Practiced for several thousand years, meditation is a mind-body technique in which a person engages in quiet contemplation in order to induce a state of mental and physical tranquility. Most types of meditation have come to the West from Eastern religious practices–particularly those of India, China, and Japan. It is only in the past three decades that the technique has begun to be used mainly for health purposes, particularly for treating stress and reducing chronic pain.
Category: Healing Touch
Healing touch is a holistic energy medicine therapy that taps into the body’s innate wisdom so it can heal itself. It facilitates physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health without medication, helping alleviate symptoms and addressing the root causes of illnesses and imbalances.
Massage Therapy
Massage is the manipulation of the soft-tissues of the body. It helps to ease stress and muscular tension, relieve pain from injuries, and speed healing from certain acute and chronic conditions. Today millions of people worldwide visit massage therapists as a form of regular health-care maintenance.
Energy Psychology
Energy Psychology is the name of a family of therapeutic methods that address personal, psychological, emotional, and increasingly, physical, issues by working with the human vibrational energy matrix. Typically, energy psychology treatment focuses on disturbances on the meridian, chakra, or biofield level. One of the more popular forms of energy psychology looks like psychological acupressure.
Craniosacral Therapy
A gentle form of manipulation, craniosacral therapy is a hands-on healing technique typically practiced by physical therapists, massage therapists, and chiropractors. Craniosacral therapists manipulate the craniosacral system, which includes the soft tissue and bones of the head (cranium), the spine down to its tail end (the sacral area), and the pelvis. They also work with the membranes that surround these bones and the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord. Although the therapist uses a touch so light that many patients don’t even notice it, most people report feeling profoundly relaxed after a treatment.
Art Therapy
Art therapy uses the creation or viewing of art to help people discover and express their feelings. Unlike art for art’s sake, which focuses on the finished piece, art therapy (which typically employs paint, clay, charcoal, pastels, or other art materials) focuses on the process of creation itself. Moreover, the activity is undertaken primarily for its healing benefits rather than for the creative end result; in fact, the piece of artwork may never be shown to anyone outside the therapy session–and it is sometimes never finished.
Applied Kinesiology
Applied kinesiology is a technique used to diagnose and treat health problems by identifying weakened muscles. It should not be confused with conventional kinesiology (from the Greek word kinesis, meaning movement), which is the scientific study of mechanics and anatomy in relation to human movement.
Sunburn
Most people have had at least one vacation ruined by sunburn. Usually, they then smarten up and remember that heading outside means putting on sunblock. Children are frequent victims of sunburn, their time in the sun flying by as sandcastles get bigger and bigger. We grown-ups can be caught unaware, too. Whether skiing, backpacking, or just sprawled on the chilly deck of a cruise ship, we just don’t notice until it’s too late how the dazzling sunlight has baked our pale arms, legs, and face into a glowing lobster red.
Shingles
Since almost everyone gets chickenpox as a child, most of us are susceptible to developing shingles as adults. Each illness is caused by the same virus, which is called varicella in children and herpes zoster in adults. After the chickenpox ends, the virus goes into hibernation in the nerve cells along the spinal cord. Then, many years later, when the immune system is weakened in some way–by age, stress, certain drugs, illness (even the flu)–the virus awakens. At some point along the spine, it travels along a nerve, producing a painful rash along the band of skin served by that nerve. Herpes zoster means “belt of fire”–the name is apt.
Muscle Aches and Pains
By and large, if we take reasonably good care of ourselves, most of the so-called degenerative illnesses–heart disease, cancer, diabetes–usually wait until we’re in our sixties or so. So just accept the following as a given: Before age 60, most medical problems will involve your musculoskeletal systems. Which I guess is why the waiting rooms of chiropractors and osteopaths are so crowded. If to stay healthy we keep active, and by active, I mean anything from taking a regular walk to winning bowling trophies, we will inevitably experience some muscle aches and pains.
Colds
Doctors call them “viral upper respiratory infections” or “acute viral nasopharyngitis” because big words always sound impressive to patients. But the common cold is…well, common. Most of us get two or three a year. Colds are caused by upward of 200 viruses and it’s this large number that not only prevents developing a “cold vaccine” but is also responsible for the woeful complaint, “Another cold? This isn’t fair! I just got over one.” Neither conventional nor alternative medicine can cure a cold yet, but our WholeHealth Chicago remedies will get you feeling better muy pronto and may just might knock a few days off the usual seven to 10 days you can expect a cold to last. And you might even build up some more resistance to fend off the next cold virus that comes your way.
Cold Sores
Any condition that keeps you from smiling and kissing is inherently dislikable. Cold sores (also called fever blisters) are generally a harmless condition I’d classify as a medical “annoyance,” like dandruff or hemorrhoids–not a danger to life or limb. Nevertheless, no one wants to go through the day with a large, unsightly sore on the lip, especially since they seem to appear on days you’re set for an interview or an important photograph. Actually, good news is here. At WholeHealth Chicago, we’ve found some safe and effective natural therapies that can either prevent the eruption of a cold sore or inhibit the virus that causes it, heal the inflamed skin, and shorten its unsightly life. (One such remedy is an herb with the lovely name of melissa.)
Stress Less: Reflexology
I personally postponed trying reflexology because of extreme ticklishness. Just the thought of something other than a floor or a pair of socks touching the soles of my feet sent shivers up my spine. It never dawned on me that connecting the soles of the feet to the meridians of Chinese medicine is the entire basis of reflexology.
Stress Less: Acupuncture
Click here for the original post. It’s pitch dark in your living room. You bang your shin hard against the edge of a coffee table, and momentarily you actually see stars. You reach down and rub the sore spot; within seconds you actually feel a little better. Although you may not be aware of it, […]
Healing Touch: A Balanced Approach to Health Care
Wouldn’t it be ideal to have a system of health care that focuses on the uniqueness of each person, draws on the best of ancient wisdom and modern medical expertise, maximizes wellness, and offers support when health issues arise?
Important Depression Update
For many susceptible women, the combination of holiday stress and the dark short days of winter trigger a flare-up or first-time appearance of depression. If it happens to you, you’re not alone. Epidemiologists (who chart the incidence of disease) now believe that up to 10% of people suffer from depression, and that after pain, depression is the second most common cause of disability.