A holistic approach to healing recognizes that the emotional, mental, spiritual and physical elements of each person comprise a system, and attempts to treat the whole person, concentrating on the cause of the illness as well as symptoms. This approach often focuses on traditional (i.e. non-allopathic) medicinal arts. Examples of such holistic therapies include Acupuncture, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, Indian Head Massage, Reiki, and Reflexology, to name just a few. S ...

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Holism, Holism - Holism in sociology, Holism - Responses to holism, Holism - Holism in science, Holism - Holistic healing

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holistic psychotherapy: Approach to psychotherapy promoted by Russian-born Reiki practitioner Katya Salkinder, M.A. it is a means of releasing energy blocks created by unresolved emotional conflicts.

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

Holistic Dentistry

Holistic dentistry treats the teeth, jaw, and related structures with special focus on how treatment will affect the entire body. It stresses the use of nontoxic restoration materials for dental work, and focuses on the impact that hidden dental infections and other dental problems can have on overall health.

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

TRADITIONAL HEALING: Any practice of holistic medicine in the tradition of a specific culture or tribe.

(See also: TRADITIONAL HEALING, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

TRADITIONAL HEALING: Any practice of holistic medicine in the tradition of a specific culture or tribe.

(See also: TRADITIONAL HEALING, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Body Centered Comprehensive Holistic Health Care: a form of health care that encompasses acupuncture, holistic gynecology, and holistic skin care.

(See also: Body Centered Comprehensive Holistic Health Care, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Holistic Palpate Energy Therapy: A form of aura balancing.

(See also: Holistic Palpate Energy Therapy, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Ayurveda is the oldest surviving complete medical system in the world. Derived from its ancient Sanskrit roots - ‘ayus' (life) and ‘ved' (knowledge) – and offering a rich, comprehensive outlook to a healthy life, its origins go back nearly 5000 years. To when it was expounded and practiced by the same spiritual rishis, who laid the foundations of the Vedic civilisation in India, by organising the fundamentals of life into proper systems.

The main source of knowledge in this field therefore remain the Vedas, the divine books of knowledge they propounded, and more specifically the fourth of the series, namely Atharvaveda that dates back to around 1000 BC. Of the few other treatises on Ayurveda that have survived from around the same time, the most famous are Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita which concentrate on internal medicine and surgery respectively. The Astanga Hridayam is a more concise compilation of earlier texts that was created about a thousand years ago. These between them forming a greater part of the knowledge base on Ayurveda as it is practiced today.

The art of Ayurveda had spread around in the 6th century BC to Tibet, China, Mongolia, Korea and Sri Lanka, carried over by the Buddhist monks travelling to those lands. Although not much of it survives in original form, its effects can be seen in the various new age concepts that have originated from there.

No philosophy has had greater influence on Ayurveda than Sankhaya’s philosophy of creation and manifestation. Which professes that behind all creation there is a state of pure existence or awareness, which is beyond time and space, has no beginning or end, and no qualities. Within pure existence, there arises a desire to experience itself, which results in disequilibrium and causes the manifestation of the primordial physical energy. And the two unite to make the "dance of creation" come alive.

Imponderable, indescribable and extremely subtle, this primordial energy – which and all that flows from it existing only in pure existence – is the creative force of all action, a source of form that has qualities. Matter and energy are so closely related that when energy takes form, we tend to think of it in terms of matter only. And much modified, it ultimately leads to the manifestation of our familiar mental and physical worlds.

It also gives rise to cosmic consciousness, which is the universal order that prevades all life. Individual intelligence, as distinct from the everyday intellectual mind, is derived from and is part of this consciousness. It is the inner wisdom, the part of individuality that remains unswayed by the demands of daily life, or by Ahamkara, the sense of `I-ness’.

A Sanskrit word with no exact translation, Ahamkara, is a concept not quite understood by everyone as it is often misleadingly equated to `ego’. Embracing much more than just that, it is in essence that part of ‘me’ which knows which parts of the universal creation are ‘me’. Since ‘I’ am not separate from the universal consciousness, but ‘I’ has an identity that differentiates and defines the boundaries of `me’. All creations therefore have Ahamkara, not just human beings.

