What Does A Doctor Mean To You?
On our modern medical system's disempowering nature, and where to go from here
Hello divine being,
As always when I write about sensitive topics like this I must begin with a disclaimer. So here you go:
[short disclaimer: please understand that I am coming at this from the perspective of holistic health. Holistic meaning approaching medical care by looking at the whole human (body, mind, and spirit). If you are suffering from a disease or condition that requires extensive care and medical treatments, please continue to see your regular health care provider. I am speaking from the standpoint of Ayurveda which may be a very different way of thinking for some. I am not encouraging you to drop your doctor, but rather to examine your life, mind, and habits to understand that the root of all disease is much deeper than we think. I am also not encouraging anyone to stop taking their medication. For any medical emergency, seek professional care and support. This is a reflection of our broken medical system, but for some people this system is very beneficial. Take what you want and leave the rest. I am not a medicinal professional…yet ;) ]
Alright, now that that’s out of the way let’s get started.
Have you ever thought about what your doctor is truly doing for your health? When you visit your health care professional, how does it feel to be seen by them? Do you feel like they are truly seeing you, or just seeing your symptoms and maladies? I’ve spent the past 5 years of my life feeling like every doctor I saw wasn’t giving me the attention and care that I needed. My relationship and feelings towards doctors runs deep into my childhood. My most traumatizing moments were spent in a doctor’s office, mainly because of my fear of needles, but looking back now I can see how my subtle body (aka feeling body) did not feel safe inside the sterile doctor’s office rooms no matter how many TVs or Mickey Mouse pictures were on the walls to distract me as a child. I still remember one day when I was sick with strep throat as a child my parents took me to the doctor, and one of his remedies (in addition to some medicine or antibiotic) was to drink iced cranberry juice. As a child who loved ice and fruit, this was a remedy I could get behind. I remember feeling excited about hearing a doctor say that I needed to drink iced cranberry juice, and also deep in my being I was the slightest bit confused as to how that was going to help me.
Looking back on that encounter today and I am honestly appalled that this was something he told me to do, even as a kid. Anything iced and cold is going to cause even more congestion and will stress the throat even more. This is a very mild example of the harm doctors are unknowingly creating in their patients because of the holes and compartmentalization in the approach to Western medicine. Don’t get me wrong — modern medicine has its place and has saved millions of lives. I am not stating it is worthless, it is very valuable in society. However, when a doctor is diagnosing a patient with depression and immediately prescribes drugs for depression instead of asking their patient if they’re happy with their job, spouse, or if they simply see the sun everyday first is an approach to medicine that’s turned into a full on crisis. No one just simply becomes depressed, there is always a cause for the depression and its essential to get to the cause, empower the patient to understand how they can begin to move away from depression, and teach them ways of being that promote happiness and harmony. To just prescribe pills for depression, anxiety, ADHD, and many more physical and mental ailments is a crime. It is a crime against the human body, mind, and spirit that has a natural intelligence and inclination to heal. All beings want to be happy and healthy, this is something we all know and have a natural drive towards. Some of us are just confused on how we can get there, and most doctors are not promoting lifestyle and diet changes that will help us get there.
When I was in my early 20s and still regularly visiting my doctor, I started to become frustrated by the lack of depth in the questions she asked me. Every year it would be the same and I never felt like she truly listened to me. This became especially clear when I came back from Nepal last year, intuitively feeling and knowing that I had parasites, and going to her she didn’t truly hear me or respect my body’s knowing. She was focusing on my symptoms and said there’s no way we can confirm anything until we do a stool test. I took a stool test that came back clear, so from her perspective I was parasite free and there was nothing else she did or followed up with me about after that test. From that point on I saw the flaws in modern medicine and was ready to leave everything behind. Thankfully, I have an incredible holistic chiropractor who did indeed confirm that I had two different species of parasites living in me at the time, and prescribed the herbs that I knew I needed before even seeing her (for more on this, read You Are Your Own Doctor, a piece I wrote in May ‘24 explaining this time).
Even when I was in Nepal and struggling with my health, I went to see two doctors: A Tibetan Medicine doctor and an Ayurvedic doctor. I saw the Tibetan Medicine doctor first, and although it was beautifully expansive to be prescribed mixed herbs and flowers, to hear about the condition of my organs based on my pulse, and to be told to cook at home to help my stomach…I still wanted more. I craved to be asked more questions about my lifestyle. I felt the need to be truly heard and given tools to help me in my day to day life to restore and rejuvenate my body. So, when my friend told me that this Ayurvedic doctor was one of the best, I had high hopes. After several weeks when we went to see the Ayurvedic doctor, disappointment hit me once again. He simply took my pulse and listened to my lungs, told me that my uterus is disproportional to the rest of my body, and sent me off with a 6 month supply of herbs for my lungs to help me breathe better. Again, no questions asked about what I do on a day to day basis that could’ve helped heal me. I left this appointment feeling discouraged and frustrated, doubtful that any doctor in any tradition will ever give me the depth I want out of a doctor-patient relationship. My chiropractor however, gave me practical tips for my parasites and told me what to eat in order to cleanse the parasites from my body even faster. My relationship with her is the best I’ve had, I ask her about my posture and why my body is hurting in certain places and she tells me why. I ask her what I can do to help prevent such wear and tear on my body from happening in the future. This relationship was the beginning of my spark and hope for greater attentive care in medicine.
Little did I know during the times of great discouragement and frustration that these very feelings would be my fuel to become the doctor I’ve always wished for. When I signed up for my Ayurvedic Health Counselor training, I didn’t think too much about it. It was a big decision and commitment, but it was the easiest and most effortless yes I’ve ever made in life. It felt right and my heart felt the calling to learn how to reverse disease so that people who are told “you’re going to live with this forever” don’t have to suffer that reality.
