Mind, Body and Health

Illness can flip our lives upside down and in a moment everything changes… a flood of questions washes away the tattered remnants of an orderly, pre-illness life. Can I trust this diagnosis? Do I need a second opinion? What options are best? How can I trust my body again?
Fear and uncertainty get their tight grip on us, anger and desperation trails close behind. We sift through a sea of information, searching for a needle in a haystack – something that makes sense, something that resonates, something that can potentially help us feel better.

Wouldn’t it be easier if the path to healing was laid out already? If you had a road map of the twists and turns, one less worry on your mind?

Millions of us experiment with complementary health care, intuitively knowing that the global holistic approach to healing is, in fact, one of the few reliable choices. In the recent years the field of alternative health care have grown exponentially, as people, having lost patience and faith in conventional medicine turned to different healing modalities in search for answers. Unlike western medicine, complementary care has attempted to embrace the multi faceted, body – mind – soul nature of human beings. Yet, the Cartesian split remains, fueling the debate on whether we can call alternative health care practices truly holistic.

Rene Descartes, a brilliant philosopher, mathematician and physiologist is best known for his phrase “ I think, therefore I am”. Descartes’ philosophy is complex and wide ranging; however, the relevant part to our discussion today is his separation of body and mind, the idea of a mortal body attached to immortal soul – the famous Cartesian split. This concept is deeply embedded in our culture, thought, and educational system, “Mind over matter”, “I want to, but my body doesn’t”. The mind- body split has established our belief of separation that is prevalent today in the way we approach healing, both conventional and alternative. Ideas of Rene Descartes have been obsolete for years, yet much of our lives and certainly medical thinking is still functions in line with his philosophy.

Over the millennia, two different paths of healing have emerged: reductionistic and holistic. What’s the difference? Let’s compare them side-by-side.

How does reductionist approach work?

As the name suggests, this approach attempts to reduce the complex nature of a disease process down to one or two elements that can be studied and then treated separately. The reductionist approach equates health to the absence of symptoms, signs or abnormal lab tests. Ever gone to the doctor with the complaint only to hear that there’s nothing wrong with you? One of my most memorable experience is being told, “ You are not sick enough” while doubled over with excruciating stomach spasms. Timothy McCall, MD. writes, “ Used in isolation, such an approach ignores the breath. It ignores the mind. It ignores the role of posture. It ignores stress and its effects on the nervous system. If ignores the effects of love and community on health.”

On the other hand, the holistic approach defines health as the ultimate state of dynamic balance with a high level of physical, emotional and spiritual well being. I love the Ayurvedic definition of health:
Balanced doshas, balance digestive fire
Balance tissues and smooth elimination
Body, mind and soul are in harmony
And thus health is revealed

The holistic approach aims at improving the overall functioning of an organism through both treatment and prevention; a truly holistic practitioner will look at your overall life – including diet, exercise, posture, stress levels as well as emotional, psychological and spiritual factors to create a treatment plan that often will employ multiple approaches simultaneously.

I can sense the question brewing in your mind – are all conventional approaches reductionist and is all alternative care holistic?

Contrary to popular belief, holism exists in conventional medicine: doctors and nurses who take time to get to know and talk to their patients. At the same time, a large number of alternative care practitioners rely on reductionism to target isolated symptoms with megadoses of vitamins and bioidentical hormones, for example.

What would it mean to have a truly holistic approach to health?

The best holistic approach is highly individualized. Two people might share the same diagnosis, but their body and mind constitution, psychological state, physical resilience, life experiences and preferences may vary significantly. Here are 7 steps to create your own wellness plan:

Step 1: Visit your family doctor and get diagnosed. After all, you don’t want to go too far with alternative approaches and waste precious time. Once diagnosed, develop a combination of holistic and reductionist approaches that make sense to you.

Step 2: Take a good look at your diet and digestion. Our ability to digest and assimilate nutrients is a corner stone of the Ayurvedic healing approach. Let me ask you this: what are your cells, tissues and organs are made out of? The nutrients in foods you eat will eventually become a part of you, so putting in the quality ingredients and making sure they are properly digested is crucial. Be wary of a reductionalistic focus on specific nutrients – this can be misleading.

Step 3: Address the stress: stress activates our fight or flight response and is linked to heart attacks, high blood pressure, diabetes, immune system dysfunction, depression and more. The new medical field of psychoneuroimmunology has shown us that disease, stress and trauma are events that cross the mind – body boundary easily: body and mind simply cannot be separated.

Step 4: How active are you? Our bodies are designed to move! Include activities such as yoga, tai chi and aerobic exercise like walking or swimming. In addition, consider addressing postural misalignments with chiropractic care, a massage, or yoga therapy, both as preventative medicine and for relief from variety of conditions.

Step 5: Emotional homework: holism teaches us that the mind and body aren’t merely connected – they are two aspects of the same thing. Study your mind using meditation, counseling and journal writing.

Step 6: Consider visiting a holistic advisor– an ayurvedic or traditional Chinese practitioner. These healers have multiple ways to analyze your condition and may be aware of treatment options that you don’t see or haven’t considered.

Step 7: Final touches: add reductionist approaches, conventional or alternative, with care. Do you research and always consider the source and reliability of information.

References:

Radiant Health. The Science Behind Holistic Wisdom, Timothy McCall, 2010 Yoga+Joyful Living

The Ghost in the Machine, Thomas Myers, Anatomist’s Corner