Light therapy is the use of natural or artificial light to treat various ailments, but primarily depressive and sleep disorders. It may be administered by a physician, physical therapist, psychiatrist, or psychologist–or done on one’s own with proper instruction from a trained professional. While exposure to the full-spectrum wavelength of natural sunlight is considered the best form of light therapy, it is not always possible for many people to get outdoors. Therefore, light therapists often recommend treatment with simulated sunlight from light boxes.
Category: Knowledge Base
Iridology
Iridology is the study of the colored part of the eye (called the iris) to determine potential health problems. Iridologists believe that changing patterns and markings in the iris can be used to reveal emerging conditions in every part of the body and to identify inherited weaknesses that may lead to physical and emotional disorders.
Hypnotherapy
The word “hypnosis” is derived from the Greek hypnos meaning “sleep.” Actually, you’re not asleep when hypnotized, but rather are in a trancelike state of restful alertness. This is accompanied by an extreme openness and receptivity to suggestion. Hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis for self-improvement and/or healing. All hynotherapy employs hypnosis, but not all hypnosis is hypnotherapy.
Hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy is the use of water to maintain health or promote healing. Ice, steam, and hot, tepid, and cold water are all used in a number of different ways–some widely accepted, others controversial. For example, external treatments, such as the application of ice to a sprained ankle or soaking in a hot tub to soothe sore muscles, have become common remedies and some are universally prescribed by both conventional and alternative practitioners, particularly naturopaths. However, internal therapies such as colonic irrigation are considered suspect and even dangerous by most mainstream doctors.
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a comprehensive system of medicine in which practitioners use solutions containing minute amounts of animal, vegetable and/or mineral substances to promote healing. Homeopaths believe in what they call the “law of similars.” This means that “like cures like” and that illnesses can be treated by giving patients a small dose of a substance that produces similar effects to those of the illness. This is the same principle used in allergy treatments and immunizations.
Hellerwork
Hellerwork is a type of bodywork created by Joseph Heller, a former NASA aerospace engineer. Like Rolfing, Hellerwork uses deep-tissue massage to help reduce stress and ease mobility.
Heller was originally taught Rolfing by Ida Rolf, Ph.D., a Columbia University trained biochemist, who created the therapy in the 1930s. In 1976 he became the head of the Rolf Institute, now located in Boulder, Colorado, which oversees the training of Rolfing practitioners. Two years later he developed his own variation on the method, which added verbal dialogue and movement exercises to the hands-on work.
Feldenkrais Method
The Feldenkrais method is a form of “body education” that teaches students how to move their bodies more efficiently, improve coordination, expand range of motion, reduce stress on joints, and increase flexibility. (It is often referred to as “bodywork,” but this is a misnomer because the intention of the Feldenkrais instructor is to teach rather than perform direct structural manipulation.)
Fasting
Strictly defined, fasting is abstinence from all food and drink (except water) for a limited period of time to maintain or improve health, or treat a specific illness. Juice fasting, a popular variation, is abstinence from all food and drink except water, vegetable juices, and fruit juices. A modified fast includes small amounts of solid food, usually raw fruits as well as raw and steamed vegetables. Some advocates of fasting include other modifications as well, such as vegetable broth, herbal teas, and nutritional supplements. Most of the research into the therapeutic value of fasting has explored the water-only method.
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.
Detoxification Therapy
Detoxification therapy includes a variety of techniques designed to assist the body in removing the buildup of potentially harmful chemicals and toxins. Practiced by many naturopaths, as well as some chiropractors, osteopaths, nutritionists, and holistically trained M.D.s, the purpose of the therapy is to improve the body’s overall well-being through internal cleansing and purification. Diet and lifestyle changes–such as giving up caffeine and fast food, cutting back on sugar, and quitting smoking–are considered key to the treatment. In addition, other techniques, such as hydrotherapy, colon therapy, chelation therapy, or even a supervised fast, are often suggested as part of detoxification.
Dance Therapy
Dance therapy (also called dance/movement therapy) is the use of choreographed or improvised movement as a way of treating social, emotional, cognitive, and physical problems. Throughout the ages, people of many cultures have used dance to express powerful emotions, tell stories, treat illness, celebrate important events, and maintain communal bonds. Dance therapy harnesses this power of movement in a therapeutic setting and uses it to promote personal growth, health, and well-being.
Crystal and Gem Therapy
Crystal and gem therapy is the use of semiprecious and precious stones to enhance mental, spiritual, and physical healing. It is based on the belief that certain crystals and gems possess a powerful energy that can positively affect imbalances in human energy fields and thus promote health and well-being. Practitioners believe that some stones direct their energy toward emotional states, while others affect certain organs through contact with the body’s related energy centers (known as meridians in traditional Chinese medicine and chakras in Indian Ayurveda).
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.
Color Therapy
Color therapy is the use of color in a variety of ways to promote health and healing. The different colors we see in the world around us are the result of the eye perceiving light vibrating at different frequencies. Sunlight, or full-spectrum light, holds all the wavelengths of color in the visible spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and magenta) as well as infrared and ultraviolet light, which cannot be seen. Used to treat both physical and emotional problems, color therapy may involve exposure to colored lights, massages using color-saturated oils, contemplating and visualizing colors, even wearing colored clothing and eating colored foods.
Colon Therapy
Colon therapy is the process of cleansing and flushing out the colon, or large intestine. Also called colonic irrigation or colonic hydrotherapy, the treatment is similar to an enema but more extensive. Whereas an enema (which you can do yourself) bathes only the lower portion of the colon, colonic irrigation (which must be done by a trained practitioner) attempts to clean the entire–roughly five-foot–length.
Chiropractic
The best known and most widely used alternative therapy in the United States today, chiropractic focuses on the manipulation of the spine and other joints to help treat a variety of problems involving bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, and tendons.
Chelation Therapy
Intravenous chelation (pronounced key-LAY-shun) therapy has been a respected and widely used medical treatment for heavy-metal poisoning–especially lead poisoning–for more than 50 years. However, some physicians also promote the therapy as an alternative treatment for arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), including coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease (blockage or narrowing of blood vessels in the legs), and the mental deterioration caused by small strokes.
Biofeedback
Biofeedback is a mind-body technique in which a practitioner uses a special monitoring machine to teach people how to control bodily functions, such as heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature, and muscle tension, in order to improve their health and well-being.
Ayurveda
Ayurveda is an ancient Indian medical practice that encompasses a range of treatments including medicinal herbs, changes in diet, meditation, massage, and yoga to maintain or restore health. The word Ayurveda is Sanskrit, meaning “science (or knowledge) of life.” Perhaps the oldest continually practiced health-care system in the world (the tradition has been handed down from masters to pupils in India for more than 5,000 years), Ayurveda is rooted in the belief that health results from harmony between mind, body, and spirit. Ayurvedic practitioners in India receive state-recognized training on par with that of Western medical specialists.
Aston Patterning
Aston-Patterning is a system of physical training that focuses on four key areas: bodywork (including deep-tissue massage); movement re-education; fitness exercises; and design changes to the home and work environment (such as altering the height of furniture to suit a person’s particular needs). Its goal is to promote health and well-being by improving the way the body moves and functions.