The healing powers of nature

Have you ever observed animals, their daily routine or their ways of life? I have observed our domestic animals, the cat and the dog, for some time. The first thing they do when they wake up, I noticed, is perform some positions of the Sooryanamaskara, which is an important yogic asana.

Then they start cleaning their bodies with their paws using their own saliva. While doing so, they pay special attention to their wounds and lick them until they are completely cleaned. The enzymes in the saliva have a curative value. So the wounds are healed in a few days.

When they have a stomach ailment, they turn to naturopathy or the basics of ayurveda. They do not eat anything as food, but keep on fasting until they are completely healed. During this period they drink only water. Some of them eat grass. They eat only a selected variety of plants and when closely observed, I found most of them were herbal plants we use in ayurveda.

I have heard that birds apply mud or clay on their fractured legs by using their beaks. Clay therapy has been used by our ancestors as a mode of treatment for swelling, for relieving pain in the joints and also for bone setting.

Sunlight, which is a gift of nature, is important for perfect health. Have you seen your domestic pets bathing in the Sun? Even house flies and birds bathe in the Sun. Rays of visible (white) light of the Sun are made up of seven different colours, as depicted in the rainbow.

Each colour has its specific effects on the human body and is connected to a chakra. Colour influences our energy system by its vibrations, affecting both our physical and emotional well-being.
 

The seven colours have different healing properties. The colour red is associated with the base chakra, and is concerned with vitality, sexuality and problems of physical mobility, pain and stiffness of legs.

The colour orange is associated with naval chakra(Hara) This colour energises the liver, kidneys and the bladder.

Yellow is associated with the Solar Plexus and is used to treat learning difficulties, poor digestion, diabetes and so on.

Green is associated with the heart chakra and is used to treat ailments like high blood pressure, asthma, tumours and immune deficiencies.

Sky blue is associated with the throat chakra and is used to treat ear, nose and throat problems, speech disorders and skin conditions.

Dark blue is associated with the brow chakra and is concerned with insight, imagination and intuitive abilities. It is used to treat sleeping problems, lack of imagination and migraine.

Purple is associated with the crown chakra and is used to treat depression, paralysis and to develop spirituality.

When we have an illness, we expect instant cure. So, we fill our system with medicines, with more or less adverse effects on the human body in the long term. Those who love nature believe that when we take medicine, toxic and foreign substances are accumulated in the human body. They believe that these medicines weaken the powers of resistance of the body to such an extent that the body drops its efforts to get rid of the disease.

Many ailments can be cured easily by adopting an integrated plan of fasting, hydrotherapy, changes of diet, exercise, sun bathing combined with various alternative therapeutic methods.

Man is the only animal who continues to eat when he has no appetite. Animals never eat when they are ill or when they have no appetite.

Here is a true story which shows that nature cure methods are superior to the conventional type of treatment.

About three years ago, a viral fever spread among the school children in our locality. Some of them were admitted to hospitals for treatment. One of my elder brothers contracted the viral fever and he passed it on to my parents.

My father insisted that we should try the efficacy (efficiency) of various methods of treatment. My father, mother and brother suffered from high temperature, severe abdominal pain, vomiting, coughing, loose bowels, headache and pain in all the joints of the body.

My elder brother Ravi agreed to try acupuncture. He was treated twice daily using points to enhance the immune mechanism combined with analgesic (pain relieving)and homeo-static points. He was on a liquid diet and was permitted to have porridge when he had the appetite.

My father preferred the nature cure method of fasting. He was fed on water and lime and fruit juice with brown sugar. My mother took the conventional treatment of antibiotics, pain killers and tranquilizers.

All three of them used hydrotherapy to bring down their body temperatures. The body temperature of my mother and my brother was kept under 100 degrees F. but my father's temperature was kept between 100 degrees F and 102 degrees F for the first two days.

He was of the opinion that the increase in temperature seems to increase the capacity of the body's defence mechanism, while at the same time threatening the invading organism. The abdominal pain and pain in the joints were treated with hot water bottles.

After five days, my father's condition became quite normal. He could attend to his normal duties.

He had a slight lower back pain and that too subsided in a couple of days. My brother recovered completely in about seven days. He was able to attend school. He played badminton with me. He didn't complain of pain in any part of the body.

My mother who took the conventional treatment was confined to bed for about five days. Her recovery was very slow. She suffered from headache and pain in the joints for some time. She had a poor appetite. It took more than six weeks for a complete recovery.

The foregoing observation show us the superiority of naturopathy when treating a common disease. However, I admit that in some instances the conventional treatment surpasses the other modes of treatment.

Animals obey the laws of nature and they are in excellent health.

Man, the most advanced being on Earth, should enjoy perfect health. Nevertheless, he is suffering from innumerable ailments. It has to be admitted that man himself is responsible for his sorry plight.

The famous German physician Dr. Adolph Just says, "While other animals follow and obey nature, man perversely uses his intelligence in continually(state of being continuous) finding ways of transgressing Laws of Nature and invites calamity of ill-health upon himself".

It is nature that heals best and not the physician or the medicine.

D. Dilini W. Tillekeratne,
An Advanced Level student
from Wennappuwa.