Definitions courtesy of the National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the American Holistic Medical Association, the American Holistic Nurses Association and various websites.

Acupressure
Use of finger and hand pressure over specific points on the body to relieve pain and discomfort and to influence the function of internal organs and body systems. Various approaches are used to release tension and restore the natural flow of energy in the body.

Acupuncture
A method of healing developed in China roughly 2,000 years ago involving the insertion and manipulation of thin needles at specific points on the body.   The practice is meant to relieve pain or cure disease.  There are a number of different approaches to diagnosis and treatment in American acupuncture that incorporate medical traditions from China, Japan, Korea, and other countries.  Massage, herbal medicine, and nutritional counseling are often used in conjunction with acupuncture

Alexander Technique
A series of lessons in rebalancing the body through awareness, movement and touch. As the student explores new ways of reorganizing neuromuscular function, the body is reacquainted with relaxed, healthy posture and direct, efficient movement.

Aromatherapy
The use of essential oils extracted from plants and herbs to treat physical imbalances, as well as to achieve psychological and spiritual well-being. The oils are inhaled, applied externally, or ingested.

Art Therapy
Involves a variety of artistic mediums (such as paint, clay, etc.) in order to create a visual representation of thoughts and emotions allowing individuals or groups to explore different aspects of self to maintain, restore or improve health.  Through observation and analysis, the art therapist is able to formulate treatment plans specific to the individual.

Aquatic Therapy
A form of therapy consisting of an exercise regimen that is performed in the water. Uses the physical properties of water to assist in patient healing and exercise performance. Aquatic therapy is used for a variety of medical conditions.

Ayurveda (“ah-yur-VAH-dah”)
Is an alternative medical system practiced in India, which preceded and evolved independently of Western medicine. Seeks to treat and integrate body, mind, and spirit using a comprehensive holistic approach especially by emphasizing diet, herbal remedies, exercise, meditation, breathing, and physical therapy.

Biofeedback
A relaxation technique involving careful monitoring of vital functions (such as breathing, heart rate and blood pressure) in order to improve health. By conscious thought, visualization, movement or relaxation, one can learn which actions result in desirable changes in these vital functions. Biofeedback is used for medical problems related to stress and for conditions such as incontinence, irregular heartbeat and epilepsy.

Body Work
Any therapy that involves touch and/or pressure on the body. Often the term is used as an umbrella to describe the use of two or more therapies by a single practitioner, either in separate sessions or during a single session, according to the needs of the client.

Breema Bodywork
This modality incorporates simple, playful bodywork sequences along with stretch and movement exercises that help create greater flexibility, a relaxed body, clear mind, and calm, supportive feelings.

Bowenwork
A manual therapy whereby gentle moves are performed over various connective tissue points activating the nervous system where signals are sent to the brain. These signals override conscious movement and thought, thereby directly stimulating the healing mechanisms of the body.

Brain State Conditioning
Brain State Conditioning for Brainwave Optimization is a completely non-invasive, individually tailored process of balancing and harmonizing the brain. This system balances the brain wave activity from the lobes of one side to the other, and from the front of the brain to the back. It is based on the principles of neuro-feedback, but the client is not trained with learned behavior. In fact, a client may sleep through the session and still realize results.

Chelation Therapy
A therapy that involves administering a natural substance or man-made amino-acid into the veins in order for it to bind with and remove a metal such as lead, iron, mercury, and arsenic. Chelation Therapy is thought to be helpful in treating hardened arteries and removing arterial plaque.

Chiropractic
An alternative medical system which focuses on the relationship between bodily structure (primarily that of the spine) and function, and how that relationship affects the preservation and restoration of health. Chiropractors use manipulative therapy as an integral treatment tool.

Adjustments involve the manipulation of the spine and joints to re-establish and maintain normal nervous system functioning. Some chiropractors employ additional therapies, such as massage, nutrition, and specialized kinesiology.

Coaching
Education, instruction and direction provided by an experienced professional in a particular discipline or area of interest: health, spirituality, business/career, motivation, addiction.

