Philosophy

Philosophy

In Michael’s own words, he shares his philosophy…Rocky Road to Health

Rocky Road to Health

“I am passionate about health. The reason for this is because I have been confronted with health challenges all my life.

I was a sickly baby from birth. As a baby I was repeatedly afflicted with ear, nose, throat and digestive problems.

My parents were not very health smart, and at an early age I was given all sorts of vaccinations, which made my health problems much worse.

I was tested for allergies and was allergic to 95% of what I was tested for. I was on Penicillin continuously, due to endless infections.

I eventually became allergic to it. I developed bronchitis, severe hay fever / allergies and finally asthma.

By 6 years old I was on prescribed Cortisone regularly,  and was given an inhaler, as well as an array of antibiotics.

The health problems continued throughout my school career.

My dad was convinced me that I was over reacting, and so, after high school I studied psychology at Wits University in Johannesburg. I was hoping to uncover the mental and emotional causes of  my health difficulties.

I developed a great love for working with the mind and emotions, while studying psychology, but found no relief from my health problems.

My health was poor and I no longer trusted doctors who were using me as a guinea pig. Consequently, I decided to qualify in Naturopathy, Homeopathy and Herbalism.

I also became a vegan for 22 years and stopped eating grains and dairy products.

This stopped my asthma and reduced the allergic reactions. I began to suffer from a host of auto-immune conditions instead.

Here is a list of over 40 health problems that struck over the following years:

  • Addisons Disease resulting in adrenal burnout / minimal function.
  • Ankylosing Spondylitis
  • Asthma
  • Bruxism/ TMJ syndrome
  • Candida and Parasites
  • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
  • Celiac Disease
  • Coxsakie and Epstein Barr Virus
  • Crohns Disease
  • Chronic Backache
  • Chronic Ear Infections
  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  • Chronic Hayfever and Allergies
  • Chronic Inflammation
  • Chronic Systemic Acidity
  • Cytomegalo Virus
  • Easy Bruising
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Frequent Chronic Infections. e.g. Bronchitis, Boils and Abscesses. Sinus.
  • Hearing Loss
  • Heartburn
  • Hepatitis and other Liver problems
  • Hypoglycemia. Metabolic Syndrome. Insulin Resistance.
  • Hypothyroidism
  • Indigestion
  • Kidney Stones (from eating lots of soya beans). Low Blood Pressure.
  • Meniers Disease
  • Pneumonia
  • Polymyalgia Rheumatic Disease
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • Scleroderma
  • Shingles
  • Thrombosis
  • Vasculitis
  • Peripheral circulatory problems (chronic)
  • Charcots Blue
  • Very slow wound, joint, tendon or ligament healing.

I know what it is like to be sick.

I have taken allopathic drugs in the past, to fight the above mentioned illnesses, and suffered from the side effects of the medication, in addition to the ailments I already had.

These health problems were my best teachers. They taught me that we cannot use drugs to poison illness out of the body.

All you end up with are extra problems dragging your body down, with the side effects of suppressive chemicals.

I learnt that no matter what medical science tells you, you cannot get off the hook with synthetic chemicals (pop some pharmaceutical pills and your problems are over, is simply not true).

I have most of these ailments under control now using natural healing methods, of one kind or another.

Natural treatments usually have positive side benefits rather than the negative side effects produced by other drugs. It is all about detoxifying and rebuilding the body.

I used Eltroxan for years, because I was told that it had no side effects and that my thyroid was unable to function without it.

Both untrue.

Side effects eventually kicked in and I weaned myself off Eltroxan and Tertroxan.

That was a most unpleasant time, with traumatic withdrawals.

During the years between my 20’s and 60’s, I worked as a Naturopath and studied a lot of other natural healing modalities.

I think of them as tools.

The autoimmune problems began kicking in during my 30’s to 50’s.

I had asthma for over 20 years, by the age of 30; but as you can see lots of other illnesses put in an appearance during my 30’s.

Partly this was caused by my diet, and the rest was due to genetic defects and everyday stressors.

As a vegan I was perpetually hungry. I ate large amounts of soya products which directly caused several of the autoimmune diseases to appear.

I was a sugar addict. I ate vast quantities of fruit – which meant more and more sugar.

I also began eating whole grains like whole wheat, rye, oats, millet and rice. Grains are pro-inflammatory and I resisted giving them up until I learnt EFT/tapping.

