THE ROOTS OF HEALTH - Realizing the Potential of Complementary Medicine

by Romy Fraser and Sandra Hill

Published by Green Books on behalf of The Schumacher Society.

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The advances of modern biomedicine have provided a sophisticated but somewhat mechanistic approach to health. It is an approach which is able to function well in emergencies, but which has fallen down in the more basic areas of maintaining and creating health. Dazzled by the progress of science, we have lost touch with the simple remedies and body wisdom that were once a part of every household. This Briefing suggests that Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) has a central part to play in the future of health care. Both by looking into the past and reclaiming some of the more traditional views of health and disease, and by looking into the future and encouraging the application of appropriate scientific research into the body and its energy systems, we can begin to reintroduce balance into a system which is spiralling rapidly out of control. The Briefing also questions the usual assumption that CAM is unscientific, by suggesting that there are many ways to measure success and failure, and that a qualitative approach is an important aspect of the evaluation of health.

Romy Fraser has been involved in Complementary and Alternative Medicine for over 20 years. In 1981 she established Neal's Yard Remedies, a company which provides natural remedies and high quality natural health products and promotes education and self-responsibility towards health. Sandra Hill is a Chinese medical practitioner and writer. Through 18 years of clinical experience, Sandra has discovered that self-awareness and self-responsibility are key to good health. Romy and Sandra met in the early 1990s when a group of like-minded alternative practitioners formed the 'Ecomedicine Group' to discuss the future of medicine. In 1998 they established a Foundation Course in Natural Medicines to provide a background to understanding alternative healing practices, and particularly the traditions of herbalism, homoeopathy, essential oils and flower remedies. Both the course and the ecomedicine group have been an invaluable background for the creation of this book.