Colon Hydrotherapy
The process of cleansing and flushing out the colon or large intestine without the use of drugs. Also called colonic irrigation or colonic hydrotherapy, the treatment utilizes filtered and temperature regulated water introduced into the colon to soften waste.

Counseling / Psychotherapy
A broad category of therapies which treat individuals as a whole. Treatments and sessions are focused on integrated care on all levels, for individuals, families or groups.

CranioSacral Therapy
A gentle, non-invasive therapy involving the diagnosis and treatment of imbalances in the cranio-sacral system. The motion of cranial bones is closely connected to subtle movements that involve a network of interrelated tissues and fluids at the core of the body, the central nervous system, the membranes that surround the central nervous system, and the sacrum.  Subtle adjustments are made to the system through light touch and gentle manipulations.

Dance Therapy
Therapy in which dance and music combine to allow the body, mind, soul, and spirit to be refreshed, uplifted, and experience the freedom that natural bodily movement allows.

Dietary Supplements
(Defined by Congress in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994), Products other than tobacco taken by mouth that contain a “dietary ingredient” intended to supplement the diet. Dietary ingredients may include vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, and substances such as enzymes, organ tissues, and metabolites. Dietary supplements come in many forms, including extracts, concentrates, tablets, capsules, gel caps, liquids, and powders. They have special requirements for labeling. Under DSHEA, dietary supplements are considered foods, not drugs.

Energy Work
A broad category of body work influencing the seven major energy centers (chakras) and the flow of energy around and through this field. As the body’s energy field is balanced and strengthened, healing occurs simultaneously on the physical and non-physical levels. This therapy seeks to restore the natural, smooth flowing nature of the body’s energetic field by releasing stagnant, excessive and /or depleted energies from the body.

Feng Shui (“fung schway”)
An ancient Chinese art that teaches how to create harmony through awareness of one’s surroundings. Feng Shui instruction gives practical and efficient guidance to assist in adjusting both internal and external environments for harmony and balance. Corresponding changes in one’s overall sense of emotional and physical wellbeing may result.

Flower Essence Therapy
Flower essences are made up of subtle liquid preparations made from the fresh blossoms of flowers, bushes, plants, and trees.  The essences are used to release emotional blockages and access one’s inner healing capacities.

Guided Imagery
This holistic modality assists clients in connecting with their inner knowledge at the thinking, feeling, and sensing levels, promoting their innate healing abilities. Together, guide and client co-create images and symbols to work with pain or other symptoms, grief, stress management, conflict resolution, self-empowerment issues, and/or preparing for medical-surgical interventions.

Healing Touch
An energy-based therapeutic approach to healing developed by a nurse. Touch is used to influence the energy system, affecting physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health and healing. The goal of treatment is to restore harmony and balance, and promote self-healing.

Herbal Therapy
The use of herbs and their chemical properties to alleviate specific conditions or to support the function of various body systems. Herbal formulas have three basic functions: elimination and detoxification, health management and maintenance, and health building.

Holistic Health Practices
Practices and therapies that have healing the whole person as the goal. These therapies recognize the totality of the human being — the inter-connectedness of body, mind, emotion, spirit, social/cultural, relationship, context, and environment.  Holistic practitioners honor each individual’s subjective experience about health, health beliefs, and values.  They use their clinical knowledge, theories, expertise and intuition to become therapeutic partners with people in their care.

Holoenergetic Healing
Holoenergetic Healing is a method for healing with the energy of the “whole.” Developed by Leonard Laskow, M.D., a Stanford-trained physician who has studied the healing power of love for the past 25 years, it is based on the awareness that as we come into wholeness through love, the enormous energy we use to maintain the illusion of separation from Unity is liberated and can be directed to heal the physical body, resolve emotional issues, enhance creativity, support personal transformation, and spiritual awakening.

Homeopathy
A system of medicine which stimulates healing through the administration of substances prescribed according to three basic principles: (1) like cures like, (2) the more a remedy is diluted, the greater the potency; and (3) illness is specific to the individual. Treatment is based on the whole person, rather than on the symptoms. The theory is that each naturally occurring element, plant, and mineral compound will, when ingested or applied, result in certain symptoms. It is a system of therapy based on the concept that disease can be treated with drugs (in minute doses) thought capable of producing the same symptoms in healthy people as the disease itself.

