The wisdom of holistic medicine

Holistic medicine is a form of healing that considers the whole person -- body, mind, spirit, and emotions -- in the quest for optimal health and wellness. This is different from modern medicine which treats various parts separately. For example, one goes go to a cardiologist for heart , gastroenterologist for stomach and a psychiatrist for mind.

Holistic medicine practitioners believe that the whole person is made up of interdependent parts and if one part is not working properly, all the other parts will be affected. In this way, if people have imbalances (physical, emotional, or spiritual) in their lives, it can negatively affect their overall health. Therefore, a patient must be treated by one single doctor as whole with all his symptoms. This way, a doctor can keep complete track of his health.

A holistic doctor may use all forms of health care, from conventional medication to alternative therapies, to treat a patient.

Here are a few examples of holistic wisdom from me, a holistic doctor.
n I have several patients who consult more than one doctor for their diseases. So, it can be a cardiologist, diabetologist, orthopaedic surgeon, ENT specialist, gynaecologist, a skin specialist, a nutritionist, a yoga teacher, and a trainer...etc. They keep all these doctors on, take their various advises and medication and try to figure out how to stay healthy. Each of them gives suggestions and prescriptions as per their knowledge and yet the patient remains ill. What is the point here? The point here is that none of these doctors truly perceive the patient as a whole with his mind, body and emotional status and then give a comprehensive plan to reverse his disease in a step by step manner. Some of these consultants do try but their efforts and perceptions may not go all the way. Patient lands up taking many different types of medications and therapies and messes up more. On the top of all that, they even forget to mention this to me that they are doing these other therapies as well. How do they expect to get well? One doctor sees a patient properly, and patient needs to give sufficient time for the healing to happen. Healing does not happen with some magic 'pill'. Healing happens when a patient also fully participate in the process of healing and takes responsibility for his own health.
n We are not just physical body. We are also our thoughts and emotions. Modern medicine is overly focused on body. On the top of that, it is separating parts of our system. It treats heart, liver, eyes, ears , knees, hair, kidneys etc. separately. This way, one cannot treat the person holistically.

Recently I saw a patient with lot of discharge from his eyes. Eyes are related to liver. So, I just told him that your liver is under functioning. I need to treat your liver to actually treat your eye condition! Your liver is affected because of some past disease condition. He said to me, he had seven attacks of malaria in the past! So, here it is. His liver is affected very badly still because of malaria in the past and all those allopathic medicines for malaria. Of course, I know how to treat this patient for all the past damage! This is called as holistic medical diagnosis!
n our skin reflects our state of health. It is actually working in partnership with kidney. In winter, our kidney works more to balance water and salt in the body. In summer, skin works more for the same. These are also working towards detoxification. Skin disease cannot be treated by local application of cream, lotions and gels alone, completely, unless one also treat kidney. Every organ of our body is also associated with an emotion which needs attention. In case of kidney, fear is the emotion. This tells clearly why mind, body and emotions ....all need to be healed in order to get well. Flower remedies are excellent healing tools to overcome fear. Body and its ways is complex indeed, and one lifetime is not enough to understand all about it!
n Obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, heart disease, diabetes, hypothyroidism these are all lifestyle related diseases. Entry to this entire set of diseases is usually through one of these and then rest of the diseases follow. Sometimes cancer too follows. If one has any one of these conditions the rest will surely follow in the due course of time if one does not take steps to change lifestyle. So many of my patients are battling with all these diseases and too many medicines are prescribed for each. It gets very tough after that. However one still has hope to get better if he choose to switch to whole foods based diet and lifestyle. Don't wait for 'all' these diseases to happen and then start thinking.

An elderly gentleman visited me recently to help him reverse his diseases. He lost his wife about a year ago. He was very lonely, sad and lost. He started crying while talking about his wife. All I had to do was to hold his hand tightly and comfort him as first thing. I let him cry for awhile till he was calm and composed. This is indeed the first duty of any doctor.... to be kind, gentle, accepting and comforting to his patients. As we talked, he felt more confident and finally left my clinic with a smile on his face. This is what I call start of the healing work! Rest will happen as we go along! Listening to patient is very important here.
n Whenever I see a patient for diet consultation, it is not just a simple consultation! I try to know much more about their dietary habits, preferences, addictions and the circumstances in their life leading them to be so sick. While I suggest changes in their diet, I remain very gentle, accommodating to them as a whole. I have met people who have rarely eaten raw foods in their entire lifetime. They just cannot enjoy it. They do not feel satisfied if one asks them to include more raw foods. I usually identify the most important mistakes in their diet, and we start working on changing one by one. While this is happening, they also go through emotional and mental adjustments in their life. So, truly it is not just 'diet'. It is whole person whom I wish to help, guide, direct and elevate!
n One cannot separate mind and body. They are totally linked. Mindful healing means concentrating on the parts of body that needs healing with mind. Wherever mind is focused, healing energy automatically goes there. If my patient has stomach pain, I ask him to put his right palm on the stomach area and in his mind, visualize healing energy going to the stomach area. Stay there for few minutes. We are equipped with self organizing healing energy. This starts working wherever consciousness goes. This is an example of mindful healing. It is all about being aware and then going along with the flow of events. Mind and body are like mirror images. So if mind changes, so also body. There are no mistakes here. Body cannot show wrong symptoms without mind also involved in it. I usually draw pictures of various body organs and explain the processes to my patients and then ask them to move for improvement in the condition.
n I ask my patients when they are sick to rest at home. I strongly request them to give rest to their mind, emotions and body. But in this electronic gadget addiction era, it is impossible for them to switch off! I suggest them to 'enjoy' resting at home, 'enjoy being sick’! But they just don't do this.

They are sick in the first place because of some wrong doing in their lifestyle and now they still want to continue making the same mistakes! Body is indeed beautiful machine, but we should love, respect and handle it with care! Next time, do 'enjoy' being sick as well!
n I often see patients who are taking many multi vitamins tablets in the hope that this will give them energy and fix their system right. But what is important that these vitamins do get absorbed in the body, do get assimilated and used. If not, they can be a waste. Sometimes this causes overload on the body organs like liver and kidney! Therefore, I don't recommend to take vitamin tables casually.
n  One cannot cheat the body! If one eat wrong foods, body will react. If one abuse the body with harmful substances, it will tell you. If one deprive oneself with most needed sleep, it will get back to you. If one over use muscles, it will be sore. No one can escape this fact. one may take a drug to shut up your body, but that is only temporary. In the long run, it will catch up . So, remember, one cannot cheat the body.
n So often many patients hesitate to tell the 'complete truth ' to their doctors. They hide information as they are conditioned to 'hide' out of shame, worries, humiliation etc. This does not help in any way. They will never be cured. How do you expect me to treat unless patients also trust me by giving 100 per cent information about them? Only if a patient gives complete information, I can help them to overcome their diseases.

So, holistic medicine is all about healing the person as a whole- mind, emotions and body. Here we see’ a person’ and not ‘a patient’. Now, more and more people are looking for holistic medical doctors to help them not only to reverse their diseases but also to remain healthy in future and prevent diseases. It is truly a medical science for wellness.