Practitioner

Naturopathic Medicine integrates conventional medicine with alternative medicine. While receiving the same foundational education as Medical Doctors (MDs) and Osteopathic Doctors (DOs), Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) are also trained in additional healing modalities such as acupuncture, botanical medicine, homeopathy, nutrition, naturopathic physical manipulation, pharmacology, minor surgery, and more and complete over 1,000 hours of patient contact hours. Naturopathic Doctors who are licensed in the United States are licensed as Primary Care Physicians, although many NDs will choose a more specific focus. Naturopathic medicine focuses on the root causes of illness and is especially adapt at helping those with chronic conditions to overcome their condition, realizing that root causes such as stress, emotions, hormone imbalance, and energetics are often overlooked by conventional medicine.

The guiding principles of naturopathic medicine are:

1. First Do No Harm

2. The Healing Power of Nature

3. Identify and Treat the Causes

4. Doctor as Teacher

5. Treat the Whole Person

6. Prevention

The human body is composed of both matter and energy working together to allow this beautiful human form as we know it to function at its best. The heart requires electrical energy to beat. The brain and nerves send electrical impulses throughout the body to allow for movement and the feeling of sensations. Thoughts can literally be measured as electromagnetic waves outside of the human body. The atom, which makes up all matter, was once thought to be composed of only neutrons, protons and electrons but are now known to be composed mostly of space which is filled with energetic and magnetic fields. The energy body of the aura and the chakras can be felt and seen by those who are sensitive.

When the energetics of the body become out of tune or there is disharmony in the energetics, this can result in pain and/or illness. Energy medicine utilizes modalities that manipulate the energetics of the body in order to again harmonize it. The roots of energy healing go back to traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda but has been practiced in many cultures around the world for thousands of years. Energy healing can include utilizing the vibrations of the earth to heal, using acupuncture needles to stimulate the energetic channels or meridians throughout the body, channeling energy through the hands of the practitioner and into the client (as in Reiki and Pranic Healing), movement therapy (as in Yoga and Tai Chi), and reprogramming of the mind. 

Although often overlooked in conventional medicine, the health of our energy body is vitally important and can be the missing link in many chronic conditions.

Many millennia ago women were revered for their rolls as mothers, midwives and healers. 

The world for the last several thousand years, however, has been dominated by the masculine while the feminine has been oppressed through society, religion, and culture. Feminine circles and rituals, our wombs, the Goddess, our natural earth-based ways of healing, and our connection to our intuition were all made something to fear. For the last few thousand years, women have been forbidden to tune into their intuition and connect with the earth and even killed if we did so. Powerful women in religion were erased and made to look weak and evil instead. Women have been groomed to show little emotion and to be submissive, only receiving love if we were a "good little girl". We have been forced to live in a state of fear due to the constant threat of physical harm and a state of anger and rage from thousands of years of oppression. These ideas of being the "good girl", living in fear, being submissive, and not being good enough have all been programmed into our subconscious minds over many generations.

In modern history, feminism has emerged, gaining huge ground for women in women's rights and equality, however, inequality still exists. This is especially true in the home where the majority of housework and childrearing still falls to women with no monetary compensation, monetary compensation being the societal standard of worth in the world today. In the corporate workplace, masculine energy still dominates and women in that space often feel the need to be ultra-masculine in order to compete with men but often face negative repercussions when they do. Meanwhile, it is not uncommon for high-powered male politicians and even past presidents to often be in the news for sexual assault. Not only that, but currently in the United States the right to our own bodies is again being questioned. The stress of working full-time and competing with men in the workplace but still having to complete most of the housework and childrearing while at the same time facing the constant threat of physical harm and feeling like we don't even have the right to our own body leads to women being overworked, burned out and resentful, contributing to a myriad of health issues. It is no wonder that women report more stress in life than men. This state of stress not only affects the mind but also the body, known as the epigenetic link. More than 90% of disease is brought on by stress, while only 1% is truly genetic! With this thought in mind and with stress being a major contributing cause of immune dysfunction, chronic pain, infertility, and mental health related disorders, it is no wonder that the majority of chronic conditions such as autoimmunity, fibromyalgia, infertility, depression, and anxiety cases occur in women.

Not only do women make up the majority of these cases, but the current healthcare system is dominated by masculine energy. The healthcare system is extremely reactive, authoritative, aggressive, and symptom-based. You take the meds you're told to take and if you dare stray from that you are labeled a "bad patient" and "non-compliant". The majority of medical research trials are done on males. Emergency medicine was developed in the combat zones where most of the patients were men. While this kind of healthcare is great in emergencies, it very often does little to alleviate chronic conditions. We're often told we don't actually feel what we feel, we're told it's all in our heads, we're told we're just tired because we're mothers, and we're told there's nothing more to be done for us. Feminine based healing, on the other hand, is much more preventative, empathetic, collaborative, and whole-body based, which tends to produce much better results for chronic conditions.

Masculine energy tends to be more doing, action, expression, growth, thinking and mind oriented and is more left-sided when it comes to brain activity. Feminine energy tends to be more creation, emotion, love, nurturing, intuition and heart oriented and tends to come more from the right side of the brain. Each one of us naturally display both masculine and feminine energies, however, men tend to exhibit more masculine energy while women tend to exhibit more feminine energy. Ideally, there should be a balance of masculine and feminine energy within all of us and throughout the planet. As it stands, we, as well as the planet are massively lopsided toward the masculine side. 

What is important to consider is that we are not demonizing the masculine. Rather, we are rebalancing the two energies within us and creating equality for all while working toward less toxic masculinity (domination, destruction, control, competition, aggression, abuse) and toxic femininity (criticizing other women when they're not "good", they're being "too much" or being "too loud", body shaming, taking care of everyone but yourself, people-pleasing, discrimination against men) to achieve a balanced yin and yang of sacred masculine and sacred feminine energy. For the past several thousand years, we've been functioning more from the left side of the brain out of survival. Women have been tortured and killed for showing their feminine, intuitive, nature-based side. Not only that, but now women have to be even more masculine in order to "compete" with men in the workplace. We are not looking to cut off half the brain (i.e. the masculine), rather to re-integrate the brain so that both sides can function at their best. This is not about gender roles but rather about balancing the energetics within. 

While women have many wounds inflicted by men and patriarchal programing that need healing, we cannot simply ask the men to change. We, as women, need to recognize our part and and take responsibility for our energy, our health, and our life. Not only do we need to lean in to our sacred femininity to achieve more of a balanced energy, but we also need to encourage men to become more in touch with their sacred femininity and healthy, sacred masculinity. We have to remember that men have been programmed into their toxic masculinity just as much as women have been. For example, you can not expect someone to go to war and kill others if he is emotional; the two simply cannot coincide. Women mother all men. As much as is in our power, we need to show our sons how to respect women, which starts first with respecting and being true to ourselves. This can begin when we recognize our programs and begin to reprogram our subconscious. Once we as women start to reprogram ourselves, the rest can follow. We also need to learn forgiveness, for what you do not forgive, you can not overcome. It is time for us as women to move beyond victimhood. By tuning back in to our intuition, by regaining connection with the Earth, by reprogramming our subconsciousness, by raising our vibration, and by focusing more on creation and love, we can work to regain our health as women and begin to contribute to a rise in sacred femininity and a rebalancing of sacred feminine and masculine energy throughout society.