By Coralie Raia Darsey-Malloy and David Malloy
Everyone wants independent choice…
whatever that may cost…and wherever it may lead.
–Fyodor Dostoyevsky
When I began my quest for health and wholeness in the mid-eighties some did not consider valid. Much of it fell under the umbrella of ‘fringe new age thinking” and mainstream society was suspicious and refused to consider it. When David and I met in 1990 I made his head spin with my concern about the free radicals and the high glucose factor in his diet. I rambled on about that and the importance of low fat, moderate carbohydrate diet and using food combining as a way to lose weight. He has a knack for researching balanced perspectives and once he understood the validity in some of it, he modified his thinking. With the growing interest in health, wellness and whole person healing mindsets are changing. Mind-body health is merging with traditional medicine and complimentary healing systems. Many physicians are open to them within patient care.
Trends in medicine are moving towards sensitive patient care with a multitude of options that were not available even twenty years ago. The emerging changes in preventative health and wellness techniques can and does compliment today’s precision diagnostic services. Inevitably, professional patronizing, and obscure terminology will give way to cooperative educational approaches, and client-orientated therapies. Future medicine like future world politics, will increasingly acknowledge choice making and empowerment of the individual.
Within the changing dynamics in health care there is much we can all do to optimize our own and well-being. Simple changes such as eating cleaner food in smaller portions, managing stress and maintaining fitness levels keep the wheel of life in balance. People are awakening to the importance of avoiding harsh chemicals in our food and cleaning products. It is now common knowledge that smoking, too much alcohol, fats, sugar, salt and processed food breakdown rather than build up the body. Breakthroughs in health care reveal that many of the diseases and ailments are easier to manage through positive lifestyle changes over symptom relief and prescription drugs.
Living a long, healthy and productive life are reasonable expectations through self-reliant care and responsibility for one’s health. It is important for each of us to research information and maintain authority for the path we choose to take whether some in the medical model agree or not. There have been numerous times in the past where physicians and surgeons were pushing for surgery on David’s neck, our knees, exploratory biopsies and a myriad of other tests we did not feel we needed. Instead, we chose to support our bodies through physiotherapy, acupuncture, strengthening, stretching and massage and we are both going strong many years later without the need for surgical intervention. There is a cautionary note in this and again, we emphasize the importance of making informed choices about the options and possible outcome with any chose modality.
As communicators, we always encourage clients to discuss their health challenge with reliable, professional individuals in both the medical and complimentary healing models before proceeding and weigh the pros and cons of any system. Health is not a right…it is a responsibility. The growing acceptance in whole-person healing continues to evolve and its cooperative approach liberates and unites. Today personal fitness and healing practices once considered outlandish are gaining mainstream credibility—because they work. Large corporations are underwriting relaxation and stress management courses to reduce employee absenteeism. Insurance companies offer financial incentives to non-smokers and aerobic dancers. Healing in the 21st century will witness the final convergence of science and psychology, body and soul.
As science, medicine, biology of emotion and thought, humor, health and healing attitudes merge, they are now plausible co-factors in any healing system. Growing numbers are awakening to the reality that symptom relief, drug therapy, invasive procedures are the last step over the first as they once were. New attitudes and modalities provide hope in the form of simple, yet powerful whole-person self-care systems. They are often equally or more effective than prescriptions and are cost effective, encourage self-responsibility, do no harm, educational, fun and provide positive outcomes! With the exploration into mind-body health, there are alternative ways to achieve health, wholeness and abundant living for those willing to explore options and think outside the box.
Everyone needs a starting point that begins with self-acceptance. The Body Dynamics System supports the “whole self” and assists clients in their transformational growth process from the inside out.
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