Exactly what is Holistic Health?

We hope everyone is having a great 2009 so far!  At Holistic Health Magazine, we strive to bring you the most accurate and up to date information on natural and alternative health care you will find anywhere. 

There are a few fundamental principles of holistic health.  The first is that the holistic approach to wellness looks at the entire spectrum of our existence.  Our physical, mental and spiritual beings all intermingle with each other.  We are not likely to achieve physical well-being if we are mentally or spiritually troubled.  What’s more alarming is that spiritual and mental maladies can often bring about physical symptoms.  While the perception may be that this is not possible, that perception is born from people not understanding exactly how powerful the relationship is between mind, body and spirit.

Holistic practitioners in this day and age are not shaman or soothsayers or psychics.  They are chiropractors, doctors of osteopathy and more and more, medical doctors.  Holistic providers are highly educated and credentialed.  They know the biology, chemistry and anatomy behind how the body works.  They also believe from personal and professional experience that a physical symptom is not best treated by merely resolving the symptom.  Many symptoms present in the body no where near the cause of the symptom.

Most Americans have lost confidence and patience in the modern approach of pharmaceutical-based health care.  Rather than masking the problem with a pain-killer or anti-inflammatory, people today want to resolve the true cause of their symptom or condition.  This brings us to the second basic principle of holistic health:  taking individual control and responsibility for our own health care.   Practitioners seek to educate their patients as to why are they are not feeling well, the various ways (alot of times more than one) of how to feel better without resorting to side effect-causing medication and how to prevent the symptom from recurring.

Preventative health care is the third basic feature of holistic health.  Holistic practitioners generally revel in the opportunity to guide their patients through lifestyle changes designed to promote general well being and prevent physical symptoms from ever surfacing.

The holistic approach to health care is not an elixir that will cure all.  If you fracture your arm, go the ER and get your script for pain killers filled if you are in alot of pain.  What holistic health is, however, is a field of health care that is genuinely designed to resolve what ails you without creating additional issues, while at the same time helping you achieve balance within you physically, mentally and spiritually.

In the upcoming blog entries we will be discussing the benefits of some specific holistic remedies.  For more information right now on holistic health, please visit www.holistichealthmagazine.com.   Have a blessed day.