The Wind challenged the Sun to remove the jacket of the traveler walking along the road beneath them. As the Sun hid behind a cloud, the Wind tried whipping it off by force. The traveler grasped his jacket more and more tightly around him. Then the Sun warmly beamed its rays on the traveler, so he took his jacket off himself. The Sun won the challenge by gentle persuasion rather than force.
The human body responds to medical treatment much like the traveler in the story. The body is much more responsive to a gentle stimulus towards a desired end. The result is that the body can heal itself. The way Dr. Cheryl Kasdorf practices Naturopathic Medicine is like the Sun in Aesop’s fable. When obstacles to cure are removed and deficiencies nurtured, the Healing Power of Nature can use its full strength to return the body to fully functioning.
In August 1998, I graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona.
I am licensed to practice medicine by the State of Arizona. I maintain a private practice out of Suite B5 in the Healing Arts Center Building in Old Town Cottonwood.
I firmly believe the public deserves doctors trained in a four-year medical curriculum for alternative care. My medical training included basic anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, current clinical, physical, and laboratory diagnosis, just like in standard medical schools.
The unique part of my training was based in Naturopathic philosophy, which treats the whole person in a way like the Sun in the story. The underlying philosophy sets Naturopathic Medicine apart fromI use the least invasive and most effective methods. These methods include Homeopathy and Homeopathic Drainage, Bowen Therapy, Nutritional counseling, Detoxification and Tonification, Mind/body medicine and Lifestyle counseling.
I best serve those who are looking for ways to take their health into their own hands and learn natural methods of preventing and treating illness and developing a healthy lifestyle. I am particularly qualified to help those with hormonal imbalances, as she has extensive further education and experience in that area. She performs a non-invasive thyroid test called the Thyroflex in her office. It measures the nervous system signal speed through a reflex, and is much more accurate to actual body function than blood tests.
Kasdorf said she has always sought out natural methods of treatment for herself. After she started learning about Homeopathy in the local Kachina Homeopathic Study Group, she felt she needed a medical background to practice homeopathy safely. Her Naturopathic Physician suggested she go to Naturopathic Medical School, where she could get that background as well as learn Homeopathy, and she followed that advice.
She said Homeopathy can be used successfully in the treatment of anything from headaches and the flu to long-standing conditions. She uses Homeopathic Drainage for gently restoring the body to function in those long-standing conditions, whether it is a hormonal imbalance, digestive problems, or due to toxicities like heavy metal accumulations. Homeopathy is also an important adjunct in treatments of injuries and infections.
Before going into natural medicine, Kasdorf taught sculpture. She said her Fine Arts background comes into play in her current profession.
"Healthy living is an art, and so are the methods of restoring health such as homeopathy," she said. In this 200 year old medical art, patterns of the person such as food desires, climate preferences, what makes things better or worse, and the qualities of pain or sensation are matched to those patterns in a specific homeopathic remedy. That takes non-linear thinking such as is used in creating artworks.
She has gone from teaching how to create through sculpture to teaching how to create the health and the life you desire. She finds it is important to attend to the mind and emotions while supporting the body in healing. After investigating many systems of mind/body medicine, she has dedicated herself to the teaching of a very powerful tool to achieve a useful relationship to thoughts and feeling. It is called The Ishayas’ Ascension. Ishaya is a Sanskrit word meaning “For Highest Consciousness” Ascension simply means rising beyond limiting thoughts and feelings. She is grateful for the peace and expansion of compassion it has brought her. She is excited about the changes in the lives of the people she has taught. Most comment on how calm they can be in the midst of upsetting situations. Her students have overcome insomnia, anxiety, and depression and improved their relationships with these techniques.
In addition, the sensitivity in her hands from sculpting has put her in the right place for doing effective bodywork.
Bowen Therapy, which started in Australia, is a little known bodywork technique. It can have spectacular results for musculoskeletal problems such as neck pain, frozen shoulder, TMJ, sciatica, as well as the everyday backache. In addition, it can affect internal structures such as hemorrhoids, open lungs, regulate the female reproductive organs, and improve colon function.
Dr. Kasdorf is the only Bowen practitioner certified by the Bowen Academy of Australia in Cottonwood. The technique consists of rolling movements over specific muscles in the body with a lighter touch than massage, and is done through clothing. It allows the body to balance and heal itself and allows for detoxification.
She also does CranioSacral therapy, bodywork developed by Dr. John Upledger among others. Through a light touch no more than the weight of a nickel, and a strong understanding of the body’s language, she feels and pays attention to the structures and the flows in the body. This allows a neutral space for the unlocking of the memories of cells, changing to a more fluid responsive state. Restrictions in muscle, bone, organs, nerves, and connective tissues are released. As a result, function improves.
Dr. Kasdorf believes that Naturopathic Medicine will become more predominant as people choose to take responsibility for their health. People are realizing that there are very effective methods of cure outside of the mainstream medical model.
She believes that the Verde Valley is the right place for this now. People from Sedona, Cordes Junction, Jerome, Prescott and Camp Verde have benefited from her services. "There are fresh air, high-quality foods available, and people who support a healthy lifestyle," she said. "It is possible to live without the stresses of urban life, yet the talent and education is here for intellectual, cultural and spiritual stimulation."
Dr. Kasdorf's office in the Healing Arts Center is open by appointment. A 15 minute free initial consultation is available. Contact her at 928-649-9234.
Due to government and FDA regulations the following must be stated: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The information provided is not a substitute for professional medical opinion. It is provided for informational and educational purposes only.
