When many people think of "Alternative Medicine" or "Holistic Medicine" they think of herbs, diet, supplements, acupuncture, and maybe a few other things like massage, homeopathy or yoga. Often times, these and other modalities are used in a very simplistic way in order to remove symptoms. For example, acupuncture for pain, yoga to relax, herbs for migraines, diet changes to remove allergic or intolerance reactions, etc. Many wonderful successes have been obtained by practitioners using certain modalities to remove symptoms and often improve health.

    On the other hand, there are some very old "healing systems" where multiple modalities can be used in an integrated and customized way to promote healing. For example, Chinese Medicine uses qigong meditations, chi lel, herbal medicine, diet adjustments, medicinal bodywork (tuina, chi nei tsang, acupressure, amma), acupuncture & moxa, cupping, and other techniques with the goal of restoring health and balance to the body and mind -- not just the removal of symptoms. Ayurvedic Medicine (from India) draws on yoga, meditation, diet adjustments, herbal medicine, medicinal bodywork, homeopathy (in some cases), special internal cleansing techniques, and some other techniques to restore health to the body and mind. The very experienced Chinese Medicine or Ayurvedic Medicine practitioner often does much more than what is usually presented in the news (e.g., much more than just acupuncture treatments).

     Patients with some common chronic illnesses like cancer, arthritis, FMS, lupus, etc. are sometimes much more successful using these "healing systems" than patients who randomly grasp at a single modality or two. On the other hand quite a few powerful healing modalities have been developed by practitioners who have explored outside the boundaries of these traditional healing systems.

2. Transformational Healing:

     For many centuries, people have looked for ways, techniques, prayers ... *anything* that could completely transform their body, mind and life to produce radiant health, inner peace, happiness, success, etc. As most people know, there are not always easy ways to produce such transformations. But many people looked to whatever techniques they could to lead them in the direction of positive transformation of their body,mind and life. In almost all cases, the tools that were developed to successfully contribute to these transformations were based upon the person taking an "inner journey" -- putting one's consciousness on the body, emotions, breath, energy movement, spirit, etc. during the process.

    In China, qigong was the most popular transformational tool. There is more than one system of qigong, but they all have similar goals in healing the body, mind, and spirit and transforming one's life. Even though qigong is part of Chinese Medicine, it is really a system unto itself with numerous movements, meditations, and other techniques that can promote a much more profound healing and transformation than can often be obtained by other aspects of Chinese Medicine. If any of you have read the back section of the books by Mantak Chia on his form of Taoist qigong (chi kung), you can see that his system includes healing and transforming many aspects of one's life.

      In India, yoga/meditation is a popular transformational tool. Like qigong, there are numerous and very different forms of yoga. Hatha yoga which includes postures and breathing practices is quite popular.

       Transformational techniques like qigong and yoga/meditation can and have produced some profound healing of body, mind, and spirit and profound life changes for many people in the West. However, in my experience, these transformational techniques don't "work" well (or as "advertised") for many people. Most people I have come across who take these classes find the modalities useful, but not profoundly transforming. I believe that *some* of the reasons include:

     1. Yoga/meditation and qigong are often not practiced as transformational tools in the West, but more as ways to relax regularly and improve one's energy. It is very important to find ways to relax and improve energy levels, but without a transformative process the old condition often returns quickly after stopping the practices. A friend once told me that yoga practice without transformation is about as useful as shaving.

     2. A weekly yoga/meditation or qigong class followed by a return to a semi-hellish, chaotic struggle called "life" significantly diminishes the positive effects of such practices. Many people who are sucessful transforming their health and life using these techniques often go on longer retreats and also attempt to practice regularly.

      3. Lack of support from others going through a similar transformation process.

      4. The core issues that could be very important to address for people in the West (especially in the U.S. in my experience) such as body armouring and a number of other physical, mental and spiritual health issues (that I won't go into here) are not easily addressed by yoga/meditation or qigong. It is easy to consciously or unconsciously avoid these issues while practicing yoga/meditation or qigong -- I've done it and I know many others who have done it as well.

     Other cultures have developed other modalities that might be considered tools for transforming one's health and life. In addition, over the last 20-30 years, there have been a number of modalities developed (or perhaps rediscovered) that are used in the transformation process. Some modalities use special techniques for breathing, body awareness, energy work, and meditation. The main goal in practicing these modalities include profound improvements in one's physical, mental, and spiritual health and well as other positives improvements such as increased inner peace, happiness, success, etc.

     The transformational healing techniques I have spent the most time studying are techniques that use the breath as a starting point for the inner exploration and healing. Some of the techniques include Vivation, Holotropic Breathwork, Integrative Breathwork, and Radiance Breathwork. The breath is not used as it is in yogic or qigong breathing practices, but in a completely different way. I prefer Vivation quite a bit more than the other breathwork techniques. I think it is more beneficial *on average*, but I see some strengths in the other techniques as well.

     Vivation

     Vivation uses several skills/elements during the process:

     1) a special type of breathing, 2) deep relaxation, 3) focused awareness, 4) integration, and 5) willingness -- to help a person heal themselves physically, mentally and spiritually. The process is not a mental process, but a physical and emotional *feeling* process.

     The internal changes that occur during the process are sometimes small and sometimes quite significant. The changes seem to be permanent in most cases. In my experience, it is a feeling as if the previous state never existed.

     A client is often encouraged to get somewhere around ten sessions with a trained professional. During that time, the client learns to use the Vivation process on his/her own -- in a client-run session or while doing another activity. Performing Vivation while engaged in another activity is similar to using mindfulness (meditation) during activities *in that* it is not like doing two things at once, but more of a way to change one's experience of the activity being performed.

     I know that I didn't go into much detail as to exactly how the skills/elements are used in a session. In some sense it would be like writing an article about what is done during meditation. Only through experience can one really get a sense of what Vivation is about. (The same is true for many of the transformational healing techniques.)

     Vivation was developed in the U.S., but is more popular in parts of Europe (e.g., Italy, Russia). It is gradually growing in popularity in the U.S. I haven't been to Europe, but by talking with various types of practitioners who teach over there I get the sense that people are a bit more receptive to transformational healing techniques simply because they are sometimes more willing to take some time to slow down and try the processes. In the U.S., the focus tends to be on external and often instant-"fix" "solutions" to problems.

     Finally, in my experience, Vivation is not the only useful transformational healing technique. Many people who practice various types of transformational breathwork also practice other techniques.

I hope this answers your question.

Best Wishes,

Reprinted with Permission

Mark Gold     mgold@tiac.net

http://www.HolisticMed.com