MY LIFE AND WORK WITH ALFRED VOGEL

I was so fascinated by all he said that I travelled to Switzerland to see what he was doing there and we talked about the prospect of opening the first naturopathic clinic in Holland. As we discussed the future of medicine and health, we came to the conclusion that by making such a clinic accessible to those searching for an alternative approach to orthodox medicine we would be taking a step in the right direction.

Roode Wald, which opened in 1959, developed into one of the finest clinics I have ever known. In the first volume of my autobiography, A Step at a Time, I have written of the many memories I have of the years spent there and how during that time the working relationship between Alfred Vogel and me developed into a deep, lasting friendship.

The clinic ran successfully for a number of years but, eventually, due to a number of factors, including the lack of support from the government and staffing problems, we were forced to close it down. Fortunately, however, despite its closure, the valuable remedies that Alfred had created over the years – many of which were his own formulations – continued to be produced so that those in need could still benefit from them. When I think of all the Bioforce remedies available throughout the world today, I know if Alfred could see the results of his hard work and pioneering activities, he would be very happy.

Alfred realised early on that he had one mission in life and that was basically to help people. He also told me that the most important thing that one can do in life is to share one’s knowledge with others and I am pleased to say that his influence continues to be felt today. We worked together for nearly 40 years off and on, and, although we often went our separate ways, we regularly met up to discuss health issues. I feel privileged that I was the only pupil to whom he taught everything he knew about health and healthy living. He instilled in me that same great desire to help others and every day I feel proud that I have been able to carry on in his footsteps.

Alfred’s interest in learning all about plants and herbs started at a very early age. While he was still a young boy, his mother and grandmother shared with him their knowledge about the benefits of herbal medicines. Then, between 1920 and 1932, he managed a health food store in Basel and it was here that he met his wife Sophie. He decided to expand on his knowledge by studying homoeopathy, naturopathy and botany, and by his late 20s, he had turned his property in Teufen into a residential clinic. Beside the clinic, he worked in the fields tending his plants and herbs, which he greatly loved.

He visited various colleges and universities with the aim of learning as much as he could, and through his lifelong devotion became, in my opinion, probably the greatest botanist of all time. He would meet people from all corners of the world and was eager to compare his thoughts and findings with others. He was very open minded and was always willing to listen to other people’s ideas.

Sadly, however, his amazing findings were not always appreciated, as the Swiss are a very conservative nation. At the start of his career, as he tried to secure acceptance for his unorthodox methods, it soon became clear that a mammoth task lay before him. But despite apparent resistance to his ideas, he continued with his efforts.

Alfred never advertised his services but his reputation grew rapidly by word of mouth and, eventually, he became known to people all over the world. As his business grew, he was able to employ more qualified staff, including doctors. In 1929, he published his first monthly magazine, Das Neue Leben (New Life) – renamed Gesundheits Nachrichten (Health News) in 1944 – in which he shared an insight into his work with his readers.

As he was always totally engrossed in what he was doing, he could be quite intolerant of distractions. I had personal experience of this when I first arrived in Teufen to meet him and found him working in the fields. He was so absorbed in his plants and herbs that I was given a cold reception and instructed to come back later. When he had finished work, he met me in the little boardroom in his clinic and the atmosphere between us quickly changed: from that moment on, we were the greatest of friends. I often think back to that meeting, when he trusted me enough to tell me about many of his findings. Eventually, he would even give me control of the recipes that he had painstakingly formulated over many years.

In the Foreword that he wrote for my book Traditional Home & Herbal Remedies ten years before his death in 1996, it becomes clear what our friendship meant to him. It is for that reason I have decided to repeat that Foreword in this book. It also explains a lot about his work and shows how he devoted his life to helping to alleviate human suffering.

It was a fortunate occasion when I met Jan de Vries in the Netherlands. With pleasure and conviction I spoke of my 40 years’ experience in the field of herbal medicine and my views on diet and nourishment. I soon realised that I had an extremely interested listener who fully appreciated my acquired knowledge of the whole sphere of medical science.

Jan de Vries was not only interested to learn everything about my experiences of when, where and how to collect herbs, and which methods were to be followed, he also insisted on taking part in the actual process of extracting beneficial ingredients. As he was a trained and qualified pharmacist, he was already familiar with the world of plants and herbs, and had considerable knowledge in this field. He accepted an invitation to join our firm, which gave us the chance to establish a working relationship which has lasted for years. He was one of my best pupils, if not the very best, and he had the opportunity to further develop his given talents in the field of natural medicine.

I was very happy to share with him my enthusiasm for nature and the world of plants, as originated by the sovereign power of the Creator. He was also prepared to accept my principle that herbal medicine should always have priority in the treatment of illnesses.

As a result of our experiences, we both agreed that, through knowledge and advice on natural methods and herbal remedies, it was possible to improve one’s health and keep illnesses at bay. Nature itself is capable of healing.

