Submitted by Dr. Daryl Bourke

The science and philosophy of natural healing is to study how the body would heal itself naturally and then to support this healing process. The body is born with the innate ability to heal itself and prevent disease. It has an immune system and a circulatory system, it regulates body temperature and internal body biochemistry (homeostasis), and it can heal and regenerate damaged cells and tissue. It is only when the body is subjected to extreme internal or external environmental changes such as poor nutrition, chronic stress, environmental toxins and pollutants, extreme temperature variations or invasion by foreign microbes, that the body will show signs of disease. When the body starts to show these signs, it is the job of the Doctor of Natural Medicine to identify the root cause of the illness and remove the causative factor or provide natural medicine and nutrition to support the body’s natural defences.

One of the best natural defence systems the body has against disease and infection is the fever. The body produces a fever in response to an infection or disease in order to attack the foreign microbe. Because infectious organisms can only survive at normal or slightly elevated body temperatures, a fever will either kill the infectious microbe or prevent it from spreading, giving the immune system time to destroy the infectious organism.

A Doctor of Natural Medicine would work with the patient to maintain the healing effect of the fever and prevent the patient’s fever from becoming too high.

This would be done by carefully monitoring the patient’s temperature through the use of tepid baths, alcohol rubs and the regulation of the patient’s bed coverings and room temperature. This would require expertise in fever therapy and the time required to monitor the patient’s temperature, which is not usually available in our modern society.

Far Infrared Sauna Therapy (F.I.R.S.T.) can be used to induce an artificial fever in a patient. This therapy has been extensively used throughout Europe and Asia and is now gaining popularity in North America. Far Infrared Sauna Therapy (F.I.R.S.T.) is an energy source that can increase the inner core temperature of the body, similar to how a fever does. The energy created from F.I.R.S.T. is similar to the energy from sunlight, which is measured by its wavelength. F.I.R.S.T.‘s wave length is between 5-14 microns, which provides the safest source of healing energy.

The human body is composed of 80 to 85% water and Far Infrared Sauna Therapy (F.I.R.S.T.) has a direct effect on the water molecules in the body. The energy from F.I.R.S.T. energizes the water molecules which makes them more active (called resonation) and increases the temperature of the body. The increased activity and temperature of the water molecules of the subcutaneous tissue layer forces the toxins that are trapped in this tissue to the surface of the skin, which are then excreted as sweat. F.I.R.S.T. is therefore a very effective method of tissue detoxification. The more you sweat, the more toxins are released from your body.