Complete guide to Alternative Medicine and Alternative Therapy

Finally A Quick and Easy Guide to Understanding
The Different Alternative Types of Medicine

Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of this guide.

In part one I listed a number of common different alternative medicine treatments and also asked you a number of questions to get you thinking about why you are considering using alternative medicine and what you want to achieve.

In this report I will look at some of the different treatments and how to select one to suit you.

But firstly lets look at some of the underlying principals of alternative medicine.

Good Health Is All About Balance

Western Medicine generally focuses on diagnosing and treating disease usually through the use of drugs or surgery. Alternative medicine, on the other hand, looks at health from a more holistic view and aims to address imbalances in the body so that your body can heal itself.

This is why alternative medicine is not just about getting help when you are sick. It’s as much about preventing imbalance occurring in the first place. For that reason you don’t have to wait until you are sick to benefit from using alternative medicine.

A good example of this is the use of the herb Echinacea to boost the immune system. This can be taken for short periods at a time and can be very useful in helping to keep you healthy during a particularly hectic period or on the run up to a big day.

Be Prepared To Answer Lots of Questions

One of the things you will notice, in contrast to a Doctor’s appointment, is that in most cases an alternative medicine practitioner will ask lots of questions. Some of these may seem unusual or unrelated to the problem you have.

The treatment will also be much more holistic. For example if you visit a Bowen Therapist for shoulder pain, they may not treat your shoulder at all the first time you visit. And in later visits they may focus in on another part of your body. This is because it’s rare for a problem to occur in isolation.

Let’s take this example a little further. It may be that you have had a specific injury that has caused your shoulder problem. If its only just happened then treating the shoulder in isolation may well deal with the problem.

But most issues are more chronic in nature or they have flared up as a result of your body compensating for another problem. So often what looks like a shoulder problem could actually stem from another part of your body and by treating the whole person this gets addressed.

It’s All About Energy

If someone asked you what your body is made up of you could say muscles, bones and organs. Or you may consider it at a deeper level and suggest that the body is made of various different cells that form the more solid obvious structures. Both these answers would be true.

But if you drill down even further, cells are made up of molecules and molecules are made up of atoms and atoms are made up of energy. The more holistic view of health sees each of us as a mass of energy that vibrates at a certain resonance, interacting with all the other energy fields around us. When disease occurs our healthy vibration patterns are out of synch. The treatment we choose helps to put the body back into the correct vibration so healing can occur.

In the East they have specific terms for this – the Chinese called it Qi (pronounced Chi) and the Japanese Ki. Many of their therapies such as acupuncture and reiki focus on removing energy blocks and allowing energy to flow uninterrupted through the body.

What Causes The Vibrational Imbalance

Sometimes there is an obvious physical cause eg a whiplash injury from a car accident or a muscular strain from playing sport. And for many people choosing a more physical type of alternative therapy such as massage, chiropractic or Bowen will have them back to full health in no time.

But for many people illness is a result of stress. Now stress is an interesting term and the source of stress can be very different for different people. Tight deadlines at work can be a cause of huge stress for some, but for a journalist who writes for daily tabloid they may thrive on this.

How you interpret what happens in your life and how you respond to this will all impact on your stress levels and therefore your health. Negative thoughts and emotions affect the way our energy vibrates and will send it out of synch. Over the longer term this can lead to disease.

Learning simple strategies such as breathing techniques and meditation, along with finding an alternative treatment that you find relaxing and rebalances your energy, will all help with keeping you in great health.

Which Alternative Should I Go For?

This is so much a matter of personal choice. There may be one alternative treatment that you fall in love with and you then stick with this for the rest of your life or you may find that trying one starts you on a journey of discovery into finding the best ways to take care of your health. For many people a combination of strategies may work best.

To make things a little easier I’ve split them between those you can try out yourself and those you need the services of a specialist for.

DIY Alternative Medicine

The following therapies, of the one’s listed in Part 1 of this report, can all be used at least to some extent, for self-treatment.

Acupressure
Aromatherapy
Ayurveda
Bach Flower Remedies
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Thought Field Therapy
Herbal Medicine
Homeopathy
Meditation
Nutritional Therapy
Qigong

Its easy to get hold of many alternative medicines as health food stores and even the local chemist usually stock aromatherapy, Bach Flower, Herbal and Homeopathic preparations. By trying yourself, you can start to get a feel for these alternatives without having to spend a huge amount of money.

One example of this is a Bach Flower Remedy called Rescue Remedy. This is a combination of remedies that deal with stress. The remedy comes in a liquid form in a small bottle. It’s easy to carry around with you and you can take it whenever you feel the need. All you have to do is pop a few drops into your mouth or add the remedy to water and sip at intervals.

If you really want to get the most of self-treating it’s probably worth reading one or more of the many great books available. You can also find out more by going to:

www.alternativemedicineanswers.com

If you’re not sure about self-healing, you may feel happier visiting a practitioner. I would highly recommend this; especially if you have a specific problem you are looking to treat. Their knowledge will ensure that you get effective results by specifically tailoring the treatment to you.

Specialists Required

All the alternative treatments below will involve you seeking out someone professionally trained.

Acupuncture
Bowen Technique
Chiropractic
Cranio-Sacral Therapy
Healing
Indian Head Massage
Massage Therapy
Naturopathy
Osteopathy
Quantum Touch
Reflexology
Reiki Healing
Shiatsu

No matter which type of alternative treatment you choose, make sure you check the practitioner has been trained by a reputable body and is fully insured.

When choosing a therapist, it’s important that you also feel comfortable with them. You may be able to decide this from speaking to them over the phone or you may need to have at least one treatment with them. We are all different, so find both a therapist and therapy that suits your personality and your health needs.

I Have a Specific Problem - Which Type of Therapy Should I Choose?

Now there’s the million-dollar question! And one I can’t give a black and white answer to.

Because alternative medicine practices are holistic and work at many levels including rebalancing energy, technically any would work. Having said that my personal preference would be that if I was suffering from a muscular problem like a bad back I would choose a more hands on therapy such as Bowen, Chiropractic or massage over a herbal or homeopathic treatment.

Here are a few pointers that may influence your decision.

If you are looking to bring a bit of relaxation back into your life and want to lie back and let someone else take care of you whilst you melt away then how about a massage. This could be combined with aromatherapy to send you into an even more blissful state.

And if you like having your feet massaged then treating yourself to a few Reflexology sessions can leave you in a very relaxed state (yes I have caught myself snoring on one or two occasions!). And as an added bonus you could walk out free of the issue you went with.

If you have a tendency to wallow in your thoughts and you know your emotions are getting the better of you, then learning to meditate or using methods such as Emotional Freedom Technique or Thought Field Therapy will help you to release negative patterns.

You can also use herbs, homeopathy, aromatherapy and Bach Flower Remedies to deal with a wide range of conditions.

And finally, acupuncture, reiki and healing are all treatments that have been successful in treating a wide range of conditions by addressing energy flow.

So How Do I Choose?

Which alternative medicine or therapy you choose will come down to personal preference and how you like to manage your health.

Do a bit of research, listen to other people’s experiences, and talk to a few practitioners. Also look at how you’re living your life. Step back and make an honest appraisal. Ask someone who you trust to give you an honest opinion if necessary.

Alternative treatments can be life changing, but they are not a panacea. If you follow a very unhealthy lifestyle and are unwilling to take responsibility for your health then it’s unlikely that you will see any long-term benefit.

However by learning more about alternative medicine and incorporating what you learn into your life you can reverse the negative effects and start to live the healthy life you deserve.

Wishing you the best of health.

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