Exercise/Meditation Techniques

Alexander Technique
The Alexander Technique works to change movement habits in your everyday activities through re-education of mind and body. It can be applied to sitting, lying down, standing, walking, lifting, and other daily activities. The technique teaches the use of the appropriate amount of effort for a particular activity, giving you more energy for all your activities. It is not a series of treatments or exercises but a method which helps you discover a new balance in your body by releasing unnecessary tension.

Bowen Technique
The Bowen technique is a soft tissue remedial therapy, named after its innovator Tom Bowen. The technique involves the therapist using fingers or thumbs to move over muscle, ligament tendon and fascia in various parts of the body. The work is very subtle, relaxing and gentle involving no hard or prolonged pressure. During a session the client will lie on a therapy table or bed, although the work can be effectively carried out with the client in a chair.

Meditation
This involves lying or sitting comfortably and, through controlled breathing, achieving a completely relaxed state, where the mind becomes completely clear of thoughts. Due to being deeply relaxed, the result is to rid the body of stress and therefore have an overall beneficial effect on the body.

Pilates
Pilates is a uniquely precise and intelligent approach to exercise and body-conditioning, which gives you a leaner, suppler, more toned body and a calmer, more relaxed mind. It takes its name from Joseph Pilates, a German-born emigré to Britain and then America, who devised it in the early part of the last century. Pilates is a gentle, non-aerobic exercise method, which lengthens and strengthens the muscles, and improves posture, without stressing the joints or the heart.

Qi Gong
(Pronounced Chi-Gong) is a method in which one trains the mind, body and internal energy (Qi) system. The aim is to connect and transform one's mental, emotional and physical patterns and so reach a clearer state of mind (Shen) and vitality (Qi). It involves a combination of exercises, movement, postures and breathing techniques. Alongside these physical practices you will use visualisation whilst mentally focusing on the energy process unfolding within.

Tai Chi
Tai Chi (pronounced "tie chee") is an ancient Chinese discipline that integrates mind, body, and spirit. Tai Chi uses meditation and deep breathing with movements through a series of continuous exercises, called "forms," which resemble slow-moving ballet.

Yoga
Yoga is an ancient philosophy of life as well as a system of exercises that encourages the union of mind, body, and spirit. The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word meaning "yoke" or "union." The ultimate goal of yoga is to achieve a state of balance and harmony between mind and body. Yoga can be a very sociable activity with classes becoming increasingly popular.

Healing

Crystal Healing
Crystal and gem therapy is the use of semi-precious and precious stones to enhance mental, spiritual, and physical healing. It is based on the belief that certain crystals and gems possess a powerful energy that can positively affect imbalances in human energy fields and thus promote health and well-being. Practitioners believe that some stones direct their energy toward emotional states, while others affect certain organs through contact with the body's related energy centres.

Reiki
The name Reiki comes from the Japanese rei, meaning "universal," and ki, meaning "energy." Those who practice Reiki assume the existence of this invisible energy, which is believed to radiate through all life forms. Reiki is founded on the belief that when one's ki is blocked, sickness can develop. By gently laying hands on a person, a Reiki practitioner helps to break up blockages, allowing healing energy to again flow freely through the person's body.

Sound Healing
Sound Healing (an ancient and researched therapy through varied techniques and technologies)is the use of the energy of sound to reach identified goals and promote wellness in the human system – including the expansion of consciousness

Spiritual Healing
Spiritual Healing is the deep transformation on a core level that you experience after an ‘energy treatment’ from a spiritual healer. Your healer places their hands on or near your body and soft energy begins to flow from the palms of the healer's hands. Your healer may touch your body or simply allow the energy to flow into your aura. Usually a healer will treat your entire body and aura with this energy.

Vortex Healing
Vortex healing is an energy therapy. If a person feels lack of motivation, stagnation, physically drained then vortex healing can help. Energetic psychological therapies are becoming more and more common place and Vortex healing works on a quantum level. As we are complicated and unique beings and so much more than just the physical, Vortex can work on all levels.

Therapies

Acupressure
This is similar to Acupuncture, which stems from Chinese medicine, and is based on the idea of maintaining balance and harmony within the body. It is thought that when the flow of your life energy or chi becomes disrupted, illness and disease can result because your health is weakened. In order to restore chi distribution, finger pressure is applied to acupuncture points along the energetic pathways or meridians of the body. There are over 350 acupoints on the meridians of the body so an acupuncturist carefully selects the points to be used in the treatment.

