Page Title

V irginia Hoyt Publisher, Glacier Washington 2008 www.flamingrainbowbooks.net
Picture by M.D. McCohnell 2007

Excerpts from article: Things to consider in choosing
A lternative M edicine
by Marie D. McCohnell first printed in Twin Cities Wellness©2006

Research you therapy choices
Do some research and find out as much as you can about the type of therapy you have chosen...

Choose a practitioner wisely
Choose a practitioner/clinic/therapist
who has a good reputation and/or who you feel good about and connect with. It is important to consider how much
formal education or training your practitioner has. You will find that the education, training and experience of
alternative/holistic practitioners vary greatly. You will find everything from two months of training to 30 years. You
will find licensed medical doctors who are trained in Western medicine but who are also trained and practice
Oriental or other alternative medicines. You can find another practitioner who was born and trained formally in the
East/China, where as much as 20 years of internship and practice was required before one was considered a
doctor of Oriental herbs and medicines. In contrast, the Western doctor might only have one or two years of
training in Eastern medicine.

You will find practitioners who are trained by the best in the field and graduated from very reputable certification or
degree programs. Some practitioners have no formal training but have the gift of healing touch and prayer along
with a wonderful reputation of healing successfully. Some alternative therapies have formal licensing and
accreditation procedures and other so not....

Reassess along the way
Once you reach your predetermined monetary limit and a practical allocation of time has been invested in your
healing process and your chosen therapy(ties), then it is time to carefully reassess. Take your time to think about
what is going on with your body. You might even feel safer seeking the advice or opinion of a trusted second and
even third party. All of this can be helpful in coming to a wise decision as to whether you should continue with the
therapies.

Things to consider
Remember, if you are not seeing any improvement or change in your health, either: (a) You are experiencing what
is called a "healing crisis", that irritating place in your healing journey where you feel worse just before you begin to
feel better. Your treatment will initiate simultaneous healing in related organs and their systems by moving toxins
and other waste products into the blood stream and ultimately out of the body. I find that going with the healing flow
and telling myself that I am not going to die, while drinking plenty of water, often helps. If not, call your therapist or
practitioner and inform her or him about how you are feeling. Always use a wealth of common sense in this area.
Occasionally, there exits a fine line between a healing crisis and a medical emergency. I have no problem with the
statement, "Take ye to a hospital, post haste!" Know your physical limits and develop an innate feeling for when
things are going wrong. (b) Your choice of practitioner/therapist or type of therapy is not suitable for your body type
and its disease. . .

Combination of therapies often needed to heal
Keep in mind, that while one person might be healed by prayer, meditation and a healing touch, someone else
might eventually require a combination of five different types of therapies in order to get well. There is not one
correct answer. We are all unique and our healing needs are equally so. How many of us have tired five to ten
different healing therapies along the path? Who can say that they did not all work in some way? Maybe some of
them were so useless and bad for us that they only help that they gave was pushing us to seek other alternative
therapy(ies). Every step you take on behalf of your body's health helps, even if only a little.

In conclusion, pick your mode of healing therapy and then count to 10. Slow down and give it a fair chance to work!
Taking your time is important in the days ahead. It is the only way we are going to be able to survive in the future.
Pacing yourself could save you from making costly mistakes. Also be, aware that placing your faith in your
God-given right to be healed is essential to whichever healing program you choose.

Placing your health in the care of a qualified health practitioner/therapist/healer is the way of wisdom. It is the way
to ensure that you grow in health and power of mind, body, and spirit.

The Holistic Way

As Our Western Civilization moves forward
toward a new frontier in medicine, future trends in
health care seem to be pointing toward a delicate
blend of alternative and allopathic healing therapies.
The key word here is healing...

Today, this ideal demands that to make your healing
journey an optimal one, you must ultimately make
three primary commitments of money, time and
understanding...

Determine money and time
commitments
First, decide home much time and money you are
willing to spend on a therapy before you need to see
positive results.
I found that it helps to come up with a dollar amount.
Next, consider how much time you think your particular
body type will need to heal. Give yourself a time limit
to try your chosen therapy....This approach will help
prevent you from over committing money and time
based on outside pressure or because you find
yourself in an irrational emotional state once the
therapy has begun.