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Who Was Hippocrates?
Hippocrates was a Greek physician who lived in Ancient Greece (c. 460 – c. 370 BC). He is thought of as the founding father of modern medicine, having established it as a distinct practice from the more spiritual practices of the time. Indeed, Hippocrates’ medical assumptions and beliefs still form the foundation of the Hippocratic Oath that new medical practitioners swear to upon completion of their training.
Why is Hippocrates Relevant to My Healing Journey?
I think there is great benefit looking back at the old masters, when the field of medicine didn’t exist and spirituality and science were mixed in equal measure. Healing is a force that has always been present in human culture and I wonder whether its nuances may have been easier to see in ancient times, when life and medicine were much less complicated and the body and mind were not considered distinct entities.
I have been having a wander through some of Hippocrates’ writings and have fallen into deep inspiration… I’m having an inspiration bath today! I’m grabbing my rubber duck, my favourite soap and a good book for this one because I think I may be here a while!!
So, without further ado, I’m diving into Hippocrates’ observations and teachings to light my way on my journey…
Hippocrates on the Healing Force:
As I have read more and more on cases of spontaneous remissions (which, to be honest, are never spontaneous… They take months or years of hard work by the person involved… It’s just in the doctors’ eyes that the person was ill one day and well the next!), I have come to realise that our intuition is always available to us and is continuously trying to steer us towards better health. We just need to lean in closely and learn how to listen to it.
So I make it a priority to keep asking myself the question… ‘What are my mind, body and soul really asking for today?’.
Hippocrates on Nature:
I think, when Hippocrates talks about nature here, he is referring to it in ways that, today, we would understand as two distinct components. Firstly, there is the nature around us in the world. Trees, plants, forests, lakes, rivers, the sea, deserts, mountains. Being in nature restores me in a way that the modern world of cities and urban landscapes just doesn’t. I am therefore taking the reminder from Hippocrates to access it more. I need to find ways to make it a more consistent part of my life, even in the hot, arid climate I now live in.
Secondly, I think Hippocrates could also be referring to nature as the internal body system we have, made up of cells and organs and tissues. My own body can heal me better than any medicine, if I just let it. And, each time I am living in excess in any part of my life – diet, exercise, laziness, stress, work, too much sleep – I am contravening this natural force. A striving for moderation is key (without, well, striving because that would to excess too!). Balance is healing.
Hippocrates on the Origins of Illness:
Now this quote really peeked my interest. When my daughter was a year and a half old, her blood sugars started oscillating quite violently. A diabetologist confirmed my worst fears – she was in the latter stages of developing Type 1 Diabetes. He suggested, as a last resort, that we could try giving her a range of vitamins and probiotics to support her gut health since research was starting to suggest that Type 1 Diabetes may in fact be a gut disorder. Roll forward six years, my daughter still takes her supplements each day and is still a non-diabetic.
Hippocrates’ observation that illness results from ‘small daily sins against Nature’ resonates with how I have come to understand my T1D (see my post on allostatic load for a deeper explanation). It’s great to have my thoughts supported by someone in a different country, in a different time. I feel like we’re both somehow tapping into the universal healing that has always existed across time.
Hippocrates on the Patient's Contribution to Their Illness
Okay, so now I’m heading into choppier waters. This section is looking at how the patient may have contributed to their illness. I want to make clear at this point that I am in no way blaming myself, or any other Type 1 Diabetic, for creating their own illness. I don’t think any one of us, having any choice in this disease, would have chosen to have this. This is not about objective choice. But I am starting to come around to the idea that maybe, somehow, my body developed the diabetes in me as a way to process the ‘small daily sins against Nature’ that Hippocrates refers to. And I do believe that these ‘daily sins’ are not necessarily just physical in nature, not just what we eat and drink or how much we exercise or rest or sleep. I think they also fall into the mental, emotional and spiritual fields – the ‘thoughts’ that Hippocrates refers to in the second quotation here. So, again, Hippocrates is supporting those small whispers of intuition I have that say that who I am, how I turn up in the world, and how I respond emotionally and mentally and spiritually, are also important in this healing journey. Healing involves all aspects on myself, not just a selected few.
The two latter quotes of this section don’t sit so easily for me. I guess I need to ask myself the question… How much exactly do I have to give up?? I suspect that there may be a lot of unlearning to do before true healing is obtained. Through my years of healing so far, though, I have learned that you are never presented with more than you can contend with at each stage of healing. You are asked to stretch but not to the point of breaking. It isn’t easy, it isn’t pretty but eventually you get there. Like, right now, I feel that I am being asked to give up sugar. Like, totally. It feels like an impossible stretch. But three years ago, the idea of meditating every day was too much of a stretch. One year ago, forgiving anyone for anything was just too hard. Slowly but surely, the process unfolds and I find that I unfold with it.
Hippocrates on Tools for Healing:
I think that Hippocrates seems to offer a fair number of insights for me to pursue on my journey from here. Of course, as I have just mentioned above, I feel that food is important on a healing journey and the next step of mine is asking me to be sugar-free. I am not ready for that yet but I suspect that my future will possibly contain that truth. I am reminded about how it is often cited that our bodies are made up of the food we eat so do we want our bodies to be made of french fries or healthy proteins, fat and carbohydrates? Of course, when put like that, it’s a no-brainer. But maybe this is where the second quote here comes in… I need to apply the warmth, sympathy and understanding to myself with this current struggle of mine. Removing the judgement around my current struggles with what I eat are more likely to lead to a better outcome than continually beating myself up for what I put in my mouth. Perhaps it is that hostility towards my perceived flawed nutrition that requires the healing, rather than the nutrition itself. I suspect better nutrition would naturally result if it wasn’t dragged through such hostility on a daily basis!
Okay, so maybe there is new ground for me to cover here… The spine and astrology! I know that Dr Joe Dispenza, as well as being a respected healer, is a trained chiropractor. Whilst I don’t necessarily want to do all that training, I wonder if an adventure into the world of chiropractics might yield insights for me. Similarly, I know very little about astrology and I’m not quite sure how it may be useful to me but, until I investigate, I won’t know more!
Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.
