Accupressure is a type of bodywork that involves pressing specific points on the body using the fingers, knuckles, palms, elbows or feet to relieve pain, reduce stress, and promote general good health. Although China has been given credit for being the actual place of origin for accupressure, there is evidence in old Ayurveda Books that this method of healing was actually developed in India, some 6,000 years ago.
In the United States accupressure's primary use is to relieve pain, reduce stress, and improve overall well-being and is usually provided by a trained therapist. But in China, this technique is used on a more everyday basis: The Chinese typically practice it on themselves or on family members to treat everyday ailments such as colds, headaches, sore muscles, and hangovers, while specialists are consulted for more complicated problems.
Acupuncture
A holistic method of healing based on chinese medicine which uses needles to directly influence the 'chi' or life force in the body.
Aikido
An art of self-defense based on Japanese principles that incorporates the principles of nonresistance in order to defend oneself and lessen the strength of the opponent. Also a mind-body method for increasing inner strength.
Alchemical Healing
Alchemy may be called the precursor to modern medicine and science. Alchemists had 2 main goals, transmuting metal to gold, and curing all disease. They achieved their goals in various ways which transformed energy of one substance into another. Alchemical Healing is also a transformational process. There are lineages of alchemists from various areas of the world, each with their own language and techniques. While each healer has their own methods, their goals are to transform something or someone into a higher level of themselves.
Alexander Technique
Alexander Technique is a method used to prevent and shift unhealthy habits within the body that are often used to adapt to one's surroundings. The technique improves ones own perceptions of their body, increases ease in movement and offers tools for self-knowledge through the body-mind.
Alternative Medicine
Holistic practices which offer compliments to allopathic medicine and/or alternatives to allopathic treatments for a holistic, empowering approach to overall wellness.
Animal Communications
Healing methods for communicating with animals through intuitive practices. Often used in situations where animals appear to be in emotional or physical distress.
Applied Kinesiology
By identifying weaknesses in specific muscles, applied kinesiology can determine health imbalances in the body's organs and glands. Stimulating or relaxing these key muscles allows the applied kinesiologist to diagnose and resolve a variety of health problems.
Aromatherapy
The use of essential oils, extracted from herbs, flowers, resin, woods, and roots in body and skin care treatments is known as aromatherapy. Used as a healing technique for thousands of years by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, essential oils aid in relaxation, improve circulation, and help the healing of wounds. Specific essential oils are blended by the aromatherapist and added to a carrier oil, such as almond oil, to be used during the massage. Each of the oils has its own unique characteristics and benefits. Use of this technique declined as the modern pharmaceutical industry developed. However, the French chemist Gattefossé revived the art by coining the term aromatherapy and by publishing a book on the subject in 1928.
Art Therapy
By using the media of the arts to release symbolic expression, this therapy provides the individual with an awareness of the inner self.
Ashiatsu
Brought to us by Buddhist monks, Ashiatsu is an ancient form of bodywork, using the pressure of the therapist's feet on strategic points. Ashi, meaning feet, and atsu, meaning pressure, is also referred to as barefoot Shiatsu and is performed by the therapist using wooden bars suspended from the ceiling. Traditional barefoot Ashiatsu has been performed in Asia on a floor mat for 3,000 years, but founder Ruth Hardee improved the art by adding bars and creating a more comfortable method of applying this technique.
Astrological Medicine
The art of utilizing a person's astrological chart to bring to light the unbalanced energies. Health is considered a balanced state. When we are ill we are unbalanced. Medical Astrology attempts to strengthen our weaknesses resulting in balance or health. This form of healing makes use of herbal and essential oil techniques, among others. For a more indepth look at Medical Astrology you can go to www.astroheal.com/directory.html
Aura
Everything has an aura, both animate and inanimate, but auras are best detected in humans. The aura, also referred to as odic force, is seen clearly in early Christian art from the 5th to the 16th centuries. A glow was depicted around the heads of people who were supposed to be very holy, which was referred to as the halo or gloria. Not limited to Christianity the aura was also depicted as the ring of flames around the heads of the Moslem prophets. The human body is actually composed of seven distinct elements. The first three being solid, liquid and gas, form the physical body. The fourth, is known as the Etheric body and permeates the physical body extending beyond the confines of the physical body by about one inch. Next is the Astral body which extends beyond the etheric body by several inches. Beyond the astral body are the Mental and Spiritual bodies. Because of their elasticity, and the speed at which they function, it is impossible to define the physical limits of these last two elements. Though the vibrations of the nonphysical bodies cannot be detected by the naked eye, the energy patterns which they display are detectable. Such energy patterns are known as the aura.
