What Is Therapeutic Touch?

With the recent explosion of interest in alternative forms of healing, attention has turned to the practice of energy medicine. Energy medicine is an approach to healing based on the assumption that there is a natural field of energy that surrounds and penetrates every living thing. Within such an approach, practitioners attempt to manipulate the field of energy to encourage healing. Most forms of energy medicine developed originally in Asia. Therapeutic Touch, however, developed within the American nursing tradition in the 1970's.

Therapeutic Touch assumes that an individual's body, mind, and spirit form a complex energy field that extends beyond the surface of the body. According to proponents of Therapeutic Touch, an individual's level of health reflects the flow of life energy in and through that individual. In a healthy person there is a symmetrical and balanced flow of energy within the individual and in exchange with the environment. The free flow of energy in this way nourishes the individual and promotes vitality. When illness occurs or an injury happens, the flow of energy becomes obstructed or constricted. It is the practitioner's task is to find the obstruction, clear it, and re-establish an unrestricted flow of energy.

People who seek intervention through Therapeutic Touch remain fully clothed and may sit up or lie down during a healing session. A Therapeutic Touch session follows a series of prescribed steps. First the practitioner centers self. This is a brief period of meditation and concentration during which the practitioner withdraws his or her attention from the external world. Here the practitioner develops the calm detachment and intent to heal required to participate in the healing process.

Next, the practitioner conducts an assessment of the person who has sought healing. In this phase, the practitioner places his or her hands, palms down, a few inches above the patient's body. The practitioner then moves his or her hands above the patient's body, in a rhythmical motion, from head to foot. The practitioner intuitively searches for the areas of constriction and imbalance in the patient's energy field. Practitioners are said to sense these areas through subtle, but distinct, sensations in their hands (heat, cold, tingling sensations, etc.).

Once an area of congestion is found, the third phase begins. This is the intervention phase during which the practitioner attempts to relieve the congestion and balance the energy field. To do so, the practitioner moves his of her hands in long sweeping motions starting above the point of congestion and moving toward the toes. This process, called "unruffling" is intended to smooth out the energy field and move stagnant energy away from the patient. The practitioner continues in this way until the unusual sensations associated with the congestion are no longer felt.

Next, the practitioner directs additional energy to the patient. By directing additional life energy to the patient, the practitioner is helping to make up for an energy deficit that develops during an illness. The additional energy is said to help the patient's own healing processes function more effectively.

Finally, the practitioner engages in a period of evaluation and closure. Here the practitioner reassesses the patient's energy field to determine whether constrictions were missed. The practitioner also solicits feedback from the patient. Together, these sources of information, along with the practitioner's own intuitions, determine the end of a session.

Therapeutic Touch is most often practiced by nurses, but practitioners may be found among physicians, physical therapists, naturopaths, chiropractors, and massage therapists. Practitioners of Therapeutic Touch see it as an important complement to conventional medical care. According to its proponents, Therapeutic Touch reduces pain and lowers anxiety. It is said to heal fractures and wounds and to clear infections faster than conventional approaches alone. It also may be useful in the treatment of certain allergies and addictions. The relaxation response that occurs during a Therapeutic Touch session is especially important. Deep relaxation reduces stress and lowers blood pressure. These effects alone are likely to promote greater levels of health and vitality. If you are interested in finding a qualified practitioner of Therapeutic Touch, you should contact the Nurse Healers-Professional Associates International.

Douglas Hardwick, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in psychology from the University of Virginia. He has extensive interests in aging and holistic health issues. He recently developed a holistic health information hub: http://www.holisticwebworks.com

Alternative Medicine Versus Traditional Western Medicine

Often when people seek out alternative medicine, they've reached a point in their care where they're dissatisfied with the results and ready to abandon traditional Western medicine in search of something better. But the truth is ... these two apparently diverse approaches can actually work well together.

Alternative medicine covers a wide variety of disciplines. These can include holistic medicine, homeopathy, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, reflexology, yoga, Ayurveda, and more. They all tend to be less invasive, turn to natural solutions instead of pharmaceutical solutions, and look at a person's health from a whole-body perspective instead of managing symptoms as they pop up.

