radionic therapy (radionic healing, radionic treatment; called radio therapy in the 1930s): Variation of absent healing that involves using a radionic treatment instrument. Its principle is that disease is a deviation from the body's archetypal blueprint, which is perfect.

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

bleeding manipulation (bloodletting therapy): Component of Chinese auricular therapy that is a form of acupoint bloodletting.

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

Seicho-No-Ie (SNI): Supradenominational truth movement founded in 1930 in Japan by Dr. Masaharu Taniguchi (b. 1893), author of The Role of Mind in Cancer (1965) and The Truth of Life, a series of twenty books. Spiritual healing is a major component of Seicho-No-Ie, which combines Christianity and Buddhism.

In a nutshell, the principle of Seicho-No-Ie healing is that illness does not exist in Reality (the true spiritual world at the core of the phenomenal world) and that it is a false appearance. Seicho-No-Ie literally means House of Growth.

(See also: Seicho-No-Ie , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

urine therapy (amaroli, auto-urine-therapy, shivambu kalpa, uropathy): Subject of The Water of Life (1937), by English urine therapist John W. Armstrong, The Golden Fountain: The Complete Guide to Urine Therapy (Scottsdale, Ariz.: TriMedica Inc., 1996), by Coen van der Kroon, and many other books.

Urine therapy refers to any method for maintaining or improving health characterized by the external or internal application of an individual's urine to that individual. Forms of urine therapy include applying urine to the skin (e.g., by massage or clay packs), ingesting it, injecting it (e.g., urine enemas), and snuffing it. Some proponents describe human urine as a divine nectar, a nectar of immortality, or a God-given panacea.

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

acupoint bloodletting: Form of bloodletting characterized by puncturing acupoints with needles. Its common usage has various purposes, including activation of blood, clearance of channels (meridians), and reduction of hotness.

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

Spiritual Beauty Care: Subject of a paperback of the same name, by Jacqueline Sinnige. Spiritual Beauty Care either constitutes or is a part of alternative beauty care. Its purpose is to restore the balance of bodily energies.

(See also: Spiritual Beauty Care , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Santeria (Santerismo): Subject of the 1987 occult thriller The Believers. Santeria is a combination of folk Catholicism and Yoruba (an African religion). The word Santeria literally means the worship of saints. Believers visit Santerian spiritual healers for medical help (e.g., to cure cancer).

All Santerian priests and priestesses are herbalists. Most of the plants they use serve both as remedies and as magical ingredients.

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

Kalaripayat: Form of Marma Chikitsa promoted by Joseph Kurian (see marma science). It eliminates toxins, overpowers blocks, and restores full circulation.

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

color therapy (chromopathy, chromotherapy, color healing): Method whose principle is that colors - e.g., of light, food, and clothing - have wide-ranging curative effects. , cures result from correction of color imbalances. Color therapy often is a form of chakra healing.

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

panchakarma (Pancha Karma therapy, rejuvenation therapy, Ayurveda): Ayurvedic group of five purificatory steps or elimination therapies. Panchakarma comprises:

(a)  emesis therapy (therapeutic vomiting);

(b)  purgation therapy - evacuation of the bowels with a laxative;

(c)  errhine therapy (nasal insufflation therapy) - intranasal application of decongestants such as medicated oils, powdered herbs, and ghee (fat derived from butter of cow or buffalo origin);

(d)  oily enema therapy; and

(e)  decoction (watery) enema therapy. Some Ayurvedists regard the two types of enema therapy as one step and bloodletting therapy (Raktamoksha) as the fifth.

See: Ayurveda

(See also: Panchakarma , 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)

acupuncture anesthesia (acupuncture analgesia, acupuncture assisted anesthesia, anesthetic acupuncture): Use of acupuncture to relieve pain during surgery wherein the patient is conscious, either in conjunction with or instead of analgesics or chemical anesthetics. It was introduced in 1958 in the People's Republic of China.

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

Vacuflex (Vacuflex Reflexology System, VRS): Variation of Foot Reflexology developed by Inge Dougans, a Danish reflexologist, in the 1970s. Its theory posits the meridians of Oriental medicine. The first stage of treatment involves wearing felt boots.

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

Acuscope therapy (Electro-Acuscope therapy): Form of energy medicine (vibrational medicine) that speeds healing of virtually any injury. Its centerpiece is the Acuscope (also called the Electro-Acuscope), a computerized device that balances the body's electrical current.

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

61-points relaxation exercise (61-points exercise, 61-points, shavayatra): Meditative mode of exercise whereby one travels mentally throughout one's body while one is supine and corpselike. Shavayatra means traveling through the corpse. The 61 points are specific parts of the body. , the exercise affects one's pranic field and eliminates muscular tension.

(See also: 61-points relaxation exercise , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Fit for Life program: Variation of the dietetic component of Natural Hygiene developed by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. On page 120 of Fit for Life (1987), Harvey Diamond stated that every bodily cell possesses its own intelligence, and that the body effects whatever the conscious desires.

(See also: Fit for Life program , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

magnet therapy (biomagnetics, biomagnetic therapeutics, biomagnetic therapy, biomagnetism, Electro-Biomagnetics, electro-biomagnetics therapy, magnetic energy therapy, magnetic field therapy, magnetic healing, magnetics, magnetic therapies, magnetic therapy, magnetotherapy, magnotherapy): Variation of self-healing based on natural laws. Magnet therapy reestablishes order in the human energy system.

Its theory posits life energy and meridians and depicts magnets as sources of nature's healing energy. Some proponents equate magnetic energy, energy, life force, chi, and prana.

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

radionic diagnosis (radionic analysis, radionic analysis technique, radionic diagnostic work): Form of remote diagnosis that involves using a radionic diagnostic instrument. The basic modes of radionic diagnosis are the stick pad technique and a variation of telediagnosis.

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

Polarity energy balancing massage: System based on the work of Randolph Stone (see Polarity Therapy). It has four branches: (1) energy balancing bodywork technique, (2) Polarity Yoga, (3) diet, and (4) body/mind/spiritual psychology.

(See also: Polarity energy balancing massage , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Baguazhang (circle walking, circle walking method, circle walking technique, Pa Kua Chang, Pa Kua Zhang, Taoist Circular Motion of Meditation and Tendon Changing, Taoist circular walking practice): Art developed by Dong Hai-Chuan, a Chinese, during the mid-1800s. It boils down to walking in a circle but encompasses at least a dozen stepping techniques, such as the chicken step, the elephant step, the snake step, and the mud walking step. it can improve cultivation of chi and conduces to uniting man, heaven, and earth.

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

LooyenWork: Approach to body therapy that involves body reading and movement re-education and can increase the flow of clients' energy.

Body reading is a sophisticated form of observation that enables practitioners to reach the root of the client's problem.

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

Taiji Wuxigong: A form of Qigong. It is a group of exercises whose focus is the opening of the body's (alleged) middle (energy) channel. , steady practice of these exercises can conduce to an improvement of health, an increase in mental stability, restoration of vitality, and possible activation of certain latent abilities.

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