What is Iridology?

What is Iridology?
Let’s start with a little history first.

It all began in 1837 with a 10-year-old boy in Hungary named Ignatz von Peczely. He grew up on his family’s farm, and one day an owl injured itself on the property, so Ignatz nursed it back to health. Owls have very large eyes. Ignatz noticed one of the owl’s eyes had a mark in it on the same side of the body as the injury. The owl stuck around the farm while it healed, as it was unable to fly away. Ignatz tended to the owl’s injury over time, and as the injury healed, he noticed the mark in the owl’s eye faded and went away. Ignatz made a mental note of this change. Later, when he became a physician, Ignatz began to make correlations between his patients’ eyes and their health conditions. He documented all his findings in an iridology chart.

In 1880, Nils Liljequist, a Swedish clergyman, made observations of the accumulation of drugs in his own eyes and made his own chart. When compared together, Liljequist’s chart and von Peczely’s chart showed remarkable similarities, though the two had never met.

Iridology was brought to the United States in the early 1900’s and many naturopaths still use it today. German physicians also use Iridology to assist in making clinical diagnoses. I use it as a tool for assessment and comparison.

“Iridology is the study of the iris of the eye [the colored part] to determine tissue weakness and the body’s predisposition to weakness… Generally, the right eye records the right side of the body, and the left eye records the left side of the body.”

I use an Iridology analysis in conjunction with muscle testing and a client’s main complaints to determine a first course of action, whether it be herbal remedies, flower essences, whole food supplements, bodywork, energy work, and/or dietary changes.
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Everyone can benefit from an Iridology assessment. A color or mark at a specific location in the iris of the eye, can indicate a problem in the corresponding area of the body. I will use muscle testing to verify whether this problem area is manifesting now or whether this a predisposition that we need to be aware of, to take preventative measures.

What is an Iridology session like? I will take a snapshot of both eyes with a camera, blow it up and print off the picture, so we can look at your eyes together. I will explain what we are looking at and what tissue weaknesses and predispositions we are seeing in your eyes. If the Iridology analysis is part of a muscle testing appointment or an initial consultation, I will muscle test these areas we find to see what we need to address. I will then make recommendations based on my analysis.

If you have a family history of heart problems, diabetes, or kidney dysfunction, we may be able to see this with Iridology. Candida, heavy metals, and chemical toxicity can show up in the eye. Liver involvement, inflammation, and leaky gut too. Digestive issues and bowel problems are easy to spot.
*Much of the history of Iridology as well as the details in this article were gleaned from Howard’s manual on Iridology. See Works Cited.
 
Works Cited
Howard, Amy Jo, CN, CH, ND. Iridology. Naturopathic Institute of Therapies and Education. 2016.