A Different Perspective on Life

• The Quest for Balance
• Health - Global in Nature
• The Role of Consciousness

Aside from an accident, any dysfunction prepares itself long before even manifesting externally. In alternative medicine, the individual is a global entity not only a physical body. This is the reasoning behind the investigation of underlying causes of imbalance, which results from interactions between various levels of expression (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual). The solutions themselves rest upon a globality that takes into account the various aspects of an individual, his/her lifestyle as well as environment: diet, physical activity, housing, work, emotion management, thought processes, beliefs and spiritual practices, etc. Hence, any problem can only be studied individually and be personalized.

The Quest for Balance

In additon to our physical body (envelope), the human is composed of an emotional body ("heart"), an astral or mental body (intellect and intuition), and a spiritual body (soul, interior guide, supreme self, etc.). Health is not simply the absence of illness, but rather a state of balance within those four bodies.

Any imbalance will indeed alter the functioning of one or more of these bodies. A dietary imbalance, for example, points to a pollution of the physical body. This alteration can affect the emotional body because of repressed emotions and impulses. The mental body will also suffer from negative images and thoughts. Finally, the spiritual body will withdraw from supreme universal forces or from God.

For each body, a specific therapy is called upon: conventional medicine for the physical body, psychiatry and related disciplines for the mental and emotional bodies, and finally religion, occult sciences or seeking out a guru to help or heal the spiritual body.

An individual being naturally made to maintain balance, the various bodies defend themselves against any "tampering". Our physical body accomplishes this by immune responses, the emotional and mental bodies do it by psychic focusing techniques (yoga, relaxation, etc.) aimed at eliminating "mental toxins". The spiritual body relies on the "inner-physician".

But if the imbalance persists, for failure to question individual practices, self-healing mechanisms wear out.

Health: Global in Nature

If we consider illness as the inability of the body to adapt to an overwhelming situation, the therapist's attitude, as well as that of the patient, will depend on the significance given to this "resignation of the natural defences". In naturopathy, if the natural body defences no longer function properly, it is because they have been weaken by inadequate lifestyle habits (poor diet, unhealthy practices, etc.). This concept by no means rejects conventional medicine. It allows the patient to learn a fundamental notion: health is a global notion that must be treated as such in order to heal.

By our will, behaviour, health practices, and state of mind, each of us contributes to a large extent to the good functioning of our body. As stated by Doctor Schweitzer: "The true physician is the inner physician". Too many physicians, trained to apply strictly mechanical logic, ignore this concept that has worked so well and remains the foundation of some traditional medicines, like chinese medicine for example.

It is up to us to manage to the best of our ability, not only our body, but the sum of our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies.

The Role of Consciousness

Consciousness of each of our bodies can be neutralized by drugs, uncontrolled fears or phobias, beliefs and, in the case of the spiritual body, by occlusion (a total closure of the mind to the rest of the Universe).

Broadly put, consciousness is the actual perception we have of what is going on within ourselves. For lack of thought or attention to our inner being, a large part of this consciousness remains unexplored. Some of the therapeutic work of alternative medicine consists in awakening this consciousness and developing its acuity, so that we may have better daily lives.

For example, the emotional body harbours feelings and emotions that, if we choose not to let them be expressed (like in refusing to cry), will end up expressing themselves later on in various ways, mostly physical, insidiously setting up an exacerbated imbalance state.

In the same fashion, the mental body contains dearly held values, innate or acquired. Some of these "rules", if followed blindly simply because they have been taught or imposed, can lead to dead-ends and hinder release. Hence, we often fall victim to inhibitions, instilled in childhood (not to show emotions, "biting the bullet", and the ever-popular "a true man never cries"). These can contaminate our being and reappear in the form of various more or less serious psychological troubles.

And each time we, by force of habit, prevent emotional expression - of any kind - we increase the burden of frustration and damage further our body.

The fourth state, the spiritual body, is developed with time, reflection, meditation, elevation of the inner-self, inner quest, etc. It is therefore important to give intuition the place it deserves on this journey.

On this awakening journey, alternative medicine is a choice ally, allowing us to take ownership according to our individuality and our reality. To achieve this, it relies on a global approach, drawing on fundamental rules of balance in the living, resorting to a multitude of proven techniques, carefully called upon according to individual stakes and problems.