Natural Hygiene

Natural Hygiene is a branch of alternative medicine that claims to provide "all the life requirements brought to bear upon the living organism in due proportion and according to need" of human beings for preservation and restoration of health (see Shelton 1968 Chapter X). It claims that the human body is a self-maintaining and self-healing system who's natural lifespan is between 120 to 150 years old.

History of Natural Hygiene

While Natural Hygiene is promoted as a new discovery, it in fact has roots in a number of alternative therapies that go back to the early nineteenth century. Dr. John H. Scheel, a German-born homeopath, coined the word naturopathy in 1895 for a system of dietary restrictions and herbal nostrums that conspicuously included fasting as a treatment, all founded on a sort of vitalism that was in vogue at the time, and was promoted as a philosophy by Henri Bergson, among others. Scheel's "naturopathy" itself stemmed back to the thought of the Rev. Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian clergyman and inventor of the Graham cracker, who believed that diet and morality were related and who taught that vegetarianism helped keep the libido in check. Some such as James Redfield and Mahatma Gandhi even claimed a pure diet is a key step on the path to spiritual awareness and enlightenment.

Related Topics:
Nineteenth century - John H. Scheel - German - Homeopath - Naturopathy - 1895 - Herb - Nostrum - Vitalism - Philosophy - Henri Bergson - Sylvester Graham - Presbyterian - Clergy - Graham cracker - Morality - Vegetarianism - Libido - James Redfield - Mahatma Gandhi - Enlightenment

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