The Principles of Holistic Healing
Financial healthMental healthPhysical healthSocial healthHealth TipsDecember 14, 2023
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity’. In other words, not being diseased or ‘unhealthy’ doesn’t automatically make us ‘healthy’.
Humans are not just our body parts or organs. To improve our health, we should be aiming to achieve a balance across all aspects of our wellbeing: physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. The impact of financial and even spiritual health also cannot be understated, particularly their influence on our social and mental wellbeing.
Improving our health should therefore not simply be about treating the signs and symptoms of disease but finding and fixing the root causes. When we see ‘healthiness’ as an overall state of being, managing our health requires a holistic approach. Holistic health considers multidimensional aspects of wellness to care for a person’s entire wellbeing, often integrating more than one treatment approach.
Principles of holistic healing:
- All people have the power to heal and grow.
- Patients are defined by their humanity, not their disease.
- Treatment involves fixing the cause of a condition, not just alleviating the symptoms.
- Prevention is preferable to treatment and is usually more cost-effective.
Why holistic healing?
- Improving overall health and wellbeing makes complete wellness an achievable goal.
- Considering people’s individual needs allows for more personalized and effective treatment.
- Encourages patients to look closer at their mind-body connection and other aspects of their life like their relationships, spiritual health and mental wellbeing.
What type of treatments support holistic healing?
- Steady lifestyle changes over time
- Consistent self-care
- Personalized nutrition plans
- Regular exercise
- Therapy
- Relationship and spiritual counselling
- Conventional medications and surgical procedures
- Complementary and alternative therapies like homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic care, physiotherapy, naturopathy, herbal medicine, and acupressure.
What can each of us do to pursue holistic health?
Holistic care starts with prevention. This means taking action to improve and maintain our health well before we find ourselves with a disease or medical condition. Small lifestyle changes can lead to big results over time. Making a small amount of daily effort to make better choices allows us to consistently take care of ourselves without having to wait before something goes wrong. It’s like driving carefully to avoid accidents so we don’t need to slam on the brakes if something goes awry.