Hydrotherapy
The use of water, ice, steam, and hot and cold temperatures to maintain and restore health. Treatments include full body immersion, steam baths, saunas, and the application of hot and/or cold compresses.

Hypnotherapy
The use of a state of focused attention, achieved through guided relaxation, to access the unconscious mind. Hypnosis is used for memory recall, medical treatment, and skill enhancement or personal growth.

Integrative Fasting (IF)
Integrative Fasting (IF) is a program developed by the local non-profit, Integrative Foundation. Their mission is “Building healthy community by educating and supporting change.” They do this beginning with our relationship to food.

Integrative Medicine
Draws from the best of both worlds, Conventional Western Medicine and Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). A division of the National Institutes of Health, the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine defines Integrative Medicine as: “An approach to medicine that combines mainstream medical therapies and CAM therapies for which there is high-quality scientific evidence of safety and efficacy.”

The Integrative Medicine approach offers consumers cutting edge technology along with ancient wisdom.  The Integrative Medicine approach offers practitioners the opportunity to be part of the evolution of healthcare.

Iridology
The analysis of patterns and structures within the eye’s iris in order to locate areas and stages of inflammation throughout the body. The iris can reveal body constitution, inherent strengths and weaknesses, health levels, and transitions that take place in a person’s body, according to his/her way of life.

Jin Shin Jyutsu
A bodywork technique which balances body energy as it travels along specific pathways. It uses light pressure on acupressure points to promote optimal health and well-being and facilitate our own healing capacity. JSJ complements conventional healing methods, inducing relaxation and reducing the effects of stress.

Magnetic Therapy
The use of magnets to generate controlled magnetic fields which can benefit the functioning of the nervous system, organs and tissues, and stimulate healing.

Massage Therapy
The use of strokes and pressure on the body to decrease tension and relieve stress.  A “hands-on” approach that takes many forms. Some of the many benefits include physical and mental relaxation, improved circulation and muscle tone, more efficient functioning of the digestive system and pain relief. Massage can provide comfort and increased body awareness, and can be an excellent method of releasing emotional as well as bodily tension.

Meditation
A method of relaxing and quieting the mind to facilitate inner and outer peace. There are numerous forms of meditation, taught individually or in group settings.  The nonsectarian form of prayer, which is akin to meditation and used for stress reduction, has long been recognized by clinicians to improve one’s sense of well-being.  The various techniques promote relaxation, body/breath awareness, mental clarity, increased focus and calm.

Mind-Body Medicine
Focuses on the interactions among the brain, mind, body,
and behavior, and on the powerful ways in which emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors can directly affect health. Mind-body medicine typically focuses on intervention strategies that are thought to promote health, such as relaxation, hypnosis, visual imagery, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, tai chi, qi gong, cognitive-behavioral therapies, group support, autogenic training, and spirituality. This field views illness as an opportunity for personal growth and transformation and health care providers as catalysts and guides in this process.

Movement Therapy
A guided series of movements and body work to open energy pathways and facilitate healing.

Music Therapy
The use of music to affect positive changes in the psychological, physical, cognitive, or social functioning of individuals with health or educational problems. This therapy is designed to help the individual move into harmony and balance. Through the use of music, individuals explore emotional, spiritual and behavioral issues. Musical skill is not necessary, as the process, rather than technique, is emphasized.

NAET (Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique)
NAET is a non-invasive, drug free, natural solution to eliminate allergies of all types and intensities. The technique uses a blend of selective energy balancing, testing and treatment procedures from acupressure, allopathy, chiropractic, nutritional, and kinesiological disciplines of medicine. For more information visit: www.naet.com.

Naturopathy
Includes the basic medical sciences and conventional diagnostics, along with therapeutic nutrition, botanical medicine, homeopathy, natural childbirth, classical Chinese medicine, hydrotherapy, manipulative therapy, pharmacology and minor surgery.

