What Is Naturopathy? A Simple Guide to Natural Healing for Body, Mind, and Spirit
Introduction: Rethinking Health & Healing
When I was 23, I was diagnosed with arthritis. Whilst it started at 19, the pain had become so debilitating that even holding a pen or washing up felt impossible at times. At the same time, I was battling severe depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. The conventional treatments I was offered were heavy-duty medications: including antidepressants, and beta-blockers.
I remember sitting in the doctor’s office, prescription slip in hand, feeling torn. On one hand, I wanted relief. On the other, I felt a deep resistance to relying on drugs for the rest of my life. I gave the medications a try, but the side effects hit me hard — I gained a lot of weight, felt constantly drowsy, and almost lost myself in the haze.
That was the moment I knew I needed to find another way. I began searching for answers that went deeper than just silencing symptoms. That path led me to naturopathy — and ultimately to a new way of living, eating, and healing.
As Hippocrates wisely said: “The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well.” That idea became my guiding light.
What Is Naturopathy?
Naturopathy is a holistic approach to health that works with the body’s innate ability to heal itself. Unlike conventional medicine, which often focuses on suppressing symptoms with drugs, naturopathy looks for the root causes of illness and addresses them using natural therapies such as:
Whole food, plant-based nutrition
Herbal medicine
Lifestyle and stress management
Detoxification practices
Emotional and ancestral healing
The goal isn’t just to feel less unwell. The goal is to restore full vitality and create the right conditions for the body and mind to thrive.
The Six Core Principles of Naturopathy
At its heart, naturopathy rests on six timeless principles:
The Healing Power of Nature (Vis Medicatrix Naturae) – Your body is designed to heal when given the right support.
Identify & Treat the Root Cause – Instead of masking symptoms, we ask why they’re happening.
First, Do No Harm – We use gentle, non-toxic treatments wherever possible.
Treat the Whole Person – Body, mind, emotions, and spirit are interconnected.
Doctor as Teacher – True healing happens when you understand your own body and feel empowered.
Prevention is the Best Cure – We focus on building long-term resilience, not just reacting when things go wrong.
Naturopathy vs Conventional Medicine
Conventional medicine can be life-saving, and I’ll never dismiss its importance. But it often prioritises managing disease rather than understanding its roots. For example:
For headaches, you might be given painkillers. Naturopathy asks: are you dehydrated, stressed, or eating foods that trigger inflammation?
For digestive issues, conventional medicine often prescribes antacids. Naturopathy explores whether low stomach acid, stress, or food intolerances might be the real cause.
For skin conditions, steroid creams may help temporarily. But we ask: what’s happening in your gut, liver, or immune system that’s driving this?
It’s not about rejecting one approach for the other — often the best outcomes happen when natural and conventional medicine work together.
The Healing Journey: Why It’s Not Linear
Healing naturally isn’t usually a straight line. It’s more like peeling an onion, layer by layer
:
Outer Layer – Symptom Relief: The first improvements often show up in energy, digestion, or skin.
Middle Layer – Detoxification: As your body gets stronger, it starts clearing toxins stored for years. Old symptoms might briefly resurface, which is often a sign of deeper repair.
Inner Layer – Emotional & Ancestral Healing: Many chronic conditions are tied to unprocessed emotions, trauma, or inherited patterns. This is where modalities like Family Constellations and Rapid Core Healing become powerful tools for real transformation.
Natural medicine respects what we call Hering’s Law of Cure: true healing works from the inside out, from the top down, and in the reverse order symptoms appeared.
So if you start feeling a bit worse before you feel better, it doesn’t necessarily mean something’s gone wrong. Often, it means your body is finally doing the deep work it’s been waiting to do.
The Emotional & Spiritual Side of Healing
Through my own healing, I discovered something surprising: even with the “perfect” diet, supplements, and lifestyle, I was still stuck. My body had improved, but I couldn’t move forward fully until I addressed the emotional and spiritual wounds I was carrying.
Unresolved trauma, suppressed emotions, and even family patterns can keep the nervous system in a state of stress and survival
That stress affects everything — digestion, hormones, immunity, mood, even the way we see ourselves.
For me, integrating Family Constellations and Rapid Core Healing changed everything. They helped me release deeply held patterns and begin to feel safe in my own body again. This is why I now weave these approaches into my naturopathic work: because health is not just about what you eat, but how you live and how your body processes your experiences.
How Naturopathy Supports Long-Term Wellness
Naturopathy isn’t about quick detox kits or overnight fixes. It’s about building a foundation for lifelong wellbeing. Some of the key pillars include:
Food as Medicine: Whole, plant-based foods rich in fibre, antioxidants, and healthy fats to fuel the body’s repair.
Nervous System Support: Practices like breathwork, Yoga Nidra, and mindfulness to move the body out of constant fight-or-flight.
Lifestyle Foundations: Prioritising sleep, circadian rhythm, gentle movement, and time in nature.
Emotional Healing: Addressing stress, trauma, and inherited patterns so your body doesn’t stay locked in survival mode.
Real-life example: I’ve worked with women who eat an impeccably “healthy” diet yet still feel exhausted, anxious, or bloated. Once we looked at stress, sleep, and emotional health alongside nutrition, their energy began to return, and their symptoms finally shifted.
Trusting Your Body’s Wisdom
The journey into naturopathy taught me something invaluable: my body was never my enemy. It wasn’t “broken” — it was communicating, asking me to slow down, listen, and care for it in a deeper way.
If you’ve ever felt let down by conventional treatments, or if you’re longing for a more sustainable, compassionate approach to your health, naturopathy offers another way forward.
Healing isn’t about rushing to the finish line — it’s about creating a life where your body feels safe, nourished, and supported. Step by step, layer by layer, you can rebuild your health and reconnect with the vitality that’s always been within you.
💚 If you’re ready to begin your own natural healing journey, I’d love to guide you through it. You don’t have to do this alone.
About Camilla Brinkworth
Camilla Brinkworth is a naturopath, clinical nutritionist, and trauma-informed practitioner specialising in PMDD, women’s health, and plant-based nutrition. She combines evidence-based dietary strategies with herbal medicine and emotional healing to help women achieve hormonal balance and lasting relief from PMDD.
Learn more about Camilla’s PMDD Transformation Programme and personalised consultations at www.camillaclare.com and www.PMDDnaturopath.com