What is Alternative Therapy?

The term alternative therapy refers to a vast world of healing options, many of which are considered the norm in certain parts of the world and have been practiced for centuries. To put it simply, alternative therapy is any treatment that is not your typical pharma medicine practice you find in hospitals and doctor offices that we are used to in the western part of the world.

Alternative therapy can be a stand alone treatment, especially when working in whole medical systems, or used as “complementary or integrative” alongside your doctor’s recommendations.

Depending on your health concerns, there are a number of alternative therapies for everyone to choose from. Of which, are categorized into target areas to easier identify what might be right for you. We break it down into the following: Whole Medical Systems, Body, Mind, Energy, and Spiritual.

Is Alternative Therapy Safe?

Absolutely! Much like seeing a doctor, alternative therapies have specialized trained practitioners to help guide you through the process. This may be in a facility built around their specific therapy, and sometimes it might be a coach who works out of their home to make access to their healing modality even easier through online communication. However they deliver, these practitioners can provide the appropriate resources and information needed for safe use and practice.

Whole Medical Systems

In alternative therapy, whole medical systems refers to therapies that consider all aspects from the body, mind, and spirit as a whole system working together for your overall health. Commonly known practices being Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, and Homeopathy.

Practitioners in these fields have entire lifestyle plans to create harmony in the system and maximize overall health. Many of these healing beliefs are backed by years of tradition, trial, and error amongst native people across the world and have centuries of proven efficacy to back their work.

Body

Another category is alternative therapies that focus on the body. These are treatments that focus on working physical systems within the body (ex. Musculoskeletal, nervous). Typically, the idea is that working these physically existing systems will not only relieve aches and pains, but also target other responses in the body such as allergies and even stress.

Popular body related alternative therapies are Massage, Chiropractic, and Acupuncture. While these therapies require a professional, you can get started with others after some light training and proper resources. Such as aromatherapy, which has gained so much traction in recent years that essential oils are readily available in stores. We even have our own backed resources such as this article: How To Use Aromatherapy At Home

Mind

Mental health is a tough one to navigate with westernized medication alone. This is why there is more and more research and trials coming to alternative therapies that focus on the mind aspect of our health. These therapies are different from sitting down to talk to someone. With alternative therapy, you can expect to get your mind working and unlock parts your subconscious has blocked access to.

These therapies look like

    • Hypnotherapy

    • Meditation and Mindfulness

    • EMDR

Energy

When we come to the idea of energy healing, this is when we need to be open minded to the possibilities, and for some it’s a hard one to wrap around. Amongst many practices there is the belief that we are all energy and that this energy is our life force. For example you may have heard some of these terms. In Hinduism or Yoga this energy is called Prana, while Chinese practices call our energy qi (pronounced chi).

These healing modalities are often backed by ancient scriptures and practices that have served people for years. You have probably heard of Yoga, with studios in all the cities across the west, which origins are as an energy practice before it became a popular “stretching” activity.

Spiritual

We like to include spiritual practices as alternative therapy because typically one turns to spirituality with a problem in the soul that has manifested into mental and physical health issues. People are often experiencing a lack of purpose, depression, anxiety, or grief. These methods help us reconnect to our soul, ultimately tying everything together for complete wellness.

This is another modality that may serve you well if you seek out a professional, such as a medium who uses divination. While, you can also find many resources from books to online lessons showing you how you can navigate things like your personal astrology or reading tarot.

Summary

Whatever the ailment, there are a multitude of pathways to explore in alternative therapy. No thing is viewed as untreatable because of these practitioners who take such pride in their work. You can take control of your health and feel good about it when you dive into the world of alternative therapy.

Koshas is the first online portal providing curated information and resources in the alternative medicine field. Our goal is to provide users and practitioners with the best resources and services in the world of alternative and holistic medicine, allowing accessibility to everyone.

For more information, visit www.koshas.com