For five years or so I have been guided by my intuition’s telling me to seek harmony. I remember exactly where I was when this knowing first became a conscious thought: standing by the counter on the third floor of the neuroscience nonprofit where I used to work, probably refilling my water bottle. I didn’t know what it meant then, but it’s stayed with me all this time.
I’m participating in a joy coaching program called JOY Revolution, life coaching intended to help you to grow awareness of your sensations and emotions and use them as information, and to turn down the volume of your brain and turn up the volume of your inner voice. Two weeks ago, the weekly workbook gave a long list of values, one of which was harmony. I realized it still means something to me. Then, two days ago, I was making myself a double pot of echinacea tea when I turned over the tags to read the aphorisms. One of them read, “Nature teaches us harmony.”
One part of my mission is to cultivate a harmonious relationship between humans and nature. By this I don’t only mean protecting the health of the planet, although I mean that too, because human and planetary health are intertwined. What I mean more directly is integrating nature into our lives and showing people that nature can be used, either directly (as in botanical medicine) or as inspiration (as in plant science), to heal.
This knowledge has existed as wisdom for thousands of years as naturopathic medicine. The most well-known may be the Ayurvedic and Taoist (Chinese) traditions, although it even has Grecian and other roots as well. As a scientist-at-heart whose mind is also open to naturopathic medicine, I am thrilled that science is beginning to give a scientific foundation to this wisdom, which will increase acceptance of its practice.
It's not widely known as a practice, so as context, I’ll note that naturopathic medicine is founded on six principles:
First Do No Harm, primum non nocere
The Healing Power of Nature, vis medicatrix naturae
Discover and Treat the Cause, tolle causam
Treat the Whole Person, tolle totum
The Physician as Teacher, docere
Prevention Is the Best Medicine, praevenire
The simplest definition I can give of naturopathic medicine is that it recognizes the body’s innate wisdom to heal. It seeks to restore balance in the body by giving the body what it needs (micronutrients, as an example).
Of course, it’s more complex than giving the body micronutrients (it is medicine, after all). It draws on sciences including biomedical sciences (e.g., biochemistry), clinical sciences (the “-ologies”), nutrition, physical medicine, and behavioral medicine. Where it differs from conventional medicine is its integrative approach that recognizes the interconnectedness present within our body and environment and its inclusion of homeopathic and botanical medicine.
Much, though not all, of my experience with naturopathic medicine has been botanical. I have truly come to love herbs. This is all of the ways in which I have used them:
Foundational mineral support — For the first month I drank nettle tea 3-4 times a day, from an herbal shop near me at first and then from Mountain Rose Herbs. I still drink it often as a bedtime tea. Nettle is a very grounding tea, earthy in flavor; my favorite way to prepare it is with fresh peppermint leaves from my plant.
A note on mineral support: I also took an unpleasant supplement called BioSil (Natural Factors) that gives your body the ingredients it needs to make collagen (silicon and choline). A throughline of naturopathic medicine is giving your body the ingredients it needs to make the target compound naturally in the body. As another example, the first supplement my primary care ND gave me (and which I ended up taking again later) was Deproloft-HF (Thorne), because it contains 5-hydroxytryptophan, which can be converted to serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps you to feel peace, optimism, and confidence.
Antimicrobial support — This is the reason I sought care from naturopathic doctors: the UTIs (and vaginal infections that came with them). I tried Bio Vegetarian (Priority One) first, a powerful complex of herbs that wasn’t powerful enough for me, because I still got a UTI while taking them. Later, I switched to Urinary Defense (Priority One), taken both as a prophylactic and in higher doses when I felt a UTI coming on. (Truthfully, I wonder if I took too much of it in my desperation to not get those UTIs. It did work, though.)
Gut support — While the UTI supplements contained berberines, I took additional berberines in the form of Berberine-500 (Allergy Research). Berberine is a strong antibacterial compound found in many plants such as juniper berry and barberry (Herbal Antibiotics by Stephan Harrod Buhner).
Lymphatic system support — The lymphatic system supports natural detoxification processes by moving lymph through the body. I took LymphActiv (CellCore), which also supports adrenal and liver function and immunity.
There is a world of ways in which to use and prepare herbs. You could get very scientific about which herbs to use in treating a given condition, and how. If you're interested in learning more about medicinal plants, I recommend a title I spotted within a floor-to-ceiling stack of books in an ND’s office, the most engaging autobiography I have ever read: Of People & Plants by Maurice Mességué, a French healer.
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