Hello Everyone,
Wishing you all a peaceful and fulfilling 2024.
Many years ago, when I was first beginning my career, I read a book, written by one of the leading naturopaths of the 1970s, Dr. Paavo Airola, entitled Are You Confused?. This title referenced the confusion that so many people experience when they consider the plethora of different, often conflicting, ideas about what one needs to eat, etc. in order to achieve and maintain good health.
We have come a long way in the last 50 years. There is much greater understanding now about therapeutic nutrition, herbal medicine, Chinese medicine, homeopathy, etc. However, the waters are still being muddied by those who continue to favor reductionism instead of wholism, and an emphasis upon disease destruction rather than health creation.
The focus of my Natural Health Science System is not the treatment of disease, but rather the pathway to creating health. Ultimately, the organism is designed to be a self-healing entity. Given the requisite raw materials and conditions, its primary focus is upon repair and regeneration. After all, the organism’s top priority must be the continuance of its survival.
The old-school naturopaths of the 19th and early 20th centuries did not use the term immune system, as it was not yet part of the lexicon of anatomy. However, they used two terms that, in concert, essentially constitute immunological function: resisting power and recovery power.
In this pandemic era of conflicting ideas about how to attain vibrant health, and thus fortify resisting power and recovery power, Airola’s question has become even more relevant. Are you confused?
My goal in creating the Natural Health Science System/Spiritual PhytoEssencing Membership Program is to provide an opportunity for people to find their way out of this fog of confusion into the clarity of understanding that follows from a knowledge of the true nature of health and disease.
The Fundamental Conditions for True Health
My Natural Health Science System (NHSS) consists of a synthesis of all the components of my practice and lifestyle over the course of 45 years. Although retired now from naturopathic practice, the following components still serve as the paving stones for the pathway of my daily existence:
the basic principles of healthful, all-natural diet,
strategic nutritional supplementation,
herbal medicine,
hydrotherapies,
healthful sunbathing,
stretching & deep breathing exercises, chi kung (qigong) exercise,
acupoint therapy (acupressure; moxa therapy; magnets; auriculotherapy),
and various types of self-directed therapeutic bodywork.
However, the primary principle of the Natural Health Science System is:
Human life is dependent upon the presence of certain fundamental conditions: proper diet; pure water; fresh air; sunlight; adequate exercise, warmth, rest and sleep; emotional harmony; proper posture.
As a human being, you have an inherent relationship with these fundamental elements—disease is an outgrowth of a deficiency or excess of one or more of them. Restoration of health in the ill person is accomplished through the same means of sustaining life and preserving health in the well person.
If said fundamental elements are not restored, drugs (even natural medicines such as herbs and homeopathy) can only act upon the superficial symptoms of the underlying disharmony which, if left unresolved, may eventually manifest in some other, and perhaps more threatening, form. Paracelsus, the 15th- to 16th-century professor of physics, medicine & surgery, remarked: "The physician should pass Nature's examination."
Herbal medicine, essential oils, homeopathy, etc. are all important components of the Natural Health Science System. However, these are considered to be adjunctive to the essential context of balanced restoration, and creative therapeutic use (e.g., hydrotherapies, deep-breathing exercises), of the aforementioned fundamental elements.
The Indivisibility of Body, Mind and Soul
True health cannot be attained solely by a focus upon the physical component of the human organism, but instead requires an active directional process toward wholeness of being within the psychospiritual component as well.
The body, mind and soul are indivisible. The perception of these as being separate spheres is an illusion fostered by modern medical science. Philosopher J.N. Findlay in The Transcendence of the Cave observes: “The other world is, in fact, not so much another world as another half of one world, which two halves only make full rounded sense when seen in their mutual relevance and interconnection.”
One of the central psychospiritual factors that underlies the development, and perpetuation, of chronic disease is the schism between one’s true inner nature and one’s socially conditioned, outer identity. In other words, the disparity between one’s “I” and ones “Me.”
