Healthy Lifestyle: Where It All Began...

Health by Nature

It turns out that the trend for a healthy lifestyle was born not yesterday. A hundred years ago, there were people in Europe who practiced hardening and fitness, phytotherapy, and detox.

In recent decades, more and more people have started to actively engage in sports, buy organic products, and develop ecological awareness. However, many of these current trends have roots in history.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the world was already experiencing a wave of interest in natural methods of healing and the healing power of movement. This movement began in Germany and received the resonant name "Life Reform" - Lebensreform. Although the ideas of "a healthy mind in a healthy body" and natural healing were known since antiquity, it was the industrial revolution that brought the issue of a healthy lifestyle to the forefront.

The explosive development of industry tore masses of workers and clerks away from the familiar rural way of life, closely tied to natural cycles, and forced them to rush into cities, where the lives of the impoverished population flowed in overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. Therefore, the development of naturopathic practices from the very beginning went hand in hand with ideas of ecology and humanism. The history of naturopathy is largely the history of talented individuals, fearless visionaries. Typically, around each of them, a school formed that developed their ideas. Almost all of them went through painful personal crises and illnesses to be reborn with new strength.

Sebastian Kneipp: HEALING WITH WATER

A talented and not wealthy young man from a Swabian village wanted to become a priest since childhood, but due to diligent studies, he fell ill with tuberculosis, which was a common occurrence in the mid-19th century. His strength of spirit and faith helped him heal by bathing in the cold autumn Danube. From that moment on, he became passionately interested in water procedures, meticulously developing methods of rubbing, dousing, compresses, and experimenting with medicinal herbs. After 35 years, his modest home bath transformed into a hydrotherapy institute with pools, baths, water paths, and a staff of physiotherapists. Kneipp became a prominent promoter of hydrotherapy and a healthy lifestyle, publishing numerous books, one of which has the telling title "How to Live Right." It can be said that Kneipp largely created modern balneotherapy, and his legacy was developed by numerous followers.

ADOLF JUST: THE GREAT POWER OF CLAY

Kneipp's water healing did not help the young bookseller Adolf Just, who suffered from a nervous disorder. He then began to search for his own methods of strengthening health. Gradually, on the path to recovery, he developed his own philosophy, which he called "Back to Nature!" Just discovered the benefits of natural detoxification using natural mineral absorbents, the best of which he considered sedimentary rock - loess. The method proved suitable for a wide range of problems. At the Jungborn health center, clay baths, local and full wraps, and masks were successfully used. Just was the first to study the cosmetic potential of loess, and detox procedures became an integral part of any health programs.

RUDOLF STEINER: MYSTERIES OF NATURAL RHYTHMS

If Kneipp and Just were purely earthly practitioners, then Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy, can be considered their opposite. He was interested in spiritual worlds and high philosophy. Perceiving the world as a single harmonious organism or musical instrument, he explored the influence of rhythmic movements of the body on the inner development of personality, and the change of lunar phases on plant growth. In his lectures in 1924, he laid the foundations of the first ecological farming system - biodynamics. Natural fertilizers and natural plant protection methods, alternating different crops on one plot, taking into account the cycles of solar and lunar activity - all these ideas of Steiner were united in the Demeter Ecostandard, which is one of the oldest and most authentic systems of natural control and allows the production of products with particularly high biological activity.

WALTER RAU: HARMONY OF PHYTOTHERAPY

A follower of Steiner was Walter Rau, heir to an ancient soap-making dynasty from Stuttgart. Carefully studying healing plants, he paid attention to the well-known fragrant herb - valerian, which in Alpine villages was called "Spik." Unlike medicinal valerian, it acted in two ways - relaxing the body and toning the mind. Soap with an extract of this strange plant became a bestseller for Walter Rau's company, and spik became his talisman. It turned out that it is possible to combine the high and the low - strengthening the spirit and daily hygiene procedures. This idea strangely resonates with the holistic concepts of Eastern medicine and the modern spa wellness sphere, which began to develop rapidly when the growth of technology and the increasing pace of life led to the spread of stress and chronic fatigue symptoms.

OTTO GREITER: HEALTHY DIGESTION - THE KEY TO WELL-BEING

The history of the "Salus" company also began with the illness of its founder - young doctor Otto Greiter. In search of healing for his weak stomach, he began to gather knowledge about healing herbs and minerals, developing special physical exercises to train the abdominal muscles. Thus avoiding serious surgery, Greiter decided to establish the production of herbal teas and elixirs so that his holistic health concept would be accessible to everyone. Soon he began to collaborate with the cooperative network ReformHaus, founded by pioneers of the Lebensreform movement. In the formula of liquid iron, the tonic Floradix Liquid Iron Formula is virtuously composed of digestive herbs, vitamins, and easily digestible iron salt.

WALTER SCHONENBERGER: FRESH JUICES - CONCENTRATES OF LIFE

Young pharmacist Walter Schonenberger became interested in plant juices even during his studies. He was convinced that a plant can fully reveal its healing effect only in fresh form and when using all its parts. Walter sought a way to preserve juice preparations without preservatives while retaining the maximum of bioactive substances. In 1927, a fresh juice factory was opened near Stuttgart, the first products of which were juices of nettle, lettuce, and hawthorn. Today, the "Schonenberger" brand is part of the "Salus-Haus" group - thus two old naturopathic enterprises united. Based on fresh juices, not only food products are produced, but also preparations for internal use, and numerous cosmetic products. Today, the ideas of Lebensreform have received a new impulse in Germany and other European countries. Ecological practices have become commonplace, and Reform-Haus stores operate in hundreds of German cities.

Since then, much has changed, and fortunately, we live in a time when specialists have learned to derive maximum health benefits for the body from everything. A vivid example of high-quality, completely natural German cosmetics is the company D.Belter.

The company offers quality professional products, the active components of which are plant complexes and marine extracts identical to skin substances. The cosmetic products of Dr. Belter are clearly formulated into eleven special lines, each designed for optimal care for a specific skin type, as well as for the care of skin of a certain age group.

I invite you to a consultation to select a series of cosmetics for your skin type and your wishes!

To make an appointment, call +380677802213

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