Naturopathy
Naturopathy includes a wide range of treatments. It is, in a wider sense, a wholesome connection to and with nature. It works with helping the patient to be back in touch with the natural environment. It includes for instance rhythms of day and night, light and darkness and being connected with the seasons. It includes being connected with the elements of the earth, clean air and water and wholesome, organic foods. It is physically moving wholesomely in our environment.
Naturopathy encompasses a wide range of treatments beyond the use of herbs that most people are familiar with. There are many other modalities, such as: baths with specific substances (hydrotherapy); regular sleeping and waking cycles and eating habits (rhythmic therapy); exposure to natural light; going for walks in daylight; massage therapy and other hands on treatments (Rolfing being one of many), movement therapies such as yoga, Tai Chi and Eurythmy to name a few. It is working with supplements, nutrition, homeopathy, and many more.
“For every human illness, somewhere in the world there exists a plant which is the cure.” Rudolf Steiner
Nutrition is one of the most basic and encompassing things for our health, well being and health maintenance. There are many different diet and treatment approaches out there. Some are quite extreme.
Nutrition at all times is individualized. It is not a one shoe fits all approach. People have different constitutional needs and may have varied needs at different times in their lives.
Nutrition is also not just food for our bodies but food for our soul. It also is a way of celebrating community and communion with others around us. Sharing a meal is always special.
Dr. Pautz believes that different people need different types of nutrients and all needs to be individualized. Not all shoe fits all. And different constitutions need different nutrients.
Hydrotherapy uses various forms of water applications. This can be hot or cold baths or showers, or the alternating of them. Compresses in the form of hot or cold, pressure through the water applications, steam like saunas or natural springs, and many others, can be part of water applications.
The goal is to promote health, relieve pain, improve heart health, and natural rhythms that we all are part of. In dis-ease this is often interrupted in one way or another. It helps to reduce pain in many situations by its application and also by its pressure and aides in the healing process, or stabilization thereof.
Hydrotherapy has been practiced for thousands of years. But got a big name in the 1900s through Sebastian Kneipp (1821-1897), a Bavarian monk, who traveled through Europe, “curing” people with water applications.
Hydrotherapy encompasses a wide range of techniques and treatments, each designed to target specific conditions or achieve particular therapeutic goals. Pool exercises for arthritis is one very common and accepted application within the healthcare system. It is often accepted by health insurances.
