Gall Stones - a Holistic Perspective

NOT gallstones ;)

If you are a practitioner of Naturopathy / Chinese Medicine / Holistic Nutrition and other close subjects this article may be of extra interest to you:

It was some 18 years ago that I turned yellow. Friends were laughing at me that I was taking my Chinese Medicine studies too seriously. It was obvious that my bile ducts were blocked since I was not feverish and was showing no other signs of hepatitis. I am not one to run for surgery and so I went searching for alternatives.

I posted a website that challenged people to share with me their solutions with the prize being - everlasting glory. A page on my site.

If I told you half the weird things that were suggested to me at the time you would be shocked I'm sure. The last thing that was suggested came with the name of a book and a photo of several gallstones that, according to the writer, were his stones, removed with a simple protocol taken from that book.

The book was called "Cure for all disease" By Hulda Clark. The name of the book troubled me some but the story was compelling and the procedure sounded safe. After reading the book I realized two things:

1. The book read as the title felt

2. The gallstone removal protocol was not Hulda's but borrowed.

So I went ahead and tried it on myself. It was a little scary because no-one locally could back me up with experience. The results left me caucasian and with a collection of bilious stones. The largest was over 15 mm in diameter.  

Today, 22 years later and with thousands of patients of experience to our name. My wife, Shanni, and I are experienced authorities on this subject. We have upgraded the original protocol and have found many important points that require attention before and after the procedure in order for the patient to achieve the full benefits from the protocol.

In this article I would like to share some of our perspective and experience with the medical and holistic community for the benefit of future patients. I believe that the future of gallstone therapy should be an integrated one. An integration of Naturopathic Nutritional counseling and herbology, Chinese Medical herbology, Acupuncture and Conventional Medical Diagnostics and surgery (when all else fails). For such a future to emerge more Holistic therapists need to learn and use our upgraded protocol and Conventional Doctors need to be introduced to this doctrine - and convinced to research into it.

Background

Conventional Perspective

I find this perspective to be commonly known. For those not aware of it Wikipedia is as good a source as any (Though the holistic versions mentioned there are hardly researched in depth)

Gall Stones !

Holistic Perspective

Why gallstones?

Bile is a mixture of many things. It is both a secretion of toxins (End result of the liver's role as a detoxification organ) and of emulsifiers for fats and oils  digestion. For this reason the bile is actually not a very homogeneous substance. It can be thick and sludgy or watered down, full of minerals or not. It is always rich in cholesterol.

When people don't drink enough they contribute to gallstone formation. Another common reason for gallstone formation is low levels of Taurine, an amino acid. Taurine takes a part in creating the Tauro-cholic acid. One of the bile acids that help keep the bile fluid. The most common reason for this is late pregnancy and lactation. Taurine is an important ingredient in forming mothers milk. This is one of the reasons pregnancy is considered a gallstone factor.

A point to remember: Most gallstones are formed in the liver. They then drop into the ducts and from there to the gallbladder. Liver stones can never grow too big because the bile ducts in the liver are quite narrow. Still, they grow large enough so that they can sometimes block the common bile duct when they move out of the liver. This fact is important when considering the reasoning for gallbladder removal by surgery. People assume it will end the risk for gallstone-attacks but in fact that is not always true. There will not be any more gallbladder inflammations but the risk of a clogged up CBD and pancreatitis is still there.

There are other Holistic aspects that relate to gallstones. The Chinese have a saying that the liver is the general and makes the plans, it is the gallbladder that sees the plans carried out. people that have a problem living their dreams or have them in a drawer will tend to form a gallstone for every dream stashed away. Frustrations are also correlated with gallstone formation. When people try to convince others of their beliefs and are not willing to accept no for an answer, they often hold their stomachs in a highly tense way. From my experience it is very often precisely the gallbladder area that is tensed up. This may well lead to poor evacuation of the bile and to bile-stasis which in turn can lead to gallstone formation. Deficiency in magnesium seems to go hand in hand with gallstone formation though I have yet to find a reason for that. It may just be two very common occurrences that simply happen often enough to seem to correlate.

