To start off with, there’s a quote I’d like to share, which accentuates the beauty of achieving holistic healing:
“Taking a holistic approach involves seeking the tools that will help us attract our desires and find personal power.”
– Phylameana lila Desy (Holistic Healing Expert)
With personal power, we can dictate our thoughts, envision a better life for ourselves and let it manifest. Find peace, feel happiness and experience true wellness. That’s getting quite philosophical though and pretty thought provoking, so let’s keep it simple. The definition of holistic healing is actually very simplistic:
Holistic Healing = “Wholistic” Healing. This means looking at the person as a whole, not just at their physical symptoms.
A popular dictionary definition of the word ‘Holistic’ is: Characterised by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the symptoms of a disease.
What frequently occurs, is people fail to find relief for their ailments through traditional medicine, and start exploring other avenues. This will often lead them to the holistic lifestyle and accompanied treatments, which offer healing. Holistic healing is regularly mistaken in society as ‘alternative medicine,’ ‘complimentary medicine,’ or ‘integrative medicine.’ Though they are not the same thing. What distinguishes the two, is the focus of treatment.
In general medicine or alternative medicine, the physical is the main focus. In holistic healing, the focus turns to all aspects of a person. By doing so, the goal is to bring balance and harmony to mind, body and spirit as one package. There’s another quote (more a passage) that I’d like to share here, explaining it perfectly:
“Whether we are conscious of it or not, life situations cause us to respond physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, all at the same time. Conventional Western medicine views the body as being a separate functioning mechanism to the rest of our being. The holistic healing approach sees the body as a reflection of the whole person; so we go from being ‘me and my body’ (two separate entities) to ‘I am my body’ (one entity). There is no separation.”
– Natalie Kent (Public Figure, Life & Business Coach)
Holistic healing – the role of the healer
As practitioners, it’s our job to listen to what a person is saying, and what is going unsaid. Assessing a person’s situation, like any therapist does, to give them the best advice and best treatment possible. Holistic healers recognise that discomforts are symptoms of an imbalance. This could mean a physical issue, as a direct result of lifestyle choices, or an emotional one, which affects the whole body and vice versa.
For example, It’s no use prescribing sleeping pills to a person who is kept awake at night by a mental issue, such as anxiety. This simply masks the symptoms of a deeper problem, which if not addressed properly, fails to be treated. Soon you have created a pill-dependent individual, of which there are millions in this world.
In this case, the lack of sleep will be leaching into all other parts of the persons life, creating physical stress which adds more burdens onto their mind, and the cycle worsens. The sleeping pills are just a short term solution to a much bigger problem which needs resolving with therapy and possibly lifestyle changes.
In many cases, someone who comes to a holistic healer for help might be referred to other professionals if appropriate. This is a good thing, and shows that our strength as a healing community is when we come together with our differing expertise.
Sources: My Holistic Healing, About Healing
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