What is holistic therapy? – Blog

Which is holistic therapy? Holistic therapy is the name given to any therapy that follows the principles of holism, that is, that addresses the problem to be treated as a whole, not through a fragmented view of reality. The body is an interconnected organism and therefore cannot be subdivided into independent parts.

The holistic approach believes that the emotional, mental, spiritual and physical elements of each person form a system, and aims to treat the whole person in their context, focusing on both the cause of the disease and its symptoms.

The therapist, therefore, understands that a particular problem that afflicts the individual who seeks it is the effect of disharmony, of an imbalance, and the therapy aims to restore this individual’s balance. To this end, this professional can use different methods and approaches: psychotherapy, aromatherapy, chromotherapy, Bach flower remedies, massage therapy, acupuncture, reiki, do-in, reflexology, iridology, etc.

Understand better what is and each of the approaches of holistic therapy in What is alternative therapy? or see one of our holistic therapists.

Better understand what holistic therapy is

What is holistic therapy? The father of Western medicine, Greek physician and philosopher Hippocrates liked to repeat while caring for his patients that “man is an integral part of the cosmos and only nature can treat his ills”. With this, he wanted to show that the causes of the disease were natural – and not divine punishments as believed until then – and that the balance and health of the body are directly linked to the environment in which we live.

This same phrase has come back to sound current in recent years, at the same time that there is a popularization of alternative methods to the same Western medicine that Hippocrates founded.

From the 17th century onwards, when the ideas of philosopher René Descartes began to influence science, medical treatments began to see the human body as a machine in which each part had a specific and independent function.

For Descartes, understanding each of the parts, the whole is understood. That simple. Modern medicine, forgetting the advice of Hippocrates and what came to be holistic therapy, was built on this assumption and is still very much supported by it. Today, Descartes’ theory no longer makes much sense. Science has more than proved the intrinsic relationship between mind and body and its consequences for human health.

It is also clear that isolating one part of the body and disregarding the rest is a sure recipe for unexpected side effects.

What is holistic therapy? In the holistic approach, the disease of the physical body is only, and only, the reflection or the somatization of the existing disharmonies in the energetic and emotional bodies. Therefore, holistic treatment aims to treat not only pain or maladjustment of the physical body, that is, not only the effect, but also seeks to detect the origin of the evil and treat it so that not only the evil but also the cause that causes it to cease to exist. provokes him.