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Healing with Nature
As we watch the natural environment around us degrade with dismay, we realise that what is required more than anything else right now is a deep healing. The impact that this environmental crisis is having on our own health is a loud reminder that we need to take steps that will restore the health - our own health as well as that of the environment.
In fact, health is a result of an exchange of energy between our bodies and the natural elements, as our body is made up of the same five elements that make up everything else in Nature.
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Source: Milwaukee Independent.com
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The eCoexist Foundation has begun a program called Healing with Nature. This program, aims to make people conscious about how simple plant based remedies can help them maintain their daily health and immunity. In doing so, it hopes to educate people about the need to preserve and nurture these plants and the natural environment within which they grow.
This practise of growing medicinal plants has been a tradition in many indigenous cultures and in India, we have several schools of medicine that are based in an intimate knowledge of the plant world.
In 2014, the Ayush ministry was formed by the Government of India, to encourage and promote these traditional forms of healing including Naturopathy, Ayurveda, Yoga , Unani , Siddha, Homeopathy and others. Considering the global dominance of the allopathic pharmaceuticial industry, this step was a proud recognition of traditional Indian medical systems.
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In a book called Integral Healing, the Mother of Pondicherry says
' One thing seems obvious , that humanity has reached a certain state of general tension - tension in effort, tension in action , tension even in daily life - with such an excessive hyperactivity , such a widespread agitation, that the the human race as a whole seems to have come to a point where it must either break through the resistance and emerge into a new consciousness or else fall back into an abyss of darkness and inertia. '
These words were written several decades ago and yet they seem as relevant today as then.
What is the new consciousness that she speaks of? And how do we emerge into it? The answer may lie with Nature, closer to us than we realise. Becoming conscious of our deep inner connection with all forms of Nature, with the elements and other life species , may finally give us the way out of this sense of dis-ease.
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Naturopathy is based on the belief that the body is capable of healing itself if it is integrally connected to the source it came from, Nature. According to Deepak Chopra, the world reknowned Ayurveda specialist, our body can guide us to a state of perfect health , if only our mind would listen to it. The idea that health is a result of medication is propagated by modern medical systems and takes humanity further and further away from a natural way of living.
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It was with great pride that we participated in the first World Naturopathy Day organised by the National Institute of Naturopathy in Pune on the 18th November 2018. It was on this day in 1945 that Mahatma Gandhi had signed a trust deed saying that he would dedicate the rest of his life to enabling the poorest of the poor to learn about and heal themselves through Naturopathy.
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A Prakrutik Mela was organized at Wadia College. Many different NGO’s were part of this exhibition, thus showcasing their varied products. Ecoexist Enterprises also exhibited their eco friendly products on Naturopathy Day. The programme was inaugurated by Honble Mayor Smt. Mukta Tilak by lighting the lamp in the auspicious presence of Shri P.N. Ranjit Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India, Prof. R.K. Mutatkar, Senior Anthropologist and Prof. Dr. K. Satya Lakshmi, Director, NIN.
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The Sun exposure programme encouraged people to expose themselves to the Sun and spoke of the benefits of doing so in a balanced manner.
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The Key note address was given by Minister Shri. P. N. Ranjit Kumar. He emphasized the importance of proximity of man to Nature. He spoke about how Nature played an important role in uplifting us, improving our physical and mental health. He also spoke about the harm that man is continuously inflicting on Mother Nature due to developmental and other activities.
A mass Sun Exposure programme was organised to create awareness about the importance of the exposure to Sunlight for our well being. A Calender based on Sustainable Health Concepts and a Special Edition of Nisargopachar Varta magazine was released by the dignitaries. In the evening session, Shri Mamidi Harikrishna, Director of Cultural Department, Govt of Telengana released a book, Heart of Medicine written by Dr Raghavendra S Prasad.
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The exhibition highlighted the importance of diet and nutrition under the banner of Annadatta - groups that promoted organic foods and especially millets.
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A range of products were on display , both which are beneficial to human health as well as to the health of our environment. eCoexist was honoured to be part of the event.
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Change and permanence in the human body
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We are happy to begin a series of articles on Healing with Nature written by Dr Madhuri Sheth. Dr Sheth has offered lifetime care to three severely ill relatives , watching illnesses such as Epilepsy, Schizophrenia and Cancer, closely. She has a passion and a deep understanding of the human body and self care. Dr Sheth has a PhD in Economics and has taught Organisational Behaviour well into her seventies. Presently she is 84 and lives a full and active life.
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We are rooted in routines of living-eating, sleeping, waking - and relaxing. This is supplemented by repetitive events at home, in the family, and in the larger environments of recurring days and nights, with the rhythms of Nature. These create, and from time to time, even reinforce the idea that the body, in its healthy state, will continue forever. Though we do become conscious of dysfunction inside our bodies, our attention is mostly directed to things happening outside and what they do to our bodies.
In our current style of living, any discomfort of the body, creates anxiety, which makes us rush for medication. We listen to a doctor and respond to his diagnosis and advice. Do we listen to our bodies? Our sensory systems speak to us constantly through innumerable types of symptoms. They speak softly, when regular changes are taking place like thirst, hunger and related processes. They pound our heads when major changes occur to, or in our bodies, say, when we meet with an accident or catch an infection.
For our growth, change in the body system, is a constant factor. As we grow up, the body keeps giving us instructions of how to cope with the changes taking place. When thirsty, we drink water (small change). And if we do not drink water for a long time, the body may get dehydrated leading to other complex problems, (major changes).
As part of our civilized living, human effort is all the time directed at creating technical and organizational systems that are autonomous and self correcting for routine functioning. Could a spaceship stay in space without being so? More and more, so is your computer and the telephone. How could nature do otherwise?
The human body system is also autonomous and self correcting/regulating. If you keep in tune with the processes and happenings in your body, you will learn about its methods of self correction. An infant will never take milk more than it requires, however you may wish or coax it, because it is in tune with its needs. If there is gas collection in your stomach, you feel the need to release it—carried too far, you may have to stop eating!
The first step to understanding your body is to recognise that it is constantly changing. To watch, that just as it falls ill, it also heals, given time. And that, in fact change is the only constant in the body.
Contact the author : [email protected]
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