Traditional Western medicine relies heavily on invasive procedures such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and prescription drugs that all have consequences and side-effects of their own. In addition, these approaches tend to be focused on a specific symptom or illness while ignoring the other physical and psychological conditions of the patient. And finally, Western doctors tend to be under a time restraint ... trying to see as many patients as possible, while at the same time trying to keep up with the latest developments and the never-ending barrage of insurance and government red tape.

The advantage of Western medicine is that it's very high-tech. It uses the latest tools for diagnosing what's wrong with a particular area of the body. It can provide views of the internal systems that are absolutely astonishing. It's also very effective in emergency situations that demand a quick reaction and immediate care. These are its strengths.

Alternative medicine, on the other hand, is based on ancient practices. The treatments have been in existence for generations. They don't require the newest advances or the newest technologies. They're time proven. These approaches are not generally helpful in emergency situations. They require time for the body to heal itself. They address not just the apparent symptoms, but the body, mind and spirit as a whole.

Working Together

More and more, these two disciplines are discovering that they don't have to be mutually exclusive. Western physicians are openly encouraging the exploration of alternative medicine not as a replacement for their knowledge and skills but as a complement to them. Controlling chronic pain, for example, can incorporate yoga or massage or even hypnosis along with a regimen of prescribed medications.

Of course, your physician needs to know what you're doing. Some herbs, for example, can counteract some medications, or in even make them more potent. So if you're interested in adding an alternative medicine approach to what your doctor had already prescribed for you, make sure you consult him first.

More than likely, he'll be supportive of your efforts and make sure that you embark down a safe and healthy path.

Learn more about homeopathy by visiting: http://alternativemedicinefirst.com/homeopathy.html And learn more about all the various alternative medicine disciplines by visiting: http://alternativemedicinefirst.com/

Gallbladder Problems and Symptoms and a Natural Remedy

Most people know nothing about their gallbladder until it starts to cause them problems. As part of the digestive system it plays its part in helping to digest fats. Every year hundreds of thousands of people suffer from gallbladder disease, gallstones are on of the most common problems that affect people.

Women are twice as likely to develop gallbladder related problems and the pain associated with gallstones and other related illnesses can be excruciating. Most people find symptoms increase when they have eaten a fatty meal, this is because you are overloading your already weakened gallbladder.

Many people do not have any symptoms at all and do not realise that they are storing up problems for the future by continuing to eat a diet high in fats. Maintaining a healthy balanced diet and drinking plenty of water can help prevent this mainly self inflicted agony.

If you have or are going to consult your doctor it may be recommended that you have an operation to remove your gallbladder. Whilst this may be the only option for many surgically removing the gallbladder means you are losing an important internal organ. The loss of this organ can mean many unpleasant side effects such as diarrhea, nausea and an increased risk of colon and bowel cancer.

We have a gallbladder for a reason. Bile that is created by the liver is stored in the gallbladder ready to help with the digestion of the next meal. With no gallbladder to store this bile acid it passes through to the intestine which causes irritation and therefore diarrhea. The damage to the intestinal lining can lead to cancer.

No everybody needs to lose their gallbladder and can first try to flush any gallstones from their system naturally. This is surely a sensible option to save yourself from what is a serious operation that will affect the quality of your life for the rest of your life.

You can flush gallstones from your body if they are small enough and it can be done naturally. A simple gallbladder flush takes only 24 hours. One method is the extra virgin olive oil and grapefruit method.

You can also help keep not only your gallbladder but your entire digestive system healthy by making sure you eat a healthy balanced diet that is low in fat and high in fiber. Be sure to stay properly hydrated by drinking plenty of water throughout the day. Keeping your digestive system healthy means less pain and discomfort and reducing the risk of adverse illness and disease.

Find out about Gallbladder Problems and Symptoms and how you can remove gallbladder stones safely and naturally at http://www.gallbladderproblemssymptoms.org

Do You Think Vitamin E Can Really Help You to Heal Your Bruises?

