Vietnamese traditional medicine (Vietnamese medicine): Syncretic medical tradition of Vietnam. It includes acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, and scarification.

(See also: Vietnamese traditional medicine , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Alternative medicine: This term was originally coined to describe health care approaches not taught in medical schools. It has been replaced with “complementary medicine” since Americans rarely use these approaches to the exclusion of Western, conventional medicine. Integrative medicine refers to the proactive, deliberate combination of conventional and complementary therapies.

(See also: Alternative medicine , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

body oriented emotional release psychotherapy (Neo-Reichian emotional release work): Method promoted by Dee Cassella. Its theory posits blocked sexual energy and holds that one reclaims one's natural 'SELF' as one:

(a)           releases anger, fear, and sadness, and

(b)          grieves over the loss of one's inner child.

(See also: Body oriented emotional release psychotherapy , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

EnLighten Systems of stress management (EnLighten Systems, EnLighten): Variation of Bach flower therapy. EnLighten is a natural homeopathic system of liquid Traditional Flower Remedies that bypasses physical causes and targets emotions affected by stressful situations. It includes: (a) the EnLighten Habit Modification System; (b) the EnLighten System for Animals (also called the EnLighten for Animals healing system and the EnLighten for Animals system), which improves the disposition of pets; (c) the EnLighten System for Children with Learning Difficulties; (d) the EnLighten System for Teenagers; and (e) the EnLighten Weight Management System.

(See also: EnLighten Systems of stress management , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

creative visualization: Subject of the bestseller of the same name, written by Shakti Gawain in 1978.

In creative visualization, one clearly imagines whatever one wants to manifest (see manifesting); then one gives the idea, image, or feeling positive energy, by focusing on it regularly, until it becomes reality. Creative visualization's theory posits a spiritual source: a supply of infinite energy, love, and wisdom discoverable in the inner beings of humans.

Expressions for methods identical or similar to creative visualization include: active imagination, creative imaging, directed day-dream, directed waking dream, dynamic imaging, guided fantasy, guided imagery, guided visualization, imagery, imaginal medicine, imaging, initiated symbol projection, inner guide meditation, led meditation, magickal visualization, mental imagery, pathworking, Positive Imaging, positive thinking, positive visualization, visualization, visualization therapy, waking dream therapy, and willed imagination.

For example, willed imagination, also called creative visualization, is the magickal art of imagining the result one desires of one's magick (the word for Wiccan magic) in order to achieve that result.

(See also: Creative visualization , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Jungian psychology (Analytical Psychology): System of psychoanalysis founded by psychiatrist and reincarnationist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), of Zurich, Switzerland.

Jungian psychology theory posits a collective unconscious, synchronicity, and life energy (libidinal energy, the primal energy). Jung held that studying the collective racial unconscious could enhance understanding of the individual unconscious.

(See also: Jungian psychology , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

etheric touch: manual means of directing human and spiritual energies to initiate and boost self-healing. It is a form of chakra healing and channeling whose principle is that, through the hands, one can:

(a)           sense imbalances in the subtle energy fields of an individual; and

(b)           project healing vibrations (universal energy), which are augmentable with divine force. It does not require touch.

(See also: Etheric touch , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

transformation-oriented bodywork (transformational bodywork): Combination of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual processes related to energetic balancing (see energy balancing), psychotherapy, spiritual counseling, and touch therapy. Transformation-oriented bodywork descends from bioenergetics, massage, the personal/spiritual growth movement, and Reichian Therapy. its fundamental principles include the following. (a) Constricted muscles block energy in the body. (b) Constriction shows up as pettiness. (c) The Highest Ideal lies in the realm of Divinity, the Source of both life and meaning for humans and the earth.

(See also: Transformation-oriented bodywork , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Body mind Centering (Bodymind Centering technique): Form of meditation developed by married couple Gay Hendricks, Ph.D., a university professor, and Kathlyn Hendricks, Ph.D., a dance therapist. In Radiance! Breathwork, Movement and Body-Centered Psychotherapy (Wingbow Press, 1991), they defined it as a precise, step-by-step technique for solving life problems through contact with the Inner Self. They defined Inner Self as the part of us that knows how we really feel. Bodymind Centering reconnects the Inner Self and the Outer Self.

(See also: Bodymind Centering , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

visceral meridian manipulation technique (VMM): Life enhancing tool that combines classic organ manipulation, kinesiology (see above), and meridian therapy.

(See also: Visceral meridian manipulation technique , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

auriculotherapy (auricular acupuncture, auricular therapy, ear acupuncture): Form of homuncular acupuncture developed by Dr. P.F.M. Nogier of France. Its theory depicts the auricle (the outer portion of the ear) as an upside-down fetus with points that correspond to bodily parts. Such points number more than two hundred. Ostensible diagnosis involves examining the ear for tenderness or for variations in electrical conductivity. Treatment consists in the acupuncturing or electrical stimulation of the auricular acupoint that corresponds to the anatomical site of the malady.

