Integrative Medicine by Mark J.W. Rowsell In the world today, more then ever, health and healing are more important then ever before. There is a spiritual revolution happening making it imperative for all to find balance ‘within’ to maintain balance ‘without’. To accomplish this seems ever more difficult with the speeding up of “time” and us chasing our tales in the societies of today. We hardly find time for our favorite hobbies, friends and family so healing is mostly last on the list as we are caught up in “no time”. Before any healing can take place within, there must be a purified desired to get well, a purpose to bring self back to the center of Self. Life’s great joy of living, laughing and having fun in responsible action leads to peace of mind which is half the battle of healing. Responsibility is the key and makes us more in control of our life and brings with it a sense of personal power from standing strong in integrity within our values, morals and spiritual beliefs. True spiritual teachings are universal and hold no dogma or man’s doctrines attached. They contain pure and simple laws that if followed bring one more in alignment with the source of our life, the Source of Life itself. Name it what you like, Great Spirit, Allah, God, Atma, Brahma, YHVH, etc etc. It doesn’t matter, there is only one Great Cause of all that IS and until one comes into acceptance of the one great power that is within all of us healing will be only temporary. A quote illustrates this simple fact; “All men will come to Me in due time, only theirs is the agony of awaiting” What does this have to do with integrative medicine you may be asking, well its plain to see isn’t it? Until we as an individual and then as a collective humanity integrate God back into our lives, our health will only be a transient thing that doesn’t serve its true purpose. Another quote may bring more clarity to our purpose as humanity, individual and collective. So with that said we may move on now with some basics of healing. Integrative medicine is to adapt different modalities of healing into a personal treatment that suits the individual’s needs. In this day and age there are many methods of healing and doctoring. Everyone has a different perception as to which is best. The best one is the one that works for you. All modalities have merit, value and virtue yet some seem to work better for others. Why is that? Well one way of seeing it is that each person has created unique causes of the dis-ease they may be experiencing. To generalize and lump all symptoms, problems, and respective causes and cures into one category does a great disservice to us. While the outer symptoms may appear similar between individuals the exact causes are usually quite different. This simple explanation leads to the need to adapt personal treatments for unique people. All of us have unique talents, abilities and characteristics that no one else can do as well, a gift of the Creator, so also each may have a unique way of coming into the problem they are having in health which is actually made up from thoughts, feelings, deeds and their effects on the physical. Our responsibility as unique individuals is to find what method or combination of methods work best for us. As we learn to apply therapies that appeal to us and suit our needs we find that healing comes about much faster and in a more holistic/wholistic manner. All healing comes from within. The body has a tremendous capacity to restore itself to balance. All of us can maintain a balanced lifestyle if we only knew how to bring all of our seeming priorities into proper order. What is more important to you, the “bad” habit or your health and energy? The energy to live is maintained by keeping ourselves in a perpetual cycle of “good” actions or Dharma which in Sanskrit means right conduct. This one principle of life can revolutionize your personal world into one of peace and contentment at least within self. You can’t always change that which is happening outside you, but if you have an inner balance you can stay centered in the thickest of storms. Integrating medicines of the west and east is forming a new wave that is sweeping across the world. The eastern energy systems have a complete way of both diagnosing and treating diseases for over thousands of years. Allopathic medicine has its merits and its place in the overall scheme of things but it is still a very newly researched area of health, one which I feel needs to take a co-pilot approach with its eastern partner. Orthodox doctoring may serve as a catalyst to correct the problem, but it will not always correct the cause of the problem. Eastern modalities adapt well with western treatments if the western treatment doesn’t exceed it limits in administering medications. A dictionary lesson about the root meaning of allopathic will give great insight. Allos is Greek and means ‘other’, and pathy means ‘suffering’. Therefore an allopathic medication is another disease or suffering to mask the disease you are experiencing. This of course is the cause of continual need to take more medications to offset the side effects of the previous medication. The modern approach to medicine is a vicious cycle. We treat the symptom, it