Nutritional Counseling
Practitioners use diet and supplementation therapeutically as the primary or adjunctive treatment for illness, as well as for maintaining good health. Nutritionists employ a variety of approaches, including food combining, macrobiotics, and orthomolecular theory.

Osteopathic Medicine
A form of medicine that focuses on the relationship between the structure of the body and its function, and recognizes that both structure and function are subject to a range of disorders. In treatment of the individual, osteopaths use various forms of physical manipulation, to facilitate the body’s self-healing mechanism, as well as more conventional medical therapies. Osteopaths are fully licensed to diagnose, treat, and prescribe.

Physical Therapy
The treatment of physical conditions of body malfunction, damage or injury, using procedures designed to reduce swelling, relieve pain, strengthen muscles, restore range of motion and return functioning to the patient.

Polarity Therapy
Polarity Therapy is a comprehensive health system involving energy-based bodywork, diet, exercise and self-awareness. In Polarity Therapy, health is viewed as a reflection of the condition of the energy field, and therapeutic methods are designed to balance the field for health benefit.

Psychotherapy: See Counseling/Psychotherapy

Quantum Biofeedback (SCIO)
Quantum Biofeedback is designed for stress detection and stress reduction. The SCIO (Scientific Consciousness Interface Operation) is a sophisticated and profound energetic medicine system that incorporates electro-dermal screening, stress testing and biofeedback. The process is helpful in identifying energetic imbalances so the client’s can attune to the frequencies, become aware of them, address them and improve their overall health and well-being.

Qigong (“chee-GUNG”)
Qigong consists primarily of meditation, relaxation, physical movement, mind-body integration, and breathing exercises. Practitioners of Qigong develop an awareness of qi sensations (energy) in their body and use their mind to guide the qi. Advanced practitioners can direct or emit external qi for the purpose of helping others heal.

Reflexology
A modality based on the premise that there are zones and reflex areas in the feet and hands which correspond to all body parts. Reflexology is the application of specific pressure by the use of a practitioner’s hand, thumb and fingers applied to specific points on the feet, hands and ears, with the intention of stress reduction which causes a physiological change in the body.

Reiki (“ray key”)
Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. Practitioners use light hand placements to activate and balance the life-force energy (also known as chi [“chee”] or prana). Reiki can be used to treat emotional and mental distress as well as chronic and acute physical pain. Dr. Mikao Usui (1865-1926) was the founder of the popular Usui System of Reiki.

Shiatsu
An energy-based system of bodywork using a firm sequence of rhythmic pressure held on specific points, designed to awaken acupressure meridians.

Sound Healing
Sound healing utilizes the application of sound frequencies using toning, vibrational tuning forks, voice, and sound to the body/mind of a person to bring them into a state of balance, health and harmony.

Stress Management
Any therapy or educational practice with the objective of decreasing stress and enhancing one’s response to the elements of life that cannot be changed. This broad category may include bodywork, energy work, visualization and counseling.

Tai Chi
A form of traditional Chinese mind/body exercise and meditation that uses slow sets of body movements and controlled breathing. It combines mental concentration, slow breathing and dance-like movements to increase chi (life energy). Tai chi is done to improve balance, flexibility, muscle strength and overall health.

Therapeutic Touch
A specific method of healing touch developed by Dolores Krieger, PhD, RN and practiced by registered nurses and others to relieve pain and stress. A TT practitioner attunes to the client’s energy field, finds weak or congested areas, and re-balances or refreshes them using gentle hand movement.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
An ancient system of healthcare originating in China, it is a system of medicine that categorizes body patterns into specific types of diagnoses with corresponding treatment plans.  It has gained worldwide acceptance and recognition as an effective medical treatment.  Among the components of TCM are acupuncture, herbal and nutritional therapy, restorative physical exercises, meditation and massage.

Trigger Point Therapy
A method of compression of sensitive points in the muscle tissue, along with massage and passive stretches, for the relief of pain and tension. Treatment decreases swelling and stiffness and increases range of motion. Exercises may be assigned.

Yoga Therapy
The use of yoga postures, controlled breathing, relaxation, meditation, and nutrition to release muscular and emotional tension, improve concentration, increase oxygen levels in the blood, and assist the body in healing itself.