Holistic Human: Hellville to Wellville
Perspective on the holistic approach to wellness.
Opening a Can of Worms
Before I get into this article, the last thing I want to do is open a can of worms! However, I find it almost impossible to avoid it. You probably have beliefs about how this cosmos came into being and how to live your life. You could be a very devout practitioner of a religion with a long lineage of defined practices, even regarding diet. You could be walking a spiritual path with a guru or spiritual teacher. Perhaps you are exploring a nondenominational pathway. Maybe you’re a designated scientist or describe yourself as an agnostic or atheist with a Darwinian perspective. Your beliefs and how you practice them are not the topic of this article. However, since I’m the one doing the writing, it is difficult to purge my spiritual foundation entirely from my perspective regarding the naturopathic method of detox and healing. So, I ask that you take the best, if anything, this article has to give and don’t get mired in the muck if I fail to reflect your point of view.
We are human beings living in an enclosed planetary system within our solar system. It is a highly complex, intricately woven system with short-term and long-term cycles. There are still many aspects of the universe, nature, and the human body that scientists will admit that they don’t yet understand. It doesn’t keep them from trying to improve things. Have you ever known a child who couldn’t resist disassembling a toy or the family radio to find out how it works? It’s what we do as humans.
Whatever force (describe it as you will) that caused human beings to be part of the Earth also gave us the resources and means to take care of ourselves. The Earth is abundant with fresh water, herbs with healing properties that correlate to our body organs and systems, and a wide variety of edible plants and fruits. All living things can find food and medicine within their natural habitat. Humans are not separate from this whole system. Everything we need is available to us from nature, or within our power to grow and cultivate.
Scientific thinking has created many wonders but has also led us away from an organic, holistic way of life. It is redesigning our food and creating synthetic medicine. There are the medical angels that save us from crisis and near death, such as the surgeons and professionals in emergency rooms across the globe. But, scientific thinking has also spawned health industries that treat the human body in terms of parts and pieces and seemingly, disavowed the whole. Humans are a “whole” web of micro-systems that are interdependent with highly complex chemical processes. In others ways, however, the chemistry and physics of the body are exceedingly simple! It has to be because we weren’t born with an operating manual in our hands or plopped down on a planet without the provisions for a healthy life. Okay, lid back on for now. Maybe.
Cells and Two Fluids
The human body is made of cells. It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about your hair, nails, skin, heart, kidneys, gallbladder, liver, blood, brain, or whatever — ALL cells. Around each cell (interstitial) are two fluids: blood and lymph. Dr. Morse uses a house as a metaphor to explain the basic principles of how the body functions. I found it helpful when I first encountered his work before I became a student. The blood is the kitchen that feeds your body, and the lymph is the bathroom that handles waste. All cells require oxygen to breath. They eat, eliminate waste, and work to maintain the system they are a part of (heart, kidney, liver, circulatory, digestive, etc.), and they die. The body generates waste as a result of all metabolic and cellular functions.
All cells have an inherent intelligence and know how to service the organs and micro-systems of the body. When one organ or micro-system is not working well, it will affect other systems. The body will compensate for the needs, or inadequacies, of organs and micro-systems to keep the whole functioning. One example is that the body will pull calcium from bones and teeth if it is needed for a more immediate purpose elsewhere. When the body can no longer compensate effectively, it will experience symptoms— we experience pain, dizziness, lethargy, or a host of unpleasant sensations. Cells have a similar birth and death cycle, like human beings. From cellular and metabolic functions, the body regenerates or degenerates.
Let’s Give Them Names
The depth or severity of symptoms resulting from the malfunction of an organ or system is typically categorized into specific sets of labels as though they are unrelated to other systems. This way of looking at the body can keep us from seeing the relationships to a common underlying cause. It’s a parts-and-piece approach that leads to significant confusion and misunderstanding about what is causing us to feel sick.
The naturopathic approach isn’t a parts-and-pieces method of healing. It supports and assists the organs and systems through nutrition and herbs with the knowledge that the body has access to its original patterning. Thus, with adequate support, it can heal itself. And it does. Targeting specific symptoms or needs of an organ or system is always considered within the context of the whole.
Some alternative healers emulate the allopathic medical field. They treat symptoms and prescribe natural formulas like allopathic doctors prescribe pharmaceuticals for diseases. This perspective is a crisis that confuses what it means to heal holistically. Although well-intended, it is all the same misleading to their clients. I have had experience with this type of alternative medicine in the past. Yes, I felt better, but I soon realized I was in a closed loop. Without frequent adjustments and addition of supplements, I lost ground. Even though the practitioners were using natural methods, they were still approaching healing in a parts-and-pieces methodology. This approach is a bit like the arcade game whack-a-mole. If the primary cause of the body’s imbalance is unaddressed, symptoms will eventually reappear, whether they look the same or not.