So what is our solution?

The solution we found and then upgraded is rather simple. A short description would be: Prepare, then avoid all fats for three days, then introduce a lot of fat to the system at once. The result is a process where in the three days with no fat the gallbladder and liver accumulate bile with no outlet. Ingesting plenty of fat at this point causes the bile to be forcefully injected into the bile ducts from both organs. The hydraulic force pushes any objects in its way out from the live, gallbladder and ducts and right into the small intestines. This is of course a very coarse picture.  The complete process adds many factors that help soften the stones, relax the ducts and sphincters, and prepare the body for the ordeal. All this in order to raise the safety level of the protocol and to make it less weakening and not painful.

The point in all this is that it is possible to remove the gallstones from both liver AND gallbladder without having to surgically remove the gallbladder and with very little risk. As a matter if fact in the past 22 years we have NEVER had to rush any of our patients to the hospital in the middle of the night during the protocol due to stone getting stuck in the ducts! We have encountered people who had recurrent gallstone attacks before our liver flush ( and one that had some after the flush and before the second one) but never during. And remember- we had this protocol done to thousands of people.

There are limitations to the protocol. Stones 3.5 centimeters in diameter came out (!!!) but 4.5 did not. I am not sure if it was because of its size or because of the fact that it was glued tight to the gallbladder wall but since that time we consider 3.5 centimeters our maximum size. Another lesson learned was when a patient had the flush done successfully but then went back to a horrendous diet only to come back in pain several years later. His pain was relentless for three days prior to coming to us and no amount of therapy would help. We sent him to the hospital knowing he will most likely lose his gallbladder but it felt too choked up with sludge and stones for the flush to work. Some patients lose patience after the first flush or during the preparations for the first flush.

We make a point never to rush. In the few times we allowed ourselves to be manipulated by patients in a hurry we had the displeasure of seeing the price quite clearly. In one case a woman was adamant that we move on to the protocol before we deemed her ready. She was too weak for this, and we were trying to convince her to wait but to no avail. When she was done with the protocol her digestive system was too weak to hold her food and she was diarrhetic all the time. It took several weeks of tonifying Chinese herbs to put her right. Since that case we learned never to rush this. When done right and prepared right patients report that it was mostly easy and that we must have exaggerated our horror stories 😉. We like it that way.

There are many other limiting factors we discovered over the years. We made a point of close observation and careful monitoring so as to improve the protocol over the years. Over the recent years the cases of complications of all kinds have dropped to zero. The only sad cases are the ones where the oil refuses to go down. Seeing as how we are talking about 3/4 cup full of olive oil that is not too surprising. Still, the few cases where this happens can be uncomfortable and some people just won't throw up (A simple solution and when the timing is right one that will not prevent a successful protocol). Those find the protocol last night to be quite tedious. over the last few years even this has dropeed close to zero after changing another parameter.

How do we prevent all the complications from occurring?

To begin with, the first issue we find crucial is vitality level. Exhausted people can't really deal with this protocol as is. The tool we use to determine vitality level is Chinese diagnostics. The Chinese Pulse is quite a good determining tool for vitality as is the Chinese Tongue diagnosis.

Once we determine this we know if the patient can go ahead to the next phase or otherwise needs to be prepared using tonifying tools such as Chinese Herbs / Vitamins / Acupuncture etc.

Preparing a patient can take 3-6 weeks though at time it will take longer. This is a vital phase and often helps the patient deal with other issues as well.

Making sure the patient is not lacking in any important nutritional element is crucial to the safe success of the protocol. For example- magnesium deficiency has caused in a couple of cases that the Epsom salts used in the protocol had no effect. No diarrhea and very likely less stones expelled.

Making sure the patient is ready psychologically is quite important as well. Patients lacking in confidence in the protocol may have a much harder time. This we resolve most of the time simply by supplying names of previous clients to talk to (After getting those patients' consent of course).

