Rediscovering the Miracle of Vitalism for the 21st Century

Vitalism emerged from ancient concepts present in Greek, Chinese, and Indian/Ayurvedic medicine, positing that an intelligent life force—or vital energy—governs all living beings. In ancient Greece, Hippocrates (“the father of medicine”) called this energy “pneuma” or “spirit,” identifying it as the driving power behind health and healing. Far more than mere energy, this force also provides the intelligence that orchestrates our development from a single cell into the complex organisms we become, guiding every aspect of cellular formation, maintaining homeostatic balance, and regulating both degeneration and regeneration.

This understanding remained central to healthcare for centuries, with thinkers like Paracelsus of the 1500’s and then later with the founders of the nature-cure methods such as naturopathy, natural hygiene, osteopathy, homeopathy, and chiropractic—each of which were founded upon the principal role of this innate energy and intelligence to restore health when properly supported.

However, with the rise of reductionist science and the monopolization of healthcare and education by the Rockefeller Foundation in the 20th century, Vitalism was replaced by a mechanistic model and symptom-focused approach. As a result, we collectively and individually, and virtually all natural medicine schools today, have lost their foundational principles, leaving patients and practitioners with no clear understanding of natural laws.

Natural Law is Common Sense

Despite what anyone may have been conditioned and indoctrinated to think or believe, all living things continue to operate on the same observable, demonstrable vitalistic principles since the beginning of time.

Consider the natural process of a houseplant degenerating as it is mistreated and neglected—its vitality drops, and it exhibits symptoms of decline as it wilts and degenerates. Doctors, seeing the unhealthy state of the plant, might diagnosis it with various “diseases” presuming something is wrong with the plant itself. But there is nothing wrong with the plant, there are stressful conditions which have led to its organized and intelligent progressive degeneration. It wilts and drops leaves to conserve its remaining vitality and ration its water use- it is intelligent action (specific biological programs) by the plant to try to stay alive.

When we correct its circumstances, give it some TLC, and support its life force, its vitality returns and the same vital intelligence regrows its leaves and restores its proper homeostatic state—it thrives once again. The “disease” process is fundamentally misunderstood obscuring the fact that it is an intelligent action and so is the healing. It follows natural law. That is Vitalism in its simplest expression.

This profoundly simple truth has been overshadowed by decades of miseducation, causing most healthcare practitioners —both allopathic and alternative—and their patients to lose sight of its significance.

As a result, the focus is on symptoms and their management rather than contemplating the deeper causes and mechanisms of vitality. In this vacuum, Western and alternative medicine alike have embraced a flawed view— that there is something wrong with the plant itself- something wrong with you. Befuddled by their own superficial thinking they attribute the majority of chronic conditions to their revolving theories of genetic mutations (“it’s all in your genes!”), aging , “virus” or idiopathic (unknown) causes.

Yet consider that houseplant again: is it really a genetic defect or of unknown cause? Obviously not. It suffers from imbalances in its environment that are depleting its vitality—a clear illustration that, without acknowledging the laws of nature, we are projected down a false line of reasoning culminating in our present tragic world of widespread untreatable, incurable degenerative diseases. Its time to upgrade your thinking.

To achieve genuine wellness, we must reclaim and re-incorporate this understanding of the intelligent life force into practices. Without doing so, we remain trapped in a flawed philosophy that treats symptoms in isolation, lacking a coherent framework for understanding—and truly resolving—devitalization.

Physical/Environmental Factors and

the 12 Hallmarks of Disease

Just think about it: when the environment of any living thing—whether it’s soil, food, water, light, or temperature—is hostile, that organism devitalizes or degenerates. It is common sense. Vitalists have been utilizing environmental correction (lifestyle modification) combined with TLC (tender loving care) therapies successfully for centuries, and it works just the same for a person as it does for a plant or our pets.

Lacking a deeper understanding and a sound philosophy for the true cause of disease, and faced with the growing number of people suffering—including an alarming increase in chronic conditions among children—Western medicine has struggled to address chronic disease effectively. In response to this abject failure, a more recent framework has emerged, known as the 12 Hallmarks of Aging and Disease. This valuable research catalogs 12 significant areas of degeneration commonly observed across most diseases, offering a vastly improved but still fragmented view of the problem of the cause of disease

From the Vitalist Naturopathic perspective, these 12 hallmarks are all still just effects, not causes.  None of them appear by magic or on their own, they all require an initiating trigger or cause.  In Vitalism there is only one trigger or cause of disease- devitalization, which then exhibits itself through the 12 hallmarks. and then the tens of thousands of so called different diseases. There is only one fundamental cause— devitalization—leading to the self-evident solution—revitalization.