Auric Healing
In Auric healing one attempts to improve the condition of a person by changing the color configuration of his aura. Similar to color healing, the technique of visualization is used. When the patient complains of an ailment the practitioner visualizes the color which is lacking within the patient’s aura which would effect the condition.
Ayurvedic
Ayurvedic (meaning "science of life") is a comprehensive system that combines natural therapies with a highly personalized approach to treatment of disease. Ayurvedic medicine places equal emphasis on body, mind and spirit, and strives to restore the innate harmony of the individual. It has been practiced in India for the past five thousand years.
Bach Flower Remedy
A Bach Flower "Remedy" consists of water that has been patterned with the energetic vibrations of one of 38 different flowers. Named after Dr. Edward Bach, whose research led to its development in England in the 1930's, this treatment seeks to create balance in areas of energetic disruption. Bach Flower Treatment specifically addresses the emotional body of the energy system. Its purpose is to restore emotional harmony.
Bioenergetics
Also known as Bioenergetic Therapy, Bioenergetic Medicine, Bioenergetic Analysis, Bioenergetics is a complementary therapy that involves psychotherapy, relaxation techniques, and gentle touch to relieve muscle tension. Bioenergetics practitioners believe the body "records" negative emotional reactions and stores them in the form of muscle tension and stiffness, poor posture, and low energy levels. To release these trapped emotions and return the body and mind to a balanced, healthy, peaceful state, patients must first release muscle tension and correct physical imbalances. They also believe that bioenergetics can offer relief from the side effects of cancer treatment and even strengthen the body's ability to fight disease.
Biofeedback
Biofeedback training teaches a person how to change and control his or her body's functions through the use of simple electronic devices. Biofeedback is particularly useful for learning to reduce stress, eliminate headaches, control asthmatic attacks, recondition injured muscles, and relieve pain.
Bodywork
The term bodywork refers to therapies such as massage, deep tissue manipulation, movement awareness, and energy balancing, which are employed to improve the structure and functions of the human body. Bodywork in all its forms helps to reduce pain, soothe injured muscles, stimulate blood and lymphatic circulation, and promote deep relaxation {enabling the body to rally its own recuperative powers}. Types of Bodywork can include Swedish Massage, Rolfing, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Method, Myofascial Release, Trager, Rubenfeld Synergy, Rosen Method, Shiatsu, Reflexology, Therapeutic Touch, CranioSacral Therapy, Reiki, Holotropic Breathwork and Polarity Therapy.
Breathwork
Breathwork is a general term used to describe a variety of conscious breathing techniques that are used in many relaxation exercises and spiritual healing methods. There are many types of breathwork and facilitators. Focused, deep breathing exercises, such as exaggerating the way you naturally inhale and exhale, is said to promote relaxation, awareness, and emotional release.
Chelation Therapy
Chelation therapy is a safe and effective method for drawing toxins and metabolic wastes from the bloodstream. Chelating agents have been proven to increase blood flow and remove arterial plaque. Chelation therapy can also help reverse atherosclerosis, prevent heart attacks and strokes, and has been used as an alternative to bypass surgery and angioplasty.
Chiropractic
Chiropractors can influence the body's nervous system and natural defense mechanisms through adjustments of the spine and joints, alleviating pain and improving general health. Effective in treating back problems, headaches, and other injuries and traumas, chiropractic has become the second largest primary health care field in the world.
