Exploring the paths of healing with Peter Fairfield LAc.
Peter Fairfield LAc is a medical intuitive and has practiced Oriental Medicine, Acupuncture and Natural Medicine for over 50 years. His focus is mental health and personal development. His clinic is north of San Francisco, but as a medical intuitive, he also works on the phone internationally and teaches seminars in the US and Europe.
He will explain us the difference between Natural Medicine and Western Medical Approach, starting from the point that Natural Medicine is as old as life on this planet.
Long before humans appeared, living creatures would instinctually eat plants that helped them feel better and man’s early use of plants probably originated from observing what animals ate. The use of herbal medicine has developed over hundreds of thousands of years, when common cooking herbs like, basil, oregano, marjoram and so many more all have recognized healing properties. For example my grandmother used to cover the ham with cloves that have a powerful antiparasitic effect. There are so many examples like this worldwide, as every culture has incorporated the gifts from nature.
Over several millennia, advanced medical systems have developed in most cultures. The oldest known medical systems come from India and China, known as Ayurvedic Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine that both come from detailed research histories and compounded medical data extending back several thousand years. They hold a vast arsenal of therapies and specific medicines and their influences have traveled and merged with many local medical systems from places like Tibet, Myanmar, Thailand, Japan and Korea, constantly gathering and incorporating the local medicines and traditions.
The head of the Department of Herbology at Beijing College of traditional medicine, for example, told me over tea one afternoon, that they had catalogued the uses of over 55,000 plants and plant parts. Unani medicine from Persia also offered much to the flow of unified information during these early centuries. Finally, the beginnings of Western Medicine began in the 1800s with the synthesis of Morphine and later with the Rockefeller financial interests.
Philosophy plays a part in medicine or healing and dictates the choices made in diagnosis and implementing the course of treatment. These differences can be huge: Natural Medicine works with the forces of nature and the biological intelligence of the body. Cues for treatment are taken for the body’s intent and process; Western Medicine often works against the natural inclinations of the body, being guided by rational thinking and research.
An example is the treatment of fever. Western Medicine considers fever to be a symptom of the disease process and works to lower fever with antibiotics, while Natural Medicine is studied by well trained natural physicians that work with it sometimes using methods to increase fever itself. The thinking is that fever is a natural positive immune response to promote tissue repair, increase circulation, and kill bacterial and viral entities.
Another example comes from headache, back or neck pain therapy: Western Medicine works on pain, nerve blocs or surgery and stress reduction; Natural Medicine thinks that the specific location of the pain indicates which body system is reflexing to the area. Usually, by treating the inner situation, the pain will change. Emotions, dental reactions, diet and many related causes are considered. And then colds and flu, that are treated by Western Medicine with antibiotics and antivirals, while the Natural medicine uses immune stimulants.
The difference between a therapy and medical systems is important. An integrated system will have a wider perspective on the use of a specific therapy. Of course Western Medicine excels at emergency medicine, surgery and public health and has many dedicated physicians. The decision of what medicine entrust with is truly personal. In the end it’s the training, integrity and experience of the physician or healer. Intuition and knowledge are a good balance.
Peter Fairfield