In the complicated cases (Heart disease background for one example) we make sure to either use alternative means to the protocol or if we are sure it will be ok we make a point of personal tight supervision. This is true of elderly patients (86 being our oldest I believe) etc.). In some cases we make of point of waiting a while (Postpartum for one example).

Even doing our best- we are always on the alert for more issue not encountered before. This is the only way not to get caught off guard.

A futuristic view of this protocol should be one of integration. Practicing this protocol with a Naturopathic AND a Conventional staff on hand. Making the most of both ancient and modern means. Having an Ultrasound machine at hand and a lab to analyse the results would be some of the benefits. I was once approached by a doctor who was intrigued but never came through with his suggestion for a research done together.

The future today

Seeing as how this protocol has prevented much suffering and surgery. On top of this our work over the years has made this protocol a very safe and viable tool. I believe our experience should not be available only to the people of Israel. It should be out there for all the world to benefit from. We intent to make our knowledge and experience available to as many serious and professional therapists as we can.

If you are a therapist - with background either in Naturopathy or Chinese medicine. And even if only in part of the Naturopathic tools (Wholesome Nutrition for one), You are welcome to send us our resume and we will be in touch.

Basic human needs - Nourishment part I

Will you give me what I need?

What do we all need to survive? What constitutes the very basic human needs?

Ask anyone on the street and you will get to a very different list... Each will give you his or her list of habits and some basic biological needs. Not all will agree on the degree of importance of each need.

I will address this question from both a Naturopathic point of view and a personal spiritual one.

Naturopathically speaking, our biological primal needs can be summed up in four lines:

1. Nourishment

2. Removal of toxins and waste

3. Motion

4. Vitality

Remember that each of the above needs has to be supplied on all the human planes of existence - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social and ecological. From the single cell to our environment - everything needs the above list.

If we take a baby,Our beginning, the needs are:

Physical Nutrition: We all need the basic suckling, mothers milk but it starts even earlier - during pregnancy, we need the sustenance that comes from our mother. If our mother is under-nourished, we suffer for it. During both pregnancy and nursing the mother is in charge of double feeding for them both. My experience here shows that good quality wholesome foods help a lot and that a good supplement regimen (Consisting of a very good multi-vitamin + personal adaptations) makes the difference between a reasonable pregnancy and nursing phase and superb ones. I have never had a patient truly eating well and on supplements from the pre-pregnancy phase that suffered pre-ecclempsia or diabetes or any other radical complication (And I've professionally supported very many pregnant woman over the years). When a baby does not get breast fed it still needs this nourishment. It can be raised on alternatives but I would suggest home made after learning the formula from a Naturopath. I have treated many babies fed on industrial alternatives and they all needed support due to this fact. It just doesn't come close to real food.

Emotional nutrition: During pregnancy and nursing the emotional nourishment is just as important as the physical one. A classical (and sad) research with gorillas discovered that a gorilla baby fed with its mothers' milk but without her touch and presence will die ! The value of balanced emotions on the mothers part during pregnancy and between the parents and the baby once it is born is beyond critical. It gives us our emotional-base.

Spiritual nourishment: We live at an era that people rarely appreciate the value of spiritual living. Many people go to work for the financial sake and have no feeling of self realization in their work. This vibe is an under-nourishment factor on the spiritual level. Not only do THEY feel under nourished - they vibrate spiritually on an under nourished vibe and this is what their children take from them on this plane.

[End of part I]

Focusing your life

How focused are you?

How many times of late have you realized your thoughts are chasing their own tails? Jumbling and confusing you or just shifting your attention one way when your intention is trying and failing to think of other things? Can you keep a line of thought through? How about when you are tense or tired?

More and more children and adults are given drugs to help them concentrate. Is there an alternative? Are we malfunctioning or simply lacking the tools to live out a focused life?

There are many tools out there that claim they can help with ADD and other "syndromes" of attention issues. In order for one to know which are effective and good and which are detrimental there are two ways to go: Try them out or ask the right questions and you will know in advance...