There arises from Ahamkara a two-fold creation. The first is Satwa, the subjective world, which is able to perceive and manipulate matter. It comprises the subtle body (the mind), the capacity of the five sense organs to hear, feel, see, taste and smell, and for the five organs of action to speak, grasp, move, procreate and excrete. The mind and the subtle organs providing the bridge between the body, the Ahamkara and the inner wisdom, which three together is considered the essential nature of humans.

The second is Tamas, the objective world of the five elements of sound, touch, vision, taste and smell – the five subtle elements that give rise to the dense elements of ether or space, air, fire, water and the earth – from which all matter of the physical world is derived. And it is Rajas, the force or the energy of movement, which brings together parts of these two worlds.

It is worth noting that even at the stage of the dense elements the philosophy of creation –which according to Sankaya is now and in the present, without any past and any future – is still dealing with aspects of existence beyond our simple physical realms. The point of contention being that we are the first and foremost spirit experiencing existence. To use Ayurveda in daily life, one has neither to accept nor even understand this philosophy. But it does provide a deeper insight into how Ayurveda works towards betterment of your health.

Ayurveda therefore is not simply a health care system but a form of lifestyle adopted to maintain perfect balance and harmony within the human existence, from the most abstract transcendental values to the most concrete physiological expressions. Based on the premise that life represents an intelligent co-ordination of the Atma (Soul), Mana (Mind), Indriya (Senses) and Sharira (Body). That revolves around the five dense elements that go into the making of the constitution of each individual, called Prakriti. Which in turn is determined by the vital balance of the three physical energies - Vata, Pitta, Kapha and the three mental energies - Satwa, Rajas,

Ayurveda thus offers a unique blend of science and philosophy that balances the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual components necessary for holistic health.

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

AYURVEDIC MEDICINE

practiced in India for over 5,000 years. Ayurvedic tradition holds that illness is a state of imbalance among the body’s systems and can be detected through such diagnostic procedures as reading the pulse and observing the tongue. Nutritional counseling, massage, natural medications, meditation and other modalities are used to address a spectrum of ailments, from allergies to AIDS.

(See also: AYURVEDIC MEDICINE, Alternative Health, Healing, Body Mind and Soul)

Holistic Spa: Spas focusing on alternative healing methods and nutrition, mainly vegetarian or macrobiotic holistic healing seeks "high level of wellness" integrating body and mind in a higher consciousness.

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

Dr. Lynch's Holistic Self-Health Program: Variation of self-healing developed by James P.B. Lynch, D.C. The primary tool of this program and lifestyle is the Holistic Triangle or Holistic triad, a philosophy that consists of:

(a)           a physical side, which encompasses acupressure, acupuncture, shiatsu, and chiropractic;

(b)          a chemical side, which encompasses food combining, herbalism, homeopathy, macrobiotics, scientific fasting, and vitamin therapy; and (

(c)           a mental/spiritual base, which encompasses biofeedback and self hypnosis.

(See also: Dr. Lynch's Holistic Self-Health Program, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Holistic Health: A philosophy of well-being that considers the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of life as closely interconnected and balanced.

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

Vibrational Medicine/Energy Medicine:

Catalyst, harmonizer. Modalities of healing that facilitate the re-balancing of  imbalances in the energetic fields in the body.

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

Traditional Chinese Medicine:

Traditional Chinese Medicine is a complete system of healing that dates back to 200 B.C. in written form. Korea, Japan, and Vietnam have all developed their own unique versions of traditional medicine based on practices originating in China. In the Traditional Chinese Medicine view, the body is a delicate balance of two opposing and inseparable forces: yin and yang. Yin represents the cold, slow, or passive principle, while yang represents the hot, excited, or active principle. Among the major assumptions in Traditional Chinese Medicine are that health is achieved by maintaining the body in a “balanced state” and that disease is due to an internal imbalance of yin and yang. This imbalance leads to blockage in the flow of qi (or vital energy) and of blood along pathways known as meridians. Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners typically use herbs, acupuncture, and massage to help unblock qi and blood in patients in an attempt to bring the body back into harmony and wellness.

Treatments in Traditional Chinese Medicine are typically tailored to the subtle patterns of disharmony in each patient and are based on an individualized diagnosis. The diagnostic tools differ from those of conventional medicine.