Sadly I did myself damage for another 20 years. I had moved to the Garden Route at that time.

Lifestyle Changes

By the year 2000, I had about over 30,000 patients on file. I phoned them occasionally to check up on how they were doing.

After questioning them, I found out that about three quarters of my clients hoped that I would heal them by laying my hands on their sick bodies, and / or that the supplements, herbs or homeopathic remedies would make their ailments vanish after a few doses.

We get ideas like that from the reductionistic, allopathic medical approach that promotes popping a pill for every ill, be it physical, mental or emotional.

For these reasons, many of them had only provided strategies I implemented for a short while, before falling back in to past patterns.

Managing chronic ailments myself, I, like so many people, I tried every trick in the book to avoid giving up or drastically reducing certain of my favourite addictive foods.

As we age and genetic tendencies try to kick in, we need to change our diets and how we live, to a more holistic, balanced lifestyle which involves an ongoing process of change, growth and cultivating health and wellbeing.

The key principle that the medical field wants you to ignore is, that you need to take personal responsibility for your health .

You are in charge.

Follow Through Coaching

You can use the services of those you deem to be experts to assist you, just as you do if you get an expert to advise you on aspects of running your own business.

You do not give up and let them take over and we are not motor cars that are repaired by simply putting in new parts (another medical myth).

I have interviewed so many people who have had replacement operations that only work for a while and then have to be repeated.

I believe that an illness, e.g. cancer, can be worsened by destructive negative emotions and that the disease itself can cause or result in dark negative emotions.

Body, mind, emotions and soul all need to be in harmony for health and happiness to blossom. They are one unit and each aspect of our make-up impacts on the other.

Health Coaching

I bought my first coaching books by Fiona Harrold and Eileen Mulligan, and was inspired by them.

I continue to study coaching to this day.

I realised that what people need is continued support and assistance to stick to their goals.

It is the best system to help make and maintain changes in life, and to stay motivated long term.

EFT/Tapping

My own health was deteriorating.

That is a classic flaw amongst dedicated health professionals.

We pay all our attention, time and energy to other people and tend to neglect ourselves.

I had stopped being a vegetarian for many reasons, and was moving into the Palaeolithic / Primal lifestyle direction, but I had hit a major block.

I was addicted to whole grains, sugar and soya products.

In 2003 I bought the “No Grain Diet” book by Dr. Mercola and in it I read about the Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT.

For me it was the missing puzzle piece.

I got all of Gary Craig’s DVDs and book and studied EFT with my usual enthusiasm.

I used EFT on everything and loved it from that day to this.

Using EFT can bring many psychology techniques to life, and a whole new field called Energy Psychology has come into being .

I also use other Energy Psychology techniques like TAT, NLP, TAB, CBT, EMDR and WHEE along with Tapping to clear inner blocks that stand in the way of desired goals or outcomes.

Using EFT I broke my sugar addiction and a few years later I stopped all grains.

The Laws of Nature

EFT and Coaching became my main tools as a Naturopath. I used it on all my patients.

EFT helped me to beat all kinds of sabotaging negative beliefs and blocks on mental and emotional levels.

It allows you to move on with your life in the direction that you want to go. Coaching drives and steers you in that direction.

So tapping helped me to quit sugar and grains, heal emotional wounds and experience great happiness.

As time went by, I saw how emotional issues and negativity either create, drive or lock us into diseases.

The idea of being a doctor who attempts to cure or heal disease is counter-productive and adds to our problems.

The medical approach to treating disease is to try to cut (surgery), poison (chemicals) or burn (radiation/laser) the disease out of the body.

This does not work out well long term.

Medical treatment is needed when trauma, injury or massive infection threatens our lives, but should be treated conservatively.

Natural healing modalities should be both our first and last resorts. Nature heals, unless you are faced with a medical emergency.

To trust in Nature as a cure i.e. your body’s inherent healing ability, involves re-education, support, trust and motivation to cooperate with Mother Nature.

In order to heal successfully, nature asks us to cleanse, nourish, rebalance and rebuild ourselves on all levels.

Then the health and healing that is inherent in all of us can take place. This happens automatically, unless we block or distrust the process.

Using EFT/Tapping we can break us free from conditioning and negative beliefs, that we have acquired during our lives; as well as  help us live in harmony with nature and with ourselves.”