What is Holistic Medicine, and what is being Whole?

It takes many parts to build something that is beautiful and durable.

What is Holistic Medicine, and what is being Whole?

This is a question, which was asked to me while I was in France while talking with

several old friends, over a nice bottle of wine.

I could not answer the question straight away, and my gut feeling was that the common answers, such as “non toxic” or “opposition to conventional medical medicine”

or covering the “body/mind/spirit” were actually not appropriate.

My stumbling block was that we have to define first what is a whole human being or whole patient. This is because holistic medicine means treating the “whole”.

As this is not a simple answer, this post covers more arcane principles

than my usual posts and newsletters.

So, what is a “whole human being”?

A simple way to define a human being would be to separate the key elements

of what constitutes a human experience. We can consider that at every moment of our life,

we are experiencing the following 6 dimensions or realms:
– our physical realm or body,
– our sensations, such as hunger, pain,
– our emotions, which includes the primary emotions, such as fear, anger, desire,
– our mind, which comprises our thoughts and our belief systems, the deeper mind/subconscious,
– our five senses, which allows us to get information on the world outside our inner selves,
– the awareness, or the consciousness, which is our ability to focus on anything,

   and usually on the 5 first realms.

Those are the realms, which we all have access every moment of our life.

Or to summarise, being a human being means experiencing being in a body,

having feelings (sensations/emotions), having thoughts, receiving stimuli from the outside world, 

and then having the awareness, or the ability to focus on all of these realms.

So being whole is to be in touch with all these realms.

We can also then define that we can increase our “wholeness” by developing

any of these realms and experience them more deeply.

How does holistic medicine address disease then?

When someone comes with a health issue, the therapist will do his or her best to assist

with the extent of their knowledge and tools. 

Modern conventional medical therapies tend to primarily focus on the physical realm,

with drugs targeting the body and its chemical or molecular components.

Pure nutrition and supplements also focus on the physical realm,

and may discard other elements, such as how to address an emotion like anxiety.

It is true that conventional drugs and nutrition can affect a condition affecting the mind

and emotions, are all human realms interact with each other. However, they will not address

the core issue if it is located in the emotional realm, or any others for that matter.

Most of the popular “holistic” therapies, including homeopathy or acupuncture

tend to address blocks at the emotional or sensations’ level.

This is why they are called sometimes “energy medicine”.

This is because emotions/sensations/feelings are very overpowering, ever-changing

and very fluid…. they are very different than thoughts and the mind,

and they can of course cause a lot of damage at a physical level.

They are however so key in health disruption that the first medical models,

like the Chinese Five Elements models

or the Hippocratic Four Elements have a strong emphasis on this level.

Mind-based therapies such as psychotherapy or more recent therapies like CBT or NLP

also invariably focused on one or two of the six human dimensions.

This is why truly holistic therapists have to use multiple approaches,

in order to assist and address issues, which affect different levels.

Several acupuncturists, I know and respect, would also heavily rely on Chinese herbs

and a strong emphasis on Chinese traditional life philosophies for example.

What is my approach?

First, in times of crisis, the most important element to support is the body or our physical being. 

This is because when we have a life-threatening issue, if our physical realm lets go,

then we are gone… dead. This is where conventional medicine has a strong place.

However, the physical body is usually not effective to repair itself during times of stress.

So it is important to improve our physical body and abilities when we are free from disease

and with no major life issues. Physical activity, proper nourishment and eliminating toxins

is what counts then. A stronger body will helps us deal with emotional or life issues.

The physical plane is the grounding space or our life.

I have learnt to rely less on supplements and more on individualised nutritional plans.

The individualisation of our food intake in our modern age is key. A gardener would not

nourish a rose with the same type of food as plum tree. With the same reasoning,

I would work on the nutritional side and also on any toxic load in an individualised way

for each patient. I can organise a blood test and I also take into account the patient’s lifestyle.

I would also provide a healthy-food platform, which they can follow when they get sick,

and an alternative one, when they are under more stress. They will also know what to do

when they have the chance to enjoy life food pleasures, or when they are more relaxed.

To help re-balance the body energetically, and address any emotional blocks or sensations’ issues, I use primarily homeopathy and also sometimes other forms of energy medicines

I have had got great success-stories by combining these two approaches,

especially for physical health issues, such as hayfever, arthritis, period pains,

and also assisting patients who were suffering from cancer.

I got also extremely good success with weight loss and insomnia.

However, until a few years ago, I was still not well equipped to help patients

who were facing severe life issues, such as a divorce, the loss of a close relative or friend,

or simply not feeling integrated or happy in their life. This was because my approach

was not covering all of the human realms. I was not able help my patient get their

own personal and consistent way of living and facing their challenges. .

