[Xan]

I ran across this pertinent article today:


Health is more than the absence of symptoms; it is the presence of robust vitality in the physical body, emotional freedom, mental clarity, and an inner connection to something sacred. We are multidimensional beings, and all these areas need to be in harmony for us to be truly healthy.

Millions of people each year now seek out complementary (holistic) therapies because they want all parts to be addressed in the healing process. These are nutritional or homeopathic therapies as well as body-centered therapies, such as chiropractic, massage, or craniosacral techniques.

Other complementary therapies involve energy-balancing techniques, such as acupuncture, Reiki, Polarity Therapy, and Qi Gong. What you are about to study in this book is an approach to healing that grew out of my 25-year practice as a chiropractic physician, but is now a completely separate and distinct therapeutic system. This work acknowledges the inner being and it uses a spiritual blueprint to organize and implement the healing process.

This is not a new idea. Eastern cultures have systems of healing and balance based on esoteric cosmologies. Yoga, T’ai Chi, Qi Gong, and meridian therapy (acupuncture) all view human beings as part of a greater cosmic system. Yoga is based on the concepts of Tantric Hinduism. T’ai Chi, Qi Gong, and meridian therapy are based on the theory of the Tao, including the five elements and the yin and yang. These systems, all of which seek to bring people into harmony with higher forces, are effective for maintaining and enhancing health, and, in many cases, for curing disease.

The Western approach to health, on the other hand, looks at health from all of its physical perspectives. Western science has excelled in biochemistry, physiology, biomechanics, and many areas of psychology. Yet, as tremendous as this knowledge is, and as much as it has improved the quality of life and increased our longevity, it is incomplete without the spiritual component. This is why the complementary health movement in the West has embraced many of the Eastern systems.


- Dr. Dale H. Schusterman in "Sign Language of the Soul: A Handbook for Healing"