- Vis Medicatrix Naturae – The healing power of Nature. There exists a Vital Force or Life Force that, given the right conditions, will self-heal or selfcorrect. The Vital Force is activated by factors, which encourage health and suppressed by excesses and deficiencies.
- Prevention is preferable to cure. Prevention is not screening, it is treating the terrain (i.e. the body) so that the disease process never starts in the first place.
- The root (underlying) cause of dysfunction is identified and treated. Not the branches (symptoms). For example, as commonly seen in skin conditions where steroid creams are applied topically (branch) without addressing the internal imbalance (root).
- The whole person is treated (Physically, Mentally, Emotionally & Spiritually). For example, the person is not seen as just having a physical ailment or their health being designated to separate areas. They are treated as a whole, taking into consideration all the aspects in their life.
- Health is much greater than just absence of infirmity. The aim should be abundant vitality.
- The person is treated, NOT the disease. For example, we ask not just what is the problem but why.
- The individual is unique, each person responds in a different way. For example, one size does not fit all. People have different constitutions, blood types, etc.
- All disease begins with a disruption to the body’s homeostatic mechanisms and health is a return to balance of these mechanisms. For example, the body is continually rebalancing itself within a narrow pH range and the two pillars governing health-toxicity and deficiency will determine the state of that balance.
- Ill-Health is a product of the internal environment of the body rather than external influences. It is the soil that is the problem, not the microbes per se.
- Deficiency and excess. If a person is deficient, treatment would be used tobuild them up. If excess (toxicity), treatment would involve breaking-down toxins (detoxification). For example, treatment should be tailored to where the patient is, in terms of their health, at that moment.
- Ailments should not be suppressed. Symptoms are there for a reason and are manifestations of Natures Healing Force. A Naturopath will encourage the body to promote its innate healing abilities.
- A Naturopath is an educator/teacher, empowering the patient to take responsibility for his/her own health.