The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard pointed out that the most common, and deepest form of, despair is to be in despair from not choosing, or willing to be oneself. To choose, as Kierkegaard phrases it, “to be another than himself.” On the other hand “to will to be that self which one truly is, is indeed the opposite of despair.”
Optimal functioning of one’s true self is characterized by an active, consistent directional process, rather than a static state of stuckness. The great psychologist Carl Rogers, one of the primary influences in the theoretical construct of Spiritual PhytoEssencing (SPE), describes this active directional process as the “good life,” wherein one’s true, inner nature is continually moving in the direction of fulfilling its full potential. Rogers refers to this as being a “fully functioning person.”
NHSS/SPE Members receive ongoing instruction in the art of SPE. SPE is a soul-spiritual art that utilizes customized essential oil blends and gemstone essences to help an individual overcome the separation from one’s true nature that lies at the core of emotional and physical disharmony, and contributes to the development of deeply seated, chronic diseases.
Thus, the goal of SPE is not direct action upon disease symptoms, but rather to enable one to once again perceive the “image” of one’s true nature (what kabbalists refer to as the “shape of one’s soul”), and then to allow that true nature to reassert its governance of the outer pole of the self-structure.
As always, please feel free to write to me, my team and I am here to work with you and help you learn.
Shalom,
Dr. Bruce
Alternate Warm/Cool Shower
It has been my experience that the integration of my Vital Chi Skin-Brushing System with strategic hydrotherapies and essential oil selections creates powerful healing synergy for both body and soul. The Alternate Warm/Cool Shower forms a particularly powerful synergy with Vital Chi Skin-Brushing.
Health vs Disease: A Matter Of Rhythm
While outwardly the human organism appears to be unified, it's actually sustained by an inward duality and animated by a polarity which must be reconciled by a third entity: a rhythmic system. Read this article to learn about your body's rhythmic system and how to restore healthy rhythmicity.
Molecular Hydrogen Therapy/Cell Salts Synergy for the Brain
Molecular hydrogen (H2) has systemic relevance and has been shown to have great promise for protecting against a wide variety of disorders. In the discussion that follows, I provide a general overview of molecular hydrogen and then a selective focus on its value regarding the brain.
Pemou Oil and Life Here in the Going, Going, Gone
Looking back through the mists helps us learn about Pemou oil’s theme of extinction, relation with body and adrenal fatigue.
NHSS/SPE Membership Program
If you’re interested in both achieving vibrant physical wellness and learning the basics of SPE blending and soul-level therapeutics, then the NHSS/SPE Membership Program is for you.
Sponsored Posts
Hydrogen, PEMF and Light Therapy from PEMF-devices.com
Nature Photography Canvas Print by Elizabeth Sage
The Stare Down by Reverie Scenes
About Dr. Berkowsky
Dr. Bruce Berkowsky (N.M.D., H.M.C., M.H.) has devoted himself as a teacher and practitioner of the art and science of natural healing for over 40 years. He has constructed a dynamic system of health creation from a synthesis of the complementary aspects of traditional naturopathy, classical homeopathy, western science, traditional eastern healing arts and anthroposophical science. He applies modern physiological and biochemical knowledge into a context that acknowledges the unity of human life with the fundamental elements and rhythms of nature. And for the past 25 years Dr. Berkowsky has devoted much of his attention to the development of the art of Spiritual PhytoEssencing (SPE), a system of deep, soul-level healing work with essential oils.
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DISCLAIMER: All content is intended as an educational tool, and not as a prescription. Readers are advised to seek the advice of their healthcare providers before discontinuing any medication and/or trying any new remedy or technique.
© Dr. Bruce Berkowsky
Dr. Bruce Berkowsky is the founder/teacher of the Natural Health Science System™ which he has developed over the course of his 40+ years of research and private practice, and includes: traditional naturopathy (N.M.D., MRN, CTN); herbology (M.H.); nutrition (Ph.D.); homeopathy (DHM, H.M.C.); massage and bodywork (NCTMB); aromatherapy (cert.); constitutional iridology (cert.) as well as East/West healing arts/exercises/bodywork.
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