What is Holistic Healthcare? A Comprehensive Guide
With a rising interest in more alternative health approaches that focus on natural solutions treating the whole person, holistic healthcare has been receiving more attention.
What is holistic healthcare? Holistic healthcare focuses on treating a whole person rather than focusing on one symptom or one aspect of health. Humans are physical, emotional, spiritual, and social, and all of these elements contribute to our overall health, which is what holistic healthcare aims to address.
Core Principles of Holistic Healthcare
The core principle of holistic healthcare is treating the whole person rather than getting caught up with one symptom or issue. Your body, mind, and spirit work together in harmony, and if something is off with one, it can upset the balance of everything. So, it makes perfect sense that you would treat the whole person.
Holistic healthcare has a heavy focus on prevention by taking a proactive approach to wellness and making conscious decisions that positively influence your health. The idea is that addressing the whole person will uncover the root cause of the issue rather than using pharmaceuticals to relieve symptoms. Wouldn't you rather find healing than an ongoing treatment that simply hides the problem? Holistic healthcare draws from several disciplines, including culture and religion.
Common Holistic Health Practices
You might be surprised to learn of the various health practices that fall under the holistic umbrella because there has been movement in the industry to recognise these as valid choices. In addition to chiropractic care, acupuncture, and mind-body therapies like yoga have become commonplace, and many people embrace these.
Nutrition and diet therapy
While you can't heal an illness with nutrition or diet therapy, this aspect of holistic medicine is focused on prevention. By fuelling your body with the right balance of vitamins and minerals, you can prevent lifestyle diseases.
Herbal medicine
Herbal medicines are made up of different plant parts, and while they are available in capsules and oils, tinctures are some of the most potent options, from Gingko to improve the memory to Echinacea to reduce the lifespan of a cold. Many people prefer, like naturopathy doctors, to utilise these medicines rather than turning to pharmaceuticals for every ailment.
Mind-body therapies
Yoga and meditation bring conscious awareness to your body and mind connection and can be powerful healing practices.
Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine
Acupuncture can address inflammation, reduce pain, nausea, insomnia, and contribute to greater overall well-being.
Chiropractic Care
A chiropractor doesn't just crack your back and send you on your way, the focus is on massage, stretching, exercise, diet, and manipulation to treat the whole body.
Benefits of Holistic Healthcare
Why should you look at whole-person health? Natural health doesn't have to replace traditional medicine, it should live alongside it. You can work with a holistic practitioner to create a personalised treatment plan that focuses on the root cause of your illness. While you embrace holistic healing, you can also opt for integrative medicine, which simply means you can see a traditional doctor or book a telehealth appointment.
Holistic living means taking control of your health to make conscious decisions to improve your health and reduce the risk of illness. You don't need to abandon holistic healing if you are dealing with an illness; you can share details of your alternative medicine treatments with your traditional doctor to create a plan that encompasses both.
The Role of Holistic Health Practitioners
If you're interested in complementary medicine, you need to find a suitable practitioner who can guide you on your healing path. These practitioners complete Holistic Health Practitioner courses so they are trained in holistic healing and understand homeopathy and how it can be used to treat the whole self, and can work in combination with traditional medicine. The patient-practitioner relationship is a key part of the process because this is a partnership. Patients need to find a practitioner they feel comfortable with because communication and respect are vital to the success of the process.
Holistic vs. Conventional Healthcare
While holistic healthcare focuses on the whole body, conventional healthcare is often caught up in treating symptoms because the diagnosis process can be long and arduous. So, the focus is on medications and surgeries, and holistic medicine considers the connectedness of every aspect of health to find the right complementary medicine solutions. The goal of conventional healthcare is diagnosis, but the goal is holistic healthcare is overall wellness.
Of course, integrative medicine remains an option, and many people choose to take this path, embracing both holistic and conventional healthcare for the most effective solution.
Getting Started with Holistic Healthcare
With so many different modalities to choose from, it's important to do your research to find the one that best fits your needs. Don't be afraid to speak to a preventive medicine practitioner about what wellness practices might be suited to you. If you're looking for a qualified practitioner, check with professional bodies to find a list of qualified practitioners. It's always a good idea to have an initial consultation to make sure you vibe with the practitioner, and if it's not a good fit, try someone else.
If you're interested in holistic healthcare and becoming a practitioner yourself, there's a Holistic Health Practitioner course that provides all the necessary training.
Final Thoughts
Holistic healthcare comes down to this – it's a whole-person approach to promote proactive health with the intention of promoting overall well-being. By making conscious decisions about what you put into your body, you can bolster your health and prevent certain illnesses from developing. Whether you want to avoid the side effects of pharmaceuticals or improve your overall well-being, holistic healthcare can help you maintain your health and happiness.