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What is Aromatherapy? Aromatherapy means "treatment using scents". It is a holistic treatment of caring for the body with pleasant smelling botanical oils such as rose, lemon, lavender and peppermint. The essential oils are added to the bath or massaged into the skin, inhaled directly or diffused to scent an entire room. Aromatherapy is used for the relief of pain, care for the skin, alleviate tension and fatigue and invigorate the entire body. Essential oils can affect the mood, alleviate fatigue, reduce anxiety and promote relaxation. When inhaled, they work on the brain and nervous system through stimulation of the olfactory nerves. The essential oils are aromatic essences extracted from plants, flowers, trees, fruits, bark, grasses and seeds with distinctive therapeutic, psychological, and physiological properties, which improve and prevent illness. There are about 150 essential oils. Most of these oils have antiseptic properties; some are antiviral, anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, antidepressant and expectorant. Other properties of the essential oils which are taken advantage of in aromatherapy are their stimulation, relaxation, digestion improvement, and diuretic properties. To get the maximum benefit from essential oils, it should be made from natural, pure raw materials. Synthetically made oils do not work. Aromatherapy is one of the fastest growing fields in alternative medicine. It is widely used at home, clinics and hospitals for a variety of applications such as pain relief for women in labor pain, relieving pain caused by the side effects of the chemotherapy undergone by the cancer patients, and rehabilitation of cardiac patients. Aromatherapy is already slowly getting into the mainstream. In Japan, engineers are incorporating aroma systems into new buildings. In one such application, the scent of lavender and rosemary is pumped into the customer area to calm down the waiting customers, while the perfumes from lemon and eucalyptus are used in the bank teller counters to keep the staff alert.
What is Natural Medicine?
Any therapy that relies on the body's own healing powers may be considered natural medicine. These include herbal remedies, diet and water therapies.
What is Holistic Medicine?
Many of the alternative practices pay attention to the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of health, in addition to the physical body. Therapies like hypnosis and visualization claims to be able to change physical conditions through purely mental interventions. They believe that our bodies are remarkably resilient machines, capable, with some occasional prodding or intervention, of healing themselves. The name "holistic medicine" came from this unification of the mind and the body. Holistic practitioners treat the "whole person" as opposed to the individual organs of the body where symptoms occur. The importance of self care and preventing illness are stressed by holistic practitioners.
What is Complementary Medicine?
If alternative medicine or therapy is used alone or instead of conventional medicine, it is called "alternative medicine". If the treatment or therapy is done along with or in addition to conventional medicine, it is referred to as "Complementary Medicine" as the two practices complements each other. For example, many Chinese hospitals use acupuncture to reduce the pain during the surgery instead of anesthetics. This is complementary medicine. Later, we refer to the use of sesame oil as a complementary treatment for cancer. Dean Ornish uses life style changes to combat heart disease. These are all examples of complementary medicine.
What Is Alternative Medicine?
Alternative medicine is any form of practice that is outside the realm of conventional modern medicine. It covers a broad range of healing philosophies, approaches, and therapies. Most of these treatments and health care practices are not taught widely in medical schools. Examples are naturopathy, chiropractic, ayurveda, homeopathy and acupuncture. (A complete listing of alternative medical practices are given later.)
ALTERNATE MEDICINE ....
Taoist Relaxation Yoga
Although, in a sense, all yogic breathing exercises may be employed for relaxing, as well as revitalization and increased self-control, Taoist Yoga is especially good for relaxation and to remove anxiety. It gives prompt, quick relief. However, the effects can be quite temporary. Therefore, special efforts must be made to prolong and deepen these results by subtle, attentive, repeated, devotion.
The Taoist relaxation method is very simple: "Listen to your breathing." Nothing more is needed, except persistence and patience in such listening. If you do not persist, your attention will stray back into anxieties. Be patient; impatience merely adds to anxieties. Patience is an attitude which undercuts the roots of anxiety. The healing, revitalizing and relaxing effect of attending to one's breathing may be observed by giving it a trial. Breathing involves inhalation (yang) followed by exhalation (yin), that these succeed each other in a natural, rhythmic, continuing and reliable order. When you devote yourself to Nature's Way (Tao) all goes well. When you attend to your breathing, you tend to take deeper breath and you also gradually prolong it, and, in the process quiets your fluttering mental activities as the mind harmonizes itself with the slower, and slowing, rhythm of the breathing. By listening, you must focus your attention on the sound; thereby withdrawing it from whatever has been disturbing, exciting and fatiguing the mind. Of all the ways for seeking relaxation, none can be more harmless than this. No outside help, no drugs, no devices, no special skills, no muscular effort, no training period, no involved instruction are needed for successful use. It can be used anytime, anywhere, by anyone who has a few moments to spare.
Unfortunately, most of those who begin to try out this Taoist technique will give up too soon and drift into the conclusion that their experiment was a failure. How long does one have to listen to the breathing? Why not as long as he feels fatigue? If the method is to be effective, you must persist until you feel the effects. Keep listening until "you finally do not hear it." Listen to your breathing with undivided attention until you do not hear it any more. When you have persisted with patience until this happens, your anxieties should be considerably lessened. There is nothing, of course to prevent you from arousing them again, when you turn your attention back to their initiating objects, persons or activities. But one who has pacified himself with such a relaxing pause should have a bit more reserve energy to cope with his task. The traditional Taoist seeks self-containment; this technique requires nothing more than opportunity and will to escape from the demands made upon self by externals, and ability and will to listen to one's own self-made sounds until they can be heard no more. Whether one then sleeps or finds his attention occupied by other things, the surrendering of his attentiveness to the sounds of his breathing has occurred without further mental disturbance.
