Naturopathy: Conscious Way to Whole Health by Accem Scott, ND with co-writer Mimi Sandeen

Becoming a Doctor of Naturopathy was for me a very personal journey of self-discovery – one that grew into a practice of holistic healing using a variety of mutually supportive and creative techniques. In my personal and professional life I have been exploring options that, like Naturopathy, are rooted in an on-going tradition of healing through natural treatments and well-balanced living. These practices can be found in different times and places, including traditional Chinese, Tibetan and herbal folk medicine, midwifery and the barefoot doctors of 20th century China. Naturopathy itself appeared in 19th century Europe as 'The Nature Cure'. Of the important names from that era, such as Priessnitz, Hahn, and Rikli, one that particularly stands out is Father Sebastian Kneipp (1824-1897). Father Kneipp believed in "the balance between work and leisure, stress and relaxation and the harmony between the mental, emotional, physical social, and ecological planes." He "asked for the active patient and rejected the passive one" – words that sum up Naturopathy as well as any I've read.[1] Kneipp's influence travelled to the United States through Benedict Lust (1872-1945) and Henry Lindlahr (1862-1924). After curing these men of then-fatal diseases – Lust of tuberculosis and Lindlahr of diabetes – he taught each of them the nature cure. They in turn became enthusiastic and influential American practitioners. Although each of these (and other) Naturopaths worked with specific modalities, such as the 'water cure', diet and nutrition, healthy lifestyle etc., all their approaches were tied to the same idea of non-invasive, natural, holistic, patient-involved healing. My Personal Path My own practice in Naturopathy evolved out of a varied background that started in Western medicine – a biology degree, first year medical school, emergency medical training, work as a surgical technician in a city hospital in Michigan. These were grounded traditional experiences, yet they did not speak to a growing concern I had about healing as a practice. What I consistently felt missing though, was an approach to the patient as a whole person, in ways that were less traumatic, were more humanistic and had practical results. Those answers came for me through dealing with personal health problems. I had been a vegetarian for several years and fasted regularly along with a nutritional programme. I also worked out regularly in martial arts. Yet my body would be wracked with the pain of familial rheumatoid arthritis. Then my massage therapist, an older Japanese woman named Eiko, administered my first 'colonic' – which was a revolutionary experience. This deep internal cleansing changed my whole world view. Not only did my body and mind feel remarkably better, I now had a baseline of how it feels to be truly empty, which is a way to measure any other degree of condition. Eiko then introduced me to acupuncture, which relieved my arthritis. With her encouragement, I became an acupuncturist, at first working on myself, then traveling to China to learn it in depth. Discovering A New Perspective In China I was introduced to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), including patent medicines, herbology and meridian work. I was also treated via TCM for chronic digestive difficulties that had resisted my more traditional diet adjustments. In what's called a moxa burn, the herb mugwort was literally burned on the skin over my ankle at Spleen 6, the meridian involved in the imbalance.

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