Are you well? Have you made a commitment to your self, to your health and wellbeing? Do you know how to begin to turn your health around, or to enhance the gift of health you already have?
Why not?
Have you settled for less than optimal health? Do you live with discomfort that traditional western medicine can't heal? Are you resigned to declining as the years advance?
Why?
Maybe it's because you don't know that there is an option. Or maybe you think that only a lucky few get to experience vibrant wellness. Maybe you worry all that alternative stuff is for crackpots and tree huggers. Or maybe you're just a little afraid to take the first step to investigate your options.
All of this is understandable. The contemporary western medical system has a stranglehold on information. Western medicine is based on a few basic assumptions that narrow its potential. And the money that's involved misplaces the focus of health care off of the wellbeing of the patient (where it should be) and onto the competition for dollars - from research funding to drug company profits to health insurance company bottom lines.
Our health care system is more than broken. It is mistaken at its core assumptions. Let's take, for example, the assumption that all illness is wrong or bad. In fact, dis-ease in our bodies usually pushes us to examine our priorities, forces us to rest, and/or allows us to receive care from others. Just about everyone would agree that these three activities can vastly improve our quality of life - and that people rarely do them without the impetus of an illness.
We need to question other assumptions too. Is it true that our bodies are merely predictable chemical machines? Or is there something to the ancient teachings about life force energy that animates our bodies? Is it best to continually alleviate symptoms? Or might it be worthwhile to look for underlying causes of conditions? Is it most effective for medical personnel to prescribe and order jargoned treatments? Or might a more effective healing occur when a patient steps into responsibility for his or her own care?
These questions are not even being discussed in the current "health care debate." Luckily, we don't have to wait for our government to decide how to bandage a broken health care system. We can take our own wellness into our own hands right now!
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) reports that at least 38% of Americans have sought out an alternative or complementary healing treatment. You probably know several people who have had successful and satisfactory interactions with homeopathic, hypnotherapeutic or vibrational medical practitioners and treatments.
The range of alternative and complementary medical techniques is huge and can include massage, homeopathy, acupuncture, vitamin/mineral supplementation, herbal remedies, Energy Medicine, Reiki, JoRei, QiGong, hypnosis, guided imagery, aromatherapy, Ayurvedic medicine, magnet therapy, spinal manipulation, meditation, sound healing, Naturopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, prayer and spiritual healing, Tai Chi, Yoga and more.
If you don't know what some of these modalities are, you are not alone. Some are modern; others have been around for centuries. They represent a vast reservoir of knowledge and experience that is almost completely untapped - and frequently ridiculed - within the western medical paradigm.
Alternative medicine is defined as treatments that replace traditional medical treatments. An example might be getting a massage to alleviate a headache rather than popping a few ibuprofen. Complementary treatments are those that people use in addition to traditional medical treatments, for example, using herbs to counteract the nausea that frequently accompanies chemotherapy.
The NCCAM website also includes tips for talking to your doctor about alternative and complementary medicine. In my experience, doctors are usually interested in information about alternatives and welcome the discussion. In fact, many physicians use alternative or complementary remedies themselves!
Most people have no idea how vibrantly healthy they can be. We have gotten used to feeling OK most of the time, tolerating a cornucopia of little aches and pains, accepting the "fact" of declining with age, and being content if we stay out of the hospital. We see some people living long healthy lives; the doctors tell us it must be their genes. We know others who never get sick; the medical establishment tells us they must have strong immune systems, but can't tell us how we can achieve that too. We've all heard of or know someone who made a remarkable recovery from a serious condition; we are told that this is a "medical miracle" or "spontaneous remission." Maybe they're wrong.
Maybe we can all aspire to long, healthy lives. Maybe we can each jump out of bed every morning, excited and energized. Maybe we can find ways to treat the health issues that come our way in a manner that increases our vitality and enhances our experience of life. Maybe we can take more responsibility for researching and choosing treatments that will work for us. Maybe one or more of these alternative and complementary modalities hold the answers we are looking for. Maybe these are the topics we ought to be debating, studying, investigating and funding.
Of course we have to be careful, savvy consumers and look a little deeper than the hard sell infomercials on TV. But the more interest we show, the more discussions we have with our medical professionals about alternatives, the more minds will open and the more attention - and dollars - will flow towards the study of modalities that have the potential to help us achieve unheard of levels of wellness and vitality. I'm ready for that. Are you?
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