Acupuncture
Acupuncture stems from Chinese medicine and is based on the idea of maintaining balance and harmony within the body. It is thought that when the flow of your life energy or chi becomes disrupted, illness and disease can result because your health is weakened. Acupuncture is used in order to restore chi distribution. An acupuncturist will insert needles into acupuncture points along the energetic pathways or meridians of the body. There are over 350 acupoints on the meridians of the body so an acupuncturist carefully selects the points to be used in the treatment.

Aromatherapy
The whole principle of aromatherapy is creating a pleasurable experience, whereby fragrant essential oils of plants are used to treat conditions within the mind and body. Aromatherapy is an ancient form of therapy and the scent of the oils elicits a variety of different responses by stimulating the olfactory organs, which are linked to the areas of the brain that control emotions. A series of chemical reactions, initiated by this stimulation then takes place, effecting a physical or emotional change in the body.

Auriculotherapy
Auriculotherapy is a modern technique but which has its foundations in the Middle East up to 5000 years ago. It involves treating specific points on nerves in the ear, with a small electric current. A French allopathic doctor named Paul Nogier developed it in the 1950s after noticing many Middle Eastern people were having their sciatica cured by having a specific point on their ears burnt. In 1980 the World Health Organisation recognised Auriculotherapy as effective in treating and diagnosing many conditions (over 300 are now recognised). Auriculotherapy is effective in treating and diagnosing many varied conditions, but is especially powerful in treating all addictions, compulsive disorders (ADD, ADHD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Tourette's Syndrome, comfort eating and aggressive behaviour) pain and mood problems. It is also a very useful addition to 'hands on' therapies, encouraging the body to re-balance its systems and stimulating the body's self-healing mechanisms. Auriculotherapy has a 95% success rate at stopping people smoking.

Bach Flower Remedies
Dr Edward Bach who created the flower remedies believed ‘a healthy mind ensures a healthy body’. Bach created 38 flower remedies from flower and plant extracts. One of the best known of the Bach remedies is Rescue Remedy. Bach Flower Remedies contain very pure, distilled flower and plant extracts that help to counter negative feelings, emotions and restore inner harmony.

Chinese Herbal Medicine
Chinese herbal medicine is one of the great herbal systems of the world. Chinese herbal medicine, along with the other components of Chinese medicine, is based on the concepts of Yin and Yang. It aims to understand and treat the many ways in which the fundamental balance and harmony between the two may be undermined and the ways in which a person's Qi or vitality may be depleted or blocked. Chinese herbal medicines are very safe when prescribed correctly by a properly trained practitioner. Over the centuries doctors have compiled detailed information about the pharmacopoeia and placed great emphasis on the protection of the patient.

Chiropractic
The science of chiropractic focuses on correcting spinal malfunctions, in the knowledge that these in turn create interference fields, which via the nerve system can affect the rest of the body and its organs, including the brain and tissue. This in turn affects our senses, movements, internal organ functions, immune system and interaction with the outside world. Chiropractic takes a holistic approach to health, recognising the added importance of many other factors influencing a patients well-being including diet, rest, exercise, environment and heredity.

Colour Therapy
Colour therapy is the use of colour in a variety of ways to promote health and healing. Used to treat both physical and emotional problems, colour therapy may involve exposure to coloured lights, massages using colour-saturated oils, contemplating and visualising colours, even wearing coloured clothing and eating coloured foods.

Craniosacral Therapy
Craniosacral therapy is a subtle and profound healing form which assists the body's natural capacity for self-repair. In a typical craniosacral session, you will usually lie (or sometimes sit) fully-clothed on a treatment couch. The therapist will make contact by placing their hands lightly on your body and tuning in to what is happening by ‘listening’ with their hands. The first thing you will probably notice is a sense of deep relaxation, which will generally last throughout the session.The work can address physical aches and pains, acute and chronic disease, emotional or psychological disturbances, or simply help to develop well-being, health and vitality. Craniosacral therapy is so gentle that it is suitable for babies, children, and the elderly, as well as adults and people in fragile or acutely painful conditions. Treatment can aid almost any condition, raising vitality and improving the body's capacity for self-repair.