How many doctors these days are sharing those exact words with their patients? “Oh, you have IBS, this is going to be a life-long condition.” “You have arthritis, it’s going to get worse as you age and will be a life-long condition.”. Our modern medical system is failing us greatly by telling someone they’re going to have to live with something for the rest of their lives. Our modern doctors are creating and perpetuating fear, hopelessness, and permanence in society, all of which are simply not true. No one should have to live in a state of hopelessness with their condition, in fact, hopelessness will continue to strengthen the dis-ease and cause further deterioration of the body. There is always a solution.
Doctors in modern medicine today focus on isolated symptoms and don’t take the time to zoom out to see the full picture. If your doctor is saying you’re healthy as long as you don’t have any dis-ease that is manifest, but you have gas, indigestion, bloating, acne, or constipation; you are not truly healthy and your doctor does not understand what the principle of health actually means. If your doctor is simply prescribing you pills and not giving you any tangible ways to change and heal your body, they are closer to a drug dealer than a true doctor. If you are getting diagnosed with depression or anxiety and are just given drugs instead of tools to help heal you, your doctor does not understand how these diseases manifest and how easily they can be reversed without pills. If your doctor is emanating any sort of speech that makes you think how you are right now is how you are always going to be, they are disconnected from the truth of this world. If your doctor isn’t asking you about your diet, lifestyle, sleep, and how you manage your sexual energy; they are simply not a doctor. What was once speculation in my mind has now been confirmed through this wisdom of Ayurveda and I finally feel like I can share these words with conviction.
A doctor is someone who respects you, listens to you, and embodies true health. A doctor is someone who has walked the path of imbalance and dis-ease themselves and understands how to bring the body to a balanced state. A doctor is someone who understands impermanence, and with this understanding they know with clear conviction you will heal in time. No disease is too far gone if a patient is ready to change their ways. A doctor is someone who respects the body’s natural desire to heal, knowing the body will heal itself with proper mindset and support. A doctor is someone who sees the light in every patient they touch, and understands it is the doctor’s responsibility to guide the patient to recognizing and embracing their own light. A doctor is someone who does not look at the symptoms, but rather looks at the root cause. A doctor doesn’t neglect a patient’s lifestyle and day-to-day activities, but rather looks into the depths of it to understand what is causing the dis-ease and imbalance. A doctor is a good listener, they take time to hear the patient and understand their concerns. A doctor is someone who uses prescribed drugs and invasive surgeries as a last resort. A true doctor knows that if the patient is willing to change and heal themselves from the inside out, drugs and surgery are not necessary. A doctor knows cause and effect intimately, and uses the principle to see what the cause of the effect (i.e. dis-ease) may be.
A true doctor is a holistic healer by nature, they are one and the same. As I walk this path of Ayurveda, I’ve made many vows to myself to be an authentic practitioner and guide when I can start to see clients. To be a healer is to know oneself and heal oneself first. This journey has been the hardest and most illuminating journey of my life, bringing me closer to my true self and to levels of health I didn’t know were possible. Studying a medical system that is 5,000 years old, unchanging, and based on the principles of Nature allows me to understand so much more about where dis-eases and imbalances actually come from, and how to work with them to undo their damaging effects.
Deep inside our hearts we all know we are meant to feel well and be happy. No matter how disease ridden or clouded by negative emotions a person may be, there is always this place in our hearts that exists. This is the place of sattva. Sattva means harmony, balance, and light, it is one of the three causal factors in life and it is the one that every human wants to move towards (whether we are doing that in a way that will actually bring us closer to it or not). Understanding sattva, how to get there, and our natural inclination towards it is the perspective that will heal humanity. This is the perspective that doctors and healers should see their clients from. This is the perspective of gold because it is what will restore balance in an individual and allow them to live pain-free, happier, healthier lives. This perspective inspires belief, hope, and faith in patients and practitioners.
Just like weeds in a garden, we need to get to the root of disease in order to remove the disease completely. If we just take care of the symptoms, they’ll continue to grow back again and again. Our bodies are so sensitive and delicate, but our bodies are also incredibly intelligent. By simply getting out of the way, we’re able to make space for disease to be healed and harmony to be restored.
If you’re living with a condition or disease someone told you is going to be “life-long”, don’t listen to them. It may always be a presence in your life, but with the right lifestyle and diet adjustments you can live in better harmony with whatever you’re facing to the point that you may not even notice its there anymore. Yes, many people have fully healed their cancer, arthritis, IBS, endometriosis, and much more through the wisdom of Ayurveda. Anything is possible and everything is impermanent. There is no such thing as a permanent disease. If you remove the root, you take all the symptoms away with it. If you remove the symptoms, you’re placing a band-aid over a patch of weeds…soon enough they’ll grow right back. Find a healthcare provider who listens to you, and who works with you to get to the root cause of what you’re facing. Find someone who teaches you about yourself and gives you tools for your healing and evolution. All these qualities and more are what it truly means to be a doctor. I hope to serve humanity in this way and help reverse disease when my program finishes, but for now I can only offer simple lifestyle and diet advice…but these simple tools are often all it takes for an individual to come into harmony.
As always, thank you for being here. This topic is one of deep emotional value for me, being a doctor isn’t about making money it is about serving humanity and restoring balance to this planet. We are a disease ridden planet right now, and it’s our job to restore harmony to the Earth and to ourselves. The beauty of this process is that when we begin to do one, the other one happens automatically. Don’t forget to plant some seeds today :)
Much gratitude,
Emilie
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💕💕🙏 speaks to me. I wrote an article similar to this in my own way and have held back from publishing it.. you have given me courage. We need to speak up to a broken system.