Chinese Medicine: A holistic perspective on health and illness which treats the relationship of a symptom to the person as a whole. Traditional Chinese medicine encompasses a vast range of therapies including acupuncture, herbs, bodywork, exercise and diet.

(See also: Chinese 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)

Holistic medicine: A treatment approach that considers the person as an integrated whole—body, mind and soul. Thus optimum health involves all three elements and their care.

(See also: Holistic medicine, Alternative Health, 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)

Ayurvedic medicine: A part of the East Indian system of healing that includes yoga, Ayurvedic tradition treats illness as an imbalance among the body’s systems. This practice addresses an individual’s unique constitution using nutrition counseling, herbal therapies, rubbing oils, massage, meditation, yoga and lifestyle changes.

(See also: Ayurvedic 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)

HERBAL MEDICINE: Herbal medicine, sometimes referred to as Herbalism or Botanical medicine, is the use of herbs, in a wide variety of forms, for their therapeutic value.

An herb is a plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, savory, or aromatic qualities. Herb plants produce and contain a variety of chemical substances that act upon the body.

(See also: Herbal 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)

OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE: Osteopathic medicine is very similar to chiropractic, with one important exception.

Osteopaths focus more on the health on arteries because they believe that when blood and lymphatics flow freely, the tissues can perform their physiological functions without restriction. When an individual suffers emotional or physical trauma, the tissues often contract, obstructing the fluid flow. Manipulation restores fluid flow throughout the impaired tissues and egenerates the body's inherent healing powers.

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

TIBETAN MEDICINE: Tibet has long been renown throughout Asia as a land of medicines. It's medical tradition is a vast science with fully-elaborated notions of the bases of health and sickness, a simple but exceptionally efficient system of diagnosis and a very full range of treatments based on diet, lifestyle, medication, and external treatments. Tibet's pharmacopoeia was particularly rich.

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

ENERGY MEDICINE: Energy medicine uses diagnostic screening devices to measure the various electromagnetic frequencies emitted by the body in order to detect imbalances that may be causing present illness, or contributing to future disease.

These disturbed energy flows can then be returned to their normal, healthy stage through the input of electromagnetic signals that specifically counteract the affected frequencies to restore a normal energy balance within the body.

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

ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE: Environmental medicine explores the role of dietary and environmental allergens in health and illness.

Factors such as dust, molds, chemicals, and certain foods may cause allergic reactions that can dramatically influence diseases ranging from asthma and hay fever to headaches and depression. Virtually any chronic physical or mental illness may be improved by the care of a physician competent in this field.

(See also: Environmental 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)

MIND BODY MEDICINE: Mood, attitude, and belief can affect virtually every chronic illness: fear, cynicism, as well as a sense of hopelessness and helplessness, can have a detrimental effect on health; whereas courage, good humor, a sense of control and hopefulness can all be beneficial.

Optimistic people are less likely to become ill and, when they do become ill, tend to live longer and suffer less. Studies at Yale and Rutgers Universities by Ellen Idler, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology at Rutgers, and Stanislav Kasl Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology at Yale, indicate that the opinion of one's health status--how well one thinks one is--may be the best predictor of well-being and future health.

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

CHINESE (ORIENTAL) MEDICINE: Oriental medical practitioners are trained to use a variety of ancient and modern therapeutic methods--including acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage, heat therapy, and nutritional and lifestyle counseling--to treat a broad range of both chronic and acute illnesses.

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

BodyTalk- BodyTalk is a form of therapy that allows the body’s energy systems to be re-synchronized so that they can operate as nature intended. Our energy systems become out of balance primarily through exposure to the stresses of day to day life. Re-synchronizing them enables the body’s mechanisms to function at optimal levels thus preventing disease and rapidly accelerating the healing process.

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

Breathwork: A general term used to describe directed breathing patterns that take breath to a deeper level, thus improving one’s physical health as well as one’s mental and emotional state of being. Breathwork is an integral part of many types of spiritual/healing practices such as yoga, chi gong, and meditation.

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

Breema: A traditional form of energy-balancing bodywork, unique in its focus on the practitioner instead of the client. Breema Bodywork uses non-efforting leans, holds, stretches, and brushes to simultaneously calm and vitalize the mind, body, and emotions of both “practitioner” and “recipient.”

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

Chiropractic: Modern chiropractors, following principles first developed by Daniel David Palmer (1845-1913), seek to improve general health by using forceful and/or gentle touch and movement to adjust the spinal vertebrae to their normal position. Licensed in all 50 states, chiropractic doctors make up the largest single group of alternative medicine practitioners in the United States.

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

Coaching: Instruction and direction provided by an experienced professional in a particular area/discipline: i.e., health, weight, business, spirituality, motivation.

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

Acupressure: A “finger pressure” massage therapy in which the thumbs and fingertips apply pressure on areas along the acupuncture meridians.

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