Color Healing
Color healing, also known as chromotherapy or color therapy is usually done with the technique of visualization, where the practitioner vividly holds the color in his mind and directs it to the affected area of the patient. But tools are also used in color therapy. Examples are gemstones, candles, wands, prisms, colored fabrics, bath treatments, and colored eye wear. Therapists trained in color therapy use color to balance energy wherever our bodies are lacking, be it physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental.
Colorpuncture
Colorpuncture combines the ancient esoteric principles of the Hermetic Doctrines, the energetic wisdom of Chinese medicine, and modern scientific knowledge of light biophysics to form a powerful healing system. It can be used in harmony with other healing systems such as homeopathy, acupuncture, psychotherapy, chiropractic, bodywork, and many others. Esogetic ColorpunctureTM uses precision manufactured glass rods to focus specific frequencies of colored light onto a system of acu-points on the surface of the skin. The light is non intrusive, yet penetrates deeply into the body stimulating inter-cellular communication in a manner unlike and unavailable in any other healing technology.
Craniosacral Therapy
Considered a type of bodywork, craniosacral therapy manipulates the bones of the skull to treat a range of conditions, from headache and ear infection to stroke, spinal cord injuries, and cerbral palsy. Used to improve overall body functioning, craniosacral therapy is gaining acceptance by health professionals worldwide as a successful treatment modality.
Detoxification
Each of us are exposed to thousands of toxic chemicals and pollutants in the earth's atmosphere, water, food, and soil every minute of every day. These pollutants manifest themselves in a variety of symptoms, including decreased immune function, neurotoxicity, hormonal dysfunction, psychological disturbances, and even cancer. Detoxification therapy helps to rid the body of chemicals and pollutants so that the body can heal itself.
Energy Work
Energy healing, chakra balancing, reiki, energy-massage...all are forms of energy work. Energy work can be done either by touching or not touching the body to clear, charge, balance and repair the auric fields. By channelling healing energy into the client, it can bring about either full or partial healing to any part of the body. Energy workers believe that there is nothing that cannot be healed, only that which is not ready.
Feldenkrais Method
The Feldenkrais Method is a learning process based on principles of physics, biomechanics and an understanding of learning and human development that develops a functional awareness of the self in the environment. The Method utilizes the fact that the body is the primary vehicle for learning.
Holistic Physician
Medical doctors who practice some type of natural therapy, such as homeopathy, acupuncture, nutrition, or other specialty. Holistic physicians believe that all aspects of life create a total state of health. Complete 'medical history' for the holistic physician includes nutritional, emotional, environmental, spiritual, and life-style values of the client. This history is then used to treat the individual rather than the disease to achieve a fuller, more unified sense of well-being. A good holistic physician forms a cooperative relationship with the client to assist him or her in a process of self-healing.
Naturopathy
Naturopathy is a system of treatment of disease that avoids drugs and surgery and emphasizes the use of natural agents (air, water, herbs, etc.) and physical means, such as tissue manipulation and electrotherapy). A naturopathic doctor's practice includes all aspects of family care from natural childbirth through geriatrics. These physicians are trained in natural medicine. The therapies studied include herbal medicine, hydrotherapy and manipulation, with specialty areas of natural childbirth, homeopathy, and acupuncture.
Osteopathy
Osteopathy is a system of medical practice based on a theory that diseases are due chiefly to loss of structural integrity which can be restored by manipulation of the parts supplemented by therapeutic measures. It helps the body to stimulate and restore its own immune systems and is very effective in treating many autoimmune disorders such as arthritis. Doctors of Osteopathy use a system of healing that emphasizes realignment of the body through manipulation to correct faulty structure and function. They specialize in manipulating muscles and joints to treat problems. Doctors of Osteopathy are fully trained and licensed according to the same standards as MD's with extensive training in the body's structure and function.
Toxin
A toxin is a poisonous substance that is a specific product of the metabolic activities of a living organism and is usually very unstable, notably toxic when introduced into the tissues, and typically capable of inducing antibody formation.
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