Alternative medicine has increasingly begun to be referred to by other terms:complementary medicine, integrative medicine, and holistic medicine. In essence, all these terms point to the same medical goal - treating patients from the most comprehensive perspective by addressing all of the multiple factors (physical, environmental, mental/emotional, social, and spiritual) that play a role in both health and disease. Such a holistic, "whole person" approach to health care is the opposite of symptom-care, which is the focus of conventional, allopathic medicine.

What "Alternative Medicine" Means
In its broadest sense, the term alternative medicine is used simply to denote approaches to health and healing that do not rely on drugs, surgery, and/or other conventional medical procedures for treating illness. The underlying concepts of alternative medicine are far older than those of conventional , allopathic medicine, and have, in fact, infused various healing traditions around the world since the dawn of recorded history. As early as 5,000 B.C.E., "physician sages" formulating the healing traditions of both traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Ayurvedic medicine from India recognized that human beings were comprised of body, mind , and spirit, and that health represented a harmonious balance within all three of these aspects of existence, as well as the free flow of invisible vital energy (known as qi in China and prana in India) throughout the various body systems.

The Best of Both Worlds
It is important to recognize that practioners of alternative medicine are not opposed to conventional medical practices, and do not hesitate to employ them (either in their own practice or through referrals to conventional M.D.'s) when appropriate. This is especially true when dealing with patients faced with acute, life threatening illnesses or injuries. Both systems of medicine have much to offer, and the wisest form of health care is one which makes use of them in an integrated manner that most fully meets patient needs.

Holistic Healing Principles
The following 12 principles, established by the board of trustees of the American Holistic Medical association, lie at the heart of the new paradigm of health care that is emerging in the 21st century.

1. Holistic physicians embrace a variety of safe, effective diagnostic and treatment options. These include education for lifestyle changes and self-care, complementary diagnostic and treatment approaches, and conventional drugs and surgery.
2. Searching for the underlying causes of disease is preferable to treating symptoms alone.
3. Holistic physicians expend as much effort in establishing what kind of patient has a disease as they do in establishing what disease a patient has.
4. Prevention is preferable to treatment  and is usually more cost-effective. The most cost-effective approach evokes the patient's own innate healing capacities.
5. Illness is viewed as a manifestation of a dysfunction to the whole person, not as an isolated event.
6. A major determining factor in the healing process is the quality of the relationship established between the patient and physician, in which the patient is encouraged to take responsibility for his or her health.
7. The ideal physician-patient relationship considers the needs, desires, awareness, and insight of the patient, as well as of the physician.
8. Physicians significantly influence patients by their example.
9. Illness, pain, and the dying process can be learning opportunities for both patients and physicians.
10. Holistic physicians encourage their patients to evoke the healing power of love, hope, humor, and enthusiasm, and to release the toxic consequences of hostility, shame, greed, depression, and prolonged fear, anger, and grief.
11. Unconditional love is life's most powerful medicine. Holistic physicians strive to adopt an attitude of unconditional love for patients, themselves, and other practioners.
12. Optimal health is much more than the absence of sickness. It is the conscious pursuit of the highest qualities of the physical, environmental, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social aspects of human experience.

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Namaste

I honor the place in you in which the entire universe dwells.
I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light,
and of peace. When you are in that place in you,
and I am in that place in me,
We are One.

Massage by Karen / Tranquil Transitions

Massage by Karen: Massage Therapy, Guided Imagery, and Stress Reduction.
Tranquil Transitions: Mind Body Coach for clients experiencing medical / surgical procedures and treatments in the traditional medical venue. Presentations/Lectures on topics of stress reduction, healing and caring for the caregivers. CEU Offering for Nurses.
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