(See also: Auriculotherapy , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

2005-04-23

pneumo-acupuncture: Technique described in ancient Chinese literature. It involves injecting air under the skin.

(See also: Pneumo-acupuncture , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

mucusless diet: Centerpiece of Ehretism. The mucusless diet consists of all green vegetables and all fruit. In an essay titled My Mucusless Diet and Naturopathy, Ehret held that internal impurity (mucus) was the only disease, and that unusable food elements, mainly from mucus-forming foods, caused it.

Mucus-forming foods, according to one of Ehret's articles, include dairy products, eggs, fats, meat, and all starchy foods. In one of the 25 lessons that constitute the text of Mucusless Diet Healing System, Ehret, citing Genesis, called fruits and starchless greenleaf vegetables the natural food of man (see: Bentonite Clay)

(See also: Mucusless diet , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

iridology (eye analysis, iridiagnosis, irido-diagnosis, iris diagnosis): Ostensibly diagnostic system whose principle is that every bodily organ corresponds to a location on the iris (the colored portion of the eye surrounding the pupil). According to iridology theory, the iris serves as a map of the body and gives warning signs of physical, mental, and spiritual problems. Proponents ascribe modern iridology to Hungarian physician Ignatz von Peczely (1826-1911), author of The Discovery in Natural History and Medical Science, a Guide to the Study and Diagnosis from the Eye (1881). , von Peczely discovered the iris-body connection in his childhood, when he broke the leg of an owl and a black stripe spontaneously appeared on the owl's iris. Probably the leading proponent of iridology in the United States is author and nutritionist J. Bernard Jensen, D.C., Ph.D.

(See also: Iridology , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Taoist five element nutrition (Taoist healing diet): Component of the Healing Tao System. It is a system of food combining based on astrology and the Chinese theory of the Five Elements.

(See also: Taoist five element nutrition , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Paneurhythmy: sacred circle dance created by Beinsa Douno, a Bulgarian mystic of the early twentieth century.

It has individual and universal healing properties and nourishes the auric field.

According to proponents, the word paneurhythmy is partially interpretable as cosmic core or cosmic essence.

(See also: Paneurhythmy , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

channeling (mediumship): transmission of information or energy from a nonphysical source through humans. These persons - called channels, channelers, or mediums - are sometimes in an apparent trance during the communication.

Sources include angels, discarnate former humans, extraterrestrials, and other levels of consciousness.

(See also: Channelling - Mediumship , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

twelve stages of healing: extraordinary approach to healing physical, mental, and spiritual ills. Its developer, Donald M. Epstein, founded Network Spinal Analysis. His theory posits twelve stages of consciousness common to all humanity.

Nearly all of Epstein's stages involve:

(a)   yoga- or Qigong-like exercises, and

(b)  ) declarations.

For example, the first stage (Suffering) involves declaring: Right now, I am helpless and Nothing works at this time. In The Twelve Stages of Healing: A Network Approach to Wholeness (1994), Epstein states: The most appropriate response to Suffering is to stop thinking about its causes. The seventh stage involves declaring: Oooh, Ahhh, and Whooosh. The ninth stage involves declaring, I experience my vital force; and the eleventh stage, May it be on Earth as it is in Heaven.

(See also: Twelve stages of healing , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

kundalini (ahamkara, kundalini shakti): elemental, feminine energy that is ordinarily asleep and coiled at the human coccyx and whose activation can purify the activator. The word kundalini stems from a Sanskrit term meaning circular, coiled.

kundalini yoga (Shakti Yoga, tantra yoga): A means of activating kundalini. , when kundalini is awake, it enriches human lives emotionally, intellectually, physically, and spiritually. Moreover, its arousal contributes to the cure of many intractable diseases. Kundalini yoga includes bhuta shuddhi.

(See also: Kundalini shakti , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

chi (ki) energy flow: Treatment invented by Masato Nakagawa, Ph.D., the founder of Shinkiko. It relieves discomfort and pain by improving energy flow. the names chi (ki) energy flow and true ki energy flow (see Shinkiko) are synonymous.

(See also: Chi (Ki, Qi) energy flow , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Focusing (Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy, Focusing-Oriented Therapy, Focusing Process, Focusing Therapy): Natural stepwise system of personal growth based on the work of psychology professor Eugene (Gene) T. Gendlin, Ph.D., author of Focusing (1981), Let the Body Interpret Your Dreams (1986), and Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy: A Manual of the Experimental Method (Guilford Publications, Inc., 1996).

Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy involves dreamwork and inner child work. The effects of Focusing include: direct contact with the wisdom of one's body (prenatal bodily meaning), which is palpable; the flowing of life's energy in new ways of being; discovery of one's genuine self; and an increase in personal whole[ness].

(See also: Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)