This has slowly flourished over the last two years. Compared to more physical or acute ailments, 

the foundation is a trusting and honest relationship, which allows to discover oneself,

and understand inner challenges. It has been a very humbling development for me,

as I have seen patient who were able to face seemingly impossible challenges 

and develop into strong and more whole human beings.

Nurture can overcome Nature

Genetic predispositions, severe past crisis or traumas, our cultural background

and the earlier years of our life have an important impact on how we see life,

and how we respond to it. We are a unique individual culture by ourself,

and we also are part of the big human family and its evolution.

These are all tremendous elements, and one of the biggest obstacle to healing

is the belief that one cannot overcome a perceived weakness or inability.

After “impatience”, this is probably the biggest obstacle to becoming whole.

If one of our weakness is preventing us to live our life fully, then it has to be accepted

or transmuted. For the patients who decide to progress further, I have always been amazed

how much change can occur in someone’s ability, and then in their life.

There are countless examples, and the rewards are usually worth the effort.

To take a simple example that will resonate with everyone, it is normal that once in a while,

we feel very angry or very sick, or just tired. Most of our colleagues, friends or partners

would accept that. However, it is much harder and less enjoyable to be around someone

who is very often angry, sick or tired. Having a plan to learn and deal better with our anger,

or to improve our fatigue, will help us to feel happier

and also will help our relationships with other people.

This is true socially and professionally as well, and this is why nurturing qualities

in our character and strength in our body will bring us a more fulfilled life.

What about non-human realms?

I am sometimes asked in my consultations about how one can interact with more spiritual

or “angelic realms”, or how one can trust their sixth senses.

These dimensions exist and can also be very powerful.

They can be so powerful that they can take us away from our own day-to-day life.

For this reason, I would suggest people who are clairvoyant, clairaudient,

or who are able to access other realms, to strengthen their human dimensions first.

My advice is usually to primarily focus on strengthening the inner core,

through right nourishment and strengthening of the body, managing emotions and sensations, 

and a flexible enough mind and belief system.

This is because this will promote a stronger grounding on the day-to-day life,

which is ultimately required to be able to be more connected with Life itself.

http://thierry-health.com/holistic-medicine/

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A brief history of health

Wood Aven, a medicinal plant. Photo taken by M'reen

             

What is your definition of health?

When asked, many people define health as not being sick. This is usually a very limited definition. You can not actually be sick, but have feelings of sadness or low energy – does this mean you are healthy? Likewise, if someone is on antidepressants, or another type of drug, would they be considered healthy or not?

The body and mind are constantly evolving and in a state of change… and as long,

as someone can recover from any sudden change, then we can consider them healthy.

For example, a person may develop a bad cold  or feel depressed after losing their jobs. This is OK and can be considered healthy as long as recovering from such events can be done promptly.

Health can be defined as being in a healthy state of balance.

You are an amazing self-rebalancing organism. In fact everybody is and the medical term 

of this process is called homeostasis. We self-regulate constantly, without thinking.

Emotions, trauma, toxins, food and physical activity will influence a myriad of parameters,

such as heart rate, blood sugar levels or sweating. It is estimated that there may be more than

10 million processes being constantly re-balanced in our bodies.

If some of these parameters stay out of balance for too long, then symptoms will start to develop,

as our homeostatic capabilities will be stretched. This is when disease arises. 

Medically, disease is defined as an inability to achieve balance naturally (homeostasis).

This is why a health check will monitor a series of metrics, such as heart rate, blood glucose levels and so on.  This will give a picture of our ability to stay in balance.

Two philosophies of treatment – interventionist or holistic

Holistic approaches, such as homeopathy or acupuncture and modern conventional medicine sometimes appear at loggerheads because their approaches to restoring health or balance

are completely opposite. To restore balance and health, conventional medicine usually uses chemical means to force the patient’s body to get back into correct metrics.

Conversely, homeopaths, and other alternative practitioners, will try and understand

how an imbalance arose in the first place, and define a strategy to let the body’s vitality

(“chi” in acupuncture or “vital force” in homeopathy) to re-balance and sort itself out.

Neither system is better and one may be more relevant at some specific times and under some circumstances and of course depending on the patient. An expert practitioner, either conventional 

or a homeopath, will understand this and work accordingly with his or her patients’  specific needs. 

The pros and cons of both approaches are described in the next page.

In the West, these differing principles of healing started in Ancient Greece,

and to understand them, it is worth talking a bit about History.

