What is Holistic Therapy

Holistic Therapy and Medicine

Holistic therapy is a generic term for any treatment / therapy session that is intended to treat the individual as a whole on all levels - mind, body and spirit. Although this type of treatment dates back thousands of years (the Chinese and Indian cultures are responsible for many therapies used today) new therapies are still being

introduced today. Holistic health includes many of the various treaments that come under alternative medicine and complementary medicine depending on what field you are dealing with. Alternative and complementary treatments are not necessarily holistic, but most of these approaches to treatment can be considered under the holistic health term. In general conventional medicine attempts to treat the symptoms using drugs, surgery or physical manipulation rather than the holistic approach which attempts to address the cause of the symptom itself.

Types of Holistic Healing Therapies and Treatments:
•aromatherapy
•Ayurvedic medicine
•natural diet
•exercise
•counselling
•herbal remedies
•homeopathy
•acupuncture
•naturopathic medicine
•energy-based therapies
•Chinese medicine

Holistic Therapists
Holistic practitioners endeavour to treat the "whole person" as opposed to the individual organs of the body where symptoms occur. The importance of self care and preventing illness are stressed by holistic practitioners.
The holistic healer recognises that our discomforts or pains are merely symptoms of an imbalance. The imbalance could be a physical issue, the result of abusing the physical body through an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, or too little sleep. Or, the imbalance may be the result of mental, emotional, or spiritual needs not being met. No aspect (mind, body, spirit, or emotions) of a person is overlooked when an holistic treatment is sought.
The holistic healer looks at the "whole person" in order to make his or her complete evaluation and uses all information gathered before suggested treatments to the client are offered. Keep in mind, not all holistic healers are equal, each has his or her own specialty or expertise to offer
Practitioners and therapists that utilise the holistic health approach include:

Naturopaths
Homeopaths
Herbalists
Acupuncturists
Nutritionists

You can use the Find a Therapist link to view suitable practitioners near you
We also have some interesting and informative articles & notes with a Complementary Therapy theme on our Therapy Articles page.
Find books about Complementary and Alternative medicine on our Books Page and there are sections for Products , Gifts and Courses related to Complementary Therapies.

If you are a Complementary Therapist or Medicine Provider you can place a listing entry for your business from ------- Submit a Listing