What is Iridology?
Iridology is a non-invasive, accurate, safe and painless health analysis done by studying the coloured part of the eye (iris). As a diagnostic tool, iridology provides an insight into the inherited and/or acquired weaknesses in the body.
An iridology health assessment can be used alone or in combination with other diagnostic methods, alternative or allopathic. Iridology assessment results may vary from other health assessing findings, as iridology markings point to the root of the problem; recognizing the underlying cause(s) of ailments.
Iridology's independence from symptoms makes it an ideal tool to find the cause behind the health issue when symptoms are subliminal and not detectable by other health screening methods.
Some of the weaknesses, imbalances and conditions detectable by an iridology assessment include: inflammation, cardiovascular disorders, predisposition to diabetes, toxicity, disturbances and condition of the digestive system, state of the nervous system, lymphatic system congestion, underactivity of the eliminatory channels, anemia, etc. Here, a clear distinction is made between acute, sub-acute, chronic, and degenerative states.
Iridology's approach to health is rooted in holistic care. Rather than detecting or treating symptoms, iridologists treat the whole body. The main objective is to bring the body to a balanced state.
Upon completion of an iris consultation, the client will have an understanding of:
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-What physical factors contributed to their present complaints
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-What lifestyle and emotional factors have contributed to their current situation
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-What areas need support or treatment to increase vitality or to regain balance
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-How to maintain health and practice preventative care of their body
How does Iridology work?
The iris has been estimated to contain over 28,000 individual nerve fibres mingled with stromal fibres. This combination is extremely sensitive to nerve impulses from the autonomic nervous system. As the brain is the ultimate control of the body, it knows the complete condition of all organs and tissues of the body at all times. This is accomplished by constant flow of both afferent and efferent impulses to and from all parts of the body via the central nervous system.
Certain neuron cells (or aggregate of cells) in the brain respond continuously to these impulses from the areas they control. These impulses are carried via the autonomic nervous system and feeds directly into the iris via the Edinger-Westphal nucleus and via the sympathetic ganglion in the upper thoracic spine. As the iris has such a rich supply of highly sensitive neuro-ectodermal fibres, the iris functions like a remote television picture tube, giving us a complete neurological picture of the body at all times by the reflex of neurological impulses. The significance of these impulses to the iridologist is that they are at a frequency that corresponds to the client’s health condition or any one of four stages of inflammation: acute, sub-acute, chronic, and degenerative.
History of Iridology
Iridology began in Hungary in 1861 when Ignatz Peczely, as a young boy, found an owl with a broken leg (some reports say he broke the leg). He noticed a stripe of black in the iris of the owl. After nursing the owl's leg back to health, he released the bird into the wild. At this time, he noticed the stripe of black was replaced with fine, crooked white lines. Years later when the boy became a doctor, he began to realize that his patients had similar irregularities in their irids. The differences depended on the type and stage of illness. Over time he charted a map of the iris/body relation. Thus was the discovery of a phenomenon we now call Ophthalmic-Somatic Analysis (Iridology).
Around the same time, a 14-year-old Swedish boy, Nils Liljequist, became severely ill following a vaccination. After he began treatment with quinine and other potent drugs, he noticed a change in his iris color. Years later he broke some of his ribs and again noticed a change in his iris color. In 1893 he published over 258 drawings in an atlas depicting his interpretation of the iris/body relation. The two men's maps were startlingly similar.
In the 1950's Dr. Bernard Jensen published his own set of iris maps in the United States.
These are some of the most widely used maps for Iridology. Ophthalmic-Somatic
Analysis has now become a key diagnostic science.
