Why the Holistic Approach to Healing?
What if I told you the pain you feel in your lower back may not be related to an injury established in your lower back at all? Rather, it is due to a misalignment in your jaw because your neck muscles are not firing correctly perhaps because you are stressed and your body has designated that emotion (energy in motion) of stress to your neck.
So, the linear effect results in this: stress —> neck weakness —> jaw overcompensation —> applies pressure on the skull —> pain travels down the spinal cord —> pain harbors in the low back.
What an insane phenomenon that occurs in your body based on one factor of a feeling. Many people do not know the ways our body reacts and acts according to how we feel, or other factors in our external environment. That is the whole idea of looking at the human as the whole human, and how since everything is interconnected, the many ways our body’s can become out of balance.
Holistic medicine does not focus on the one symptom at play, but the whole system. In the case of the back pain, if practitioners only looked at the symptom of “back pain” they would not have been able to determine the overlying cause of “stress” as the antagonist.
An easy way to visualize this phenomenon is to envision someone in your mind right now who means a lot to you. Perhaps it is your partner or parent…hold them in your mind and feel gratitude towards this person. What may happen as you practice this, is your breath slows down, you feel a warmth or tingle in your heart, and a slight smile appears across your face. That is because that positive thought created in your mind actually causes physiological reactions to occur in various areas of your body.
Within holistic healing are several modalities that aim to bring a person back into balance or equilibrium. It is a unique pathology that integrates the East and the West; similar to a yin and yang situation as described by Taoists. It is primarily concerned with the prevention of disease (more Eastern medicine concept) rather than merely the treatment (traditionally more Western centric).
Holistic medicine does not focus on the one symptom at play, but the whole system.
There are different therapies, practices, and knowledge a practitioner can bring to someone interested in receiving holistic treatments including:
Energy Therapies: As quantum physics explains, everything that is alive carries a frequency or flow of energy. When the life force energy, (prana according to yogic anatomy) is out of balance, pain or anxiety can ensue in the individual. Chakra balancing meditations, reiki, ultrasonic wave therapy, and Tai Chi are all examples of energy therapies.
Herbology: naturally occurring herbs and spices have been used for healing the body of various ailments for centuries. This type of medicine uses aromatherapy, oils, plant tinctures to alleviate pains in the body.
Mind-Body Connection Practices: Often the subconscious mind is moving so efficiently that we forget how much power our thoughts have over the body. Some holistic techniques that help with re-establishing a healthy connection and awareness between these two entities are yoga, meditation, and pranayama (breathwork).
Alternative Medicines: With every body being unique it is helpful sometimes to seek entirely different forms of medical practices outside of those in the West to discover what they have to offer. Not every system is perfect nor is it supposed to be but taking control over your healing sometimes means pushing yourself to discover what else is out there and not allowing the fear of the unknown to stop you. A popular alternative medicine would be Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Take everything as it comes and pick and choose what you intuitively know is best for you. Only your body knows what it wants so be open to listen and always carry a sense of skepticism (the 5th agreement).
No matter where you fall on the spectrum of medicine and science, I believe all of us can find a benefit in some type of holistic therapy that can promote healing in unexpected ways.