Natural Living Tips

When you look at medical practices over the centuries, specially in the Western world, there is the idea of ignorance and near savagery.

The middle ages for example had barbers, later to be known as doctors, whose main practice was to remove teeth and molars.

When sickness and fever struck, patients were bled either with knives or leeches. Maggots would be put on an infection to eat, and therefore clean, the infected area.

The idea of cleanliness was not an issue. After all a bath once a year was a risky business with the real danger of catching a chill and then worse.

Perfumes were expensive and brought from the East, and were the main alternative to body odors. They weren’t readily available so smells were an interesting ingredient of day to day life.

During the 14th century when the Black Plague struck Europe, it ravaged populations everywhere, but specially in the cities where sanitation was lacking in extreme.

But there is another side to history. The Moors and the Arab culture at the same time had taken great strides in many subjects, including mathematics, astronomy and medicine.

The Chinese and oriental societies, as well as those in the Americas, in India and even Africa, had a down to earth knowledge of medicine which was based on the natural world.

Herbs and plants were the necessary ingredients of medicine.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, the day to day medical practices were in fact more advanced than has generally been acknowledged.

Natural remedies were the only options. A lot of mumbo-jumbo did take place, but then again hasn’t it always.

In fact today, in this day and age, isn’t there also a lot of mumbo-jumbo, camouflaged in pseudo-scientific jargon?

In the thirteen hundreds there was a magical thing called “the sponge”. It was rarely used and thought to have magical properties. Few doctors had access to one of these.

It was a sponge that had been soaked in a herbal mixture - nobody was really sure what it was but amongst other things it had a paste of opium.

The sponge was soaked in water and placed over the patient’s mouth. When his breathing became deeper and louder the doctor knew he had fallen asleep and proceeded with the operation.

Although the magical qualities that surrounded the sponge were unknown, it was in fact a form of anesthesia. Unfortunately the knowledge behind it was lost and so was anesthesia (except for large doses of alcohol) for five or six centuries.

Now at the early stages of the XXI century many natural remedies are again coming to light. Some new, some known to different cultures and some being resurrected from days gone by.

One of the major benefits of natural health is that an important part of the philosophy behind it is the view of the person and his community, the physical side of the individual as well as the psychological and spiritual side.

In essence, a holistic view. And all this stresses the health issue from the point of view being healthy, before needing to heal.

In short the process would be:

• Being healthy (current state),
• Keeping healthy (preventive)
• Correcting ill heath (healing)

Many years ago I read about medical practices in China, and the practical wisdom this society used. A doctor received a monthly retainer from his patients, as long as they were healthy.

The moment they became ill he immediately applied his healing knowledge, but the payments stopped. Professional success was measured by the patients that were healthy and not by those that were cured.

In short a doctors job was to keep his patients healthy - he also had to cure them, but if they reached this state, he had failed on his first obligation.

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Our health is important, so why is it many people avoid taking an active part in bettering or even maintaining it?

In the western world the attitude to health seems to be based on finding solutions and not in preventing ill health. The other thing is that many times the solutions are based on so called diagnosis that are only identifying the symptoms of the real illness.

If you have a headache it stands to reason that you want a fast acting solution to make it go away. But in the long run it is much more important to identify and then act on what is causing this pain.

If you have a fever or have caught a bug it is interesting to note that others have been exposed to the same environment but have gotten off scot free. So perhaps there are other factors involved; a period of stress with a corresponding weakening of natural defenses?

There are times when you seem to be accident prone in a small way. A small cut on a finger, or a bruising. Well your body is always talking to you and sending signals and many times a small cut is your body’s way of activating its own defenses. It is time to pay more attention to what your body tells you.

You are what you eat, but also what you think and what you feel.

Your spiritual side, your psychological side and your physical side are all you. You are a whole person and that is where natural health focuses on. Not just the symptom but the complete person.

When applying a holistic point of view illness prevention takes on a new meaning. It implies your overall well being, and this includes the food and nutrition, the environment, the personality and the current life you are leading. Whether you are exercising, your moods, your social contacts, your professional life as well as your family life.

The good news is that there is a change in attitude going on and this also means we have many more resources on hand to be able to enjoy our right to natural health.

And yes, the end result is that in the long run this is preventive and not corrective.

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I recently visited Vilcabamba, a small town in Ecuador which is famous for the natural health of its old people . Old as in 100 years old.

They tell a story of the time an American journalist came to interview one of them on his one hundredth birthday seeking to find the secret for living a natural healthy life.

The interview went as expected. The questions seemed to look for a magic formula, while the answers related to a drink every afternoon and tobacco on a regular basis.

Eventually the birthday boy realized his guest was getting frustrated with the answers so he began to give him what he wanted. Early to rise, early to bed. Healthy food, with a suggestion of a special fruit nearby as well as spring water from the local well.

The problem was that the interview kept being interrupted by loud noises coming from the floor above until the journalist couldn’t take it any more and demanded to know what was going on.

The hundred year old said “Ignore it - it’s just my father who wants another drink”.

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