6 Types of Holistic Therapy That Will Change Your Life
Life can be intense, overwhelming, and downright exhausting. Whether you’re feeling worn down and burnt out by your job, out of touch with your body, or disconnected with your friends and family, everyone can benefit from the wonders of holistic therapy.
Holistic, from the Greek word “holos”, means whole and is based on the idea that physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual states all contribute to health and well-being. Unlike standard medicine, which focuses on an immediate symptom, holistic health systems understand all aspects of the body are interlinked.
Holistic therapies have been around for thousands of years, and today, they’re more popular than ever. Not only are there more holistic health enthusiasts out there, but even the medical and scientific communities are beginning to understand these therapies effectiveness in addressing a number of physical and psychological concerns — from hormonal imbalances to insomnia, musculoskeletal aches and pains to poor focus.
If you’re looking to find more balance and harmony within yourself, manage your stress, and live your happiest and healthiest life, a holistic therapy could be the answer. The best part? By nature, holistic therapy is natural and non-invasive, which means whatever your age, concern or lifestyle, holistic therapies can gently help you to self-heal.
Here are six types of holistic therapy that will change your life, your outlook, your health and your happiness.
1. Re-Align with the Alexander Technique
Do you ever find yourself hunched over your laptop, furiously typing your way through niggling lower back pain? Or do you constantly adopt a tense shoulder stance that tingles with discomfort because you can’t find a way to relax? We’re all guilty of developing poor postural habits, as our lives demand our bodies take up unnatural positions to complete basic daily tasks — such as carrying a few too many bags of shopping, sitting for long hours at a desk or standing awkwardly while squashed like a sardine on the daily commute. The problem is, over time, our bad habits accumulate and cause a whole host of nasty illnesses, injuries, aches and pains, which inhibit us living our best, happiest life.
Don’t resign yourself to a life of discomfort — invest in the Alexander technique. Alexander technique is a holistic approach to your health that teaches you to boost your performance in everyday activities while relieving the pain and stress formed over the years in the body and mind.
In the Alexander Technique, you acquire the skills necessary for self-development and learn to understand how your body works on a physical, intellectual and emotional level so you can recognise any harmful habits and re-learn good ones. The best part? Once learnt — never forgotten!
2. Embrace Your Body Type with Ayurveda
Apple, pear, banana? Over the years, the fitness industry has come up with a rather strange array of names to describe different body types. But these fruity concepts are based purely on your body’s aesthetic and do very little to help you to understand or improve your relationship with your body, mind or spirit. But Ayurveda is different.
Originating thousands of years ago in India, Ayurveda is one of the most complex holistic health systems in the world, based on the premise that optimal health occurs when the mind, body and spirit are balanced.
In this, Ayurveda addresses your body type holistically and looks for signs of imbalance, blockage and depressed levels in your body’s energy flow by considering your body type. Ayurvedic theory believes every person is made up of a combination of the five elements; air, water, fire, earth and space, that in turn form three energies or life forces called doshas known as vata, kapha and pitta. Although we’re all made up of a mix of the three doshas, each person will have one dominant life force and this dominant dosha is the key to understanding how to achieve optimal health.
An Ayurvedic therapist will use your particular dosha to personalise a plan that includes massages, diets, herbs, exercises and aromatherapy treatments to restore balance to the body and to give you all the health and happiness you deserve.
3. Self-Heal with Bowen Therapy
Our bodies are incredibly complex. They are the record of our lives, the physical embodiment of everything we have felt and experienced. But over time, emotional, physical, and spiritual trauma and imbalance can wreak havoc on our physical health and leave us feeling like there’s no solution. Perhaps you suffer from seemingly never-ending cycles of migraines or hobble around with knee pain, which won’t go away. You might have exhausted every medicine, surgery, seen every doctor — and still found yourself facing the same old problems, which won’t shift. But don’t despair, Bowen Therapy could be the answer.
Bowen therapy, or Bowen technique, is a versatile holistic, non-invasive treatment that offers pain relief from a range of conditions and principally works the fascia and muscles to influence the way your body structure works. Using a series of gentle rolling movements across key points in the body, Bowen Therapy stimulates the body’s ability to heal itself. The targeted treatment is often used for emotional healing, balancing hormones, and boosting the digestive, respiratory and reproductive systems. So don’t suffer in silence, embrace the incredible self-healing potential of your body with Bowen Therapy.
4. Keep Your Head above Water with CranioSacral Therapy
Do you want to face your problems head on — literally? Then you’ve got to try CranioSacral Therapy. The name may sound intimidating, but CranioSacral therapy (CST) is a gentle, but powerful, way of healing the body by focusing on the head. Using a series of touches, pressures, and vibrations across the bones of the skull and spine, CST stimulates the central nervous system and helps to remove the blockages inhibiting your body’s ability to heal itself.
A CST therapist works in much the same way as a talking therapist, but rather than listening to your words, they listen to your body. Using a series of touches, pressures and vibrations, a therapist can identify the problems and issues within your body and their root causes. And through the gentle manipulation of the head, neck and back, they can relieve compression in the bones and rebalance, restore, and heal. CST has been shown to help with IBS, insomnia, migraines, neck pain, trauma recovery, depression and anxiety. This therapy puts a whole new twist on “keeping a cool head!”
5. Free Yourself with Emotional Freedom Therapy (EFT)
Do you constantly cycle through bouts of stress, worry and anxiety? Do you feel drained of energy, lethargic and depressed? Do you feel overwhelmed by the strains of daily life or struggle to overcome past traumas? Life can be hectic and overwhelming, and if you’re one of the many looking for a non-invasive therapy to help you to get control over your life, Emotional Freedom Therapy is for you.
Emotional Freedom Therapy (EFT) is a powerful stress-relief method that combines a tapping technique with the recitation of positive affirmations. Based on the philosophies of Traditional Chinese Medicine, EFT identifies several points in the body that are key to the body’s energy field. The head, upper body and hands are all thought to be meridian points on the body that relate to certain organs and emotions. As with other forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the idea is that all thoughts, emotions and physical sensations are the results of energy flows in the body. These energy flows are the body’s natural healing mechanism, and when they are blocked or too low or high, we fall ill, feel depressed or suffer from stress.
By tapping on the correlating parts of the body, EFT helps to re-balance, restore, and revive the natural energy flows in your body. Think of it as a form of acupuncture without the slightly intimidating needles.
6. Revive Your Energy with Reiki
If you’re looking for a powerful way to revive, rejuvenate and restore your body, mind and spirit, then a Reiki therapy session is an absolute must! Originating in Japan, Reiki is a holistic therapy that supports mental clarity, physical comfort, and spiritual well-being.
Reiki translates from Japanese as “spiritually guided life-force energy”, and it is this nonphysical energy, which flows through all living things, that forms the basis of Reiki therapy. Using a unique “laying on of hands” technique, Reiki harnesses the life force energy that runs through the body and charges it with positivity and power.
Deeply relaxing and intensely nurturing, Reiki is said to help with a whole host of illnesses and side effects, which arise from blockages in energy flows, including stress, anxiety, sadness, physical pain, and sluggish bodily systems.
There are dozens of ways of changing your life with holistic therapies. Browse our full selection of therapists and clinics in London today, and open yourself up to new horizons of health and happiness.