disappears, but later something else pops up. We treat it, and the cycle continues. This cycle will continue itself ad infinitum if we do not delve deeper then a symptomatic approach. Now this isn’t a “low blow” to the western medical field, just a simple illustration of the factual definition. Truth IS, whether it hurts or not the opinions and feelings of others. There’s a place for both orthodox and natural therapies if the honesty can flow between the two to be reasonable in what works, what doesn’t, what is poisoning and what is truly needed in specific conditions. All treatments, traditional or otherwise, have credibility, function and viability. There are situations when orthodox medical procedures, including surgery are necessary to restoring balance and health. To make it exclusive to other ways of healing though, is saying that the Universal Intelligence operating in all that exists has a narrow-minded view and prejudiced approach to humanities needs. For true health, there is no “fast food” remedy. There are quick ways to bring relief to acute discomforts but to alleviate the discomfort of a runny nose per say is to stop the bodies natural eliminating processes prematurely. It does not cure what made you susceptible to that runny nose in the first place. A runny nose is a natural cleansing process and to stop it with a pill, we stop the body’s cleansing. The toxins then accumulate until some later time when they trigger an even greater problem. Eastern medicine has many types of modalities that can be easily integrated into each other. The modern natural therapist is one who can adapt well to the needs of the individual with an assortment of treatment modalities in his natural therapies “tool bag”. Traditional Chinese Medicine has been around for over five thousand years and Ayervedic medicine of India has been around for more then ten thousand years. To negate the usefulness of such is a foolish and ignorant attitude of our inheritance as a human collective. Then the breakup of these modalities into their proponent parts, for instance, India deals very much with the energy systems of the body called Chakras, a familiar name in this day. The Chinese deal with the meridian system as a focus and yet both are contained in the same system and interact with each other. There is actually no difference once deeper research is made. The focus is the only difference, while the outcome of healing is same; balance within the body, mind and soul. In Thailand there is a modality called Thai massage which is already a combination of reflexology, shiatsu (Japanese acupressure), Ayervedic massage and yoga with Chinese theory, acupressure and even herbal remedies if needed. Thai massage is very complete and is very effective which gives a great example of integrative healing practices working synergistically. Western technologies being incorporated with eastern therapies is developing rapidly and providing a scientific basis behind some of the more elusive theories of “alternative” treatment modalities. Electrical acupuncture is a prime example making this age old tradition a much easier applied treatment. With the use of electrical technology the acupuncture points can be proven to exist on an energetic level beyond the physical. Now it can also be done in a non-invasive manner with quick, effective and lasting results. Synergistic energy therapies are the wave of the future. Sometimes we must borrow from several modalities to come up with a synthesis that is effective for unique individuals. Integrating modalities in a synergistic manner can create a powerful treatment. The goal of all synergistic systems should be to incorporate techniques that work on the body, mind and soul. For instance; Every thought, word and deed has a significant effect upon the physical. As we become aware of the effects of non-physical causes; thoughts and feelings, we will begin to know that we control much of what we experience in the line of dis-ease. Our current thoughts are shaping are future health. Most imbalances arise from some form of non-love towards ourselves. This happens in the form of self-criticism, feelings of unworthiness, self blame, rehashing past mistakes, comparisons to others, procrastination of making mature decisions for ourselves and most of all going against the universal laws of the physical and spiritual planes. To move toward greater health sometimes requires a change in perceptions to become more aligned with “the truth”. If we change our imaginings we change our world! To get started right now is simple and easy, it just takes a desire to return back to balance and an awareness that is ever increasing to know the truth. Eventually with awareness we will start to make the proper decisions to correct the course of our life back into dharma; right conduct. Stay aware of your ideas, thoughts, words, feelings, desires, deeds and actions and check them against your highest values. Examples of therapies that can be incorporated together to suit individual needs: Traditional Methods; Mark J.W. Rowsell works out of The Rising Sun Health Spa and is available weekdays and evenings for appointments please call 905-884-3362. It is our pleasure to serve you on your Healing Journey! |