Integrative Health and Wellness
By Sharon Ackerman

 
Integrative Medicine is a healing oriented approach that emphasizes the centrality of the practitioner-patient relationship.  It focuses on the least invasive, least toxic, and least costly methods to help facilitate health by integrating both allopathic and complimentary therapies.  These are recommended based on an understanding of the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of the individual.  Much like Michaelangelo's "David", Integrative Health practitioners strive to release the innate beauty that is alive and struggling to get out of the stone.

The path of healing, health, and improved quality of life is unique to each of us, though the wisdom of well-being is curiously similar.  By focusing on the goal, whether it be improved energy, reduced cholesterol, weight loss, or simply enjoying a good night's rest, our body/mind and Spirit intuitively direct us to that which will best serve our intention.  Having a well-trained integrational health specialist can help us eliminate what no longer serves us and discover opportunities to nurture our innate good health.
 
"Health" is defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."  To "cure" conversely, refers to doing something (such as giving drugs or performing surgery) that alleviates a troublesome condition or disease.  Healing does not equal curing.  We can cure a condition such as hypertension with a pharmaceutical without healing the condition.  Healing would facilitate changes that reduce stress, improve diet, promote exercise, and increase the person's sense of community.  In supporting this, we help improve the balance of health in the body/mind and Spirit that may result in the ability to discontinue a pharmaceutical or potential need for surgery.

In integrative medicine, healing occurs within the body/mind and requires active participation of the patient.  In conventional medicine, healing occurs outside the body-mind and is viewed as something done to a patient.  Empowering change from within supports personal responsibility for choosing what best supports optimal health.  For some it may mean surgery, for others a radical change in nutrition, environment or overall attitude.  The holistic or “integrational” philosophy is essentially a path that teaches the principles of co-creation, first within the physical body, and then within and for the larger body of life on the planet itself.