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Which is right for you?

The holistic approach to health is prevention.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary says it this way.

Relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts <holistic ecology views humans and the environment as a single system>.

 

 It is the taking care of oneself before the onset of any medical problems. Eating healthy and exercising is a major part of the holistic approach. Also if a medical problem happens to occur then the holistic approach would be to turn to nature to find a more natural cure. Herbs, diet, acupressure, energy work, chiropractics, acupuncture, reflexology and massage are just a few holistic measures one could take.

 

The Western medicine approach is when the patient actually notices symptoms and is in pain or feels sick and they seek medical attention. Most often times this approach uses drugs and surgeries to manage the illness. 

 

Now I am not dogging either approach as they both have their place. If a limb gets torn off I’m afraid that the holistic approach might not help much. 

However I am finding that with myself I want a more holistic approach as I am reasonably quite healthy. I want to keep it that way. I really don’t want to take any medications as they all have side effects of some kind. Case in point, have you noticed that when you see a drug commercial on TV along with it is a long list of side effects some ending in death. Yeah give me some of those, “Not”. I prefer to take care of myself before anything bad happens. If something bad were to happen I would exhaustively seek a holistic cure before I would seek western medicine. Then if that failed I would go with the western approach. 

 

Now in the area of preventative medicine I do think one should seek testing to rule out cancers and other medical conditions to catch them in the early stages so you at least have a fighting chance to explore both approaches. 

 

In essence I guess what I’m saying is we should be taking care of ourselves before we get sick.

I think we need to look at ourselves as machines. Just like cars our bodies need regular maintenance. If we do not pay attention to our bodies needs they will start to break down. We might end up with unhealthy weight gain or our immune system my break down thus allowing our body machines to become ill. 

 

The rigors of daily life have a tendency to knot up muscles and cause stress. I find that massage helps keep muscles more relaxed and the stress more manageable. 

 

Healthy eating and exercise are two of the ways we keep our body machines running well. Massage is another way. These things go hand in hand. 

 

The benefits of massage are: 

It increases circulation. 

It stimulates the immune system. 

It releases toxins which can then be flushed out of the system. 

It helps with muscle tone. 

It helps relieve stress. 

It rejuvenates tired achy muscles. 

And it feels good. 

 

 I myself am taking a more healthy approach to eating and exercise. I feel a lot better just eating right and exercising but I also get massage on a regular basis. I find that if I go to long without a massage some of my small problem areas become big problems. 

For example, with the work that I do (massage therapy) I sometimes get trouble spots between my shoulder blades. If I don’t get regular massage then what starts as a small problem grows into a bigger problem that will drive me to take over the counter pain relievers or even bigger yet I might have to pay my chiropractor a visit. Not something I really want to spend my hard earned money on. I’d rather just get a wonderful full body massage.