Holistic health means you are in complete health.
When the three elements, mind and body and spirit or vitality, are in balance then you are holistically healthy.
When these three elements are out of balance, it is said this is the reason for illness.
Holistic treatment focuses not just on the physical symptoms but the emotional and spiritual elements too.
Good medicine can be defined when a person is approached as an individual and not just a bunch of body parts.
Eastern medicine places great emphasis on spiritual energy.
In Chinese medicine this is known as chi and in Indian medicine, Ayervedic, your spiritual energy is referred to as prana.
In homoeopathy it is called your vitality or your vital force.
When the healing energy channels which flow through the body become blocked the theory is that this is where disease can develop.
Therefore the blockage must located, isolated, and eliminated so that complete healing can take place.
This is why complementary medicine practitioners look at the whole picture of the person.
They ask about your current state of mind, your emotional state, relationships, attitudes and your physical capabilities.
While the symptoms are considered the practitioner helps the patient to find the underlying cause of the illness so that the chi or prana can easily flow again.
As the mental attitude of the patient is of prime importance, it is essential that the patient also plays a full, responsible part in his or her treatment.
Conventional medicine breaks down in the fact that a person's physical symptoms do not necessarily give a true indication of the cause of an ailment or illness.
For example, back pain can be caused by sudden physical strain or even an accident, but it may also be caused by bad posture, which may be the result of financial worries, anger or extreme stress.
Unless the cause of distress is correctly identified and then eliminated, there would be no relief from pain.
Therefore a non-physical therapy like kinesiology can be said to effectively treat back pain.
Most complementary therapies have evolved from ancient traditions of holistic health care.
Other natural therapies are the result of innovative and dedicated hard-working doctors and healers from all over the world who have developed their skills and not deviated from their belief in natural healing properties.
Hippocrates, who is well-known as the father of modern medicine, once famously said, and truer words were never spoken, Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.
We can be thankful, through modern technology, that we have access to this wonderful and diverse range of natural alternative therapies in the continuous quest for total holistic health.