Principles of a Holistic Health Practice

As a Health and Wellness Coach, Naturopath, and Nutritional expert, I’m often confronted with the misconception that Holistic Physicians are anti-establishment (against orthodox medicine), and only deal with preventative measures through the use of vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplements. Although they play a part in our practices, supplements are not the only avenues to optimal health we have available. We begin with sophisticated testing procedures that help us diagnose and treat our patients extremely effectively, and we make use of myriad therapies that involve the “whole person” (holistic), not just “the disease”.

Today, many traditional medical practitioners operate from an Holistic approach. As seen by the following outline, the Holistic Physician’s methodology toward health and wellness is an humanitarian advance. Your own Medical Doctor surely employs many of the following viewpoints in his or her practice: 

Adapted from the American Holistic Medical Association

• Holistic physicians embrace a variety of safe, effective and appropriate options in diagnosis and treatment including:  a)  education and lifestyle changes and patient self-care;  b)  complimentary approaches;  c)  use of medications/surgery only when necessary (emergencies, life threatening illness




• Searching for the underlying cause of disease is preferable to treating symptoms alone.




• Holistic physicians expend as much effort in establishing what kind of patient has a disease as they do in establishing what kind of disease a patient has.




• It is preferable to diagnose and treat patients as unique individuals rather than as members of a disease category.




• When possible, lifestyle modifications are preferable to the use of external sources for healing, particularly drugs and surgery as initial therapeutic options.




• Prevention is preferable to treatment and is usually more cost effective. The most cost effective approach evokes the patient’s own innate healing capabilities.




• Illness is viewed as a manifestation of a dysfunction of the whole person, not as an isolated incident.




• The ideal physicians-patient relationship considers the needs, desires, awareness and insight of the patient as well as those of the physician.




• The quality of the relationship established between physicians and patient is a major determinant of healing outcomes.




• Physicians significantly influence their patients by example.




• Illness, pain and the dying process can be learning opportunities for patients and physicians.




• Holistic physicians encourage patients to evoke the healing power of love, hope, humor and enthusiasm and to release the toxic consequences of hostility, shame, greed, depression, and prolonged fear, anger and grief.




• Unconditional love is life’s most powerful medicine. Doctors strive to adopt an attitude of unconditional love for patients, themselves, and other practitioners.




• Optimal health is much more than the absence of sickness. It is the conscious pursuit of the highest qualities of the physical, chemical, emotional, energetic and spiritual aspects of the human experience. 

There are many professed “Health and Wellness Coaches”  today, but not all are properly educated, and thus qualified, to address the majority of your health issues. If your wellness coach is not testing your “Body Terrain”, and is trying only hit-and-miss approaches (like vitamins, minerals, and supplements) to help you achieve the health and wellness you want with little results, perhaps you should reassess what you want from your care giver.

Vitamins, minerals, supplements, and herbs are certainly useful in most wellness programs, however they are rarely the entire solution to the renewed energy and vitality we seek. Review the 14 points listed above and “take care, with your care”.