therapy include acupuncture, movement therapies, expressive or artistic therapy, somatic therapy, and martial arts.
All of these therapies are considered whole-person treatments. This means that they are designed to treat not only the physical problems faced by a person, but also the mental or emotional struggles.
The History of Natural World Therapies
Cultures all around the globe have been known to use the world around them to treat the health problems faced by humans. From Native American traditions to the Chinese and Egyptian cultures, people have been implementing treatments for their sick. For example, the above-mentioned cultures all used forms of what we know today as aromatherapy to help people relax, meditate, and clear their minds. Hydrotherapy was another formof therapy that was commonplace for such cultures. These ancient cultures understood the need to harmonize with the natural world, and felt that if they did so that it would provide them with cures for their ailments. Often natural plants were used to produce treatments, and even perfumes and makeup. Ancient cultures knew the value of water and would often use it to cleanse themselves in mind, body and spirit, as well as using water in their elixirs.
In ancient Greece and Rome, similar methods were often implemented to improve their quality of life. The founder of all medical practice today is known to be Hippocrates, who directed those he served into the use of water therapy, as well as spending time in the sun. One of the more famous of the Roman treatments was a part of their overall culture, the bathhouse. Bathhouses were used by many Romans not only to improve their cleanliness, but also to help them relax and socialize.
When penicillin was discovered, and as the world began to turn to it and other strong antibiotics for treatment, resources that once seemed a natural way to heal and treat ailments began to fade into the background. However, natural treatments did not fall completely into the past.Harry Spider was an American doctor who was one of many interested parties who kept these more natural methods alive. Spider began to work with light therapy, discovering that the color of the light could have an impact on a person’s emotional state.
Natural World Therapies in Practice
Natural world therapies have grown and expanded into part of common western medical care. Practices that started out like Father Sebastian Kneipp’s hydrotherapy methods have come to be used as part of common medical practice.
The 1960s saw these therapies come back to life as people looked for more natural and holistic approaches to good health. This is when people began to feel that the side effects of modern medications were outweighing many of the benefits. The cultural world around them made many people more sensitive to the idea of living their lives more naturally.
Today, natural world based therapies are enjoying a second revival, as people attempt to push farther away from the medical and pharmaceutical establishments. These types of therapies are becoming more and more widely used, and in some instances, like yoga, or pilates, are making their way into mainstream culture itself.
The Natural World Therapy Approach to Treatment
Many people all over the world have begun to turn to these naturally-based therapies to help improve the effects caused by the stressful world we live in. There are an abundance of options when it comes to natural therapies. Among those therapies that could be considered part of the natural world are acupuncture, healing touch, pressure therapy, hydrotherapy, aromatherapy, light therapies, and so on. Though there are many different choices in this vein of the healing world, they all seem to share many of the same fundamental belief systems. Included in this is the idea that we as people are complicated beings that are capable of using the systems that are built into our bodies to maintain our sense of wellness, and to heal problems we have. Most of these therapies view illness or mental issues as some sort of imbalance within our natural system. The goal of all of these methods is to help encourage our natural protections to balance the body back to a state of harmony.
Problems That can Benefit from Natural World Therapies
Many different ailments can benefit from forms of therapy that have their basis in the natural world. Science has even been able to show that systems such as the limbic system responsible for the human heart rate, blood pressure among other important functions, is very sensitive to smell. This system can be changed through the use of aromatherapy, as well as different floral remedies.
Nervous system problems are often treated through light and hydrotherapy. Because the skin is filled with thousands of nerves that send messages throughout the body, hydrotherapy is one of the most commonly used practices for people who are having nerve problems. Light therapy, however, finds its usefulness in the endocrine system. This particular system is very closely related to light and colored light.
Patients and practitioners are advocates for these types of therapies. Though there have been some scientific studies, there is not enough information to either rule out their benefit, or to back it completely. However, as many people all over the world find themselves disillusioned with the current pharmaceutical-based world of medicine there is a higher rate of interest for these practices that are based more thoroughly in the natural world.
References
- Bratman, S. The Alternative Medicine Ratings Guide: an expert panel rates the best treatments for over 80 conditions, Prima Health A Division of Prima Publishing (1998)
- Brown, L. Alternative Medicine, NTC/Contemporary Publishing (1999)
- Deepak Chopra, M.D. Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide, Celestial Arts (2002)
- Duke, J. The Green Pharmacy: Herbal remedies for common diseases and conditions from the world's foremost authority on healing herbs,Rodale Limited (2003)
- Nancy Allison. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Body-Mind Disciplines, The Rosen Publishing Group (1999)
- Servan-Schreiber, D. The Encyclopedia of New Medicine: Conventional & Alternative Medicine For All Ages, Rodale International Limited (2006)
Posted in The Natural World
Ask a Question Or Join a DiscussionHerbal Medicine and Supplements
Herbal medicine is a method of using holistic approaches to ensure overall good health and well being. Western herbal medicine makes use of plant remedies to maintain good health and treat various conditions. Chinese herbal medicine makes use of vegetables, minerals and some animal products in order to achieve good health and to prevent an imbalance of Qi. Acupuncture is used alongside Chinese herbal medicine and the object of the treatment is to prevent illness rather than to cure or treat the symptoms which may already be present.
