Kum Nye (Kum Nye relaxation, Kum Nye relaxation system of self healing): Holistic mode of self-healing developed by Tarthang Tulku and based on Tibetan medicine and Buddhist mind-body disciplines. It involves breathing exercises, self-massage, slow movements, and visualization. Its theory posits energy centers (e.g., the head center and the heart center) and energy blockages (e.g., sexual blockages). Practicing Kum Nye vitalizes the senses and conduces to alertness and limberness.

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

Dr. Andrew Weil

A medical doctor who helped popularize alternative medicine or holistic health in his books and lectures. He currently operates a clinic in Tucson.

(See also: Dr. Andrew Weil, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Herbalism/Herbal Medicine: The use of plants to treat disease can be found in every known human culture and period of history. Today, many holistic practitioners, ranging from acupuncturists to medical doctors to naturopathic physicians, benefit from an explosion of new knowledge and research into the effects of whole plants and botanical extracts on the human body. From St. John's Wort to treat depression to new scientific research from Germany on silymarin's effect on the liver, Western herbalism is entering a new period of intensive activity, interest and growth.

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

Homeopathy: Based on the hypothesis of “like cures like” and a deep emphasis on the principles of holistic medicine (treat the whole person). Homeopathic remedies work by stimulating the body’s own healing power by introducing tiny doses of natural substances that should stimulate a person’s immune system and defense system to correct itself naturally.

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

HERBOLOGY

Also known as HERBALISM, is found in practically all the ancient cultures throughout the world, and utilizes plants and trees, and their derivatives for preventative and curative medicine.

It is recognized that herbs constitute the oldest form of healing therapy that we know of. The Whole Herb retains the subtler ingredients and energies necessary to balance the active elements, while transporting the balanced substances into the body, which can be a healing catalyst so effectively.

Herbs are prepared for internal and external use in various ways, including teas, tinctures, extracts, oils, ointments and compresses. Herbal therapy is used to strengthen the immune system, and heal the body naturally.

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

Healtheology: One of the fields of study offered by the American Institute of Holistic Theology, a correspondence school in Youngstown, Ohio. The institute defines Healtheology as a theological science of health, a concept that health and theology have a common ground.

Healtheology encompasses acupressure, angelic healing, aromatherapy, Ayurveda, breathwork, color therapy, crystal healing, herbalism, homeopathy, hypnosis, music therapy, polarity healing (polarity balancing), psychic healing, reflexology, shamanism, shiatsu, Therapeutic Prayer, transpersonal psychology, vibrational healing (vibrational medicine), and yoga. Its theory posits a soul with a threefold purpose: to experience, learn, and express itself. Practitioners are called Healtheologists.

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

Bach Flower Remedies

Flower Remedies were created to address emotional problems. They are a holistic form of medicine that treat the person rather than the disease. Developed during the 1930's by Dr Edward Bach, there are thirty eight different remedies that are given according to a person's personality type. The energy of the plants is captured in water and applied directly onto the tongue or in a liquid carrier including water, tea or coffee.

(See also: Bach Flower Remedies, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

MYOSKELETAL ALIGNMENT TECHNIQUE

A holistic approach to relief of back and neck pain based on concepts and principles from Rolfing, osteopathy, and related physical medicine.

Focused on detecting and correcting strain patterns to prevent back/neck pain, this technique combines deep-tissue work with assisted stretching and non-force spinal alignment.

(See also: MYOSKELETAL ALIGNMENT TECHNIQUE, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

Homeopathy: Based on the hypothesis of "like cures like" and a deep emphasis on the principles of holistic medicine (treat the whole person), homeopathy first flourished in North America and Europe during the mid-19th century, when many physicians believed it to be an effective treatment for cholera. Homeopathic remedies work by stimulating the body’s own healing power by introducing tiny doses of natural substances that should trigger a person’s body to correct itself naturally. Extremely popular throughout the world today, naturopathic physicians and other trained homeopaths have led a resurgence of this therapy in the United States in the last decade.

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

Applied kinesiology , Applied kinesiology ,  :

The study of muscles and the movement of the human body. In holistic medicine it is the balance of movement and the interaction of a person's energy systems. Applied kinesiology is the name given by its inventor, Dr. George Goodheart, to the system of applying muscle testing diagnostically and therapeutically to different aspects of health care. (Thorsons Introductory Guide to Kinesiology, 1992, p13)

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

RELAXATION

A wide variety of complementary therapies claim to improve health by producing relaxation. Some therapists use the relaxed state as a means of promoting psychological change. Other therapies incorporate movement, stretches, and breathing exercises. Relaxation and "stress management" are found to a certain extent within conventional medicine. They generally overlap with other, more clearly complementary, therapies. Relaxation therapy is appropriate for any ill child who is able to follow verbal directions. It is much easier to relax when provided with specific steps rather than just being told to "relax."