By Carolyn Cooper

When your head is in a place where you desire to be certain that you are going to be finding the way to get your bruises healed as quickly as possible, you will find that there are a ton of bruising remedies being made available to you. Whether you acquire them from the Internet or donated by your family or friends, you'll discover that there are an abundance of them available to you that it might be almost impossible to figure out which ones are going to be the best solution for you. One purported remedy that is suggested over and over again is Vitamin E. Does Vitamin E actually do the job its represented to do when you are trying to find a remedy for your bruises? What's necessary to know?

The first thing that you should be aware of is that vitamin E really is great stuff. It can work very nicely as a companion to vitamin C when you are looking to help your body heal overall, and it can be perfect when you are looking at healing certain skin issues. If you have a new scar that you don't want to leave a mark permanently, or even sometimes when you have an old scar, you can use vitamin E directly to the scar to keep the skin looking good. It promotes fast healing and, it can keep your skin looking fresh and young.

The situation that it does not address pertains to the actual business of healing a bruise, which is closely tied to your circulatory system. Keep in mind that a bruise is the result of tiny blood vessels close to the surface of your skin being broken. This means that to prevent bruising, you must have a remedy that will make your circulatory system somewhat less subject to damage, but when you want to get rid of a bruise, you require something that will dissipate the bleeding below the skin level and restore your natural pigmentation. The truth is that vitamin E can not do either of these things.

Vitamin E is wonderful when you implement it to take external care of your skin, but just like the saying that beauty is not just skin deep, bruising isn't either. There are an abundance of remedies available that proudly announce that they use a large quantity of vitamin E, but unless the other ingredients are exceptional, you are probably going to want to think about what you need to examine what your best options are. There is a large variety of different reasons why vitamin E can be helpful as one ingredient in your bruise treatment (particularly if you are concerned with how your skin will look and feel afterward), but make certain that you look for other, more useful, ingredients also.

Make some time to spend determining the whys and hows of your bruising. This is a personal situation that you need to consider if you ever want to get rid of easy bruising for good, so make certain that you ponder over your own particular situation and what you should do to get the proper assistance to solve this particular problem.

About the Author:

Carolyn Cooper is known as an renowned expert on bruising causes through a collaboration of her educational experience in nutrition and her real world experience with nutritional supplements for athletes ranging from children to the pro ranks. Get a free Special Report on bruising causes and see what she's done to get past the nightmares of easy bruising and prevent bruising.

What You Need to Know Before You Try the Lemonade Diet

By J. Marion

Did you know that you can enjoy all foods as part of a healthy diet as long as you don't overdo it? Successful at weight loss only requires that you change your lifestyle"slightly--not just go on a diet. Research has shown that one of the best ways of doing this is known as carbohydrate cycling. And it does not require starvation, deprivation, or gimmicky fads " but the technique I will teach you does work best with a physically active lifestyle.

If you've ever hit a plateau, if you've ever struggled to see the number on the scale change, or if you've ever felt guilty after eating something you "shouldn't have" while being on a diet, then you need to continue reading.

You see, for the last six years I have has been teaching people how to strategically "cheat" on their diet (with their favorite foods) to literally TRIPLE progress beyond what is possible with "restrictive" dieting.

I'm talking cupcakes, pizza, ice cream, burgers " you name it. Believe it or not, you can actually use *these* foods to lose fat at a faster rate. CRAZY, I know, but it's true.

And what's more, as you'll see in the case studies, there's enough proof to back it up 30 times over.

But even beyond the science, the sheer number of people who have already benefited from the methods I teach is pretty unreal " literally thousands of men and women all over America how to do this.

I will give you 2 perfect examples of how this works. I have detailed the experiences of my biggest "fat loss losers", one of which lost 30 lbs DURING the holidays while never having to turn down a holiday meal, party, or dessert!

I really believe that with this information we're getting ready to experience a new era in the realm of dieting " one with less frustration.

But the story starts with something you've most likely never heard of. Its name is Leptin (derived from the Greek word leptos, meaning thin), and its without a doubt the most important hormone you probably never heard of.

About the Author:

Before you start a diet, make sure you check out my excellent free videos on how to lose weight without dieting at CheatYourWaySlim.com.