Health in the Western World – How it all started

From the beginnings of time, people have tried to reduce death or diseases in a variety of ways, using trials and errors. The use of healing plants began with the hunting and gathering societies which wandered over the globe some 50,000 years ago. The specific cultivation of medicinal plants 

to treat diseases developed with the advent of agriculture around 5 to 10,000 years ago.
At this time, the healing powers of herbs and plants were probably seen as a mix of two conflicting philosophies. One was the belief that the plants had the ability to eradicate specific disease

or symptoms (intervention). The other principle was based on vital force (or vitalism), 

a concept that disease would only arise in an imbalanced organism/person. 

Herbs were then used to help to re-balance that person.

Enter Hippocrates

Hippocrates (c. 460-675 BC), is regarded as being the Founding Father of Western Medicine,

and he was a major proponent of the Vitalistic approach. He refused to use the Gods to explain illness. He implemented a logical system of medicine based on understanding what had caused

the patient to produce disease or symptoms, and how best to re-balance the vital energies (“humors”) of the sick. He was probably influenced by concepts coming from Black Africa, Egypt

and the Chinese systems of healing. Hippocrates focused healing on the patient’s vital energies instead of spiritual or external energy. This is why he stipulated that as a health practitioner,

you should “first do no harm”. He and his followers after him, believed in the natural healing powers 

of the body, and that it was wrong to act against them.
Hippocrates had laid down two key principles of homeopathy: first, that the sick patient

was a self-balancing system, which required regulating through the gentlest means possible.

He also postulated that the best way to achieve this was by using the Law of Similarity,

a principle that a substance that would cause or create similar symptoms could be used

to regulate the patient into optimal health
After his death, and in opposition to the Hippocratic school, came the  Cnidians who believed

in intervening by prescribing high doses of herbs to relieve the symptoms of a disease,

without thorough investigation of the symptoms and their causes. 

This was easier for the practitioner, as there was no need for a thorough individualised analysis.

The Middle Ages: the mixing of religion and healing

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the monastic centres of Europe kept the vitalistic traditions

of medicine alive, and prosecuted anyone who was perceived to use medicine without its consent. With the advent of universities and printing presses in Europe, the dominance of religious centres over medicine started to wane and became more mainstream. A new current of Medicine started

in the Renaissance and challenged the Christian’s Church teaching on healing.

They started to dissect human bodies and experiment with potent poisons.
Paracelsus (1493 – 1541) became one of the most influential medical teachers of his time.

He was a Swiss Renaissance physician and doctor, who re-discovered and took on board most

of the vitalistic concepts of Hippocrates away from the Church. In opposition to many of his contemporaries, he was giving diluted doses, and used herbs for their opposite effects on the body: for example, he was commonly prescribing very small doses of Helleborus plants to treat diarrhoea because huge consumption of these plants were known to cause diarrhoea.
Paracelsus set up medical principles and one of his key-principles, still quoted and used today,

was that “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; only the dose permits something

not to be poisonous”. This principle laid the foundations of the biphasic approaches of treatment.

The Renaissance and the schism in healing thoughts

A split began to develop in how healing was practiced during the “age of rationalism”, 

around the 1700′s. Educated doctors moved away from the vitalistic concepts of medicine. 

They sought ways to make the herbs & medicine more concentrated. 

The principle of using herbs or minerals for specific symptoms, without investigating the patient’s 

individual case became more and more common. It was the heyday of “heroic medicine” and herbs were combined and then replaced with what was seen as more potent substances, such as opium, arsenic or mercury which were of course toxic to people.

Because of increased cases of  poisoning or death of patients, many countries in continental Europe enacted laws that prevented lay people from prescribing or even using herbal medicine.

The commercial business of producing and selling herbs started to be also more tightly regulated.

The Beginnings of Homeopathy

Homeopathy emerged during this period, as a reaction to ‘heroic medicine’. 

It was founded by a group of German medical doctors who became disillusioned with 

the seriously damaging side-effects of the drugs they were taught to use.

They started to study the old texts of medicine and to revive the concepts of vitalism.
However, they also sought to apply a more rigorous and scientific approach to the principles

of healing and this was the foundation of Homeopathy.
Samuel Hahnemann (1755 – 1843) is considered the founding father of homeopathy.

He was very meticulous and a medical doctor by profession. His aim was to lay down a logical

and methodical process of healing, which could be backed by clinical observation.

He was strongly influenced by Hippocrates and Paracelsus and laid down principles 

to use the body’s own vitality as a healing platform – the principles of vitalism.

            

http://thierry-health.com/homeopathy/history/

While this article does not deal with the workings of the innermind, 

the innermind does not exist without the physical and spiritual body. M'reen

Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:

www.ourmindminds.blogspot.com               this takes advantage of the experience and expertise of others. 

www.turbochargedreading.blogspot.com      describes the steps to reading in the way your mind prefers.

www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com         just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.

The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”