The Roots of Holistic Healingby Catharina Leidel, RN The historical point of view of holistic health is very old. It is based on the principles that underlie the healing arts of more than 2,000 years in the Orient and Western World. The Greek Physician Hippocrates, know as the Father of Medicine, is also called the Father of Holistic Healing; because, at that time medicine, science, philosophy, and history were not separate disciplines but one great discourse. In the 17th century, the Cartesian Philosophy started to create a division between mental and physical states. This division led to the separation of the physical and mental health systems, in modern medicine. Until the 19th century, medical writers recognized the influence of grief, despair, discouragement, faith, confidence and peace of mind at the onset and outcome of illness. With the rise of experimental methods the mind’s power was lost as medicine, cast out as soft data, it was not scientific enough. One can ask oneself though; if the mind and spirit are weak can the body really be strong? An imbalance in one area can affect the other ones because they are integrated. Holistic health focuses on well-being rather than on dis-ease and dis-comfort. It recognizes your authority over your body. It encourages you to change your lifestyle from being oriented to dis-ease to ease and well-being. In 1987, the American Holistic Medical Association defined holistic health as “a state of being in which an individual’s body, mind, emotions and spirits are in tune with the natural, cosmic, and social environment. It is the state in which most people entered this world.
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