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Glossary of Holistic Terms (Part Two)

There are so many terms related to holistic methods of healing that sometimes it can be daunting to understand them all. Nevertheless for your own benefit it is important to learn as much as you can about the world of holistic pain relief.

Body Work

Body work is a blanket term for a variety of different kinds of massage treatments. Body work takes into account rubbing, pressing and manipulating the soft tissue and muscles in order to relax the body and lengthen the muscles which is meant to bring about pain relief. This also encourages the flow of blood and oxygen to the area that is painful which helps to facilitate a swifter method of healing. Massage therapists generally use their hands but some also use their feet, forearms and elbows to achieve this end when working on patients. Body work can also take into account the ever-popular Swedish massage as well as deep tissue massage, manual lymph drainage and neuromuscular massage. Massage has been shown to be effective for many types of health problems such as the back, the neck, the shoulders, as well as headaches, bursitis and tendonitis.

Breathing Meditation

Breathing meditation is a form of meditation that is Asian in origin and helps to calm and quit an erratic mind. The person doing breathing meditation needs to relax and concentrate fully on their breathing and to count each breath in a breathing cycle. Yoga, vipassana and qigong often make use of these forms of breathing meditation. The process of deep breathing in this case should be done at least five to ten times and a number of times throughout the day to be as effective as possible.

Chelation Therapy

Chelation therapy uses what is known as chelating agents such as for example EDTA in order to get rid of heavy metals from the human body that are of no use to the body at all. When it comes to conventional Western medicine chelation therapy is put into play in order to treat a case of heavy metal poisoning, more and more holistic practitioners are using it to help their patients who suffer from coronary artery disease.

Chiropractic

Chiropractic (or chiropractic medicine) is a form of holistic healing that involves the manipulation of the spine in order to unblock nerve signals to the brain and to facilitate the process of healing. Chiropractic medicine is based on the idea that getting rid of nerve interference will allow the body to work to its absolute best. Chiropractic treatments have been successfully used to treat patients who suffer from back pain and problems, headaches, inflammation of the nerves, muscle spasms, carpal tunnel syndrome and a variety of other traumas and injuries.

Diet-Based Therapy

Diet-based therapies make use of many different kinds of diets in order to improve the state of an individual's health as well as to help a person lose weight and to treat health problems such as high cholesterol. Some examples of these types of diets include the breatharian, the fruitarianism, the living foods diet, the macrobiotic lifestyle, the Okinawa diet, the vegan diet, the vegetarian diet, and the low- fat diet among others.