Currently we are in a position in healthcare where big, billion dollar companies – including pharmaceuticals and private health conglomerates – are funding and governing many important decisions, health care models and trials for up and coming medications.

More and more as people we are realising that the outcomes of many of these decisions are not what serves us and our health truly – first and foremost. We are swiftly coming to the realisation that we have been had on many levels, and are looking for the truth in where our medicines and health care decisions lie.

There are several possible avenues with this. We can react to the medical model, and throw the baby out with the bath water (so to speak). We can reject all medications on the basis that we know a lot of scientific studies are flawed and that many doctors have been easily bought by the lies sold by pharmaceutical companies to suit their own back pocket. If we do this, we do potentially miss out on a lot of the medications that can support us, our bodies in healing from the many illnesses and disease that now abound, and have fairly extensively been created by our way of living.

What is the way forward then with the seeming quagmire of what is true for our bodies and the medication that can truly assist?

First and foremost we need a relationship with our bodies where we are willing to take responsibility for how it feels, and start to honour what allows it to heal in full. When we have this relationship, we are better able to discern naturally whether what we put into it is supportive or not.

We may not have a marker of this as we have lived for so long ignoring the most basic and fundamental messages of our body.

A simple example of this may be when we have a cold. Our body is telling us we need rest, and to allow it space to process the virus that has entered. We might need particular food like soup or vitamins that support the healing process. This will be different for each person. If we ignore these simple messages, we are ignoring what our body truly needs.

Often in these instances medication like antibiotics are sought to speed up the healing process. Whilst understandable in theory, this is not what supports the body for a viral infection and if taken may add to the burden for the body, not to mention the cost to the health system.  This health system and the budget it entails are what govern the rebate available for our health consultations, and how much we may need to pay out of pocket.

As we can see from this simple example, our individual approaches to our body and health add up not only on the individual but at the collective level.

When we rely solely on pharmaceuticals to answer our problems, the system we get is governed by the companies that create them. Therefore, to shift the current paradigm we can each start with greater individual responsibility.

• Do we eat foods that honour and support our body to feel vital?
• Do we make the choice to exercise and be physically active in the same way?
• Do we sleep when our body feels tired and not distract ourselves to the point of insomnia?
• If we are unable to do these due to circumstances beyond our seeming control (e.g. work hours, finances, location), do we speak out to the powers that be to say that the way our systems are running is not ok for supporting our health?

Only when we start to really claim the power back for ourselves, will our systems begin to change with people truly at the heart.