Philosophers for thousands of years have recognized the concept of the sum being greater than the sum of its parts. In a way, this is what holistic health is all about. If one part of the body is diseased or injured, it has ramifications for all other parts of the body. Conversely, in order to effectively correct a problem with one part of the body, the entire body must be treated. True healing is recognition that what affects the foot affects the spine and the back muscles. Even the emotional health is affected by pain caused from a blister on the finger.
That is the basis for holistic health healing practices. The art of holistic health is that to heal a single part of the body, you have to heal the whole body. If you want to lower your blood pressure, than you need to take care of your whole body. Your body is systemic, which means that there are several systems working together to make you function. Can the healing process be limited to only one thing? The belief of holistic health healing for example is that if you are to lower your blood pressure, with the best results, it is not enough to simply watch your diet. You also have to exercise and reduce your stress level.
That is how massage therapy got its start. If you want the bone structure and the nervous systems to be able to do their jobs, then your muscles have to be able to allow them to do their jobs. If you have a slight twinge in your left shoulder, is it better to relax the muscles just around the twinge or to relax the muscles in your whole back?
If you have ever had any kind of back injury, you are well aware that just massaging where it hurts will only reduce the level of pain for a short period of time, sometimes only a week or two. But if you get massage treatments that cover your whole back, your neck, your shoulders, your arms and your legs, then you may go months or even years before you start to have trouble again. That is why any good massage therapist believes in the rejuvenating power of holistic health.
Massage therapy is one of the more effective healing practices because it doesn't concentrate on just the symptom. It works on the problem. There is no such thing as a twinge or a knotted muscle that is unaffected by the rest of your muscles, just as it is impossible to have a twinge or a knot that doesn't affect the rest of the muscles. In healing a single knot, you can feel the rest of your muscles relax. Some say there are few things in this world that can match the healing and relief that you receive from a single, 1-hour, work over at the hands of a skilled massage therapist. It will allow your circulation to improve, your posture to straiten and your muscles to relax.
The growing body of research shows that the mind and body respond to each other, certain emotional and psycholgical states bring about changes in the chemical balance in the body. The role of thoughts and emotions on a persons ability to heal is often overlooked by medical practitioners. They know, as most do that the "Placebo effect" is well documented, for example where a sugar pill is substituted for the usual medication with a patient and yet the patient still reports an improvement as if they had the prescribed medication. The key factor here is that the patient believes the pill will make a difference. Whilst there is no suggestion that we should all be lied to and given sugar pills instead of other medications it is important to remember what it teaches us.
When we experience illness it can be a frightening time, we feel sometimes out of control and that all adds to the stress. Certain life experiences can predispose us to illness as in for instance the death of a loved one, loss of a job. This is because it affects our whole way of thinking and being. We feel vulnerable and our thoughts and feelings take a negative turn. It can take a strong will to pull back from those feelings. Most often what is happening is that the trigger event reminds us of another time when we felt alone, abandoned or vulnerable and all the old fears start up again.
Imagine that you are a small packet of dried peas, quite comfortable in your packet but then some water starts to get in like the stress accumulating in your life, it may just dribble in to start with and you manage, but the peas are expanding inside the packet. Gradually pressure builds and builds as the peas expand taking on board all this additional water until finally something has to give. The weakest part of the packet (possibly your nervous system, or weak part of your body) gives out first. You can see that the emotional pressure has to find a way out and if it is not being dealt with then it will come out another way...lack of sleep, illness, depression.
Releasing old hurts, fears, emotional blocks and barriers can free up the body to get on with its healing process. It can also prevent illness in the first place. Quite often people need to reconnect with themselves, that is with their thoughts, feelings and physical body which quite often gets taken for granted and ignored. Illness can be the bodys' way of getting your attention to the fact that all is not well with you. The best way of dealing with this is to work with your sub conscious mind. There are many ways to do this and many CDs, books, workshops and therapists available to assist this process. Generally to achieve a result quickly you will need guidance and some practical and personal help as the most effective techniques require a competent practitioner, but just opening up to listening to your own body and being aware that the symptoms do not tell you the whole story is a good start.
Both Rick Martin & Gillian Bowles are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Rick Martin has sinced written about articles on various topics from Finances, Travel and leisure and Mobile Phone Reviews. Learning about the benefits of including full therapeutic massage is just one of the many and varied current. Rick Martin's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.
Gillian Bowles has sinced written about articles on various topics from Energy Healing, Womens Health and Fitness. Gillian is an internationally renowned metaphysical teacher, workshop leader, speaker and author of . She cured her own fi. Gillian Bowles's top article generates over 880 views. to your Favourites.