Let me suggest a few questions :)

1. Are you living right? is your lifestyle promoting focus or disrupting it?
2. Are you toxic? Lead poisoning (for example) can lead to deteriorated attention capacities.
3. Are you in the habit of promoting your attentive abilities naturally? For example are you meditating regularly?

Many more questions can be asked here and every question above raises ten more on the same issues. Allow me to suggest a few ideas on the matter:

A. When you are tired, undernourished, toxic, stressed out (etc.) you are bound to have  

     issues with you focus.

B. When you tire your mind out but don't take the time to give it a good rest (a.k.a. 

     meditation) your mind is bound to function less efficiently...

A is easy to understand - If you are tired from lack of sleep your mind is less effective. Deficiency in vitamins and minerals cause dysfunctions depending on the deficiency but as a rule effect the mind greatly. My blog series on basic human needs covers this well.

B is somewhat illusive to the western mind. In the east it is common knowledge. So what is it about meditation and other mental practices that can make the difference so much?

Meditation practices are numerous and can be divided into two for the sake of this explanation: Mindful meditation that observes the mind and thoughts and Zen like meditations that seek to achieve a quiet mind. Achieving the goal of a focused and clear mind can be done using both types for different situations but my experience shows that for the main goal of focusing and clarity the Zen type is stronger. It helps us connect with the here and now and put aside the past and the future. It stops the noise of relentless thinking and allows for our thoughts of choice to emerge unhindered and clear.

Whether you are a teenager mid exams or a college student - your studies will improve greatly with a healthy lifestyle combined with meditation training and habit. It is just as valuable to any adult coping with financial / marital / social ordeals. As a matter of fact anyone will benefit from this combination.

So you finished a chapter of healing with us, now what?

Most people understand how to follow our instructions during therapy. It is after a chapter of therapy is done that they enter a state of "Limbo" where the rules can appear unclear. Allow me to suggest a few tips for this stage:

1st thing - don't forget we are here :)

Whether you find yourself dealing with more of the same health issues or a new symptom: Talk to us ASAP. Don't wait "a few weeks" to see if it goes away... Small symptoms (And especially new ones) tend to be much easier to heal earlier rather than later.

Don't stop our recommendations without first talking to us.

Unlike many drugs, stopping most natural therapies will not cause harsh symptoms but that doesn't mean there isn't a "right" and "wrong" way to do it. Also, not all therapies need be stopped once you are well. Prevention is a very good idea. Talk to us and we will help you maintain good preventative measures. Not all you got from us during therapy need be used on the long run and some things are not used for active phases but are great for prevention.

Technical updates

If you have a new email (!), phone number, address, online kupat holim code, child (Mazal Tov!), or have gone through any other major change, its probably a good idea to update us. In this way we can remain effectively at your service in the future.

Long term followup

If you are suffering an illness that has yet to heal or is in remission and are taking a break from our therapy, Don't wait too long for the next appointment. If more then a month goes by the time it will take to get us up to speed will leave little time for new suggestions and therapy and advancement will be slower.

Qi Gong sessions

If you are in an on-going therapy in the present you are welcome to join us for our Qi Gong sessions (+ Breathing exercises and meditation) for FREE. If you are not in therapy at the present you are still welcome to join us for a symbolic fee.

Seasonal sessions

If you are done healing what you came to us for and have ended this chapter - don't disappear till you need us again. Coming once to twice a year for seasonal checkups will keep us in the loop with your life events and changing health so we can better intervene if your health drops and practice prevention where possible and help you stay healthy. It is also an opportunity to work on bad habits one at a time over time.

Inflammation in Holistic Eyes

There is a great gap between Allopathic and Holistic approaches to inflammation. Since most of us grew up with conventional medicine, it seems important to open your eyes to the Natural view-point so you can choose your approach in such a common situation.

Conventional definition:
 "Inflammation is an immune reaction to wounds, certain irritations and toxic invaders such as viruses, bacteria or fungi."

