ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Background
Alternative medicine may be defined as "any form of healing procedure that is not classified as that of conventional medicine." The following represent a selection of methods that would normally be classified as alternative medicine:
Naturopathy. It emphasises the body's inbuilt ability to heal and maintain itself. Such practice focuses on a holistic, which views physical and mental aspects of life as closely interconnected, approach to patient care, and may recommend patients use conventional medicine alongside their alternative treatments.
Chiropractice. It relates to body parts that are linked to movement. Manipulation of spinal and other joint and soft tissues areas is achieved using extensive massage techniques. It may also include exercises together with health and lifestyle counseling.
Herbalism. It is known by alternative names, such as botanical medicine and herbal medicine. It relies on the extensive use of plants and plant extracts. Use is sometimes made of various fungi and even the products of the humble bee, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts.
Traditional Chinese Medicine. Herbal medicine, acupuncture, and dietary therapy are the ingredients of this application. Ayurveda is the oldest of the six recognized systems of medicine used in India. It is used by countless people in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. It is widely considered to be the oldest system of medicine known today.
Meditation. This eastern technique has been adapted and increasingly practiced in the west, and generates an achievement of a higher state of consciousness, to greater focus, creativity or self-awareness, or simply a more relaxed and peaceful frame of mind.
Yoga. It refers to those practices, originating in India, which generate a feeling of well being and at peace with the world.
Biofeedback. It involves analysing the efficiency of certain organs in the body and relaying this information to the patient. Typically, measurements are taken of blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, activity of the sweat glands, and muscle tension. This will raise the patient's awareness of how well, or otherwise, these vital functions are performing.
Hypnosis. When placed in a hypnotic state, this may also help certain desired changes in the body. As a result, it has been successfully used as a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome, and as an alternative to traditional anesthetics. In certain procedures, it can act as a means of pacifying some skin ailments.
Body-works. It is a term to describe a wider understanding of the body brought about by actual physical contact. This may involve some form of energetic activity or a massage of the body or indeed any form of healing process.
Homeopathy. It has been suggested that a person with an illness can be treated in such a way that the remediesproduce, in others, similar symptoms. The process involves diluting the remedy each time it is taken, until a point is reached when it is indistinguishable from pure water. At each dilution, the toxic effects are removed.
When conventional and alternative medical treatments are practiced in association with each-other, this is known as integrated medicine. However, a prerequisite is that the alternative treatments have actual scientific proof to confirm their efficacy. In fact, such treatments are viewed by many as the most appropriate examples of complementary medicine. A good example of complementary medicine is the application of aromatherapy.
Alternatives - How To Succeed
When we look at a certain object, a painting for example – we won’t be able to appreciate what’s in it, what is painted and what else goes with it if the painting is just an inch away from our face. But if we try to take it a little further, we’ll have a clearer vision of the whole art work.
We reach a point in our life when we are ready for change and a whole bunch of information that will help us unlock our self improvement power. Until then, something can be staring us right under our nose but we don’t see it. The only time we think of unlocking our self improvement power is when everything got worst. Take the frog principle for example –
Try placing Frog A in a pot of boiling water. What happens? He twerps! He jumps off! Why? Because he is not able to tolerate sudden change in his environment – the water’s temperature. Then try Frog B: place him in a luke warm water, then turn the gas stove on. Wait til the water reaches a certain boiling point. Frog B then thinks “Ooh… it’s a bit warm in here”.
People are like Frog B in general. Today, Anna thinks Carl hates her. Tomorrow, Patrick walks up to her and told her he hates her. Anna stays the same and doesn’t mind her what her friends says. The next day, she learned that Kim and John also abhors her. Anna doesn’t realize at once the importance and the need for self improvement until the entire community hates her.
We learn our lessons when we experience pain. We finally see the warning signs and signals when things get rough and tough. When do we realize that we need to change diets? When none of our jeans and shirts would fit us. When do we stop eating candies and chocolates? When all of our teeth has fallen off. When do we realize that we need to stop smoking? When our lungs have gone bad. When do we pray and ask for help? When we realize that we’re gonna die tomorrow.
The only time most of us ever learn about unlocking our self improvement power is when the whole world is crashing and falling apart. We think and feel this way because it is not easy to change. But change becomes more painful when we ignore it.
Change will happen, like it or hate it. At one point or another, we are all going to experience different turning points in our life – and we are all going to eventually unlock our self improvement power not because the world says so, not because our friends are nagging us, but because we realized its for our own good.
Happy people don’t just accept change, they embrace it. Now, you don’t have to feel a tremendous heat before realizing the need for self improvement. Unlocking your self improvement power means unlocking yourself up in the cage of thought that “its just the way I am”. It is such a poor excuse for people who fear and resist change. Most of us program our minds like computers.
Jen repeatedly tells everyone that she doesn’t have the guts to be around groups of people. She heard her mom, her dad, her sister, her teacher tell the same things about her to other people. Over the years, that is what Jen believes. She believes its her story. And what happens? Every time a great crowd would troop over their house, in school, and in the community – she tends to step back, shy away and lock herself up in a room. Jen didn’t only believed in her story, she lived it.
Jen has to realize that she is not what she is in her story. Instead of having her story post around her face for everyone to remember, she has to have the spirit and show people “I am an important person and I should be treated accordingly!”
Self improvement may not be everybody’s favorite word, but if we look at things in a different point of view, we might have greater chances of enjoying the whole process instead of counting the days until we are fully improved. Three sessions in a week at the gym would result to a healthier life, reading books instead of looking at porns will shape up a more profound knowledge, going out with friends and peers will help you take a step back from work and unwind. And just when you are enjoying the whole process of unlocking your self improvement power, you’ll realize that you’re beginning to take things light and become happy.