Focusing in Naturopathic Medicine
One of the fundamental philosophies of naturopathic medicine
Your body knows how to heal
With attentiveness and care, we can learn what the right kinds of support might be. As we nourish the terrain for healing, new possibilities emerge.
The Search
- Many of us are drawn to natural medicine because we want to get to the root of our health concerns, and to address the underlying causes of symptoms, so that we can feel our best, or in some cases so that we can simply function.
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In natural medicine, the prevailing viewpoint is that if we can find the right diet, address deficiencies, reduce inflammation, balance our microbiomes, hormones and neurotransmitters, we will feel better. This approach can really help, much of the time.
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However, I’ve seen it fall short and create more stress and overwhelm.
The Cycle
- We live in a culture where the dominant messaging is that our success depends on a perpetual sort of striving. Unfortunately, a well-intentioned health industry often reinforces this message. The implication is that if we are struggling, we should be more diligent and more vigilant.
- Without even noticing it, we might find ourselves working harder and harder in order to feel better, compounding the problem by our own efforts to solve it.
- If our quest for healing is creating more stress, then our approach to restoring health might actually be in the way — and keeping us stuck.
A New Approach
- When we’re stuck, it often helps to lean back from our usual way of approaching problems, and ask, “what would be the path of ease?”
- Rather than focusing on what went wrong and how to fix it, we might find that inviting what would feel right opens up more possibilities and forward movement.
- Cultivating a spacious and responsive interaction with our bodies, we can experience healing as a dynamic process that carries us into deeper alignment with our vitality.