What is Holistic Health?

Holistic Health is actually an approach to life. Rather than focusing on illness or specific parts of the body, this ancient approach to health considers the whole person and how he or she interacts with his or her environment. It emphasizes the connection of mind, body, and spirit.

What is Holistic Health?

Is there one true definition of Holistic Health? The term Holistic Health or Holistic Healing comes from the word whole, meaning complete. There is no one universal definition for Holistic Health, but there seems to be a common thread that runs through all of the definitions of Holistic Health that I have researched. That is, to look at the self from a whole (holistic) perspective and to understand the mind, body and spirit connection and the importance of balancing all aspects of one’s life.

One definition of Holistic Health that I found interesting was that it is a non-medical philosophy of well-being that considers the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of life as closely interconnected and balanced. The quote by Gestalt “the whole is more than the sum of its parts” in my opinion sums (no pun intended) it up perfectly.

he concept of a holistic approach to health care is not new. The idea of trying to create a new definition of Holistic Health is really kind of ironic. This is not a new model. Hippocrates, both a philosopher and a practitioner, “tried to close the gaps between the understanding of disease and its treatment. He was quite essentially holistic when he insisted that it is natural for the human body to heal itself, and that this process can generally take place even without intervention from a doctor.”

The interesting thing is that there are many factors outside of the obvious physical needs of our body that play a significant role in undermining our quality of life. For example- poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, crime, divorce, lack of education and stress all have the potential to impact our physical health.

By the same token, the term Holistic Health Care takes all these factors into consideration. It is a more universal approach to regular health care. It includes all of the unlimited resources available to each of us. It is defined as viewing one’s self from a whole perspective and focusing our health care needs on the mind, body and spiritconnection. It also includes accepting personal responsibility, health education, using preventive care and all modalities of care available such as surgery, western medicine, chemotherapy, nutrition, rehabilitation, hypnosis, acupuncture, psychotherapy, bodywork, energy work, and spiritual healing to mention a few.

One major theme of Holistic Health is that we are ultimately responsibility for our own health and our Holistic Health Care. It is only when we take personal responsibility that we can truly begin to be healed. Each one of us is so unique that no one treatment, medication or technique is going to work for us all. Our beliefs, values and attitudes affect our health and must be a part of the cure.

The Basic Principles of Holistic Health

Holistic Health is based on the law of nature that a whole is made up of interdependent parts. The earth is made up of systems, such as air, land, water, plants and animals. If life is to be sustained, they cannot be separated, for what is happening to one is also felt by all of the other systems. In the same way, an individual is a whole made up of interdependent parts, which are the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. When one part is not working at its best, it impacts all of the other parts of that person. Furthermore, this whole person, including all of the parts, is constantly interacting with everything in the surrounding environment. For example, when an individual is anxious about a history exam or a job interview, his or her nervousness may result in a physical reaction–such as a headache or a stomach ache. When people suppress anger at a parent or a boss over a long period of time, they often develop a serious illness–such as migraine headaches, emphysema, or even arthritis.

The principles of Holistic Health state that health is more than just not being sick. A common explanation is to view wellness as a continuum along a line. The line represents all possible degrees of health. The far left end of the line represents premature death. On the far right end is the highest possible level of wellness or maximum well-being. The center point of the line represents a lack of apparent disease. This places all levels of illness on the left half of the wellness continuum. The right half shows that even when no illness seems to be present, there is still a lot of room for improvement.