vision
Advance health in people, communities, the environment, and the world.About Us
Vision and Mission
The Naturopathic Medicine Academy, formerly known as the Foundations of Naturopathic Medicine Institute, is an international and intergenerational team of more than 300 authors, 33 editors, 11 colleges and universities, and 13 agencies of the global naturopathic medical community.
mission
Codify, transcribe, publish, and distribute naturopathic medical knowledge.aim
Support health creation and a thriving profession across generations.About the Academy
An international and intergenerational collaboration
People refer to this work as the Foundations Project or simply the Academy. The project brings together authors, editors, institutions, and agencies to preserve, organize, and transmit naturopathic medical knowledge with clarity and purpose.
Our central work is not only writing and editing, but also finding, interviewing, transcribing, organizing, and codifying bodies of knowledge that were in danger of being lost.
Read more about the codification of naturopathic medicineWhy This Work Matters
A profession preserving its lineage
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, naturopathic medicine came dangerously close to disappearing. The Academy's work responds directly to that broken lineage.
Professional viability
Codification of knowledge is necessary for the viability and continuity of a profession.
Lineage at risk
The lineage of naturopathic medicine and lived clinical experience remains at risk of being lost.
Shared foundation
A common foundational knowledge base helps unify and advance the profession.
Health creation
This work contributes to healthier people, healthier communities, and a healthier world.
Author's Guide Addendum
The central question of the textbook project
The primary question the textbook seeks to answer is: How does the naturopathic physician work with nature to restore health?
This is the common thread joining many voices into one: the physician assists nature in restoring the sick to health.
Foundational guideposts
Naturopathic physicians work with nature to restore people's health.
The physician's high and only mission is to restore the sick to health.
The physician is the servant of nature, not her master, and therefore follows the will of nature.
Vitalist Tradition
Working with the Vis Medicatrix Naturae
In the vitalist tradition, health is seen as balance. Movement away from balance results in the adaptations we call symptoms. The Vis Medicatrix Naturae, or Vital Force, is the quality in living organisms that strives to maintain or restore that balance.
Rather than suppressing the body's attempts to heal itself, the naturopathic physician works with that restorative effort.
The Voice of the Text
Many contributors, one common thread
The Academy's textbook initiative examines principles, clinical theory, specialty areas, and modalities in relation to the core question of restoring health through nature.
Its many contributors are stitched together by one shared idea: the physician assists nature in restoring the sick to health.