I realized that the micro-managing of my health program in this manner was unsustainable and unaffordable in the long run. I ended up with a large bag of herbal formulas I didn't understand or know how to take on my own— there had to be a better way. I eventually discovered a clinic that supported my education and the long-term approach I had been seeking. Detox, master herbal formulas, and the consumption of energetic foods, in combination, give support to the body so that its natural healing mechanisms can kick in. I was not alone in the process whenever I had questions or concerns. The result was sustainable, affordable, and empowering.
The energetics of the foods and herbs we consume is paramount, especially if we are trying to heal. What beneficial nutrients can we expect when we consume laboratory drinks, chemically engineered or processed foods, and chemically-spawned supplements that have lost all semblance to what is natural to the body? Toxins and dead foods lead to degeneration of the body.
What’s Your House Look Like?
I digressed, so let’s look at the house metaphor. You wouldn’t want your kitchen and bathroom in the same room, would you? No. They serve two different functions. Metaphorically, the kitchen is the blood, and the lymph system is the bathroom. Similar to the septic system in your house, the lymph system is the cellular septic system of the body. There are also hundreds of mini septic systems called lymph nodes, including your tonsils. Like your house’s septic system, there are little organisms in the lymph system that eat up waste and the overgrowth of organisms. There are no “extra” or unnecessary organs or systems in the body. Even the most seemingly unnecessary organ provides services to the body.
The eliminative system has two components: 1) The Lymphatic System, along with the intestinal system, and the integumentary system (skin). The outer layer of protection includes skin, nails, hair, and the glands and nerves of your skin. The skin is the body’s largest organ besides the liver and is frequently called the third kidney. 2) The Immune System, along with the urinary system and the respiratory system. The lymphatic and immune systems work together. They provide elimination and protection, respectively. The lymphatic system is crucial to understand. It is a critical factor in having a healthy immune response capability.
The job of the elimination system is to treat and push waste out of the body to keep it clean and functional (bathroom). It has eliminative organs— the skin and kidneys, etc. The digestive system extracts nutrients to fortify the blood (kitchen) and processes food waste. The blood ends up with waste material and has its own cleansing organ - the spleen, but has no eliminative organs. All systems in the body work together, but don’t confuse primary function. Let's continue with the house metaphor and the lymphatic system.
If your house’s septic system stops functioning, you call a plumber (detox). Backed-up waste results in “blockages” that clog your drains (mucus buildup, sinus infections, lung congestion, skin conditions, etc.). The plumber comes to your house to drain the septic system (runny nose and sweating) and treats it with beneficial live bacteria that reduce solids and keep everything moving (energetic foods, herbs, and hydration). That is, as long as you don’t dump a bunch of toxic chemicals into it that kill off the beneficial bacteria, which stops the process.
The naturally occurring bacteria in our wastewater helps to break down solids and "sludge," but a typical septic tank can contain more than 100 chemical pollutants that are a danger to that naturally occurring bacteria. (The body is exposed to these chemical pollutants in food, medications, and household cleaners, etc.)
If your septic system is backed up, treat it, don’t remove it!
Removing the septic system weakens the house. You would lose waste treatment capability. Sewage would back into the kitchen, and eventually, all the rooms would become uninhabitable. If the lymph system in your body becomes stagnant, it means the cellular/metabolic waste isn't flowing. All cells, organs, and micro-systems become polluted, and they get sick long before physical symptoms appear.
Conventional Treatment
The conventional treatment of inflamed (acidic) and infected tonsils and lymph nodes is to give medications that kill the over growth of bacteria causing the infection. Medications help alleviate symptoms, but it also kills beneficial bacteria. It is like putting bleach into your septic system. We may feel better, but it does not resolve the underlying cause of the backed-up waste. Tonsils, adenoids, and lymph nodes are often removed.
Just like the blood flowing in your veins, the lymph has a vascular system that needs to keep moving. When the lymph system becomes stagnant, other cellular processes don’t stop. An overloaded lymph system can’t deal with the waste generated by the 100 trillion cells as each one continually breaths, eats, eliminates, and eventually dies. It’s difficult for a stagnated body to create healthy new cells, do repairs or replace the old (cells make up every tissue and organ in the body), so it begins to experience degeneration. This degeneration is premature to the natural aging process.
Pretty much all the byproducts of cellular/metabolic functions results in acid. Lymph, or mucus, is acidic. Digesting proteins and complex sugars results in acid. If we can’t eliminate the acid efficiently, it builds up in the body. This is called acidosis. Acids burn external and internal tissue, causing symptoms such as indigestion, acid reflux, irritated tissue, skin rashes, and much more. Acid damages cells. A polluted body that can’t eliminate toxins, or the overgrowth of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that thrive and multiply in a waste-filled environment, will become sick.
