Category Definitions

Herbal Medicine
Healthcare through the use of plant materials.

Holistic Animal Care
The use of healing methods or health care which are outside the mainstream of orthodox veterinary medical treatment and practices.

Homeopathic Medicine
Natural medical treatments using formulas based upon natural medical science. Natural formula relieve systems by helping the body's system come into proper balance. Conventional drugs usually cause side effects often not found in homeopathic medications.

Iridology
Iridology is a non-invasive, safe and painless diagnostic technique using the iris of the eye as a primary diagnostic aid. The iris of the eye has unique pattern in the delicate fibers, which is mapped into zones representing all the organs, glands and functions of the body. By determining exactly where a particular marking lies, an iridologist will know of a potential health problem.

Massage Therapy
Massage therapy is a profession in which manual soft tissue manipulation, holding, causing movement, and or applying pressure to the body all for the purpose of increasing health and wellness of the person. The act of treating the body by rubbing, kneading, patting, or the like, as to stimulate circulation or relieve tension.

Meditation
To engage in thought or contemplation/reflect or engage in spiritual introspection.

Mineral Body Wrap
A method of treatment to the body designed to take off inches, tighten skin and diminish visibility of cellulite.

Myofacial Therapy
Myofacial therapy treats, by means of trigger points, pains that are caused by the malfunctioning of muscles. The techniques of Myofacial Therapy is a hands on treatment applied to decrease the facial restrictions and restore motion, so that the individual feels less pain and has much greater ease of physical functioning.

Naturopathic Medicine
Naturopathic physicians treat patients by restoring overall health rather than suppressing a few key symptoms. Naturopathic physicians are more concerned with finding the underlying cause of a condition and applying treatments that work in alliance with the natural healing mechanisms of the body rather than against them. Naturopathic treatments result less frequently in adverse side effects, or in the chronic conditions that inevitably arise when the cause of disease is left untreated.

Neurology
A branch of medicine that deals with the our nervous system.

Neuromuscular Therapy
Treatment of the muscles and nerves in the body

Oncology
A branch of medical science that deals with tumors, including the origin, development, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Oriental Healing Arts
Oriental Healing Arts embraces more than 5,000 years and embodies the philosophies and practices of Traditional Chinese Medicine as well as the healing disciplines of other Eastern cultures.  Long before the word "holistic" was used in the West, that concept formed the basis for all Oriental Medicine and healing practices. The Oriental Healing Arts are designed to work with the body's own innate ability to heal and rejuvenate itself. Oriental Healing Arts encompass these types of modalities: Nourishment, Herbal Remedies, Acupuncture, Breath, Spiritual Practices, Food Energetics, Organ System Cleanses, Oriental Body Therapy, Movement Therapy

Oxygen Therapy
Oxygen therapy is a form of treatment that uses oxygen in elemental or compound
forms to heal various disease conditions and strengthen the immune system.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) is a mainstream treatment that involves placing
the patient in a pressurized chamber with pure oxygen (O2).

Pain Management
There are many types of pains and various types of pain management for each type.  Chronic Pain is defined as pain that outlasts the normal healing process, which is usually 8-12 weeks. This can follow a traumatic injury, surgery, or even a simple back or sports injury.  Pain management uses methods other than prescriptive medicine in order to treat chronic pain.

Reiki
Reiki (ray-key) is an ancient healing technique.  Reiki is a method to aid the body in releasing stress and tension through deep relaxation.  The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei, which can be translated as "Spiritually Guided" or "Infinite Wisdom" and Ki which is "life force energy." So Reiki can be translated to mean, "spiritually guided life force energy".  Reiki is also a technique for transmitting this energy to yourself and others through the hands, the thoughts, and the chakras contained within the human energy system.

Rolfing
A type of massage therapy involving sometimes intensive manipulation of the fascia of the muscles and internal organs.  Rolfing named after Dr. Ida P. Rolf.  She began her inquiry more than fifty years ago, devoting her energy to creating a holistic system of soft tissue manipulation and movement education that organized the whole body in gravity; she eventually named this system Structural Integration. She discovered that she could achieve remarkable changes in posture and structure by manipulating the body's myofascial system.

Shamanic Healing
Shamanism is the spiritual practices of ancient civilizations and cultures. Shamanism is the oldest healing tradition in the world. The Shaman in history served as the communicator between the physical and the spiritual worlds through various rituals and visualizations. This tradition is observed by modern mankind as a way of returning to its roots. Native Ways - Practices and Tools Variety of healing articles on Native American tools and rituals (medicine wheel, sweat lodge, dreamcatchers, use of herbs, smudging)

Tantra
Tantra: "The Art of Conscious Loving" has shown us ways in which to be more open, loving and able to take risks with each other while feeling totally safe. It has helped us learn a deep sense of trust that we continue to build on and explore together.  Tantra itself is derived from the verbal root tan, meaning to "weave". Many things are interwoven on the Tantric path, including the lives of men and women. The Buddha couples of Tantric iconography celebrate this deep harmony of the sexes. The purpose of this dynamic was the creation of partnerships devoted to the realization of the ultimate truth. For instance, the man cultivates pure vision by seeing the woman as a deity, her sexual organ as the throne of enlightenment, and her sexual fluid as divine nectar. Thus according to the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, sexual union also constitutes a fire sacrifice, as performed by the creator god Prajapati upon creating woman.

Zero Balancing
Zero Balancing (ZB) is a hands-on bodywork system of massage designed to align your energy body with your physical structure. Simple yet powerful, it focuses on your whole person, even when addressing specific needs. Considered at the leading edge of body/mind therapies, ZB moves beyond Western scientific approaches to body structure by incorporating Eastern concepts of energy and healing What this does is enable a practitioner to work simultaneously with your structural and energy bodies to bring balance.