Drawing on my many years of experience, I was able to convince Jan de Vries completely that herbal medicine in combination with a natural diet could create positive responses in the body in order to ward off ailments. By creating the right conditions for the body and supplying it with the correct nourishment, one is able to activate one’s own regenerative system. In this way it is possible to overcome, as well as cure, ailments. We realise more and more, and my experience over many years in practice has contributed to this, that we don’t just have an important role to play in the curing of illnesses but also in the prevention of medical disturbances. This requires us to put emphasis on preventative medicine. Prevention is better than a cure.

This principle plays a major role in our programme. In an effort to clarify this for patients and other interested parties, I myself have written several books, such as The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional & Complementary Medicine, The Liver as the Regulator of our Health and Nature: Your Guide to Healthier Living.

Jan de Vries was immediately prepared to share with his friends, and later with his patients, my experiences and he recommended these books for their information. He is, I am pleased to repeat, my most successful ‘pupil’. His success from which many patients have benefited is, however, not only a result of his talents, it is also thanks to the Creator who has supplied so many plants with healing powers.

I am very pleased that Jan de Vries is making the effort to share his knowledge and experiences with us on paper. His books are written in a straightforward manner and can be readily understood by both patients and laymen alike. In them, he deals with natural ways and methods using herbal remedies to overcome ailments and illnesses.

It is important that not just the obvious symptoms are cured, as conventional medicine would teach us. We must look for the cause of the illness in order to continue the treatment and find a cure for the source. Very little benefit is obtained by clearing up an ache or easing a sensitivity if we are not able to eliminate the cause. In order to do this, we should study the whole person and attempt to recognise which factors have contributed to this condition. There could be very many reasons – for example, a breathing difficulty or a movement disorder, shortage of oxygen, rest or sleep. There can be so many causes of a biological imbalance.

Jan de Vries has acquired and developed a large knowledge in this area. With perseverance he builds up an overall picture of total health, not forgetting the physical and mental condition of the patient.

I am convinced that, in this book, he will show many sufferers the right way to recovery in plain and simple language. It is an excellent complement to my books, as we have both sincerely attempted to serve our fellow men and share with them our knowledge acquired from our understanding and experience of the bounty of nature.

At the time of our first meeting at a lecture on homoeopathy in Amsterdam in 1958, I was sceptical about the benefits of complementary therapies. After talking with Vogel, however, he changed my way of thinking to such a degree that I went to visit him in Switzerland, where I was so impressed by his work that I decided to join him. From that date on, my life, like his, has been devoted to alleviating suffering in thousands of people.

He possessed a wonderful spirit. Not only was he a genius but he was also a man with a big heart who cared passionately about his fellow human beings and spent his life striving to achieve good health for everyone. Every single day I treasure the wonderful relationship I had with my great mentor and friend. When my mind is in a quandary, I often think to myself, ‘Alfred, what would you do about this?’

The last time I saw him was when I travelled to Zurich just a few weeks before he died. I could see that his condition had deteriorated but he still retained a glimmer of happiness in his eyes as he made humorous remarks about life in general. We chatted together privately for a while, not only reminiscing about the wonderful times of the past but also discussing the present and the future. Although his time was coming to an end, he had an amazingly cheerful attitude and the contented look in his eyes showed that he had led a fulfilling life. Even at that point, he was still offering me advice and ideas.

So who was Alfred Vogel? From the first day we met, when he made such an impression on me, I realised he was a most remarkable, interesting man. He had an unshakeable belief, a great love of nature and a wonderful respect for his Creator.

Alfred was born on 26 October 1902 in a small agricultural village called Aesch near Basel. He was well cared for and his family instilled in him his great love of God and nature. Although he was not an only child, he was a very special individual and this was quickly recognised by his mother and grandmother. These women, who were to play such an important part in his life, were well known in the area for their knowledge of natural remedies and people would often go to them for help and advice. He was particularly influenced by his grandmother, who lived to the ripe old age of 103. Along with his parents, she offered him a lot of practical, sensible advice and put great effort into teaching little Alfred all about nature. His family led a sober life and respected his feelings for the animal and plant worlds; they applauded his vegetarian principles, which they also upheld.

While he was growing up, Alfred wanted to know about everything that was going on around him. Not only did he want to learn as much as he could about the healing properties of plants, he also wanted to research them. This was not always easy and his probing mind often got him into trouble, especially at school, where he sometimes contradicted his teachers. He never accepted anything at face value and would question their reasoning when something did not make sense to him. This was part of his character that drew me to Alfred, as I too was very inquisitive at school.

His enquiring mind also caused the local priest problems when Alfred started to question religion. When he was still young, the local priest said to him, ‘Alfredli, do your best in your life, because you will either be a rascal or you will be an extremely good person.’ I can certainly testify that he was the latter: he had exceedingly high principles, he always worked hard and he looked for what God had created in nature to help Man. He believed that religion is a personal matter and in order to have a relationship with one’s Creator, one has to act from the heart. With that thought in his mind, he felt he had a duty to do everything possible to help his fellow human beings.

