Disillusioned by decades of disease-focused medicine, more doctors and patients are now shifting their focus to whole-person health. Ancient practices (yoga), alternative therapies (massage therapy, acupuncture), and commonsense strategies (nutritional counseling) are complementing conventional treatments, expanding our notions of healing — and leading the way to greater well-being and vitality. This is what Body & Mind Consulting is all about—an integrative approach to health and wellness.
What is Integrative Medicine?
Using prescription and over the counter medications and surgery for health conditions is often commonly referred to as “conventional medicine.” While often expensive and invasive (and often covered by health insurance) it is also very good at some things; for example, handling emergency conditions such as massive injury or a life-threatening stroke. Some conventional medicine is scientifically validated, some is not.
Any therapy that is typically excluded by conventional medicine, and that patients use instead of conventional medicine, is known as “alternative medicine.” It’s a catch-all term that includes hundreds of old and new practices ranging from massage therapy, acupuncture to homeopathy. Some alternative therapies are scientifically validated, some are not. An alternative medicine practice that is used in conjunction with a conventional one is known as a “complementary” medicine, often referred to by the acronym CAM.
Enter integrative medicine. As defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, integrative medicine “combines mainstream medical therapies and CAM therapies for which there is some high-quality scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness.”
In other words, integrative medicine takes the best, scientifically validated therapies from both conventional and CAM systems. So the basic definition of integrative medicine is a healing-oriented approach to care that takes account of the whole person (body, mind, and spirit), including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship and makes use of all appropriate therapies, both conventional and alternative.
The principles of integrative medicine:
- A partnership between patient and practitioner in the healing process
- Appropriate use of conventional and alternative methods to facilitate the body’s innate healing response
- Consideration of all factors that influence health, wellness and disease, including mind, spirit and community as well as body
- A philosophy that neither rejects conventional medicine nor accepts alternative therapies uncritically
- Recognition that good medicine should be based in good science, be inquiry driven, and be open to new paradigms
- Use of natural, effective, less-invasive interventions whenever possible
- Use of the broader concepts of promotion of health and the prevention of illness as well as the treatment of disease
- Training of practitioners to be models of health and healing, committed to the process of self-exploration and self-development
Integrative Health = Mind and Body Health
Do you often experiencing all the noise and random thoughts in your head? You are not alone- how can we resist the vending machine of junk food when our attention span is in pieces from all of our email alerts and texts throughout the day? Mindfulness empowers the brain so that people have more control over life choices. “Integrative medicine focuses on health and healing and on preventive maintenance of health by paying attention to all relative components of lifestyle, including diet, exercise, stress management and emotional well-being. It insists on patients being active participants in their healthcare as well as on physicians viewing patients as whole persons – minds, community members and spiritual beings, as well as physical bodies.” This is where Body & Mind Consulting can help.
The Body + Mind Approach
At Body Mind Consulting, our goal is to help you achieve your vision of who you want to be and find greater personal satisfaction in life. Since the body and mind work together harmoniously, an integrated approach that combines body and mind therapy and transformation is more effective.
Overcoming unhelpful eating, activity, and sleep patterns is half the battle as our bodies become healthier, but without improving our mental power, we’re prone to fall back into bad habits again.
When body improvements are combined with changes in thought, true, lasting change occurs. That’s why Body & Mind Consulting can not only help you improve your body, but help you master your thought patterns and behaviors as well. Call our offices at 615.310.1491 to schedule a free consultation to see how Body & Mind Consulting can help you live your best life through integrative approaches, or visit our website at www.bodymindtn.com. We look forward to helping you on your journey to health and wellness!
1 – www.nccam.nih.gov – The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health.
2 – McPartland, J. M. (1998). The Alternative Medicine Handbook: The Complete Reference Guide of Alternative and Complementary Therapies. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 280(18), 1635-1636.
3 – Cassileth, B. R. (1998). The alternative medicine handbook: the complete reference guide to alternative and complementary therapies. WW Norton.
4 – Baer, H. A. (2004). Toward an integrative medicine: merging alternative therapies with biomedicine. Rowman Altamira.
5 – www.nccam.nih.gov – The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health.
6 – Weil, A. (2006). Healthy aging: A lifelong guide to your well-being. Anchor Canada.