Chang said merely, "Listen to your breathing. Till finally you do not hear." This intuitively clear, common-sense advice can only be distorted by complex elaboration. Chang demonstrated with a slow breathing cycle and with a manner in which an enveloping quiescence was intuitively sensed. One who cannot grasp what is simple can hardly expect to comprehend the same when it has been made complex.
Plavini (Floating) Plavini is not so much a breathing technique for getting air into the lungs as an air-swallowing technique for getting air into the belly. By both swallowing air until the stomach is bloated, when it sounds something like a drum if tapped, and keeping the lungs almost fully inflated, one can float in water for an indefinite time if otherwise undisturbed. By retaining a prolonged full pause and exhaling and inhaling very slowly, one is able, with the aid of an air-filled stomach, to remain afloat with comfort. This method may be combined with mineral baths, hot baths or other bathing techniques designed for relaxing, and with various postures, such as the Fish Posture, which can be performed easily in water. However, plavini, like other breathing exercises, may also be practiced in a normal seated position. Whether the relaxation which comes from this exercise seems worth while is something you should judge for yourself. Those suffering from stomach gas pains should avoid this method, unless they also master ways for expelling air through the esophagus (by belching or eructation) or anus (after learning from posture exercises which most effectively achieve this end) as needed.
Murcha (Swooning) This exercise is recommended only for those already well advanced in the use of other breathing techniques. Its maximum benefit comes from repeated practice under controlled conditions wherein the practitioner knows what to expect. It involves a prolonged full pause held with a chin lock, until you experience the approach of fainting. Beginners may, indeed, faint. But experts remain seated upright, normally in the Lotus Posture, and attain a restful, pleasant suspension of consciousness. One breathes through both nostrils and may require several rounds and full pauses to attain his goal. If the approaching fainting appears to be leading to a collapse of posture, one may resist it until he regains physical self-control. When successful, one enjoys a prolonged, relaxed, euphorious, semiconscious swoon.
Bhramari (Nasal snoring) Bhramari differs from the usual mouth snoring in that the lips are closed and vibrations of the soft palate are caused entirely by nasal airflow. Practice mouth snoring first in order to develop some voluntary control over the palate vibration process. Nasal snoring is more difficult. Approach control attempts gradually. The soft palate must be lifted toward the top of the pharynx sufficiently to produced flutter which may be very hard to control. The sound produced is commonly described as being like the buzzing of a bee. Although, in bhramari, one breathes both in and out through both nostrils and produces a snoring, buzzing or humming sound in both directions, expect somewhat different sounds from inhaling, which has a higher pitch, than from exhaling, which has a lower pitch. Bhramari is customarily described as involving rapid inhalation producing a high humming sound like that of a male bee and slow exhalation producing a low humming sound like that of a female bee.
Kapalabhati (Cleaning Breath) Kapalabhati is a breathing technique used specifically for cleansing. If we have a lot of mucus in the air passages or feel tension and blockages in the chest it is often helpful to breathe quickly. In this practice we deliberately breathe faster, and at the same time use only abdominal (that is, diaphragmatic) breathing, not chest breathing. In kapalabhati the breath is short, rapid, and strong. We use the lungs as a pump, creating so much pressure as they expel the air that all the rubbish is cleared from the air passages, from the lungs up through the nostrils. Kapala means "skull," and bhati means "that which brings lightness." Kapalabhati is a good thing to do when we feel heavy or foggy in the head. If we have problems with the sinuses or feel numb around the eyes, kapalabhati can help to clear this area as well.
The kapalabhati and bhastrika breathing techniques share the same general principle, namely that we clear the nasal passages with the force of the breath. As mentioned under bhastrika, we must be very careful with these techniques because there is a danger of creating tension in the breath. We may also become dizzy when we breathe rapidly; for this reason we always conclude the practice of kapalabhati with some slow breaths. It is important not to breathe rapidly too many times, but after a few rapid breaths take several slow ones in which we emphasize the long exhalation.
The Cleansing Breath
The Cleansing Breath, as its name indicates, cleans and ventilates the lungs; it also tones up the entire system. You should do the Cleansing Breath at the end of other yoga exercises or just before the final relaxation exercises. To do the Cleansing Breath, stand straight with feet close together and arms hanging loosely at the sides. Take a deep breath, hold it for a little while, then purse your lips as if you were going to whistle. Now start exhaling forcefully, little by little, but do not blow the air out as if you were blowing out a candle, and do not puff out the cheeks. They should be hollowed. These successive and forceful exhalations will feel almost like slight coughs which expel the air until the lungs are completely empty. The effort of the exhalation should be felt in the chest and in the back. Rest for a little while, then repeat. After a week you may repeat this routine several times a day.
Sitali (Tongue hissing) Sitali refers to the sound caused when air is drawn in through the protruding tongue folded into a tube. During inhalation, curl up both edges of the tongue so that it forms a kind of tube. Breathe in through this tube. During inhalation the air passes over the moist tongue, cooling down and refreshing the throat. In order to be sure that the tongue remains moist, roll it back as far as possible against the palate. Do this during the entire exhalation so that the next breath is just as refreshing as the first. The resulting tongue position may appear more like the lower portion of a bird's beak than a tube, but variable opening or closing of the tube-like passage in the folded tongue, in cooperation with faster or slower inhalation, makes possible variations in loudness and softness and smoothness of the reversed hissing sound. Again, a cooling effect may be noted and, indeed, sought through this and the foregoing technique whenever needed. The tongue is drawn back into the mouth and the lips are closed at the end of inhalation. We can breathe out either through the throat or alternately through the nostrils.
