The Basics Of Holistic Healing
Holistic healing encompasses all aspects of alternative healing and natural medicine that aren't "mainstream." What we mean by mainstream is that the holistic healing practice is not a recognized aspect of standard western medicine. Holistic healing includes things like acupuncture, herbalism, massage therapy, homeopathy, nutritional supplements, chiropractics, reflexology and other types of alternative healing. People often turn to holistic healing when standard western medicine has failed to alleviate their suffering.
The basic philosophy behind holistic healing is that holistic healing practices intend to address and eliminate core problems for a patient's long term well being rather than relieving temporary symptoms for temporary relief. Temporary symptoms are manifestations of deep-rooted issues and curing the symptom does not cure the deep rooted cause. Therefore, many holistic healing practitioners believe that the drug-heavy remedies of western medicine are doing patients more harm than good.
For example, if a patient complains of recurring headaches and things like the need for vision correction or more serious issues like brain tumors have been ruled out, the traditional western medicine approach would likely be to prescribe painkillers that the patient could take for temporary relief of the headache whenever one was experienced. However, in the holistic healing practice of chiropractics, the belief is that the headaches are the result of a misalignment of the spine, and if the holistic healing practitioner (in this case, the chiropractor) and the patient work over time toward realigning the spine and keeping it aligned, the headaches will disappear.
If patients are interested in exploring holistic healing as an alternative to traditional western medicine, they should first be aware that holistic healing is not a quick fix. Rather, holistic healing is a long term approach to alternative health and can take many months before results start to become evident. Holistic healing must become a part of one's permanent health regimen to maintain results over time, it must become part of a person's lifestyle and mindset. Holistic healing believes that how a person thinks and feels inside about their life and their environment has as much of an effect on their physical health and mental well-being as their nutrition and exercise.
Unfortunately, many holistic healing practices are not recognized treatments by workplace health benefits programs or health insurance and therefore payment for holistic healing treatments will very likely fall to the individual patient, which can make them an unrealistic option for many people.