Healthy and happieee!
Photo: Howdy, I'm H. Michael Karshis

What does “holistic health” mean anyway? Well, if you do a quick Google search, you’ll find definitions such as a wellness approach that addresses the body, mind and spirit or the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of an individual, or a term used to describe therapies that attempt to treat the patient as a whole person.

Ok, then.

What does that mean??!! And what does it mean when alternative practitioners advertise that they are practicing holistic health? What can you expect? Juju and leeches, possibly? Crystals and chanting? Spirits being called from the dead?

Well, maybe. But probably not.

And besides that, those “holistic health practitioners” are kinda lying just a little bit when they promote themselves that way. At least stretching the meaning of the term immensely.

Eastern Medicine From A Western Perspective

Even though going to see say, an acupuncturist, means that they understand that emotions affect the body and can create illness and pain, and that something called Qi (mostly noted as “energy” in western terms) can become stuck due to emotions or trauma, and so they use needles and herbs to start moving that energy around again, the process is still prescriptive and limited to a degree.

The patient still leaves with an order to take medication (herbs), make diet changes (i.e. don’t eat raw foods or dairy as it causes spleen deficiency), and to come back for follow-ups (more acupuncture).

Rarely does the practitioner delve into the why of the emotions or trauma that caused the whole damn thing in the first place. Of course alternative therapies such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Naturopathy and Chiropractic adjustments take into account the connection of the mind-body-spirit, which our medical system (hereto referred as either allopathic or western medicine) does not.

Allopathic medicine in considered dualistic, or the “separate but equal” view of the mind and the body. All of the alternative approaches to health are practices within the lifestyle of living holistically, rather than actually equaling holistic health.

Holistic Health=Beyond Prescriptions

But participating in holistic health goes beyond prescriptions, beyond what someone else tells you to do to get healthy.

Photo: Evil Erin

It empowers you to take your health into your own hands.

Now, I know for some people that may sound kinda scary. And I’ll be honest–at first it is. We have been raised since day one to believe someone else has all the answers, that others are the “experts”, that without proper guidance we will fail miserably.

And I’m not saying that having others help you out during the process of (re)discovering who you are, and in turn your health, is a bad thing. In fact, it is necessary at some points along the way.

But when it comes down to it, your health and well-being is all up to you. And YOU hold the key to your health–nobody, not your momma, not your MD, not your psychic–knows what is best for you.

So I hereby bestow upon you the key to the well-being that you already have somewhere inside. Now you just have to find where it is hiding…