One of the most simple and easily learned techniques for relaxation is Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR), a widely used technique that was developed by Jacobson in 1939. One learns to relax the muscles through a two-step process. First, one deliberately applies tension to certain muscle groups, and then stops the tension and focuses on how the muscles relax as the tension flows away.

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

HOMEOPATHY

Discovered and developed more than 150 years ago by a German physician named Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, who became disenchanted with the medical status quo of his time, and sought alternative methods of healing.

He discovered that when introducing a medicine, which produced the same symptoms of the illness, the disease disappeared. Thus was born the concept of the Law of Similars, when “like cures like.” Homeopathy utilizes minute doses of natural remedies that are created from herbal, mineral and animal substances. The substance is diluted with a lactose base or similar, and the dilution process is called “trituration.” The potency depends upon the number of times the substance has been triturated, and strange as it may seem, the more it is diluted, the more potent it becomes. Here we can see that the energy of the substance plays a significant role. The more subtle it becomes, the more powerful its effect.

Dr. Hahnemann discovered that illness or its symptoms are not to be suppressed, since they represent the body's efforts to repel disease. It has been learned that the suppression of symptoms leads to an exacerbation of the illness, while the rapid and gentle expression of symptoms leads to cure. It appears that Homeopathy has special licensing laws in Arizona, Connecticut and Nevada, but is widely practiced throughout Europe, and also in India. In London the Royal Homeopathic Hospital has been established for a long time, of which Prince Charles been a patron.

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

Energy: Therapeutic Touch

Therapeutic touch is a method that claims to assist the natural healing process by redirecting and rebalancing the energy fields within the body.

A practitioner places his or her hands on or close to the body of the patient and redistributes the patient's energy or transmits his or her own energy as appropriate. Stories of the use of touch as a healing method can be found in the Bible, in Greek mythology and Eastern philosophy, in Native American myths, and in the "royal touch" of the kings in medieval Europe. Therapeutic touch was developed and named in 1972 by Dolores Krieger, a nursing professor at New York University.

Therapeutic Touch (TT) is currently taught worldwide to anyone who is interested in learning the technique. As of 1998, an estimated 100,000 people around the world have been trained in Therapeutic Touch, 43,000 of those persons are health care professionals, many of whom use Therapeutic Touch in conjunction with traditional medicine, as well as osteopathic, chiropractic, naturopathic, and homeopathic therapies (The Gale Encyclopedia of Complementary Medicine). http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/g2603/0001/2603000124/p1/article.jhtml

(See also: Therapeutic Touch, Alternative Health, Holistic Health, Body Mind and Soul)

CHI KUNG (QI GONG)

Or “Energy Control,” dates back to over 4,000 years, and is the art of developing and utilizing universal energy that is necessary for good health, vitality, mind expansion and spiritual development. It is the sacred art of self-healing through the practice and experience of working and being the life force energy. There are many varieties and different forms of this powerful form of self-healing, and raising of consciousness, which are an integral part of Chinese medicine, even to this day. Being such an ancient practice, it was developed in the monasteries, and was a major contributor to a number of the martial arts of today. It is a means by which one can balance the Qi, or Chi, or Life Force Energy, within the body, mind and spirit, to attain and maintain good health, calmness, and raise consciousness. It can be seen as meditation in motion, using postures, physical movements, and breathing, all in a very gentle fashion. When the Qi is developed remarkable things happen. You only have to read about the Qi Gong Masters, of whom such a guiding light, is Yan Xin, and many others. Their abilities and healing attributes are phenomenal.

(See also: CHI KUNG, QI GONG, Alternative Health, Holistic Health, Body Mind and Soul)

New Age Medicine

See Holistic Health

(See also: New Age Medicine, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

New Age Medicine

See Holistic Health

(See also: New Age Medicine, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

HOLISTIC/WHOLISTIC: an adjective meaning targeted to the whole person - mind, body, and spirit. Wholistic medicine considers not only physical health but also the emotional, spiritual, social, and mental well-being of the person.

(See also: Holistic/wholistic, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

holistic optometry (holistic eye care): A form of optometry that encompasses acupuncture, biofeedback, bodywork, psychotherapy, and syntonics (a form of colored light therapy).

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

holistic dentistry (biological dentistry, holistic general dentistry): A form of general dentistry that may include acupuncture, biofeedback, CranioSacral Therapy, homeopathy, and/or kinesiology (see below). (See alternative dentistry.)

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

holistic reiki: Variation of Reiki founded by interfaith ministers Marla and Bill Abraham.

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

holistic gynecology: natural approach to women's health. It includes vitamin and herbal therapies and visualization (see creative visualization).

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

psychospiritual holistic healing: A form of psychotherapy that includes chakra healing, inner child therapy, meditation, and positive thinking.

(See also: Psychospiritual holistic healing, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)