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Body Work (alternative Medicine)
In alternative medicine, bodywork is any therapeutic or personal development technique that involves working with the human body in a form involving Manual therapy, manipulative therapy, Breathwork, breath work, or energy medicine. Bodywork techniques also aim to assess or improve Posture and occupational health, posture, promote Self-awareness#Psychology, awareness of the "Bodymind, bodymind connection" which is an approach that sees the human body and mind as a single integrated unit, or to manipulate the Aura (paranormal), electromagnetic field alleged to surround the human body and affect health. Forms Some of the best known forms of non-touch bodywork methods include: reiki, yoga, pranayama, as well as other non-touch methods: breathwork respiration techniques, therapeutic touch, the Bates method for sight training, qigong, and T'ai chi ch'uan, t'ai chi. The better known forms of manipulative bodywork include the Bowen technique, chiropractic, reflexology, Rolfing, postur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alternative Medicine
Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), and holistic medicine attempt to combine alternative practices with those of mainstream medicine. Alternative therapies share in common that they reside outside of medical science and instead rely on pseudoscience. Traditional practices become "alternative" when used outside their original settings and without proper scientific explanation and evidence. Frequently used derogatory terms for relevant practices are ''new age'' or ''pseudo-'' medicine, with little distinction from quackery. Some alternative practices are based on theories that contradict the established science of how the human body works; others resort to the supernatural or superstitious to explain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qigong
''Qigong'' (), ''qi gong'', ''chi kung'', ''chi 'ung'', or ''chi gung'' () is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation used for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial-arts training. With roots in Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts, ''qigong'' is traditionally viewed by the Chinese and throughout Asia as a practice to cultivate and balance '' qi'' (pronounced approximately as "chee"), translated as "life energy". ''Qigong'' practice typically involves moving meditation, coordinating slow-flowing movement, deep rhythmic breathing, and a calm meditative state of mind. People practice ''qigong'' throughout China and worldwide for recreation, exercise, relaxation, preventive medicine, self-healing, alternative medicine, meditation, self-cultivation, and training for martial arts. Etymology ''Qigong'' (Pinyin), ''ch'i kung'' ( Wade-Giles), and ''chi gung'' (Yale) are Romanized words for two Chinese characters: ''qì'' (／ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Craniosacral Therapy
Craniosacral therapy (CST) or cranial osteopathy is a form of alternative therapy that uses gentle touch to palpate the synarthrodial joints of the cranium. CST is a pseudoscience and its practice has been characterized as quackery. It is based on fundamental misconceptions about the physiology of the human skull and is promoted as a cure-all for a variety of health conditions. CST was invented in the 1970s by John Upledger as an offshoot of cranial osteopathy, which had been devised in the 1930s by William Garner Sutherland. Medical research has found no good evidence that either CST or cranial osteopathy confers any health benefit, and they can be harmful, particularly if used on children or infants. The basic assumptions of CST are not true, and practitioners produce conflicting and mutually exclusive diagnoses of the same patients. Effectiveness and safety Practitioners of CST claim it is effective in treating a wide range of conditions, sometimes claiming it is a cancer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Integrative Body Psychotherapy
Body psychotherapy, also called body-oriented psychotherapy, is an approach to psychotherapy which applies basic principles of somatic psychology. It originated in the work of Pierre Janet, Sigmund Freud and particularly Wilhelm Reich who developed it as vegetotherapy. Branches also were developed by Alexander Lowen and John Pierrakos, both patients and students of Reich, like Reichian body-oriented psychotherapy. History Wilhelm Reich and the post-Reichians are considered the central element of body psychotherapy. From the 1930s, Reich became known for the idea that muscular tension reflected repressed emotions, what he called 'body armour', and developed a way to use pressure to produce emotional release in his clients.Totton, (2005) p.3 Reich was expelled from the psychoanalytic mainstream and his work found a home in the 'growth movement' of the 1960s and 1970s and in the countercultural project of 'liberating the body'. Perhaps as a result, body psychotherapy was marginalised w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hakomi
The Hakomi Method is a form of mindfulness-centered somatic psychotherapy developed by Ron Kurtz in the 1970s. Approach and method The Hakomi Method is an experiential psychotherapy modality, wherein present, felt experience is used as an access route to core material; this unconscious material is elicited and surfaces experientially, and changes are integrated into the client's immediate experience. Hakomi combines Western psychology, systems theory, and body-centered techniques with the principles of mindfulness and nonviolence drawn from Eastern philosophy. Hakomi is grounded in five principles: * mindfulness * nonviolence: * organicity * unity * body-mind holism These five principles are set forth in Kurtz's book, ''Body Centered Psychotherapy''. Some Hakomi leaders add two more principles, truth and mutability. The Hakomi Method regards people as self-organizing systems, organized psychologically around core memories, beliefs, and images; this core material expresses it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feldenkrais Method
