On holistic health and healing
and how my views have changed (so much!)
My personal beliefs concerning health and illness have changed a lot over the last couple years. A total paradigm upheaval, as a matter of fact. I believe very little of what I was taught growing up.
I first delved into the world of holistic health as a young teenager. I was the child who was always sick. Always in and out of the doctor's office and emergency room. Always on antibiotics.
I was 13 when I decided that I was looking for help in the wrong places. Another round of antibiotics wouldn't prevent me from getting sick again next month. The only alternative I was offered was surgery to remove parts of me... I didn't see that as a solution, either.
So into holistic medicine I dove! God bless my mother for supporting my interests… I was raiding the health food store every week. Herbs, supplements, essential oils, organic foods. Hours of every day spent reading about natural remedies for this and that. Notebooks on notebooks on notebooks.
I did a lot of healing during that time, but it was not instant. I was on several rounds of antibiotics every year throughout my childhood... my gut was in shambles. I rid my diet completely of gluten, dairy, and processed sugar for two years. I prioritized nourishing foods.
The sicknesses became less frequent.
When I did get sick, I wholeheartedly expected my natural remedies to instantly heal me... but they never did.
I poured heaps of "infection fighting" herbs and broths into myself and christened my feet with essential oils all day with one sickness, and then did nothing at all to try to manipulate the next sickness. Little difference in recovery time, if any. (Same went for many allopathic medicines.)
Why?
Symptoms are not your body's problem. Symptoms are your body's SOLUTION.
Inflammation brings blood flow and nutrients to damaged or infected tissue. Coughing, sneezing, vomiting, diarrhea... those are all YOUR BODY WORKING TO HEAL. When I realized this, my view of “sickness” changed. It wasn't something to fight anymore... It was a function to support.
No wonder trying to fight it whether with meds or with herbs didn't do anything to stop it! The body needs to do what the body needs to do. No, it's not always fun. But that doesn't make it a bad thing.
(Please note, however, that there are times when your symptoms can become too much and put you in danger— please know in these cases that there isn’t any shame in asking for help from someone with expertise!)
Now, I think only in terms of supporting my body.
A wholesome and nourishing diet, always. Choosing love and joy, always. Hydration, always. Connection with sun and Earth, always. Movement, always. Looking to God, always. This is just the proper way to live!
When my body decides it needs to rest, heal, and release things (or in the common vernacular, feel like absolute shit and manifest expulsive symptoms), I don't try to fight it anymore. I don't regard it as a failure. I don't let it hurt my pride the way it used to.
"I do everything right; why am I still getting sick?"
No matter what you do, there will always, as long as you are alive, be things to HEAL from. Physical and psychological. And your body will do exactly what it is meant to do.
There are, of course, remedies to support the body in its healing process. Healing does use resources that need to be replenished, after all. I will forever be a student of nutrition, herbalism, and other helpful modalities.
But how many of us are still thinking in terms of fighting our symptoms?
If this line of thought intrigues or challenges you as it did for me over the last couple years), keep digging.
It brings me a sense of peace, in contrast with the old model that causes us to fear invisible enemies and rely heavily on "the experts" for our own healing.
Rather than shame for having a "weak immune system" or whatever, it brings a mindset of grace and gratitude for my body and the work it does to facilitate my life here.
I've been studying German New Medicine this past year; in short, it is a system of thought concerning the psychological roots of disease and healing. Do I believe it's the end-all gospel Truth? I'm not sure. But I've found it to make much more sense than conventional theories of medicine.
If you'd like to look into it:
Dr. Melissa Sell (IG: @drmelissasell) is a GNM teacher/ practitioner with a very insightful YouTube channel
(IG: @freyakellet) has been studying and sharing stories about it.
I'm also presently reading a book on it, “The Psychic Roots of Diseases” by Björn Eybl, which you can read for free at this link:
Armed with your newfound understanding of the body’s function, I still encourage you to be a learner of holistic ways to support the body… but without the manic fear that so many of us jump into it with when we find out that the modern paradigms are toxic trash. Many (most) sources, even in the holistic health space, will market to your “pain points” by making you feel afraid for your health and offering you a solution.
Never let someone sell you something that is already yours.
Your health.
Your freedom.
Your rights.
Your joy.
Your spirituality.
That is the failure of "the system"- it puts you in a position of powerlessness and fear, and then sells you an illusory way out.
I think the whole point of this long winded post, deep down, is to tell you this:
You were created as a part of God's system. Everything you need to heal is built into your body, woven into the design of Life.
Healing is not something that someone can do to you or sell to you.
It is something you do.
You live, you learn, you integrate what you learn, and you heal.
Absolutely loved this article - and excited to dive into those two accounts you shared!
Love this ❤️