There are three main therapeutic modalities:

1. Acupuncture and moxibustion (moxibustion is the application of heat from the burning of the herb moxa at the acupuncture point)

2. Chinese Materia Medica (the catalogue of natural products used in Traditional Chinese Medicine)

3. Massage and manipulation

Although Traditional Chinese Medicine proposes that natural products catalogued in Chinese Materia Medica or acupuncture can be used alone to treat virtually any illness, quite often they are used together and sometimes in combination with other modalities (e.g., massage, moxibustion, diet changes, or exercise).

(See also: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Traditional Chinese Medicine: An ancient healing system that views the body as an integrated whole, so problems in one area are seen to affect other areas. It bases diagnosis on an individual’s pattern of symptoms and signs such as pulse, and skin and tongue condition. Therapies like acupuncture and herbal remedies are used to rebalance the forces within the body.

(See also: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Energy Medicine:

Energetic medicine as defined within the mind/body/spirit model, involves therapies that affect energy fields that defy measurement. These therapies are based on the oncept that human beings are infused with a subtle form of energy. This vital energy or life force is known under different names in different cultures, such as qi in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), ki in the Japanese Kampo system, doshas in Ayurvedic medicine, and elsewhere as prana, etheric energy, fohat, orgone, odic force, mana, and homeopathic resonance. Vital energy is believed to flow throughout the material human body, but it has not been unequivocally measured by means of conventional instrumentation. Nonetheless, therapists claim that they can work with this subtle energy, see it with their own eyes, and use it to effect changes in the physical body and influence health.

Practitioners of energy medicine believe that illness results from disturbances of these subtle energies (the biofield). For example, more than 2,000 years ago, Asian practitioners postulated that the flow and balance of life energies are necessary for maintaining health and described tools to restore them. Herbal medicine, acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, and cupping, for example, are all believed to act by correcting imbalances in the internal biofield, such as by restoring the flow of qi through meridians to reinstate health. Some therapists are believed to emit or transmit the vital energy (external qi) to a recipient to restore health.

Examples of practices involving putative energy fields include:

• Reiki and Johrei, both of Japanese origin

• Qi gong, a Chinese practice

Healing touch, in which the therapist is purported to identify imbalances and correct a client’s energy by passing his or her hands over the patient

Prayer specifically for health purposes – such as intercessory prayer, in which a person intercedes through prayer on behalf of another.

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

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)

Complementary medicine: Various “alternative” practices such as meditation, homeopathy, massage, etc., that are not usually considered part of traditional Western medicine. They are most often used in conjunction with (“complementing”) conventional treatments such as surgery and drugs. This approach also focuses on developing a strong relationship of trust and care between patient and caregiver. Integrative medicine is the combination of conventional and complementary medicine.

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

Mind/Body/Spirit Medicine:

Mind-body medicine (also referred to as psychoneuroimmunology-PNI) focuses on the interactions among the brain, mind, body, and behavior, and the powerful ways in which emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors can directly affect health. It regards as fundamental an approach that respects and enhances each person’s capacity for self-knowledge and self-care, and it emphasizes techniques that are grounded in this approach.

Mind-body medicine typically focuses on intervention strategies that are thought to promote health, such as relaxation, hypnosis, visual imagery, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, tai chi, qi gong, cognitive-behavioral therapies, group support, spirituality, and prayer. The philosophy of mind/body medicine views illness as an opportunity for personal growth and transformation, and health care providers as catalysts and guides in this process.

(See also: Mind/Body/Spirit Medicine, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

AYURVEDIC MEDICINE: Ayurvedic medicine stresses a holistic approach to health.

It defines disease as the result of climatic extremes, bacterial attack, nutritional deviance, and stress, as well as other forms of emotional imbalance. Optimal health is achieved by cultivating mental and physical habits that are conductive to physical and spiritual well-being, and treatment often includes hatha yoga, diet, and the development of positive attitude.

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

ALLOPATHIC MEDICINE

Known as conventional medicine, allopathy is a medical approach which seeks to cure by producing a condition in the body different than, or opposite to, the condition that exists within the diseased state.

(See also: ALLOPATHIC MEDICINE, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

Integrative medicine: Combines conventional Western medicine, which primarily investigates and treats physical symptoms, with complementary practices, which also include the inner healing processes of mind and spirit. Treatment plans offer personalized approaches, e.g. combining surgery and medications with imagery, nutritional supplements and lifestyle counseling.

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