The Feldenkrais Method is a type of exercise therapy devised by Israeli Moshé Feldenkrais (1904–1984) during the mid-20th century. Participants are led through varied patterns of body movement, either hands-on or verbally guided, with the aim of improving motor performance. There is no reliable medical evidence that the Feldenkrais method improves medical outcomes.There is limited evidence that the Feldenkrais method improves some quality-of-life related measures and performance on some motor coordination tests. It is not known if it is safe or cost-effective, but researchers do not believe it poses serious risks. Description The Feldenkrais Method is a method of exercise or physical therapy that aims to improve human movement performance by engaging in varied patterns of movement. According to David Gorski, the Feldenkrais Guild of North America claims that the Feldenkrais method allows people to "rediscover heirinnate capacity for graceful, efficient movement" and that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trager Approach
The Trager approach is a form of somatic education. Proponents claim the Trager approach helps release deep-seated physical and mental patterns and facilitates deep relaxation, increased physical mobility, and mental clarity.Trivieri, Larry, and John W. Anderson. Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide. Berkeley, Calif: Celestial Arts, 2002. History The founder, Milton Trager, called his work Psychophysical Integration. He was an athlete, dancer, and bodybuilder. He began doing bodywork with no training and later worked under a variety of practitioner licenses, including an MD earned in Mexico followed by 2 years residency in psychiatry. Trager wanted western medicine to accept his proposed mind-body connection in treating challenging conditions such as postpolio, Parkinson's, and other neuromuscular conditions. Doctors reportedly referred patients to him and were surprised by the results, but "none seemed to consider his drugless treatments as effective as surgery or medic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shiatsu
''Shiatsu'' ( ; ) is a form of Japanese bodywork based on concepts in traditional Chinese medicine such as qi meridians. Having been popularized in the twentieth century by Tokujiro Namikoshi (1905–2000), ''shiatsu'' derives from the older Japanese massage modality called ''anma''. There is no scientific evidence that ''shiatsu'' will prevent or cure any disease. Although it is considered a generally safe treatment—if sometimes painful—there have been reports of adverse health effects arising from its use, a few of them serious. Description In the Japanese language, ''shiatsu'' means "finger pressure". ''Shiatsu'' techniques include massages with fingers, thumbs, elbow, knuckle, feet and palms; acupressure, assisted stretching; and joint manipulation and mobilization. To examine a patient, a shiatsu practitioner uses palpation and, sometimes, pulse diagnosis. The Japanese Ministry of Health defines ''shiatsu'' as "a form of manipulation by thumbs, fingers and palms w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolfing
Rolfing () is a form of alternative medicine originally developed by Ida Rolf (1896–1979) as Structural Integration. Rolfing is marketed with unproven claims of various health benefits. It is based on Rolf's ideas about how the human body's " energy field" can benefit when aligned with the Earth's gravitational field. Rolfing is typically delivered as a series of ten hands-on physical manipulation sessions sometimes called "the recipe". Practitioners combine superficial and deep manual therapy with movement prompts. The process is sometimes painful. The safety of Rolfing has not been confirmed. The principles of Rolfing contradict established medical knowledge, and there is no good evidence Rolfing is effective for the treatment of any health condition. It is recognized as a pseudoscience: "The idea of vital energy... does not correspond to known facts of how the human body operates. Similarly, there is absolutely no support in psychological literature for the idea of traumat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reflexology
Reflexology, also known as zone therapy, is an alternative medical practice involving the application of pressure to specific points on the feet, ears, and hands. This is done using thumb, finger, and hand massage techniques without the use of oil or lotion. It is based on a pseudoscientific system of zones and reflex areas that purportedly reflect an image of the body on the feet and hands, with the premise that such work on the feet and hands causes a physical change to the supposedly related areas of the body. There is no convincing scientific evidence that reflexology is effective for any medical condition. Definition In a Cochrane Collaboration review, reflexology is defined as follows: "Reflexology is gentle manipulation or pressing on certain parts of the foot to produce an effect elsewhere in the body." The Australian Government's Department of Health define reflexology as "a system of applying pressure, usually to the feet, which practitioners believe stimulates e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