This is paradigm shifting knowledge. We will delve deeply into this essential vitalistic view in the Course and Coaching contained in the Valeo Program which will serve you for the rest of your life for making wise and informed decisions for you and your loved ones. I call that Health Freedom and that is the core purpose of the Valeo Program, even beyond healing our ailments.

Disease treatment methodologies of the old paradigm continue to suffer only marginal success because they are still locked into seeing symptoms as disease rather than effects from an originating cause.

Some pioneering thinkers like Dr. Thomas Seyfried, in his revolutionary work on cancer treatment Cancer as a Metabolic Disease, and Dr. Christopher Palmer of Harvard, in his research on cognitive dysfunctions in Brain Energy, have broken free of the old paradigm and are achieving previously unimaginable results by recognizing that these diseases are actually caused by a common denominator of low energy production. In other words, modern science with its cutting-edge technology and research, is simply rediscovering what humanity has always known: it’s all about the life force. 

Your life force is your health. Your life force is energy. It is the energy produced in your cellular mitochondria.

Vitalistic Naturopathy is the art and science of removing and correcting the causes of low life force and the therapeutic use of natural methods for rapidly restoring it—which then reduces and eliminates the effects and optimal health is the natural law result. Again, just like a houseplant.

Though addressing the observable and measurable environmental/lifestyle factors like nutrition, activity, sleep, toxins, or light and water quality, are fundamental for restoring wellness, humans also face an internal environment that can be equally or even more devitalizing. This is where we must look beyond the physical to understand the full picture.

Inner Causes: Mind, Subconscious, and Emotional Trauma

As humans, we have an additional critical environmental factor: the condition of our mind and subconscious, which can be deeply wounded by the—well, how should I put it—the “insane world” of emotional violence, betrayal, neglect, and dishonesty we have come to accept as normal. (It may be normal, but it ain’t natural!)

As a result, our inner reality—where love, beauty, and life reside—becomes its own toxic environment—polluting our experience with “radioactive” emotional turmoil and a rattling “monkey-mind” that rarely leaves us in peace. This intangible space, shaped by past experiences and cultural notions, can sabotage even the best external environment if left unresolved. It is one of the most potent environmental factors causing our devitalization.

Breakthroughs in fields like German New Medicine (GNM) have scientifically mapped the detailed connections between emotional conflicts or trauma and physical health. These profound discoveries have moved mind-body medicine and spontaneous healing from an amorphic generalized theory to a proven hard-science. It is no longer a question if unresolved stressors trigger disease, it is scientific fact- but then, if researchers had ever observed and asked their patients, like oncologist Dr. Geer Hamer founder of GNM did, they would have found that this connection is just simply more common sense. Trauma, emotional pain, and destructive thinking processes are, of course, massively devitalizing processes that mimic or exacerbate the 12 Hallmarks in the body no different than exposure to overt poisons.

For any healing method to be truly holistic, it must address these inner conflicts of the psyche with the same dedication it applies to medical procedures or removing toxins from the diet and environment.

The Valeo Program: A Fully Comprehensive Approach

The Valeo Program transforms both your internal and external environment to restore balance and vitality, recognizing that genuine health requires nurturing every dimension of the human experience. Through teaching you about the rigorously developed scientific therapies and advanced targeted orthomolecular nutrients used in clinics around the world, the program shows you how they revitalize the body, targeting the physical factors behind devitalization. Simultaneously, it leverages equally robust methods to heal the psyche, guided by the latest research in areas like GNM and centuries of proven approaches in bodywork, meditation, and other mind-body interventions.

By integrating these strategies into one cohesive wellness education system, the Valeo Program ensures that every dimension—nutritional, cellular, emotional, psychological, and spiritual—is supported in tandem. This holistic synergy provides the foundation for lasting rejuvenation, addressing the root causes behind the 12 Hallmarks of Aging and Disease rather than merely managing symptoms.

It’s a true holistic methodology for reclaiming the vital life force that defines true health. Strength thru vitalism.