The holistic definition is somewhat different. Inflammation is a process initiated by the body to serve its needs. Indeed sometimes an inflammation can lose control and risk our lives but in most cases it doesn't.
 The idea in treating inflammation holistically is to monitor it and make sure it is not life-threatening but by no means to supress it or stop it before it reaches its goal.

If it is a short or one-time non-violent inflammation like a light eye sore, usually easing the symptoms can suffice. The problem begins when it is more severe, long-lasting or recurrent. In such cases we deal with a situation which requires deep inquiry and treatment in order to help the body finish its task and break the inflammatory cycle.

In order to understand how we do this in Natural Medicine, here is some useful information regarding inflammation, from a Naturopathic perspective:

1. Usually inflammation flourishes in acidic tissue environment. Not the extreme acidity like in the stomach while digesting protein, but rather a slight change in acidity in the body tissues.
2. The body uses several materials in order to limit the activity of the inflammation it creates. Among these are vitamin C, vitamin A and zinc. Lack in one or more of them can make it hard for the body to complete the job and/or to heal the tissues afterwards.
3. In inflammation, like in all life processes in life, the engine behind the body's work is our life force. If we are vital enough, these processes work better, and if we are tired and worn, body systems don't function that well. According to Naturopathic approach, the difference between an acute disease (short, powerful and efficient) and a chronic disease (longer lasting, less effective and often doesn't end without help) is due to the person's vitality. One who is not vital enough to end the inflammation will stay with it until vitality is restored.

From these three points come a few simple and very helpful recommendations:

1. Increase plant-source foods (preferably organic since most of the pesticides are very acidic) and decrease animal foods. Veganism or vegetarianism is not always required for healing but it can definitely help ease and shorten suffering from long or severe inflammations.
2. Stress management can help a lot in improving the body's abilities and thus shortens inflammation processes accordingly.
3. Natural dietary supplements, adjusted by a professional naturopath or holistic nutritionist according to personal needs, are highly recommended.
4. Sufficient rest is highly vital for our health, so get enough sleep (around 8 hours a night, preferably starting at 10pm or no later than 11pm), and do not test your body's limits by spending too much energy over a long period of time.

Winter is coming

It seems the weather has gone mad. At least here in Israel the climate changes are rather clear. For a change winter has come to Israel fully blown and clear (+ extra rough winds and storms).

I am quite sure you all make a point of preparing your car for winter.

How about your body?

Here is a collection of tips for a healthy winter:

1. Whether you are already taking Zinc and vitamin C or not – if you haven’t tested their levels recently (Using the urine C test and Zinc taste tally) now is a good time to do so. During changes in weather and especially winter the body uses up greater amounts of both to boost the immune system. If low taking them regularly may be prudent.
2. It’s soup season! Now is the time to take out all those warming spices (Cinnamon bark, Black pepper, cardamom, Dry ginger etc.) alongside the sweat inducers (Fresh ginger, mint leaves and cinnamon twigs) together they form a wonderfully tasty preventative measure for the flu season.
3. Cold induced rigidity reduces blood flow and with it the immune system. Engaging in sports (Especially Qi Gong the Qi mover) warms the body nicely.
4. Using massage to soften the cold stiffness is also useful and very fun. Adding warming aromatic oils makes the massage even more effective.
5. Keeping your home aired out – including the bedrooms, is very important in winter (Challenging during very cold days and night) – stale air does little good and much bad to our health… Long term might introduce mold and that is very unhealthy.
6. Other tools worth keeping handy during winter: Zinc lozenges for that sore throat and our Chinese winter formula for all mild illnesses of winter (Always keep one in your freezer for a rainy day)
7. Are you one of those that tend to get sick several times during a winter? Come in for an appointment and we will work on prevention (Food, rest, supplements, herbs and the cherry on top: moxa. This Chinese tool involves burning Chinese mugwart over Chinese acupuncture points and/or needles. It is a very effective Immune system booster among other benefits).

We wish you a pleasant, rainy and most of all healthy winter

Dealing with emotions - Holistic therapy during crisis - on the mind plane

Melancholy

What does natural medicine have to offer when dealing with emotions during and after a crisis on the mind plane?

