Cancer is a modern plague that affects millions of people around the planet each year. It comes in a huge array of forms and variations, and it can be extremely difficult to diagnose and then treat with any success. Interestingly enough, major authorities on cancer, like the American Cancer Society, now advocate for patients struggling with this disease to receive holistic healing as part of their treatment.
You Are You and Not a Disease
Something to remember as we begin this discussion about holistic healing and serious diseases, like cancer, is that holistic healing looks at you as a person and not as a disease. Many people diagnosed with a life-threatening or seriously challenging illness express feelings that they have suddenly become the disease. They are no longer themselves but are instead the illness; they are not a person and are looked at and discussed in terms of their disease.
Holistic healing helps to alleviate this painful feeling of being disconnected from yourself because one of its primary goals is to heal the patient as a person and not just treat a disease. It focuses on an entire life and how these things are interconnected in order to create good health.
Parts of a Whole
So, holistic healing is all about the whole body and how all of the various symptoms interact and affect one another. From this perspective, a serious disease might be said to be a symptom of an underlying condition. That means that holistic remedies can then help to re-balance everything even as your body goes to war against a major disease.
How would this work on something as significant as a disease like cancer? Well, there are some people who might be able to guess what caused their cancer (heavy smokers are a good example of this), but not everyone will know just why their bodies developed such a harmful condition. What patients do know is that they are going to face many challenges if they can overcome the disease – and that means being as perfectly balanced as possible in spite of the harmful condition.
Fortunately, holistic healing looks at the person’s entire body – their physical life, mental and emotional life, and their spiritual life. The ultimate goal is to make sure there is as much balance as possible, and that means a holistic healer will be able to help you wage the greatest fight while remaining in the best mindset and physical health possible.
Complementary Care
Because you are likely to undergo such treatments as chemotherapy, surgery, or other therapies, you can use holistic approaches to re-balancing everything that such remedies may impact. For example, the emotional turmoil the condition causes can be offset with support groups and counseling. The digestive issues it might cause can be combated with a holistic diet, and the spiritual challenges can be met with positive imagery, yoga, and meditation.
These are just a few examples of the many ways that modern patients with life threatening diseases integrate holistic healing into their treatment. If you are facing a major illness, don’t forget that you are a whole person who needs holistic remedies as much as modern, technological solutions.