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Bach Flower Remedies are the gift of the Spirit to mankind through
Dr. Edward Bach, an English physician who lived from 1886 to 1936.
They are considered as 'Alternative Therapy', 'Herbal Supplementation'
and 'Energy Essences'. Together with Herbal Supplements, Schussler
Tissue Remedies and where necessary allopathic medication, they
do form an effective and safe healing system. Before taking up this
healing system in detail, let us begin with a short introduction
to Holistic Health Systems. A Q&A format is used to make the
communication process more effective.
What is holistic health?
Holistic health is the well-being of the body, mind and spirit
of a person. It is the Whole of the person.
Holistic healing systems look at the whole of the human being -
body, mind and spirit. They all recognise the fact that a person
is more than a body of skin, flesh, blood and bones. The Spirit
expresses itself through the mind. So, the importance of mind in
health is recognised. In the last few decades, the role of mind
in the physical health has been well recognised and 'psychosomatic'
has become a house-hold word. Psyche means mind and Soma means body.
Effect of mind over body. Many modern doctors agree that most of
the chronic diseases are partly if not totally psychosomatic in
origin. Even where the cause is purely physical, like in an accident-related
injury, the recovery is largely governed by the mental outlook of
the patient, which in turn depends on him/herself and the support
received from the caretakers or lack of it.
Can you name some holistic healing systems?
There are several healing systems that are holistic in their approach.
Acupressure, Acupuncture,
Aromatherapy, Ayurveda, Bach Flowers, Homeopathy, Magnetotherapy,
Tissue Remedies, Reiki, Pranic Healing, Siddha, Unani etc., are
certainly Alternative or Complemntary Medical Systems and many healers
consider them to be holistic. Of course whether a healing system
is holistic or not is a matter of subjective interpretation, but
what is generally accepted is that any healing system that includes
the mental (and thus indirectly spiritual too) symptoms in addition
to the physical symptoms could be rightly called holistic.
Are all alternative healing systems holistic?
Alternative therapies are plenty. All of them may or may not fit
the definition of holistic.
If the system addresses the mental health, that is if the system
looks at the individual patient as a person, not just a collection
of individual isolated parts, it could be called holistic. Treat
the patient, not the disease is the motto of all such systems. All
of them believe in looking at the person as a whole, and dispense
with labelling a group of symptoms as a disease. Naming a disease
doesn't necessarily mean that the doctor has a cure.
Ayurveda and Homeopathy are definitely holistic healing systems,
since they address the entire gamut of symptoms, physical and mental.
Bach Flower Remedies, Acupressure, Acupuncture, Reiki etc., also
could be considered as holistic healing systems, since they emphasise
the mental or emotional symptoms of the patient, that is they try
to look at him/her and not the individual phyical symptoms.
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