What is Iridology?

Iridology is a central component of both the four-year Herbal Medicine Practitioner Course and the two-year Vitalist Nutrition Diploma. Iridology is a superb health assessment tool. The practitioner examines the iris of the eyes with a bioscope and also takes a photograph.

During the consultation, he/she can then communicate clearly to the patient the meaning and implications of the findings. Iridology was developed in the early part of the 20th century in central Europe and became popular in medical circles during that time.

Iridology gives very specific information about the constitutional inheritance of the person so that dietary advice, lifestyle advice, and herbal remedies can be tailored to suit the individual, making the protocol completely holistic.

What does Iridology demonstrate?

1. The current health status of a person with reference to accumulation of toxins and identification of the elimination channels which need herbal and dietary support.
2. Constitutionally inherited strengths and weaknesses and the location of areas of the body and organ systems which need more attention than others.
3. Iridology can also point to underlying areas of emotional and spiritual challenge and opportunity, which are connected to any addictive dietary patterns or lifestyle imbalances implicated in a patient's current health status.

How can Iridology help a person to embark on a health change programme?

Iridology can help to target key areas of focus in health. For example, for one patient seeking to lose weight, a stagnant colon may be the main area that needs to be cleansed, and Iridology will clearly point to this. For another, comfort eating due to stress could be the main issue, and stress is clearly indicated in the iris picture. Not only will Iridology point to stress as the culprit in this case, but also to the specific kind of stress. Sometimes stress can be held in the body, indicating the need for therapies such as bodywork and yoga, and sometimes it can be held primarily in the mind, indicating, for example, the need for rest and relaxation and meditation. A third possibility, in the case of weight loss for example, might be poor liver function, so that the body has difficulty breaking down fats. This, in turn, will indicate the need for specific herbs and even suggest that the patient consider some of the emotional issues underlying poor liver function, e.g. repressed passion leading to imbalanced expression of anger.

Iridology yields a vast amount of information about the mind/body relationship and the primary cause and ultimate treatment of disease.