It is well reputed that Florence Nightingale said of healing "Nature alone cures, we (doctors, nurses etc.) merely assist patients to be in the best possible state to cure themselves."

At age 19 years I began training to be a nurse, I was hugely struck by the above statement and I believe that it was formative and directive for me in how my way of working with people and myself evolved. Other than this idea I had no other knowledge or experience of the concept 'Nature Cure'. In fact it is only in very recent years that I came to hear of and learn about Nature Cure as a formal, well established and successful holistic healing discipline. But, I think, at some level of my being I have always somehow been directed by the principle of Nature Cure, 'Individual responsibility for health'.

For me my 'Nature Cure' story, albeit mostly subconscious, began very early in my life. I was born with a congenital and what for me was a very disfiguring eye condition called nystagmus (seen as constant roving, uncoordinated eye movements made worse with any kind of stress or fatigue). When I was just a few weeks old my parents were told I was most likely blind and there was no treatment and so for all intents and purposes I was treated as sightless. Those early years were traumatic, I was frequently seen at the eye hospital where my condition was apparently both quite unusual and interesting, I was peered at, talked about but never talked to. No wonder I was unhappy and confused, I knew I was not blind and surely it was plain that I could see, but my memory is that no one ever really asked me about my experience of my eyesight. My mother and I became a very distressed pair over my eyesight. I was hugely over-protected and I learned very early in my life that in order to be free and survive I needed to be self-reliant and even devious. Somehow I made the choice to be responsible for my wellbeing. I grew up being constantly told what I could not do because of my 'bad eyes' and to wear my glasses, which I knew made no difference to my seeing.

Suffice to say I grew up with a very poor sense of self and a very distorted body image because of my 'funny eyes'. I could not see the problem but judging by adult comments and being made fun of, the problem was clearly obvious to everyone I encountered.

So, I went underground, did my best to hide my problem, avoided eye contact and had many creative strategies to manage my life. I would rather have died than talk about my eyes and all the seeing problems I had. I wanted to do normal things and I very quickly learned that this would only happen if I kept my eyesight problem a secret. My eyes still looked peculiar but very few people actually (then and now) knew that my eyesight was poor.

However I know that sometimes our greatest challenge is also our greatest blessing. I grew into a highly sensitive and intuitive adult who has been able to bring that sensitivity into my work as a nurse, then teacher and now therapist. As I grew I understood the need for individuality, the need to be seen, heard and acknowledged, the need for a balance of nurturing, autonomy and independence in order to become a whole, fully functioning, responsible and well individual. I discovered the value of being self-directed, determined and motivated and eventually I experienced my growing and positive sense of self.

Why am I writing this for the Nature Cure Files? I am not a Nature Cure practitioner in the ISRN sense; I am not even a very good example of the Nature Cure life. Yet I am, in my own way, a nature cure practitioner because I know that it is the nature of the human being to be self-curing.

I have been in practice as a Natural Vision teacher now for many years and over that time the nature of my work has evolved. I have always known that I do not work with conditions; I work with people to support and enable them to become self-directed and responsible for themselves, that is, their health and well-being primarily. Nowadays when asked what I do I would probably reply 'whatever the person coming to me needs at the time in the context of their eyesight issue'.

The vast majority of my clients come to me as a 'Bates Teacher', seeking help to improve, maintain or save their eyesight, for the most part knowing very little about the method and usually even less about its 'whole being' implications (I have often thought this work should actually come with its own health warning because for most people changing/improving their eyesight changes the way they see themselves, their life and even the world). In many cases (especially short sight (myopia)) the vision only improves as the person learns to 'be' in the world in a softer, easier and more relaxed way. So clearly this will have a ripple effect in his/her life.

As I became more familiar with and more experience in Natural Vision methods I very quickly realised that simply working with people to improve their eyesight in isolation had for the most part very limited results and that for most individuals their condition of eyesight is usually only symptomatic of a much bigger and more complex picture.

As I grew I understood the need for individuality, the need to be seen, heard and acknowledged, the need for a balance of nurturing, autonomy and independence in order to become a whole, fully functioning, responsible and well individual. I discovered the value of being self-directed, determined and motivated and eventually I experienced my growing and positive sense of self.

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