Natural health practices are winning over new converts everyday. Many see it as a newest way of treatment and lifestyle. But that is only partly true. Natural health has become very popular due to the general disillusionment with mainstream medicine and the twentieth century lifestyle. However, the methods are in new way new. In fact, they go back a thousand years when man lived close to nature. What later became mainstream medicine was either absent or was the alternative method then. So natural health is not new, it is actually going back to the roots.
Though natural health practices are often confused with alternative health practices, they are not exactly similar. Both are similar in that they try to improve upon the treatments prescribed by mainstream medicine which is expensive, tampers the body’s innate or natural cycles and has a huge bag of side effects. But while alternative health is a full range of practices including crystals, feng shui and many other physio-spiritual combinations, natural health is a narrower span of methods which can be summarized by one line: Back to nature.
The oriental or the Eastern countries have never been too far from the age old and local modes of treatment despite the advances in medicine. However, the sweep of these practices across the western countries has only helped refine the methods. Natural health focuses on two things: the right lifestyle and the right medicines.
The lifestyle part is underlined by Yoga, Pranayam and other holistic lifestyle practices. These methods emphasize on enhancing the innate immune system of the body through exercise, optimal breathing, naturally rich diet and a simple lifestyle. The goal is to keep the body and mind away from elements of modern life which causes ailment.
Then there are the curative elements which don’t suppress the symptoms but actually address the root of the problem, which is either an imbalance in the body’s internal balance or a dysfunctional organ caused by lowering of the body’s natural defense systems. The Chinese call this internal balance Chi and seek to balance it through acupressure and acupuncture. Ayurveda seeks the answer in herbs and ancient remedies which date back thousands of years. Then there are the touch therapies, massage treatments, aromatherapy etc which are not exactly curative but are excellent adjuncts to any treatment.
Natural therapies have claimed to find the cure for many serious ailments which still confound modern medicine.
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