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An introduction to alternative therapy
A therapy is ‘alternative’ if it is not in the tradition of ‘conventional’ therapy (the kind of therapy that your regular Doctor would prescribe).
Some common reasons for people to visit an alternative therapist:
Sleep disorders
Giving up smoking
Anxiety problems
Depression
Eating disorders
Jealousy and/or obsession
Anger management
Physical pain e.g. back ache
‘Women’s troubles’ PMT etc
Grief and trauma
There are many different traditions of healing, but here is an outline of the main points:
Healers believe that spiritual vibrations are all around us, and that they affect our mood, our health and our physical and mental well-being. Some vibrations are helpful, while others are harmful.
Healers believe that there is more to the human body than just the physical being. Each of us has an energy body as well as a physical body. This is an invisible but real part of each person, and is deeply affected by emotions and vibrations. This in turn has an effect on the physical body. This is where conventional medicine and spiritual medicine go their separate ways. Most conventional doctors do not believe in the energy body, and if they do they are not taught to treat it.
From a healer’s point of view, just like in the physical world, vibrations affect the human body. Loud music, warm sunshine and cold rain are all vibrations that we can hear or feel. But there are many other types of vibration that we can’t always perceive so easily. For example, the air is full of vibrations from mobile ‘phones, but we can’t perceive these vibrations until we hear them through a telephone.
The ideal state for a human body and mind is total balance and harmony. Of course, not many people achieve that, and certainly not all of the time. But a wildly unbalanced body and mind can have all sorts of negative consequences.
It’s well known that excess anger can lead to depression, and that a poor diet and lack of exercise can lead to heart problems.
Western style medicine (conventional doctors, GPs etc) help their patients by treating the symptoms of the illness. If you’re depressed they give you drugs to lift your mood. They may suggest therapy to help treat the underlying cause of the problem.
If you have an unhealthy heart they will treat the heart and suggest you take more exercise and eat more healthily.
Many people find that this approach is effective. But some people find they need a little more help than drugs, conventional therapy or a change of lifestyle. More and more people are turning to alternative and holistic ways of healing their illnesses and traumas.
Rather than treating the individual symptom, a healer would concentrate on re-balancing the whole person, so that the body or mind could repair and heal itself.
For example, rather than prescribing pain killers for back pain, some healers would focus on releasing physical and emotional tension in the whole body, or clear away blocked or stagnant energy. This would allow the body to heal itself and the pain and inflammation would lessen as a result.
Healing is often very calming, and many people find that old negative feelings such as anger and rage are also released and healed during a treatment. It is believed that these unhappy and negative emotions have a bad effect on a person’s overall health.
For example, you could ask your doctor for nicotine patches to quit smoking. But what if your smoking habit was made worse by nervousness and shyness? What if your nervousness was rooted all the way back in childhood, so far back that you couldn’t even remember it? If you could let go of that fear and nervousness, wouldn’t that make giving up smoking a lot easier? You might not even need the patches, plus you become a slightly more confident person into the bargain.
Many people these days find that spiritual, alternative and energy healing helps them to feel better. From pain management to better sleep, there are all sorts of healers and types of healing to help you.
Some people also feel that it helps them be calmer, stronger and more positive. It’s also said that you can feel more ‘connected’ or more ‘in tune’ with yourself and the rest of the word. Everyone’s experience of healing is different, and the best way to experience it for your self is just to dive in and experience a treatment.
Spiritual or energy healing can be used alongside conventional medicine, or instead of it. Check with your doctor that any herbs or preparations taken internally are compatible with your current medication.
Some people use alternative healing alongside conventional medicine. Others make the more serious step of giving up their conventional medicine and just using alternative therapies instead. This is a matter of personal choice, and a lot of research and trial and error should be done before this step is taken. it’s certainly not one for beginners. No reputable healer will tell you to abandon your prescription from the doctor.
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