Emotions are a means for communication between different levels of our conscious mind. They are a tool we use in order to cope with loss or something missing in our lives (Sadness), when life doesn't flow the way we want (Frustration / Anger), when we find ourselves outside our safe zone (Fear), when we try to control what cannot be controlled (Anxiety), when our reality is in a complex place with no instant solutions (Worry / Over thinking), when the light is out at the end of our tunnel and life feels bad (Depression), when we won the lottery and can't handle it… (Too much happiness – and yes, there is such a thing ;) ). All these examples are just short insights and not an attempt to go deep but do make it clear how emotions are a tool that can help us cope or at least understand where we are in life when consciously we may not be aware of our inner voice.

During times of crisis emotions tend to rise and even flood and so working with emotions is crucial for better coping during and after a crisis. Wisely managing emotions during crisis can help us with damage control and may even prevent damage and at time may even prevent a hard situation from becoming a crisis altogether.

After a crisis is over emotional flooding is common, and very often mental and physical therapy need to wait for the ebbs of emotion to subside.

Emotional intelligence is the basis for healthy living as well as for coping with crisis in general and especially with emotionally loaded ones. The knowledge of how to read our emotions, recognizing the present emotions, releasing them, preventing emotional flooding and dealing with floods when already present. EQ has proven to be a reliable prediction tool for success in life, more so then IQ. Success in dealing with emotional crisis is logically crucial for succeeding in a life during quiet times and more so when dealing with the ups and downs that life often throws at us. Some need it more than others but we all have those moments.

Natural medicine has varied tools for dealing with emotions in different ways. There is always at least one tool that will meet the needs and often more than one.

Bach flowers: These remedies are meant to focus our consciousness on specific emotions and help us to balances them. There is a remedy for anger and frustrations, two for fears, several for depression etc. Choosing the most accurate is a form of art. The common practice allows and encourages the use of several remedies at once. My experience shows, that choosing one most accurate remedy is more challenging but also more rewarding since it means we are required to be more accurate on the one hand but on the other hand the healing focus is on a single emotion. The result of this system is often a faster resolution and can lead to very accurate processes. "Peeling off" such an emotional layer often reveals another one underneath and thus leads to a second single remedy therapy and then maybe a third. This is a swift and accurate process that rarely needs a month for each remedy as is commonly the case – more likely several days. This usually results in a quick and successful process. This type of Bach flower therapy is especially effective during crisis managements since emotions during crisis have a natural cycle to them and rarely remain stable or fixed on one emotion for long.

Herbal therapy: I wouldn't count on herbs for working with specific emotions as a rule; rather I use them as a general stress reduction tool and for better adaptation in order to help out with coping during the process. I find that formulas based on four qualities of herbs can go along way here: Thymoleptic herbs (Mood raising), Adaptogens (Assist in adaptation during stress), Anti anxiety (When relevant) and general stress reducers.

Jin Shin Do: manual therapies are a wonderful choice during most emotional crisis situations since emotions tend to collect in the muscles. This specific therapy has a rather unique ability to release and/or help digest specific emotion very well. This goes beyond the general emotional release that every other type of massage can offer.

The use of de-stressors techniques as a stress management system: The habit and ability of releasing pent up emotions on a regular basis while keeping a close watch on stress levels (As taught in my book: "Learn peace in an hour") can greatly improve our ability to cope with emotional crisis. Knowing how to gauge the emotional volume stored within at any given moment is crucial for managing emotional loads. Making a daily habit of de-stressing is also very valuable for healthy living in general. In a post-crisis situation, taking the time to unload can prevent flooding.

Remember – so long as emotions come, flow and go they are healthy and will not endanger our health. It is only when emotions get stuck or are suppressed that they can lead to ill health and unbearable emotional levels.

Holistic therapy during crisis – on the mind plane

What tools does the holistic school of medicine have for treating mind based crisis?

As a society we are used to thinking of mind based crisis as a job for psychologists and psychiatrists. The familiar arsenal of tools are talks and drugs. What does Natural Medicine have to offer for these situations? What tools can compete with the familiar models? This will be the subject of this article.