Cupping
This is similar to Acupuncture, which stems from Chinese medicine, and is based on the idea of maintaining balance and harmony within the body. It is thought that when the flow of your life energy or chi becomes disrupted, illness and disease can result because your health is weakened. Cupping involves placing small bamboo or glass cups on acupoints on the body’s meridians, which, due to the vacuum created, results in local congestion and therefore helps to stimulate flow of the body’s vital energy along the meridians.

Dream Therapy
Dream Therapy is a process by which your practitioner will help you to decipher your dreams which may, in turn, help you to overcome your fears or emotional dilemmas. Dream Therapy is as individual as you are. What one symbol means to your subconscious is probably totally different for someone else. Dream Therapy is based on the theory that the reason we dream is to make us aware of feelings or information in our minds that we have either suppressed or not even thought of.

EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)
This technique is also known as psychological acupressure and is an ideal way to deal with cravings, obsessions and intrusive thoughts. It is an excellent way to free stagnation and get the free flowing energy system back in balance. It is a non-invasive tapping technique where acupressure points around the face, neck and hands are tapped to release trapped emotions, pains, cravings and traumas.

Herbal Remedies
Herbalism or herbal medicine uses natural plant extracts for remedies to treat a wide range of conditions for people of all ages. Some herbal remedies treat a specific aspect of the condition, others include several plant ingredients to treat a wide range of symptoms and address the root cause. Many modern drugs are based on compounds containing herbal substances but herbal medicine uses the purest and most natural form of plant remedies in tablets, teas, tinctures (medicinal extracts in alcohol solution) and creams.

Homeopathy
Homeopathy is one of the best known alternative therapies as it is widely available and safe for all age groups. Homeopathic remedies try to stimulate the body’s natural defence systems and processes to create harmony within the body and restore a natural balance. Quite often, the symptoms of an illness, or problem, show where your body’s natural defences are weakest and biological systems are out of balance. Homeopathic remedies seek to encourage your defence weaknesses or bodily systems to work harder therefore restoring well-being and health.

Hopi Ear Candles
The treatment is a relaxing one, helping ease a wide variety of conditions, and the patient lays still in a comfortable position whilst the hopi ear candle is gently inserted into their ear. When lit, the ear candles have a slight sucking action often referred to as the chimney principle, drawing any impurities to the surface where they can be gently removed. The rising air inside the ear sets up a vibration which gently massages the eardrum. This can help to regulate the pressures involved inside the ear.

Hot Stone Massage
Stones, heated in clean sanitized water, are used to impart heat to the body, typically being laid on top of a cloth along both sides of the spine or other energy centres of the body. At the same time, the therapist massages the client with oiled, heated stones held in the palm of the hand along the muscles of the legs, arms and torso. The heat helps to relax muscles and increases the blood flow to the area being worked on, also aiding mental relaxation. Excellent for treatment of back pain, rheumatic and arthritic conditions, and also insomnia.

Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is the therapy given using hypnosis, which is the most expedient way to access the subconscious mind. Anything you do automatically you do from the subconscious, therefore tapping into the subconscious makes many things easier, because they become automatic, such as a different desired behaviour. Through Hypnotherapy you could, for example, ask your subconscious mind to automatically make you drink a glass of water when you get home from work instead of raiding the fridge. This is why hypnotherapy is so successful in treating weight problems and other habits such as smoking.

Indian Head Massage
Indian Head Massage is a treatment based on old Ayurvedic techniques involving work on the upper back, shoulders, neck, scalp and face. Indian head massage is beneficial for relieving tension, relaxation, stress, fatigue, stimulating circulation, joint movement and promoting healthy hair growth. Indian head massage also uses natural oils. It can help to increase mental clarity and rejuvenate the receiver. A treatment will last between 20 minutes to one hour.

Iridology
Iridology is the study of the 'iris' of the eye. The iris is made up of the exposed nerve endings which are each connected to the brain. A trained iridologist sees the exposed nerve endings as a 'map', a microchip of information revealing the body's genetic strengths and weaknesses, levels of inflammation and toxicity and the efficiency of systems and organs. Using this information the Iridologist can make a diagnosis and prescribe treatments as necessary.

