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.
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.
Aromatherapy
Has the scent of lavender ever made you sleepy? Does the aroma of warm apple pie bring back sweet memories of autumn afternoons in your grandmother’s kitchen? If so, then you instinctively understand the basic principle of aromatherapy.
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.
Apitherapy
Apitherapy, or bee therapy, is the use of products of the common honeybee for therapeutic purposes. (The term comes from the Latin apis, which means “bee.”) Honeybee venom, bee pollen, raw honey, royal jelly, and propolis are the products generally considered to have medicinal effects. These products are said to be effective against a wide range of ailments, from arthritis and chronic pain to multiple sclerosis and cancer, although few scientific studies have as yet proved their benefits.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is an ancient technique in which a skilled practitioner inserts hair-thin needles into specific points on the body to prevent or treat illness. Practiced for over 2,500 years in China, where it originated, acupuncture is part of the holistic system of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which views health as a constantly changing flow of energy, or qi (pronounced “chee”). In TCM, imbalances in this natural flow of energy are thought to result in disease. Acupuncture aims to restore health by improving the flow of qi.
Acupressure
Acupressure is a type of bodywork that involves pressing specific points on the body with the fingers, knuckles, and palms (and sometimes the elbows and feet) to relieve pain, reduce stress, and promote general good health. Developed in China some 5,000 years ago, perhaps out of the natural human instinct to hold or rub a place on the body that hurts, acupressure is part of the holistic system of traditional chinese medicine (TCM) that also includes acupuncture. (Interestingly, the use of acupressure predates acupuncture by some 2,500 years.)