Let’s begin with the common ground:

• Psychologists are not the only ones that can use Talks as a therapeutic tool. As a Naturopath part of my daily routine is to have long talks with some of my patients. Many of the “body-mind” practices within the Holistic school scope of therapy are talk based or start with a talk and then use the information for therapies of various kinds. We use talks to train patients in tools that can help them such as stress management (Always useful and twice so in periods of crsis), positive thinking, talks as a destressor and much more. I still find that many patients are surprised when we start talking and they realize this is part of holistic medicine too… It is high time the general public got to know the larger holistic perspective and scope of naturopathy and the other holistic modalities..
• Using drugs is a way to force the brain to “function better” on the mental and emotional planes of the mind. Suppression of anger, the blurring of sadness and depression and the nullification of our awareness to our anxieties. The equivalent tools of Natural Medicine chooses a very different approach. The closest holistic tool is Herbology. There are uplifting herbs, relaxers, stimulators etc. All allow the patient to function better without mind games and illusions (Such as feeling relaxed but underneath the surface bubbling with suppressed stress). One of the greatest advantages of herbs is a unique quality I have yet to find in other tools: Adaptogenic. Adaptogenic herbs help us to better adapt to stressful situations – especially such as one encounters during crisis. The holistic perspective makes use of herbs during crisis in a plethora of other ways: Healing anemia, blood sugar imbalances, general stress reduction, sleep disturbances etc. All these other aspects make coping with a crisis much harder and once healed allow for an easier coping with the crisis itself. This is an example of how important the holistic perspective that approaches the patient as a whole is in crisis management.

Other tools that Natural Medicine has to offer in this case:

• Manual therapies: Holistic massage, Reflexology, Chinese massage, Shiatsu, Thai massage – all these and more in professional hands have the ability to change a lot on the physical and mental planes. You can adapt to the needs of the patient (Fully clothed / oil based / feet only and dry or with cream for the last. Combining Aromatic oils can amplify the effects of the Massage or Reflexology and add the qualities of the oils we choose – relaxing / uplifting / stimulating etc.
• Aromatic oils: Even without the Manual therapies, using oils in a bath or burner or a drop on ones shirt will add a wonderfully scented effect.
• Bach Flowers: This fascinating tool in known for its ability to help alter patterns of human behavior. Most of its focus is on the emotional plane and it allows the patient better emotional coping with the crisis.
• Jin Shin Do: This is a gentle Manual tool that allows emotional and mental work through subtle physical manipulations of 30 of the 365 basic Chinese Acupuncture points. The release this tool enables is a treasure for the person in crisis.
• Chinese Acupuncture: It is common knowledge by now that Needling can assist in anemia, tonification, breaking stagnations and sedation etc. It is less known that Acupuncture can work directly on the emotional plane! There are points that assist in fear, anger and the other emotions directly.
• Meditation: Whether Zen (For the sake of quieting the mind) or Mindfulness (For expanding self-awareness) meditation is an important tool in the understanding of and better coping with a crisis.
• Healing: Balancing the appropriate chakras can do a lot for balancing out mind based crisis situations. Cleaning the aura can remove some of the mental and emotional baggage in a very gentle and effective way. Crystal healing can also be very effective and useful here and can be carried around at all times.
• Art therapy: Using arts / music / dance as therapy can be a wonderful bridge between the mind and the emotions. It has been around and in use since the beginning of human culture. Very important in times of crisis.

This wide array of tools is just the tip of the iceberg and is meant to stress the fact that “yes there are good tools out there in the Holistic field quite useful in times of crisis.

The challenges still facing us in this field are:

1. Raising social awareness to these tools and their value.
2. Integrating the various tools of Natural Medicine.
3. Integrating Natural and Conventional Medicine – or at least to stop the silent battle…
4. Developing protocols for situations yet untested or resolved.

My intention in this series of articles is to address the above challenges and widen public awareness comes first.