IntuitiveBridges - Alan Bridges

What do you think of when someone uses the term holistic? Do you immediately think of your local health food shop? Or do you connect it with candles, crystals and other New Age paraphernalia? For some of you the term might conjure images of gurus sitting in contorted and uncomfortable positions in incense-filled rooms. Still others of you might think of acupuncture and herbal remedies.

The fact is that it is one of the most confusing terms around. So if you’re stumped, you’re not alone. It even led to something of a debate in my own house when a family member read a newspaper article about how local planners were taking a holistic approach to the development of rural land. That was a new one for me, I have to admit.

But where does the term come from? And how are we to use it? Well, it turns out that it was first used by a South African gentleman called Jan Christian Smuts in 1926. He coined the adjective holistic as related to holism, the theory that treats nature as being comprised of wholes.

So while the term itself is relatively new, the idea behind it might sound familiar because the notion is actually quite old. You may recall that Aristotle said that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Nonetheless, characterising something as being holistic was new.

In the 1960s people began using the term to describe medicine and in the 70s holistic approaches and holistic models to various treatments began popping up. And by the time the 80s came around holistic was being used to describe alternative methods of healing, such as acupuncture, homeopathy, massage and reflexology.

These usages, you’ll notice, are limited to a health context and are linked by the theme that all the elements of a person have to be taken into account to bring about a state of complete wellness. But what are these so-called elements of a person?

Initially, it was believed that the physical body was all that there was and the only thing that could or even should be treated. The soul, while recognised, was considered to be too unknowable and left to the confines of religion. The priest-philosopher Descartes, however, expounded the notion of the mind and went on to hypothesise that it was what linked the body to the soul. But then Freud came along and declared that the soul’s involvement in health was nothing short of mystical nonsense.

And so decade after decade, modern medical science focused on the body and the mind (ignoring the soul) when treating illnesses. But then in the 1950s references to the involvement of the soul began appearing in connection with the treatment of patients. From this point on holistic was applied to medicine and health and referred to the taking into account of the needs of the mind, body and soul (read spirit). In this context, it was observed that holistic healing could only take place when the physical, emotional and spiritual elements of the illnesses were addressed.

Today holistic health has become what you might call a philosophy of wellness. It emphasises the role and participation of the individual in health. Holistic has also become synonymous with the practices of alternative medicine – practices that recognise the communication between the mind, body and spirit. You even hear of people adopting holistic lifestyles, in which they try to live in harmony with nature’s needs as well as their own physical and spiritual requirements.

However, language lives and evolves. And most recently holistic seems to be taking on an expanded, and perhaps ironically, a purer meaning. The term now considers the whole of something whilst acknowledging its parts. So we now hear about holistic education, holistic building, holistic problem-solving, holistic judging – and yes, even holistic land planning!

The way I see it, the term “holistic” is best understood in the context of an outlook or a way of life that seeks to give equal weight to and achieve a balance of the mind, body and spirit. What we should all be doing as individuals is striving to strike just such a balance in our everyday lives. Of course, that’s easier said than done.

More often than not we find chinks in our holistic armour. And that’s when we need to take a moment to readjust the way we’ve been living. Sometimes we can do this on our own, especially if it’s a case of lapsing into old habits that we’ve managed to correct in the past. At other times, it might take a professional and objective outsider to help re-establish the holistic equilibrium.

We participate in illness as much as we do in wellness. In short, you should be asking yourself these questions. How’s your health? Is your energy flowing as it should? Are you learning the lessons life is trying to teach you? If the answer’s not clear, my Intuitive Assessments respond to these questions with a comprehensive analysis of your energetic body. Book your assessment here and learn more.

And don’t forget to read my latest Weekly Insights at PsychicBridges. This week I consider whether there’s not more to being a psychic than being psychic! Read my article in full.

I always welcome your thoughts and feedback on IntuitiveBridges, so let me hear from you by clicking here.

Until next week,

Kindest regards,