What is HOLISTIC HEALTH?:
Dynamic
In my view our health or wellbeing is a dynamic process, not a fixed thing. Think of the weather or the sea – no-one expects them to be the same every day or even every hour, they are fluid. So too with our state of health, it is constantly changing in relation to a whole range of factors. Much of that change we are unaware of, unless something ‘goes wrong’ - ie factors or responses get out of balance.
Whole person
Our health is not just about physical symptoms, it includes how we are feeling physically, mentally, emotionally, including our behaviour. It includes our resources for tolerating, adapting, recovering; our energy, creativity, sleep, sociability and much more. And these are all interconnected – they are not in separate compartments.
Individual and Unique
The patterns of all these things make us who we are, a unique individual. We are all different, and no one way of being is right or normal. We have our own pattern of reacting to pressure, lack of food or sleep, infections, injury, time off, socialising, the weather etc. We may be a night owl or an early bird, an introvert or an extravert, a sloth or a perfectionist, a poet or a mathematician. And of course, we each have a different, unique life history and inheritance.
Symptoms
So, it is important to know what a normal or healthy balance is for you, not what is normal for the rest of the population, which is what we get from statistics. Each of us needs to know ourselves and the signals that tell us something is out of balance, going wrong. Symptoms are a message that something is going wrong, they are not the problem itself. A fire alarm is not dangerous, it is the fire the alarm is telling us about which needs our action.
Medicine
A holistic medicine is something that makes us well by helping to restore a natural balance. Holistic medicine takes account of the whole person, of what is going on in all the different parts of the person. It does not suppress the natural adjustments which the mind/body makes. Holistic Medicine is tailored in response to the unique individual at the time it is needed. It is not just for individual symptoms or named diseases.
With a holistic model of health and medicine, we have the opportunity to become aware of our own patterns of health. That means we can take a greater responsibility for our own care, making choices which enhance our health.
