M to Q of Therapies
Magnetic Therapies
The first magnets were produced by volcanoes. Some iron-rich lavas retained the natural magnetism passing through them as they cooled and their remarkable properties were used up to 3,000 years ago in Greece, Egypt, India, China and Japan to help those who knew about it to enjoy better health.
More recently our western culture has been much less willing to accept just how powerful natural magnetic relationships really are in the success of life on this planet and how effectively magnetic energy can be used to improve the quality of our lives and the way we feel.
To function at their best each cell of our bodies requires an adequate amount of the right kind of magnetism. The magnetic field of the earth has faded to half of what it was when William the Conqueror came here a thousand years ago and is now less than it has been at any time in human history. This is part of a continual natural variation and the strength of it’s essential influence upon all living things will probably return to more usual levels but in the meantime we need to cope with the effects of the shortfall.
Increasing awareness of this amongst medical scientists is resulting in mounting undeniable evidence that deficiencies in magnetic exposure can be a very significant factor in many body disorders.
Magnetic therapists believe that our situation is made worse by the growing number of things which interfere with the influence of the natural magnetism which remains, such as electrical wiring and appliances, and radio and microwave frequencies all which have effects upon our wellbeing.
By restoring the proper magnetic relationships in our bodies, magnetic therapists believe, a wide range of discomforts will ease or go away completely. Aches and pains are helped and the ability to sleep is frequently restored and stress and headaches can be reduced.
Treatments range from 30mins to an hour and you will be required to purchase magnets that will be the most beneficial to you. You may need to wear the magnets either as watches or bracelets or you may need magnetic seat covers or a magnetic mattress.
Contra-indications- see general precautions box at the end of the page.
Neurolinguistic programming (NLP)
Practitioners believe that we are programmed with negative belief systems which affect our health. NLP helps to restore a persons’ health by reprogramming a persons’ beliefs to ones that are more positive, life affirming and healing.
A practitioner will take a medical history and ask questions to determine unconscious emotional patterns that may adversely affect the persons’ life.
Once these unconscious patterns have been determined, then various ways are used to help the person get rid of the old negative pattern and replace it with a more positive one.
One technique is to guide you back to childhood and to get in contact with your ‘inner child’.
NLP helps you to examine yourself at close quarters to find the repetitive patterns that occur that make your life negative.
Contra-indications- see general precautions box at the end of the page.
Polarity therapy
Polarity therapy was developed by Dr.Randolph Stone, an Austrian who worked as a chiropractor, osteopath and naturopath in the late 19TH century.
During the course of his work, he felt that most illness or pain came from an imbalance of ‘qi’ or life force flowing through the body and that when the imbalance was corrected, then emotional and psychological well -being was bought about.
Dr. Stone aimed to bring about this physical well-being by using touch, manipulation, exercise, nutrition and counselling.
Dr. Stone taught many workshops and seminars on polarity therapy in America, where he worked and today there are many practitioners in the us and Europe.
Polarity therapists believe in maintaining a persons ‘polarity’ within their system. They believe that the life force is kept in polarity or balance by the constant pull of opposing poles. The left side of the body and feet are the negative pole and the right side and the head are the positive pole and the centre of the body which corresponds to the governing and central meridians in acupuncture and to the spinal column is the neutral energy. Along this central column are five energy centres called chakras and polarity therapists believe that a persons’ life-force flows through these energy centres and clockwise around the body between the two poles.
Dis-ease and stress are caused, therapists maintain by the disruption of the energy flows around the body and they aim to restore the flows through a combination of various techniques.
A practitioner may put you on a ‘detoxifying’ diet as they believe that what you eat directly affects the quality of energy flowing through you. The diet helps you to detox toxins that build up within the body which ultimately can harm you. Toxins inhibit and block the flow of energy within the body.
Exercises will be given to you based on gentle yoga postures. These help to improve the flow of energy, eliminate toxins from the system, strengthen the muscles and help improve breathing skills, so that you are able to take in the life force and distribute this around the body more efficiently.
Manipulation and touch is used to help a particular area to relax and let go of tension and to improve an energy blockage that may have occurred.
The touch may be light on the body or over the body, following the flow of energy, or deep manipulation which can be uncomfortable but which has a profoundly relaxing effect on the system.
Counselling is also given as therapists believe that all stress and energy blockage comes from pyschological stress that inhibits our natural
Processes. Counselling helps people to see where their illnesses have come from and to improve their self-confidence and self-awareness.
The practitioner will take a detailed medical history and will determine your energy flow and the quality of it by using polarity techniques.
The manipulation and massage can be done on a couch or the floor or bed and can be done over clothing.
The practitioner may give you a diet to follow which includes plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and exercises to do at home to improve the flow of energy.
An affirmation may be given to help clear negative thought patterns and counselling treatments given.
Treatments range from an hour to two hours.
Contra-indications-see general precautions box at the end of the page.
Qigong
Qigong, pronounced Chi Gong, translates as ‘energy work’, as in china and other eastern countries, chi means energy or life force, which they believe runs through everything in this universe.
Quigong is designed to increase and develop the circulation of chi or life force around the body by using a series of movements, breathing techniques and meditation.
This method, practitioners believe, helps the persons ‘chi’ to flow without hindrance, increasing circulation, vitality and an ability to heal oneself. Qigong encourages both the body and mind to become balanced and in harmony with one another.
There have been written accounts of Quigong being practised in China for several thousands years and today it is still practised universally all over China.
Qigongs’ series of movements developed from traditional dance movements based on the instinctive actions and movements of animals. These were used to ward off spirits and particular illnesses.
Qigong sessions last from 20mins to an hour and a half, depending on how experienced you are.
The practitioner will teach you various movements and meditation and breathing techniques to stimulate the chi throughout your body. You will be taught about acupuncture points and meridians as these are the pathways where the chi flows through you and you will be taught how to influence and feel the chi, learning how to control it to heal your body and your mind.
The more experienced Qigong practitioners can use their well developed chi to heal others.
The postures are easy to learn and you can do them in any sequence, repeating each one six times in the beginning, gradually increasing the number that you do as you progress and become more in tune with yourself.
You perform these movements fully clothed, loose clothing is ideal and people with disabilities can easily do these movements in bed or in a chair.
Contra-indications- see general precautions box at the end of the page.
General precautions
It is advised that if you are suffering from any symptoms, please consult your doctor or health care practitioner before embarking on any complementary treatment.
Nobody suffering from any chronic symptoms should undertake a complementary therapy without consulting their doctor first.
Healthytherapies.com do not accept responsibility for any problems that may occur from anyone using any of the above therapies.
The above data is for information purposes only and healthytherapies.com have only written down contra-indications where known.
It is always advisable to seek help from your doctor or by ringing the main organisation of the therapy that you are interested in before embarking on any therapy, no matter whether you are suffering symptoms or not.
The responsibility of your health, lies with you and no-one else.