The Aquarian Age and the New Face of Medicine

Today’s society is ever changing. People are changing their careers, their lifestyles, their political views, their religious practices, the size of their carbon footprint, and now their medicine. In the Age of Aquarius, mainstream America is altering its perception of medicine. And it is not just views toward government provided healthcare. Rather, it is the awareness that alte
ative medicine is not just for the new age radicals of yesteryears. Alte
ative medicine has a new face and that face is far more guy and gal next door then you might think.

What was once only practice by the indigenous people of our world and explored by the Bohemian travelers from the west is now loosening conventional medicine’s grip on the collective. Today, we are experiencing a rejuvenation of the lost rituals of our ancestors. The days of herb scented steams, water therapies, ritual sageing, meditation, herbal teas and medicinal wines are back. Since the days of the Egyptians, plants, the elements and the gods have been brought together to aid in healing. Even before hieroglyphs and papyrus libraries, cave dwellings have been unearthed of pre-historic man’s use of plants for medicines. Though many of folkloric traditions and rituals of healing were lost, there are a few important names to thank for their stronghold to what is now known as alte
ative practices. Albert Coffin who in the 1800’s pioneered low-cost herbal remedies. Wooster Beach who opened in 1829 the Reformed Medical College where he practice medicine both using new technologies and herbal formulas, he called his type of medicine Eclectic Medicine. Other Eclectic physicians were John Scudder, John King, Finley Ellingwood, Harvey Wickes Felter and John Uri Lloyd. Other important figures to mention are Culpeper, Wesley, Withering, Bach, and the founder of Homeopathic Medicine Dr. Samuel Hahnemann.

Now, at the start of the 21st century alte
ative medicine is expanding its views, practices and research as well as integrating itself into conventional western medicine. It is estimated that in Califo
ia alone 75% of all health care dollars are now being spent on Alte
ative Medicine. And what of this mind-body connection that seems to be in all the literature today. It is now common to hear about the mind-body connection. Doctors, trainers, psychologists, naturopaths, writers and just about everyone else is talking about it. It is far more than mind over matter—it is the belief and knowing that the mental state of an individual affects the health of the body and vice-versa. Though I am glad the mind-body concept has become a household topic, I would like to take the concept two steps further. There is a body with a mind, but that body also houses a heart and a spirit. This is the concept of holism. To be whole, to be happy and to be healthy, we must be complete. And though the mind and body are part of our being, they only make up half of who we are. For without a heart, we cannot love nor feel love. Without a spirit, we cannot be in touch with the divine. Just as without a mind we cannot perceive and contemplate life, without a body we cannot exist in the physical realm of our existence. Of course, we can go on to add the soul and the need for social dynamics, but this only becomes drawn out. In my eyes, the four elements—heart, mind, body and spirit—when in balance make up a whole healthy and complete individual.

It is this concept of holism that many alte
ative practitioners today are using. They are recognizing that people are individuals and moving their patients or clients toward becoming holistic whole healthful beings. Alte
ative medicine is filling in were conventional medicine fell short. Conventional medicine stopped seeing the patient as an individual, as a complex human being, and thus stopped healing the whole person. Doctors developed tunnel vision; they no longer looked past the physical symptoms, the disease, and their professional training which skilled them in remaining distant and unemotional toward their patients for their own protection. Alte
ative medicine is integrating its way into society’s methods of healing surprisingly unnoticed.

When did someone last recommend meditation to you for stress relief? How about yoga for back troubles, chiropractic care for migraines, and acupuncture for pain relief? When did you last stop by the tea section in your local grocer to pick up green tea or better yet some herbal remedy mix for the cold and flu season or your insomnia? These therapies are everywhere and readily available. The downfall is that other then chiropractic care, insurance companies are not going to pay for a lot of the alte
ative therapies out there. But that is not stopping everyone from finding the cash to try them out.

People are going to energy healers, shamans, dream therapists, herbalists, biofeedback specialists, holistic health practitioners, Reiki therapists, meditation and yoga classes, life coaches, and other mystics to help them along their path of healing. This once new age hoop-la is becoming mainstream America’s remedy to their chronic and acute illnesses. American’s are educating themselves through the internet, travels, readings, and experimentation about the various alte
ative therapies, herbal formulas, spiritual healing modalities and discovering for themselves what is worth their while and what is not their cup of tea.

Perhaps Americans are finding that the shift in their thinking and openness to alte
ative healing practices is simply a call from Mother Earth to return to her and their ancestral roots—calls to return to their own abilities to self heal and calls to stop and listen to their bodies, their hearts, their minds, and their ever neglected spirits. The new face of medicine is not so new; it was just long forgotten and it took a massive movement to bring us to the Circle of Life and the Sacred Tree as well as open our eyes.

This is not to say replace your dependence upon conventional medical treatment for uninsurable alte
ative therapies. I believe that our society is far too dependent upon seeing a practitioner for every little ache and pain. What I am saying is open your eyes to healing, total healing. Seek to learn how to heal not just your body. Seek to heal your heart, your mind, your spirit as well as your body. This is the new face of medicine; this is medicine at its best and it is at its best because you as a consumer can integrate two worlds of healing and take from them what you know and believe will heal you.

A practitioner will recognize that any physical symptom of any disease is both cause and effect. To fully heal from any ailment whether it is mental, emotional, spiritual or physical, you have to first unearth the root cause, assess what damage this ailment has caused, and why it began in the first place. It is no different than a gardener caring for a garden. We are all beings growing and producing, flowering and fruiting and susceptible to the conditions of our environments.