“It’s so hard to find information about the Lymphatic System!” How can I know more about the lymph world? I hear this all over. But why?

Hildegard Wittlingler and me receiving my certification at the Vodder School’s MLD Lymph Therapist course – Austria, 2012

Firstly, because this is a very elusive and complex system. Though it spreads throughout the entire body, this is not even a symmetric system! Unlike other  bodily systems, the Lymphatic System (LS) is anatomically different on the left and right sides of the body. The structure of the LS also varies from person to person. For instance, the number of lymph nodes differs according to the individual bodies. We may have anywhere from 600 to 800 lymph nodes. The lymph vessels can also follow different paths in different bodies. It’s a weird system!

Secondly, up to recently very little was known about the LS. So, in the medical schools the future physicians are not instructed or trained in this system. The Lymphatic System vital importance for the other systems of the body is shamelessly overlooked. So, we pay for that instructional negligence.

When you get a condition – either damage or malformation of the lymphatics – you can hardly find proper help or information. So, the diseases of this system are grossly ignored or mistreated. However, this is a very high-risk situation because most of the other body systems problems have their origin in a lymphatic deficiency.

The Reality of the Lymph World

Dr. Ethel Foldi talking to me (you can see my hair…) before I received my certification as Foldi’s Clinic CDT-Lymph Therapist course – Germany, 2011

The condition of the LS directly affects all other systems of the body. Because physicians are not trained in the lymph landscape, they cannot trace some diseases to their true origin – the Lymphatic System.

Then, some diseases are classified as “unknown etiology” which is the medical term for “unknown cause.” Literally, it simply means “I don’t know!” Therefore some diseases are labeled “not treatable” or “incurable.”

Today, because of this general misinformation, it’s important to know “who is who” in the lymph world.

Hippocrates, the father of Medicine, first called the lymph fluid “white blood.” However, it was only in the 1930’s that the “white blood” began to gain prominence with Dr. Vodder. He developed a method to drain the “white blood” or lymph fluid. Dr Vodder was not a physician. He was a physiotherapist. So, his method, though effective, was not immediately accepted by the medical community.

However, in the 1960s, German physicians Foldi and Asdonk, Australian physician Casley-Smith, and other physicians and researchers began to clinically test Vodder’s method. In 1967 (Germany) Dr. Asdonk conducted a research in 20,000 patients. He established the medical effects, indications and contraindications of Vodder’s method – MLD (manual lymph drainage).

After years of medical and lab research, both physicians Michael Foldi and his wife Ethel Foldi combined the lymph drainage method of Dr. Vodder with other therapies. During the 1980s, the Foldi power couple created the “Complex Decongestive Therapy” (CDT). In 1986 they opened a huge hospital in Hinterzarten (Germany) to treat patients with lymphedema and lymph related diseases from all over the world. Today, CDT is widely used in the treatment of lymphedema.

Lymph World Luminaries: Dr. Vodder and Dr. Foldi

These are the two luminaries in the lymph world: Vodder’s MLD and Foldi’s CDT. After the physician diagnosis, any therapist trained in either method is well equipped to deal with conditions of the Lymphatic System.

Both the Foldi and Vodder schools are well represented in the US.

Vodder School therapists can be found all over the US. Both Kathryn M. Thrift (Texas) and Anne Bramham (Florida) are expert teachers and therapists of this school.

The Foldi Clinic is represented by the “Klose Training” in Colorado. Gunther Klose is the founder and the major teacher and therapist of his renowned school.  Gunther came directly from the Foldi Clinic in Germany to the US.

I was fortunate enough to be able to be trained and certified in the headquarters of both methods. At the Foldi Clinic in Hinterzarten (Germany-2011) with Dr. Ethel Foldi and at the Dr. Vodder School in Walchsee (Austria – 2012) with Hildegard Wittlingler (successor to deceased Dr. Vodder). See above, my pictures graduating from both schools.

My intention is to make this powerful information available to all. To share a method that keeps the lymph fluid in a healthy state and can prevent bodily conditions. I’m combining these two powerful methods, Yoga and lymph drainage, in a unique, inexpensive and miraculous technique that can be done at home by anybody – Lymphatic Yoga.

I welcome your questions and concerns. It’s good to hear from you! Let me know how I can better help you.

More to come! Stay tuned!

Much love to all!

Copyright 2013 Edely Wallace