Alternative Medicine/ Holistic Medicine has been rapidly gaining popularity in Western society and interest has never been greater. Its vast and potent options are today readily accepted as valid approaches to natural curative regimens. Alternative medicine is a significant part of my life, and our family, and it is my hope that what I share will help both you and your family.

Alternatives include Ancient Oriental Medicine, Herbal Remedies, Homeopathy, Yoga, Massage, Tai-chi, Zen, and Meditation, in addition to the more familiar Chiropractic Medicine and Clinical Nutrition. Despite intense interest in this field, many practitioners have limited knowledge due to the formidable barriers to acquiring the requisite knowledge and information. Barriers that range form language to the number of true experts that populate this branch of medicine.

Too many still have limited information and resort to speculation, rather than sound Alternative Medical protocols. Others may depend too much on their own limited experience in addition to dubious theories. Even consummate professionals occasionally fall prey to some of these less credible theories.

Modern medicine accepts only scientifically proven conclusions demonstrable at the molecular level. If a treatment thousands of years old, and have been known to heal tens of thousands cannot be demonstrated at the molecular level the conventional medical community dismisses the theory. As we face 2000 years of collective human healing, much is still unknown; Alternative Medicine is often mysterious and miraculous. My humble purpose for writing about Alternative Medicine is to educate readers, and to familiarize them with the mystical and practical elements of this oldest of medical disciplines. In this space, we will get familiar with practical living aids, functional approaches to our daily lives, and learn some of what great medical minds have amassed in knowledge about this most wonderful machine, the human body. I am eager to share this information, and will delight in knowing that you to will benefit and prosper.

I would like to put our thoughts and theories into perspective, we will do this by relating to something many of us have familiarity with -- a computer. Our own bodies, like a computer, have complex computerware that is comprised of both hard and software that work together in a most complicated system. Do you remember when you first learned to ride a bicycle? After much practice, the process became almost automatic, the mobility and balance a given. You probably went through the same process in learning to swim or to drive. A newborn baby sucking milk without thought is no different. All the above reactions result from the use of the bodies' software. Once familiarized this "software" is able to repeat sometimes very complex processes naturally. When you bite your tongue, or when the food goes down the wrong tube when eating, that is the result of an error in our bodies software. In effect your body just said "Abort, Retry, Fail1x"

Modern medicine is based on a surgical and pharmaceutical approach to healing. These approaches attempt to fix the hardware in our bodies. Conversely, Alternative Medicine typically focuses on the software. If a person hit their calve against a rock we can assume the person will feel pain. What will be the natural reaction of that person? S/he will start rubbing the area or start jumping up and down. Why, because this is the natural reaction? Do they want to hurt more? I don't think so. For most, they feel less pain when they do one or the other. Another common situation is when the humidity is high older people often complain about muscle aches. Through the simple process of massaging, or accupressure, the afflicted are often able to relieve or minimize the discomfort. It is common to hear, `Ah1x that feels better' as they are being messaged. The pain or discomfort was minimized without the surgical or pharmaceutical intervention. Like a computer the quality of the input affects the quality of the output. When you put the correct input in your body, you will get the correct output. This is the definition of Alternative Medicine.

The knowledge of Alternative Medicine has been accumulated since ancient times, through direct experiences with human over centuries of application. It can be thought of as the "operating system" software that helps your body run better.

In response I would like to ask, when you learned how to operate a computer did you have to know the about the hardware? Did you have to know all the parts of the car before you learned how to drive? There have been times in history when the Alternative Medicine field put forth extensive efforts to established their own philosophy. The philosophy established refers to the development of the "existence phenomena."

The ancient Chinese philosophy of `Ing and Eng's Five Element Theory is a good example for illustrating the "existence phenomena." This old and experienced Chinese philosophy is based on observations and teachings handed down through centuries by witnesses. Chinese people know, and have known for centuries, that `Ing and Eng's Five Element Theory exists and is based on knowledge and insight. However these same people have likely never seen proofs of the underlying philosophies personally. In contrast, modern medical Biology or Anatomy has less than 100 years of experience and has not had to support the conclusions over centuries as Alternative Medicine has.

We practitioners in the field continue to expend great effort to document the existence of the phenomena that are at the foundation of Alternative Medicine. As the new Millenium unfolds it is my personal hope that the secrets behind the great potential within Alternative Medicine will be become less mysterious. Its natural to desire to explore and reveal the hidden treasures behind a collection of knowledge that has so greatly contributed to life in the past, and will contribute so much into the future. Be well . . .1x

Next time we will discuss Oxidation, and Antioxidants in our diet.