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Alternative Medicine at New
Age Village
Alternative medicine is a broad term for any
method of healing that stands outside the framework of conventional, mainstream
medicine. Alternative medicine embraces a variety of therapeutic or
preventive health care practices, such as homeopathy, naturopathy, chiropractic,
and herbal medicine, that do not follow generally accepted medical methods and
may not always have a scientific explanation for their effectiveness. The
approach often helps to balance mind, body, and soul.
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Home ::
Alternative Health & Medicine |
 INTRODUCTION
Read
our overview about alternative medicine.
Alternative Medical
Systems:
-
Ayurveda
One of the world's oldest
medical systems. It originated in India and has evolved
there over thousands of years. The aim of Ayurveda is to
integrate and balance the body, mind, and spirit. This
is believed to help prevent illness and promote
wellness.
-
Homeopathy
Form of health care that
developed in Germany and has been practiced in the
United States since the early 19th century. A key
premise is that every person has energy called a vital
force or self-healing response. When this energy is
disrupted or imbalanced, health problems develop.
-
Naturopathy
System of healing,
originating from Europe, that views disease as a
manifestation of alterations in the processes by which
the body naturally heals itself. It emphasizes health
restoration as well as disease treatment. The term
"naturopathy" literally translates as "nature disease."
-
Osteopathy
A system of medicine based
on the theory that disturbances in the musculoskeletal
system affect other bodily parts, causing many disorders
that can be corrected by various manipulative techniques
in conjunction with conventional medical, surgical,
pharmacological, and other therapeutic procedures.
-
Shamanism
The animistic religion of
certain people in which mediation between the visible
and spirit worlds is effected by shamans.
-
Traditional Chinese Medicine
System of healing that
dates back to 200 B.C. In Chinese Medicine, the body is
considered a
delicate balance of two opposing and undividable forces:
yin and yang. Yin represents the cold, slow, or passive
principle, while yang represents the hot, excited, or
active principle. A primary belief in Chinese Medicine
claims
that health is achieved by maintaining the body in a
"balanced state" and that disease is the
result of an internal
imbalance of yin and yang. This imbalance leads to
blockage in the flow of qi (or vital energy) and of
blood along pathways known as meridians. Practitioners typically use herbs, acupuncture, and
massage to help unblock qi in order to return the body
to a state of harmony and
wellness.
THE
THERAPIES
Physical Therapy
Manipulative and
body-based practices focus primarily on the structures
and systems of the body, including the bones and
joints, the soft tissues, and the circulatory and
lymphatic systems. Some practices were derived from
traditional systems of medicine, such as those from
China, India, or Egypt, while others were developed
within the last 150 years (e.g., chiropractic and
osteopathic manipulation). Although many providers
have formal training in the anatomy and physiology of
humans, there is considerable variation in the
training and the approaches of these providers both
across and within modalities. For example, osteopathic
and chiropractic practitioners, who use primarily
manipulations that involve rapid movements, may have a
very different treatment approach than massage
therapists, whose techniques involve slower
applications of force, or than craniosacral
therapists. Despite this heterogeneity, manipulative
and body-based practices share some common
characteristics, such as the principles that the human
body is self-regulating and has the ability to heal
itself and that the parts of the human body are
interdependent. Practitioners in all these therapies
also tend to tailor their treatments to the specific
needs of each patient.
Psychological Therapy
Mind-body
medicine uses a variety of techniques designed to enhance
the mind's capacity to affect bodily function and
symptoms. Some techniques have become mainstream (for
example, patient support groups and cognitive-behavioral
therapy). Other mind-body techniques are: meditation,
prayer, mental healing, and therapies that use creative
outlets such as art, music, or dance.
-
Mind-Body
-
Hypnotherapy
-
Journaling
-
Meditation
Learning to
focus and suspend the stream of thoughts that normally
occupy the mind. This practice is believed to result
in a state of greater physical relaxation, mental
calmness, and psychological balance.
-
Past
Life Regression
-
Prayer
Prayer may be
defined as the act of asking for something while
aiming to connect with God or another object of
worship.
-
Visualization
Involves the
controlled use of mental images for therapeutic
purposes. It has been proposed that the use of imagery
in visualization may correct unhealthy attitudes or
views. People who practice this mind-body technique
call on memory and imagination. In some regards,
visualization is similar to hypnosis or hypnotherapy.
Energy
Therapy
Practitioners of energy medicine believe that illness
results from disturbances of these subtle energies (the
biofield). For example, more than 2,000 years ago, Asian
practitioners postulated that the flow and balance of life
energies are necessary for maintaining health and
described tools to restore them. Herbal medicine,
acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, and cupping, for
example, are all believed to act by correcting imbalances
in the internal biofield, such as by restoring the flow of
qi through meridians to reinstate health. Some therapists
are believed to emit or transmit the vital energy
(external qi) to a recipient to restore health
-
Healing
-
Chakras
Energy centers in the
body.
-
Crystal
and Gem Therapy
Crystal
therapy, also called crystal healing or gem therapy,
uses crystals, each selected for specific
characteristics or wavelength, to treat a wide range
of mental and physical conditions. This approach is
based on the belief that the body has an energy field
that can be influenced by the placement of crystals on
specific body points.
-
Reiki
Reiki is a therapy that the practitioner delivers
through the hands, with intent to raise the amount of
ki in and around the client, heal pathways for ki, and
reduce negative energies.
-
Therapeutic Touch
Modern
adaptation of several religious and secular healing
traditions.
Practitioners hold their
hands a short distance from a patient, without making
physical contact. This technique is believed to help
detect a patient's energy field and allows the
practitioner to correct any imbalances.
Miscellaneous:
Here's a
collection of several unorthodox therapies.
-
Colloidal
Silver Therapy
Colloidal silver products consist of tiny silver
particles suspended in liquid. They are usually marketed
as dietary supplements. Not considered safe by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration, Colloidal silver can cause
serious side effects: one is argyria, a bluish-gray discoloration of the face
and body. Argyria is not treatable or reversible.
-
Colonic
Therapy
Colonic
irrigation, also called colonic hydrotherapy, is a
variant of enema treatment, which involves flushing the
bowel with water in different quantities, temperatures
and pressures. Colonic irrigation is proposed to improve
mental outlook, modulate the immune system and eliminate
toxic substances.
-
Ear
Candling
Also called ear
coning or thermal-auricular therapy, is a folk medicine
practice intended to assist the natural clearing of
earwax (cerumen) and "toxins" from a person's ear by
means of a hollow candle placed in the ear. It involves
lighting one end of the hollow candle, and placing the
other end in the ear canal. Some proponents maintain the
supposedly resulting vacuum can clean out the ear, but
mainstream medical science and manufacturers of ear
candles discount this theory due to lack of evidence
supporting it.
-
Pyramid
Power
-
Urine
Therapy
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