Highly energetic nutrients from foods and herbs support the body so it can produce healthy cells, tissue, and organs. This results in a robust immune system that can keep all overgrowth of organisms or invasion by foreign parasites and viruses in check. Some organisms perceived as a problem are, in reality, beneficial at the right levels— balance.
A Symptom is a Symptom
It is startling to see the range and depth of symptoms that develop in the body due to acidosis. Acids erode cells (tissue, joints, organs, etc.), and build-up can lead to the condensation and hardening of mucus/lymph. In an attempt to cleanse itself, the body, in some cases, will attempt to expel the hard lymph mass (or tumor) through the outer layer of the skin (pimples). In class, Dr. Morse has shown some shocking case photos that come to his clinic that are all due to acidosis. One, in particular, showed a young man with severe, long-term acidosis. His connective tissue was disintegrating, and he had massive, open wounds on his legs and torso. Part of his intestinal tract had been removed when he was a child because it was severely damaged. This can’t be undone and it is a severe case, but not hopeless.
Dr. Morse warns his students not to become overwhelmed. He says to remember the simplicity of cells and two fluids, and to focus on the processes to reverse acidosis and provide high-quality nutrition and herbal support that provide fuel for natural healing. Symptoms of acidosis aren’t always as severe as the case stated above, and look like routine, everyday health complaints.
We’re not used to looking at the body as a whole, so we only see individual symptoms. The medical field, with numerous diseases, is so complicated that the average person becomes afraid and feels powerless to improve their health to any great extent. This is especially true if they have had a medical emergency requiring quick intervention. When symptoms disappear and reappear, there is confusion because there is no holistic understanding of the cause, especially when symptoms present in different ways that are thought to be unrelated.
Chemistry has two sides: Acid and Alkaline. The body has two fluids: blood and lymph. Yes, the body is complex, but it is also intelligent. From a holistic perspective there are three primary reasons for illness: inherited genetic weaknesses, toxicity, and acidosis. Detox, nutritional and herbal support, and hydration are powerful allies that helps the body heal and regain balance. Holistic healing does not treat diseases like allopathic medicine. It doesn’t even look at the human body in that way. However, the body knows how to heal and it is designed to repair and regenerate itself, given what it needs. Once you experience the healing power of a holistic approach you will realize, yes, it is that simple. Take away what causes damage, and provide what supports.
Detox and Nutritional Support
An acidic body affects us physically, mentally, and emotionally. Remember, the body is a “whole” system, not a collection of parts and pieces. The detox process can bring to surface mental and emotional reactions in addition to physical symptoms, even past injuries, that have been suppressed physically or energetically in the body. This is called a healing crisis, but is part of the process of purging that is necessary to clear the way for repair.
The more the body has been disturbed through toxins, acid chemicals and medication, and organ removal, the more complicated the natural healing process becomes. But, even extreme cases, such as the young man who lost connective tissue, can regenerate to a much better level of health. By supporting the “whole” body, you enlist and harness all of its natural and innate wisdom. It has a miraculous capacity to self-heal. When supported, the body will begin to call on internal processes that science has yet to discover or fully understand. Tissue and nerves regain strength and function. A healing body is a miracle to behold. Dr. Morse calls it moving from Hellville to Wellville. Naturopathy is our birthright as humans living on planet Earth.
Detoxing the body and alkalizing the acidosis has its challenges. We may not feel great right away. But, it is the only natural way to achieve a highly energetic, vibrant body capable of maintaining and repairing its own house. Once we begin to pursue natural healing and experience positive changes, we are more inspired to make lifestyle changes that contribute to our wellbeing. The body reacts very quickly to the right stimulus. With every step and hurdle crossed, there comes an increase in energy, regeneration, mental and emotional clarify, and a more optimistic outlook on life.
Living Well as We Age
Eventually, within whatever cosmic event you believe in, we will move on. We are energetic beings. Energy changes form and consciousness continues on its natural journey and adventures (however you understand it). We all age, but degeneration, immobility, pain, suffering, and misery don't have to be the defining aspects of advanced age, or any age for that matter. We can be active and healthy throughout our life. Reaching advanced age is a potent time of life, and we can live it fully, enjoying all of the wisdom and mysteries we have gathered along the way. Oops, I may have opened that can again. Anyway, please consider exploring a naturopathic, holistic approach to wellness. Find a detox specialist who will support your education and empower you. I’m confident that you won't be disappointed.
Note: Here is a video that shows another case of severe acidosis, and a later stage where you can see it is beginning to heal. Dr. Morse gives a very straight forward explanation of how the body works.