Student Club Spotlight: Nature Cure is Focus of Student Club and New Clinical Services

A foundational principle of naturopathic medicine is to recognize and support the body's innate ability to heal itself. This philosophy is rooted in both the Hippocratic school of medicine, dating back to 400 B.C., as well as other indigenous healing traditions. Early naturopathic physicians in the 18th and 19th centuries relied heavily on nature cure therapies, which incorporate simple elements of nature to support the body's own healing capacity. These substances include air, water, mud, heat, steam, clay and herbs, applied in various ways.

Thankfully, these therapies have not been lost. Bastyr University offers many opportunities for students to learn about nature cure therapies, including classes on hydrotherapy and on European spa medicine, an active student club, and a new training shift at the University's teaching clinic specifically designed to educate students about nature cure therapies.

New Clinical Training Shift
This fall, Bastyr will begin offering a new training shift for naturopathic medicine students at its teaching clinic, Bastyr Center for Natural Health. During the Nature Cure shift, students will gain experience administering European-style nature cure treatments. Melinda Beck, ND, who supervises the shift, will teach students several techniques, including the use of baths, wraps, affusions, dry brushing, nebulizer treatments, and steam and dry sauna therapies. "Nature cure has been proven to be effective during hundreds of years of application," Dr. Beck says. A 2004 Bastyr graduate, Dr. Beck acquired extensive knowledge of these techniques during her postgraduate studies and travels in Europe.

A Modern Club with Traditional Roots
Bastyr students have long embraced nature cure therapies as a key part of their education. Organized by Bastyr students in the 1980s, the Nature Cure Club provides a venue for practicing nature-based treatments in an informal setting. The club hosts regular hydrotherapy labs where students give and receive constitutional hydrotherapy treatments (contrasting hot and cold water applications). The club also organizes outings to off-campus destinations, including visits to naturopathic physicians' offices where spa medicine is practiced, as well as an annual trip to Breitenbush Hot Springs in Oregon.

Jodi Vingelen, a fourth-year naturopathic medicine and naturopathic midwifery student and president of the club, considers the club's activities an essential part of her education. "I've found the labs really supplement my education. It has also been important for me to have a chance to experience hydrotherapy myself so I can understand its effects and improve my treatment skills."

Vingelen now serves as the club's president in order to play a role in preserving these therapies. "My hope is to keep these therapies alive. They've helped people and they work," she says.

Studying Ancient European Medicine Here and Abroad
Vingelen reflects on the therapies' declining use. "In medicine, we are always searching for new and better treatments. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes it seems we are trying to reinvent the wheel. However, what I'm learning is that there are these old nature cure practices that are tremendously effective, both now and historically."

Bastyr students in Russia
Students enjoy a mud bath in Russia.

She notes the therapies' broader acceptance in Europe. "I've been to thermal spas in Italy, Switzerland and France," she says. "They are an accepted part of health care in Europe, and they have improved the lives of many over there."

Bastyr students can also experience spa therapies in Europe by participating in an annual trip to Russia to tour medicinal spa facilities. This trip is sponsored by the University's Department of Physical Medicine.

For more information about Bastyr's naturopathic medicine program and curriculum, contact (425) 602-3330 or visit the admissions section of Bastyr's website.

Interviewed September 2009