The educational role of Yoga and Naturopathy

Both Yoga and Naturopathy play an educational role.

YOGA teaches body-mind-spirit connection through awareness of one’s body, which needs to be supported by the mind and spirit for good functioning.

To give a practical example, Vriksha-asana known as the “Tree pose” cannot be performed correctly without training the mind to concentrate in keeping that posture – therefore not to wander, otherwise one is apt to fall down. Who has experienced that pose long enough may agree that the spiritual part is consequential to the mental ability of concentrating. Body-mind balance necessarily brings to a connection with one’s inner world. At the same time, breathing – which is a body function – is involved in the ability to concentrate, which favours body-mind balance, and we know how it also plays a leading role in calming the mind and therefore drawing toward a state of meditation.

By experiencing Vriksha-asana we not only learn how to keep our body in balance, but indirectly we also learn how to train our mind to adjust to our body’s balance and how to connect to our inner world through mind-body balance.

A NATUROPATH is most of all an “Educator”. He teaches his clients body-mind-spirit connection in different ways. Awareness of one’s body is experienced through its limitations, whereas awareness of the power of one’s mind can be experienced through some of the techniques as well as the natural remedies that the Naturopath uses in his practice. Awareness of one’s spiritual path is consequential.

An example could well be a client complaining of a physical pain. A naturopath would try to understand the cause lying behind that pain, which could well bring to an emotional/mental problem to be dealt with. By facing that problem the client would learn much about his mind, and how it relates to his body, hindering his inner growth. Of course, self-healing is not always that easy, and most of the time the client would need to be supported by some natural remedies and advices on nutrition etc. But what I would like to stress here is the importance of learning the body-mind-spirit connection for a client who goes to a naturopath, and the need for a naturopath to teach his clients.

The importance of eating the right food

The idea that food does not nourish only the body but also the mind – and therefore that the quality and the quantity of the food we eat are extremely important for our well being – is not at all new.

In the East, thousands of years ago Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine were considering the food “healing” for the body, as well as “destructive” if each different type of individual was not eating the right food.

Hippocrates (around 4th century B.C.), in his Corpus Hippocraticum wrote a book entitled About Regimen, by so showing great attention to nutrition in his therapy.

To this purpose, it is both interesting and curious mentioning a passage from the Treatise of Porphyirius (who lived between the 3rd and 4th century A.D.) entitled Abstinence from animals, where the Greek philosopher is very modern in stating that “Meat does not contribute to good health but, on the contrary, it is an obstacle to it. As a matter of fact health can be preserved through those means by which it receives strength: and it receives strength from a very light regimen and without meat […].” He believed that a regimen that consisted especially in eating fruit and vegetables was not only healthier for the body, but it was surely good for the soul.

Moreover, Ludwig Feuerbach’s “more recent” statement in a very famous work of 1862 “Man is what he eats” has become very popular.

Naturopathy considers a proper regimen of utmost importance, not only for prevention of diseases, but also for re-establishing a balance after dis-eases caused by a bad eating habit, and which can manifest themselves not only in the gastro-intestinal tract but also, for instance, by allergies, rheumatisms, problems to the respiratory system, endocrine system, etc.

Prevention occurs primarily by eating foods that contain all the necessary nutrients to keep the immune system strong. But these foods have to be possibly of a “natural” origin, that is they should contain very little – if any – traces of pesticides used in agriculture, in order not to add toxins that are already present in the body and which come from the environment in which we live and from those products that we use daily for cleaning or make up. That’s why it is preferable to choose “organic” foods.

To keep a strong immune system means not only fighting against bacteria and viruses which try to attack our organism, but also resisting against and better expelling those toxins that it accumulates. This is possible by the daily intake of substances that are naturally found in some foods, like for instance Omega 3, that are essential fatty acids found in our organism. They are contained in greater quantity in flaxseed oil and in some kind of fish, in nuts and in seeds in general.

Food is important because it brings nutrients to our organism, which will change into energy needed by our body, just like a car needs petrol to run. However, one should not exaggerate in its quantity, otherwise the car risks to “stop”, and one should take care, as said before, to the quality of the “petrol”. For instance, as Porphyrius was already stating in the 3rd century A.D., a good rule should also be the one of not exaggerating in eating meat (especially red meat), giving preference to fruit and vegetables – especially organic (at Porphyrius’ times there were no environmental problems like the ones we have now!). Let’s always remember that the food we eat is elaborated by our body and changed not only into nutrients but also into toxins which, by circulating in our blood, contaminate also our brain, therefore affecting also our emotional states, therefore producing more toxins that our immune system will have to fight against. This process is quite elaborated, but it makes us understand why “Man is what he eats”.

What is the mission of a Naturopath?

The mission of a Naturopath is to give advice on the right lifestyle to follow in order to re-establish or maintaining one’s natural body-mind balance. In consideration of the uniqueness of our being, each one of us would need to adopt a lifestyle that will respect one’s own individual physical constitution.

The word Naturopathy comes from Nature Path, which implies that a naturopath is not a physician, because he does not diagnose and/or prescribe any drugs to his clients, but he avails himself of the knowledge he has acquired on complementary medicine, to give advice on natural remedies and techniques that would improve his clients’ quality of life. As an example, he may give advice on performing a relaxing technique or on making use of some Bach Flower Remedies that would suit his client’s condition at the time of consultation.

One may say that Naturopathy has much in common with Ayurveda in India and Traditional Chinese Medicine, especially as to the concept of the “uniqueness” of the person, as well as the existence of a “vital force” inside one’s body (called qi in Chinese philosophy and prana in Indian philosophy) which would allow the body to cure itself, and therefore has to be kept under control in order to prevent diseases.

This would be achieved by following some rules like: eating the right food, performing the right exercises, managing stress by also making use of natural remedies, and the daily time dedicated to taking care of oneself, performing leisure activities and paying attention to one’s inner self/spirituality.

Yoga and Naturopathy

Within the naturopathic sciences, yoga is considered one of the most complete as far as exercise is concerned. This is because a hatha yoga session, followed by pranayama and concentration techniques will integrate body-mind-spirit. As a matter of fact, the word yoga in Sanscrit means “union”, by actually meaning the union of Man with the Absolute, the Universe.

Therefore, in India yoga is first of all a philosophy of life, and he who practices hatha yoga has no desire or aspiration but the one of “centering himself”. If hatha yoga is especially concerned in giving more flexibility to the body, this is to make the person aware of his body, so that he would respect his body in all its functions. This awareness is important by itself, because it establishes a relationship between the “physical” body and the “rational” mind. On the other hand, pranayama exercises will help establish a relationship between the physical and rational side of our being with the spiritual side, through breathing exercises that make oneself aware of one’s life breath – prana -, whose energy is able to calm one’s mind and balance the body’s functions.

Concentration exercises which follow pranayama are a first step toward states of meditation. Pure meditation is nothing but “detachment” from one’s body and absence of thoughts in one’s mind, which brings to an “emptiness” that cannot be translated into words if not by a deep sense of internal peace, a detachment from all that surrounds and is “material”….