We live in a society that relies on ?allopathic? medicine, also known as traditional Western Medicine, orthodox medicine, etc.? It is the practice of medicine that is biologically based, and treats the mind and the body with pharmaceutical antibiotics and other drugs.? Allopathic doctors (or MDs) ?look for physical causes for disease and seek to name, define and treat specific illnesses?it does not initially emphasize the mind?s impact on health or healing.?? It also does not consider spirituality to have any legitimate part in medicine or healing.
Although our society considers allopathic medicine to be the most effective method of practicing medicine, did you know that ?75% of the world’s population still rely primarily upon traditional healing practices?, most of which is derived from herbs and other botanicals (herbalism)??
Many people (myself included) are starting to realize that although allopathic medicine has cured many diseases and saved many lives, it has many flaws.? It only examines physical symptoms and family history, and does not take into account the fact that the disorder may be caused by something in the person?s diet, or lifestyle.? Medical doctors perform tests that could potentially cause long-term damage; and prescribe drugs upon drugs, most of which have side effects that require more drugs (with other side effects) to treat them.
In response to the problems with allopathic medicine, more people are turning to more natural and holistic ways to not only treat illnesses, but also to prevent them.? Our nation?s authorities (unlike 75% of the rest of the world) generally do not see any credibility in these healing modalities mostly because they do not understand them or have any knowledge of them, so they have given them the very vague labels of ?alternative medicine? or ?complementary medicine.?
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Many health insurance companies have received requests from their clients about why they do not cover acupuncture, or chiropractic, or reiki, and have responded by offering a supplementary discount plan or allowance to use to pay for these treatments; but many have done nothing, making these healing practices unaffordable and inaccessible to most people.
However, more people are finding ways to educate themselves on holistic healing practices and I think there is a paradigm shift happening, albeit slowly.? More people are eating organic foodsand more grocery store chains are offering organic or all-natural versions of foods.? There are more all-natural skin care and personal care products on the market than ever before, as well as household cleaning products that are safer for people and the environment.
Defining the different types of “alternative medicine”…
There is still much confusion, because holistic practices have many names.? Do they all mean the same thing? Or are homeopathy and naturopathy two different practices completely?? What about the word ?holistic? or the terms ?holistic medicine? or ?holistic healing??? It all sounds good, and they are very similar, but I think some clarification is necessary.
I initially intended on writing brief blurbs in this post about some of the different alternative/complementary/natural healing modalities, but that would have been a very long post indeed.? So instead, I will do a series of posts about some of the more popular methods.
I will start though by defining ?holistic health/medicine?.? The term ?holistic?, sometimes referred to as ?wholistic? is philosophy and practice of healing that has to do with constantly keeping the whole body at the highest level of total wellness.
It goes back to the universal natural laws that that state that a whole is made up of the sum of all of its parts, and that the parts cannot function properly if the whole is not functioning properly.? Conversely, if there is a problem with one of the parts, the entire whole is affected.
So, holistic medicine treats the whole person by treating all of his or her parts: mind (emotional, mental), body (physical), and spirit (spirituality, soul).? Instead of doing lab tests and a physical examination to find specific symptoms ofdisease, and treating (or masking) those symptoms without determining their causes; holistic medicine considers a symptom a sign that something else may be going on in one of the parts of the body.? For example, a headache may be caused by stressful upcoming event at work; while taking an aspirin or other analgesic may alleviate the pain associated with the headache, it does nothing for the reason the headache is there in the first place.? However, utilizing techniques to relax the mind and reduce the level of stress may remove the symptom of the headache completely.? This same headache might also be a sign of dehydration, therefore maintaining proper levels of hydration may be enough to get rid of the headache.
Holistic medicine does not discount the merits of allopathic medicine completely, it simply suggests that there are other things to consider and other methods to employ that may do the job just as well, without potentially causing harm to any part of the body.? People have gotten too used to the notion that consequences from living unhealthy lifestyles and consuming unhealthy foods (that provide little actual nourishment) can be ?fixed? by taking drugs.? Some people take several drugs everyday to manage chronic problems, and yet do nothing to change the lifestyle and dietary issues that most likely were the causes.? Wouldn’t it be better to take a more preventative and proactive approach to health?? By living and eating healthfully, the body will be much less likely to develop these chronic issues.? Sure, people who practice holistic health still get sick?but it is often an illness that is much more short-term and easier to cure.
I am trying to live and eat holistically for myself and for my family.? I want to teach these good habits to my kids at a young age.? I am still a work-in-progress?I think I have done a lot over the past few years to improve my overall health and wellness, but there is still work to do and areas I can improve on.? I am committed though, so I will get there.
These are changes I’ve made so far: eating more whole grains, switching from coffee to tea, drinking more water, eating less sugar and more fiber; doing more things to relax like meditating, snuggling with my kids, learning, and writing; and increasing my physical activity (which was difficult because of bad back problems) by walking, stretching, and swimming; switching to natural and safe cosmetics, skin care, personal care, and household cleaning products; and cooking mostly from scratch with as many organic and all-natural foods as possible.
Since making these changes, I have lost weight, I get sick much less than I used to, and my skin looks better than ever.
So stay tuned to learn more about holistic healing practices.? I will write about homeopathy, naturopathy, energy healing modalities like Reiki, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, Herbalism, and more.? Don’t worry, I won’t bombard you with it all at once because it is a lot of information.??
In the meantime though, check out the book The Illustrated Book of Body/Mind Disciplines, written by Susan Walter and edited by Nancy Allison, CMA.? You can read an excerpt about holistic health here, and it is available from many sellers on amazon.com.