When he was younger, his views were quite extreme and not always appreciated by the local Swiss people, who were extremely conventional. Even though Switzerland was neutral during both world wars, Alfred caused controversy with his strong pacifist beliefs. He was a man who loved life and he could not understand why murder and war could be tolerated.

After he left school, Alfred was still eager to learn more about the world around him: indeed, this was part of his character that remained undiminished right till the end. While still in his teens, he visited Maximilian Bircher-Benner’s renowned dietary clinic in Zurich. Bircher-Benner was a Swiss physician and a pioneer in nutritional research. At his sanatorium, a balanced diet of raw vegetables and fruit was used as a means to heal patients, and he is also known as the man who invented muesli. Vogel learned a great deal during his time there, and throughout his following career he remained convinced about the importance of food management, especially establishing a balance between protein and carbohydrates, and acidic and alkaline foods.

Following the opening of his first health food store at No. 1 Jurastrasse in 1920, word got around about who Vogel was and it was not long until he had gained a reputation as a great herbalist. As his fame grew, people would consult him when they were not satisfied with the results obtained from their own doctors.

He started to produce a monthly magazine to disseminate information about his findings, and eventually he would write many books. In this, he was fortunate to get some help from a teacher called Sophie – who was later to become his wife. She met Alfred as a customer in his shop and became fascinated by his work. They talked at great length about their mutual interest and grew very close. She also often helped with his lectures and once I got to know her I realised how intelligent and knowledgeable she was in matters relating to herbal medicines and their healing powers.

People came from all over to see Vogel, until his practice expanded to such an extent that he had to move to larger premises. In 1937, he managed to find a suitable place in Teufen, deep in the mountains, where he established his clinic. He became so popular that buses laden with people started to go up the hill to Teufen and it became necessary for people to make appointments well in advance to see this wonderful man. Although he was extremely busy, he always took time to talk and listen to those who were very ill. Doctors would also go to him for guidance and he was never too tired to share his great knowledge whenever possible. Not only did Vogel have time to help the ordinary man in the street but he also made himself available to those who genuinely wanted to study his methods. General Tito of Yugoslavia often asked him for advice and he never failed to help when he could.

I joined Alfred in Teufen to work with him at the clinic and together we achieved a great deal. During his consultations, he started to teach me about what he was doing and he would offer advice whenever possible on how we should treat people. Vogel adhered strictly to the principles of Dr Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homoeopathy, who argued that Man is not one body but three: physical, mental and emotional. Using holistic methods, these three bodies must be treated together.

It was admirable to see how fervently he researched plants. Every plant, flower, root and even the bark of a tree has its own signature and characteristic. When we examine them and learn how they grow, they give us a message. Alfred studied as many species as he could and tried to establish whether the signatures of the plants gave an indication about which ailments they might be used to treat. He also needed to guarantee that when prescribing such remedies to patients, they would have no side effects, so a lot of research was involved in preparing his treatments.

It was always a delight to listen to Alfred as he explained the characteristics of different plants. When you step on Arnica by mistake, for example, it flops back, telling you that it should be used to treat trauma, while the ingredients of a Symphytum root – allantoin, for example – indicate the terrific healing powers of that plant, which is often used to treat wounds and broken bones.

Such was Alfred’s relationship with nature that he knew virtually every plant that grew, every flower, every leaf and every bark. His senses were so developed that, even from a distance, he could smell which herbs were growing in a particular area. If he discovered something with which he was unfamiliar, he made every effort to find out about it.

Only the year before he died, I walked with him in the mountains. As he inhaled deeply, he said, ‘I can smell wild garlic.’ Alfred then went down on his knees and started to scrape at the dirty soil with his bare hands. When he reached the garlic, he pulled out the clean silvery bulb from the ground and not even one speck of dirt had adhered to it. He said, ‘Look, even in all that mud and dirt, its silvery-white colour shows us that God gave this to Man to keep his body cleansed.’ Alfred knew that garlic is a great antiseptic and should be used to treat viral problems and infections. At the time of writing this book, the newspapers are full of a ‘new cure’ for the horrific MRSA virus being contracted in hospitals and that ‘new cure’ is . . . garlic! In fact, Alfred publicised its therapeutic properties as far back as 50 years ago.

Vogel’s thirst for knowledge was unquenchable and he was so devoted to learning more from nature that I used to see him working in his herb garden at four or five o’clock in the morning, studying the plants. He often said that we had to dig deep and use the whole plant, thus avoiding the mistake sometimes made by the pharmaceutical industry when they sought a clear pharmacological action from a particular part of a plant or a herb, leading them to crystallise or extract only that part and make it into a remedy. One example of this happened with Digitalis (foxglove). A remedy for heart conditions was made from this plant, but initially it caused some problems as the balance was incorrect. Following further research, Digoxin is used successfully as a remedy today and has helped many patients.

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