HealthandHerbals.com

The healing art is as old as man on earth or perhaps even older as can be observed from animals and domestic pets sometimes turning to herbs when sick. Part of this knowledge, man inherited over time in his evolution from the primitive early man who depended on crude implements from stones, wood for his survival to modern man with his present sophistication. Early man dependent solely on the use of herbs and crude elements from the earth for his health needs. In this way, the knowledge of medicinal plants and herbs became widespread and universal among the various races that have inhabited this world to this day.

However, over the ages and particularly in the last couple of centuries other methods of healing have since evolved and branched off from this to become the various healing and treatment protocols existing today. Some of the more popular healing methods of today are:

(1)    Orthodox medicine - It evolved in the beginning from herbs to the present with its very elaborate systems, both in disease identification, treatment protocols, specializations and production of chemical drugs etc.

This field of practice has a lot of government support and backing with huge financial investments and research into newer and more powerful drugs and protocols. This is the core of the establishment that seeks to regulate all forms of treatment and healing practices all over the world. In spite of the great measure of support it enjoys, orthodox medicine is now being challenged by the emergence of other healing methods and practices worldwide. How long it will still continue to enjoy its pre-eminent position in the field of healing remains a mute point.

(2)    Herbal medicine: This is the oldest and still the most widespread system of healing used by man and animals. Here the Root, Bark,  Stem, Leaves, Flowers, Essential oils, etc, of medicinal plants are used in  specialized ways to correct any external or internal disorder of the human body. In the last few decades or so this system of healing seems to be gaining more and more converts. It is a rapidly expanding field, with hundreds of thousands of useful herbs still in the wild undiscovered.

There are different levels in herbal practice. The more arcane aspects are often passed from a true master practitioner to his students under oath, and proficiency varies. Genuine adepts in herbal medicine are able to communicate with plants, and also able to interpret the subtle and secret language of nature. Practitioners at this level are extremely rare to find because they don’t advertise themselves. It is also now running into the same pitfall of focusing too strongly on the business of profit making than the art of healing itself.

(3)    Alternative medicine: This field incorporates and covers so many methods of healing such as:

(i)     Naturopathy

(ii)    Homeopathy

(iii)   Traditional Healing methods

(iv)   Acupuncture

(v)    Breathianism

(vi)   Bone setting

Naturopathy and Homeopathy are already familiar systems of healing and may not need any further .elaboration here. However, Pure Traditional Healing in the shamanic traditions around the world, incorporate  the uses of medicinal herbs, Animal parts, elements of the earth like clay, oracle, incantations, amulets, massage therapy, psychic arts, spiritism etc, to provide healing to the needy.

Acupuncture works on the basis of clearing the energetic blockages that impedes the free flow of the subtle but essential electrical forces of the body. The physical body is laid on a complex field of electrical wiring invincible to the naked eyes. The knowledge of acupuncture came from the ancients who studied the human anatomy using methods vastly different from that of modern man. Also too, is the Ayur Vedic system of body rejuvenation practiced in India and some of the monasteries in the Far East.

Breathianism: Recently there was this report about an Indian who had stayed off food and water for decades. At the time this report was filed months ago (in 2010), he was reportedly placed under medical observations. This is a medical oddity that defies known explanation. There are people like this scattered over the world, particularly amongst the often secretive religious orders. Many of these medical marvels that surfaces once awhile are achieved based on some method of breath control. Breathianism is a system of body rejuvenation and nourishment based solely on breathing in air along some particular rhythms daily instead of eating normal food as the rest of us do.

Through this method, practitioners are said to be able to live to great ages and some cases prolong their lives indefinitely. However, genuine practitioners of this science are mostly hidden in remote monasteries and amongst the holy orders. Very little is known about these groups, but now and then, information seeps out about the possibility of man being able to gain all his nourishment through the air we breathe. Interesting!

(4)    Gemstone therapy -This is one of the new system of healing that is likely to play major roles in the future. The uses of therapeutic gemstones for healing and otherwise are not entirely new though. Gemstones radiates great amount of energy that you cannot help noticing when you wear one. I have experienced this first hand with Dark Green Aventurine, Rhodonite, Quartz and Bloodstone. Their Therapeutic uses have only recently re-surfaced and gradually coming into limelight. In ancient times, they were deployed in temples and other sacred places often with devastating consequences for man.  Gemstones harbor energies of light and wearing them round your neck or arm can enhance your health enormously.

(5)   Magnet therapy  -  Magnetic therapy which consists of the use of magnetic energy of varying strength on leg, neck, waist and arm straps to provide healing. Its popularity in the treatment of Arthritis, Pain relief, Circulation problems amongst others have become widespread. It is a field still in its infancy with a lot of potentials yet untapped.

 (6)   Color Therapy - All life is vibration of light and Sound. Perception of reality is nothing more than our response to vibrations of light and sound at some pre-determined frequency matrix. Color is the way the eye perceives the vibrations of light and all colors are contained in the white light; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. There are also the ultra-red rays and ultra-violet rays beyond our perception. Colored light can be use for healing and is one of the emerging new areas of research by interest groups today. However, the technique involved in the use of colored light for healing dates back to ancient times and civilizations of Lemuria, Atlantis and ancient Egypt. As king Solomon said ages ago, there is nothing new under the sun. Color therapy also goes to include the color of clothes people should wear. Some find their personality well enhanced just by wearing certain colors. Have you ever felt this way while wearing a certain color of dress?

Color therapy will certainly evolve from its current stage to take its rightful place as a major player in the healing field in the future. Suffice it to say many of the scientific objectives being sought by man today could be reached by studying in-depth, the frequency matrices of light and sound.                                                            

(7)   Miracle Healing - This occurs through supernatural intervention that is not clearly understood. Often it happens to people who sometimes experience their afflictions being lifted from them without any human agencies like faith healers, holy men, mystics and adepts. Padre Pio was reputed to have had this kind of ability, as well as St. Francis of Assisi. There are organized religious groups that make claims to be able to do this as well. But this is very difficult to verify. However, this sort of healings does happen and it cuts across all races and religious persuasions.

The very fact that these things happen at all, does raise another issue altogether: what truly causes people to be sick? Could it be we do not really understand fully how life works? Somebody once told me, never to ask “why”. According to him it is an exercise in futility.

The other issue worthy of mention here is perhaps the reason for the explosion in these healing practices and why they are emerging at this time. They are obvious response to the health challenges humanity is facing as a whole today; which ranges from different forms of Cancer, Heart disease, Aids to a host of other conditions barely understood. We are kind of threatened to put it mildly, or what do you think?

Nevertheless, all these healing methods mentioned here, have in one way or another provided man with a certain measure of relief but often without the desired permanency we need. And even now, there are many others working round the clock to invent better and faster drugs, equipments and what else.

Maybe in seeking to explore new healing frontiers, what we probably need most now may not necessary be newer forms of treatment or inventions because the more we seems to act, the more we probably have to act, but perhaps to try and understand the essence of life first.

More investigations and research should be conducted to determine amongst others the following:

(1)           The true constitution of man.

(2)           The nature of the human mind.

(3)           The source of our emotions.

(4)           The source and nature of consciousness.

(5)           The elements of thoughts and its impact on the human physiology if

                any.       

(6)           The source of instincts in man.

(7)           Extra sensory perceptions in man.

(8)           The world of Dreams and dreaming.

What we so far know about these things are largely speculative. Do they have any significant role to play in our health? These and many more questions might be begging for answers now.