Jin Shin Do
Jin Shin Do uses gentle yet deep finger pressure on specific acu-points together with Body Focusing techniques to help release armoring or chronic tension, and balance the Qi or energy. Developed by psychotherapist Iona Marsaa Teeguarden, this bodymind approach is a unique synthesis of a traditional Japanese acupressure technique, classic Chinese acupressure theory, Reichian segmental theory, Taoist philosophy and Qigong (breathing and exercise techniques). JSD Acupressure promotes a pleasant trancelike state, in which one can move out of the head and into the body, accessing feelings and inner wisdom. "Jin Shin Do" means "The Way of the Compassionate Spirit."

Kinesiology
The word 'kinesiology' comes from the Greek work kineses, which means motion. Kinesiology is a system of diagnosis and treatment that effectively asks your body ‘what it wants’ by combining muscle testing with the principles of chinese medicine, to assess energy and body function. Muscle testing is the main method of assessment which is what distinguishes this type of treatment from other therapies.

Magnet Therapy
Magnetic therapy is a safe, non-invasive method of applying magnetic fields to the body for therapeutic purposes. It accelerates the natural healing process, provides natural pain relief, arthritis pain relief and improves sleep without any adverse side effects.

Massage Therapy
Massage involves the practice of manipulating a person's muscles and other soft tissue with the intent of improving a person's well-being or health, and may include, but not be limited to, effleurage, deep tissue, percussion, vibration, and joint movement. All forms of massage use oil. Treatments restore relaxation and peace while reducing or ousting problems. Massage is now incorporated in other therapies such as Acupuncture, Rolfing (tissue massage), Aromatherapy, Reflexology and Shiatsu.

Naturopathy
Naturopathy is a distinct system of medicine that is based on a belief in the healing power of nature and especially in the body's ability to fight disease and heal itself. Practiced by naturopathic doctors (also known as naturopaths or N.D.s), it incorporates a wide range of natural treatment methods, rather than drugs or surgery to stimulate the body's own healing powers. Among the therapies many naturopaths frequently prescribe are diet and lifestyle changes, nutritional supplements, homeopathy, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, detoxification and more.

Nutritional Therapy
Nutritional therapy is not only about healthy eating. It is a form of complementary medicine which incorporates diet, fluids and supplements, together with natural healing techniques, in order to help the body repair and restore itself naturally.

OsteOmyology
The word itself has a scientific meaning, Osteo (bone), Myo (muscle) and Ology (study of). Osteomyologists are manual practitioners who manipulate bones, muscles and ligaments to correct structural and muscular problems and problems linked to the nervous system. The spine is designed to self-correct to keep the head over the hip as well as possible. So each time you get a spinal misalignment for a physical, chemical or emotional reason, the body puts in place up to ten slight misalignments to compensate for the primary one. Unlike most manipulative therapies, osteomyology involves carrying out a simple diagnosis procedure to distinguish which one of the many misalignments is holding the rest out of place, and only correct that one. This then triggers a reaction in the body's self-healing mechanism, which slowly starts an unwinding process that lasts 24 to 48 hours and corrects all the misalignments the body put in place to compensate for that one primary.

Osteopathy
Osteopaths believe that health and illness are largely dependent upon the soundness and correct mechanical functioning of your body's bones, muscles, and joints. Because a lot of health problems are rooted in how we move and how our body works, osteopathy can help to treat a wide range of problems and for all ages. An osteopath may use osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) to stimulate your body to heal. OMT includes manipulation, movements and stretches, techniques that work the joints, and painless high-velocity thrusts. Osteopathy is believed to use techniques that improve your immunity by loosening congested lymph nodes and increasing the movement of your body's natural antibodies; a bit like freeing up your blocked pipes! Try Osteopathy to improve the natural balance in body.

Reflexology
Reflexology is a technique in which pressure is applied to specific points on the feet (and sometimes the hands) to promote relaxation and improve overall health. Practitioners of reflexology (Reflexologists) believe that the foot surface contains a coded map of the entire body and that particular points on the feet correspond to particular organs, glands, and body systems. Reflexology involves pressing these points with the fingers and thumbs which is thought to encourage healthy functions in the corresponding areas of the body. The nervous system provides a ‘keyboard’ to access, control, and release the body’s subtle energy patterns. It is thought that stimulating some of the 7,000 or more nerve endings on the foot can unblock and increase the flow of this vital energy to various parts of the body and promote healing. Reflexology treatment is founded on the same principles as acupressure and acupuncture.

