What
is "Natural Hygiene"
Natural
Hygiene is that branch of biology which investigates and applies
the conditions upon which life and health depend, and the means
by which health is rebuilt and maintained when it has been lost
or impaired; it is the study of the "science of health".
[And it is the branch of biology that you hear very little about
if anything, and with good reason; restoring health through natural
methods makes plenty of sense, but not plenty of dollars. In fact,
it is at odds with other areas of health that are very financially
profitable.]
Natural Hygiene
may be further defined as being the science and art of restoring
and preserving health by those substances and influences that have
a normal relation to life: healthy food, pure water, sunlight, rest,
sleep, relaxation, physical activity, play, comfortable environment,
and positive social relationships; it is the scientific application
of the principles of Nature in the preservation and restoration
of health. Natural Hygiene covers the total needs of humans, and
not merely a few of their requirements. It is neither a practice
of medicine, a healing art, nor a system of therapeutics. It offers
no cures, does not pretend to cure, and in fact strives to dispel
the popular notion of cures. Instead, Natural Hygiene emphasizes
that adherence to its principles, which are based on the Laws of
Nature, permits the body to heal itself.
Where do
the terms Hygiene and Natural Hygiene come from?
The word "hygiene"
came from the Greek goddess of health, Hygieia, and this
is what the movement was first named in the 1800's. In the 1900's,
Drs. Herbert Shelton and Christopher Gian-Cursio called the revived
movement "Natural Hygiene". The focus then was distinguishing
the modern modalities of managing ill-health via medical and pharmaceutical
approaches from the pursuit of restoring health via nature-based
healthful living practices. The word "natural" was also
added to "hygiene" to help distinguish the original definition
of hygiene (#1 above) from the more common definition, that of "personal
cleanliness".
The information
on this website is based on the tenets of Natural Hygiene, i.e.
it respects and is in compliance with (our) nature and with our
needs.
| Not by divine revelation, as so many have claimed
for their "discoveries," but by a close and careful
study of nature did all these men come to their knowledge [In
the early 1800's many MDs both in Europe and America were critical
of the medical practices common at the time. In the USA this
movement got the name Hygiene. All but two of the pioneer Hygienists
were medical men who had become disillusioned with medical practices].
Hygiene represents a return to that pristine mode of living
that emerged with man when he first appeared on the earth; it
is a revival of something precious that had been all but lost
during the course of ages thanks to the corrupting and perverting
influences of shaman, priest, physician, and trader. These,
with their false systems and false teachings, have led the race
astray. When and where ignorance and superstition have prevailed
with all their mind-beclouding and debasing influences, disease
and crime abound. – H. Shelton, 1968. |
THE GREEK GODDESS HYGIEIA
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