Bonnie T. Mackey, Ph.D., NP, AHN-BC, Health Advocate-Educator ™

" The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well."  

                                                       -Hippocrates    

  

   
     Integrative healthcare is an expansion of conventional, allopathic healthcare.  Conventional healthcare oftentimes leads to over-testing, over-diagnosing and over-prescribing, or in some cases, unnecessary surgery is performed. 

    
     Integrative healthcare offers a different approach to healthcare, one which signals a shift from treating symptoms of disease to understanding the underlying cause of disease, changing the causes so disease can be prevented and taking measures to promote health and wellness.  It prompts you to recognize that you are a whole person, where the health of your body, your mind, your spirit and your environment together constitute whole health. 

    
     Integrative healthcare is consumer-driven, not health practitioner driven.  You, as the consumer of healthcare, are encouraged to take responsibility for your health and to take a proactive stance toward being healthier.  As a proactive consumer you rethink established beliefs and take new action toward a lifestyle that supports wellness.  You also learn about yourself in relation to every industry that affects your daily life:  food, medical, media, research, pharmaceutical, government, etc. and become aware of their tactics used to create fear as they coerce you into purchasing products and services that proliferate the illness cycle. As a proactive consumer, you seek natural means to support health.  You are well-educated to make informed health choices, and if needed, work with a well-trained health professional who walks alongside you through your health continuum. 

    
     Integrative healthcare requires whole health thinking where you understand that you are an organism who can self-correct and self-heal, given the tools and time to do so.  You are fueled by innate biochemicals that communicate information within and between all cells of your bodymind.  Natural methods can be employed to correct cellular (cells of your organs, glands, tissues, etc.) imbalances (disease), and are used to support cellular memory and function.  Natural methods use elements found in nature to facilitate healing and support health.  Some natural means available to you may include:  nutrition, botanical or plant-based medicines, body-mind therapies, acupuncture, Yoga, massage, meditation, visualization, bioenergy therapies, spiritual ceremony, vitamins, minerals and other nutraceuticals, relaxation, restful sleep, and more.  Today there are a number of highly trained and skilled integrative, natural health professionals in your community who are available to assist you with your health concerns. 

     Health is restored through balancing chemistry in our bodies and minds, where we all house an incredible pharmacy of chemicals. The actual functioning of your bodymind is based on a chemical-mediated system where chemicals are used for structure, function and energy. These chemicals, derived from what you eat and drink, are called biochemicals.  These biochemicals are comprised of electrically-charged molecules that act collectively as chemical messengers that carry detailed information along routes or metabolic pathways.  These chemical messengers can be measured in the blood (electrolytes or neurotransmitters) and other fluids.  You have a network of biochemical highways that act as a communication system upon which your body-mind-spirit relies to sustain life.  These pathways are well mapped with "stop" and "go" signals where chemistry turns off and turns on.  Charged electrochemical information is exchanged or shared between cells of nerves, organs, glands, tissues and the brain. 

     Think of chemical functioning this way:  different glands and organs "pool" their chemistry and deliver it to the brain to be sorted out and interpreted as "enough", "too much", or "just right".  These chemical messages from the brain (hormones that can be measured) are sent back to the glands/organs, telling them how much more work they have to do, or how much more chemistry needs to be secreted by a specfic gland or organ.  Teamwork between glands and organs, and all cells of the body for that matter, is an essential part of the process.  When one gland or organ is not doing its work, its contribution to the chemical pool is not sufficient and it affects the total chemistry response.  Secretion excesses also disturb the finely tuned chemical balance.  Too much or too little chemistry floating around your bodymind creates imbalance over time, which leads to systems breaking down to the point of ill health or dis-ease. 

     The basic premise of shifting from ill-health to health is that the body and mind can balance its chemistry when given the time and tools to do so within a healing environment.  Time is important in that it gives you space to allow for the use of natural methods used to shift chemistry and cellular function.  Natural methods are proven to realign chemistry and cellular function, discussed in the section on Integrative HealthCare.  These methods work more quickly and deeply when you have cleared your mind of the old perceptions and judgements based on conventional or allopathic medicine that you bring to your healing camp.  Trusting the healing process while using natural healthcare and letting go of old thoughts that don't contribute to your healing, is your best medicine.  As you witness your bodymindspirit shift from imbalance found in dis-ease to balance found in health, trusting in and understanding of your innate ability to self-correct and self-heal is fortified.  Health patterns shift and ill-health becomes a thing of the past.  Wellness and health is something to look forward to!