About Annie Wagenaar
Complementary Medical Physician

After studying medicine in the Netherlands, I worked for eight years in clinical reseach for the pharmaceutical industry, before completing training in General Medicine in the UK. It was at this time that I came into contact with alternative modalities for healing, which led me to train in Osteopathy and Manual Medicine, and take courses in Chinese Medicine, Biological Medicine, Myoreflextherapy, Feldenkrais, and Energy Medicine.

The Body is an Ecosystem
Over the years, I came to realize that modern medicine is highy sophisticated and brilliant in dealing with acute medical cases, yet it is not as effective when dealing with chronic illness. With modern medicine, there is a tendency to treat patients based off of laboratory values (eg, bloodsugars, bloodpressures, etc), without looking more deeply at why a patient has abnormal values in the first place.

The human body is a miraculous construction. Every second, an incredidable amount of chemical reactions are taking place. Our bodies are like living ecosystems. And just like in nature, our bodies have a fantastic ability to compensate, but we can harm this delicate balance. It is my belief that the majority of chronic diseases are due to a break down in our body’s ability to cope with a way of living, a way of thinking, as well as our belief systems and spirit.

Healing Chronic Disease Holistically
I do not agree that the solution to chronic health is to medicate according to symptoms. Instead, it is wise to look more closely at why the system is breaking down. Is it due to nutrition? A life and work disbalance? Lack of exercise? Or, has it something to do with our belief systems and past experiences? I see disease as a body language, and to heal, one must understand this language.

Biological Medicine for Healing
In biological medicine, a metaphor that is often used is that our bodies are like buckets, which get filled during the course of our lives. Depending on our genetics, we have a certain sized bucket, and through our lifestyle, nutrition, vaccinations, trauma etc, this bucket gets filled. Our body can compensate only so long as the bucket is not full. However, when it starts to run over, disease begins to develop. My goal in working with clients is to help in emptying this bucket, making it possible for the body to utilize its own healing mechanisms to deal with disease.