…You cut your finger. Instantly your body’s innate healing mechanisms swing into action. Germs are identified and destroyed. Damaged tissue is broken down and removed. Eventually, perfect new skin, blood vessels, muscles and nerves are formed and your finger is completely healed.

On a larger scale, a virus gets past your initial defenses and invades your body. Your appetite goes down as your body focuses energy on its immune system. A fever is created to increase the efficiency of your white blood cells and to help kill off the invader. Fatigue makes you rest and take time to heal. In a few days the invader is destroyed and balance returns.

We all have within us this innate drive to heal. The body is always striving towards optimal function, balance and adaptability. This has been recognized for millennia in several cultures:

• The life energy or Qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine
• Hippocrates’ concept of vis medicatrix naturae or the healing power of nature
• Samuel Hahnemann, the father of homeopathic medicine, referred to it as the Vital Force

Often it is hard to understand how the symptoms we are having could be the body trying to heal itself. How could pain and suffering be from the wisdom of the body? Most of what drives the healing force is in our subconscious mind and beyond our conscious control. We need a wider perspective on how the body works and what it is trying to do.

• Perhaps that high blood pressure is your heart working to get blood through an overweight body or through hardened arteries.
• Maybe that headache makes you stop work and get the rest you need.
• Your mind may believe that a problem is so important it must stay awake to figure it out or to keep you safe.

The role of the naturopathic physician is to have an understanding of how the body is trying to heal itself and what is preventing it from doing so. The doctor works with this force to support and strengthen it, to remove any obstacles to healing and to restore balance to the systems of the body.

Dr. Potter works with you to take a through case history and do the tests needed to identify the obstacles to the body healing itself.  With over twelve years experience as a naturopathic physician she has found that these therapies address most problems:

• Nutritional and Lifestyle counseling
• Homeopathy and Biotherapeutic drainage
• The Emotional Freedom Technique
• Bowen Therapy

We hope that you will take a minute to read about these therapies and how they can help you.