Shiatsu
Shiatsu is a Japanese form of massage therapy (the word shiatsu means "finger pressure" in Japanese). Shiatsu aims to promote health and healing by correcting energy imbalances in your body. Shiatsu emphasises the maintenance of health and the prevention of disease rather than treating a specific ailment. Shiatsu practitioners use their fingers, thumbs, palms, elbows, knees, and feet to apply pressure to points along your body's main energy channels, known as meridians. The goal is to release energy where there are blockages and bring energy into areas that are depleted.

Teaching/Counselling

Courses
There is a wide range of courses available, either individually qualified practitioners or certified colleges, in all of the therapies listed on the Holistic Web. In addition there are wide range of workshops and classes run covering areas such as meditation, mystic arts, yoga, tai chi, etc.

Life Coaching/NLP
At the heart of Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a wide range of methods and models it offers for understanding how people think, behave and change. It offers a flexible approach which brings about positive, fast change in individuals and organisations and empowers them to adapt to their environment. Negative thoughts can overcome you when you have an illness or condition. This process ultimately changes your own perceptions of yourself and can even affect your identity. You begin to think of yourself primarily in terms of your disease. For example, when someone becomes ‘a diabetic’ rather than ‘a person with diabetes’, the disease has taken over. The more you identify with your condition, the less likely you’ll be able to overcome it.

Past Life Regression
Undertaken in a therapeutic setting, and often used to address a variety of emotional and psychological issues. Generally, a light hypnotic state is induced to regress clients into apparent past lives.

Reiki Share Groups
Where Reiki practitioners can come together and work together with other practitioners to develop their healing abilities and share the experiences of working with this form of healing.

Retreats
Retreats are an opportunity to get away from normal everyday life, for a weekend or longer, either in the UK or abroad. They usually include food and accommodation, with a range of holistic therapies, meditation, etc, designed to help the individual relax and recharge their batteries.

Stress Counselling
Counsellors usually work face-to-face, employing a range of techniques to suit your circumstances. However, some therapists may use a mixture of telephone, email and video conferencing. Counselling therapy provides an opportunity to make sense of your individual circumstances through contact with a counsellor or therapist who helps to identify the choices for change before supporting the actual process of change, with the end result leaving you better equipped to cope for the future. However, specific advice is not given.

Weight Loss
Various groups exist which aim to help individuals lose or control their weight.

Readings

Astrology
Astrology is the science of producing a chart representing the position of the planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and the Sun and Moon - within the zodiac signs -Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces - relative to the Earth. The art is in the interpretation of the chart. Astrology has guided us for thousands of years - unlocking the secrets of the soul, warning of dangers and revealing opportunity. Astrological charts can be used to reveal personality, provide guidance for the future and help in relationships.

Clairvoyance
Strictly speaking clairvoyance is the paranormal ability to obtain information about an object or an event without the use of the known senses. However, the term in general usage is used as an umbrella term to refer to many psychic gifts such as telepathy, mediumship, second sight, prophetic visions and psychic dreams. Clairvoyance literally means 'clear seeing' so is often used to refer to visionary psychic experiences. For example a medium will describe the pictures he sees given to him by a spirit as clairvoyance. The words he may 'hear' from spirits - such as names - come from clairaudience (clear hearing) and the sensations - such as bodily ailments at the time of the spirits death - are described as clairsentience (clear sensing).

Face Reading
Also known as Physiognomy, this is the ancient practice of reading the facial shape and features of a person in order to gain an understanding of their character.

Mediumship
Mediums are people who have a special gift that allows the spirit people to give messages from the afterlife. The objective of a mediums work is to prove survival of the human personality after death and to help the bereaved come to terms with their loss. Sittings with mediums are not for fortune telling but are experimental sessions to provide evidence of survival. Any attempt to communicate with spirits is, by its very nature, purely experimental and therefore, results can never be guaranteed.

Numerology
There are three major forms of Numerology: Kabbalah, Chaldean and Pythagorean. Kabbalah means knowledge that comes through the mind and soul and originated in Hebrew mysticism. The Kabbalah was developed for the Hebrew alphabet and has 22 vibrations ranging from 1 - 400. It was then adapted for the Greek alphabet and then for the Roman alphabet. Chaldean numerology was developed in Ancient Babylon (Iraq), and it combines certain aspects of Astrology with Kabbalistic name interpretation. Pythagorean numerology, as the name suggests, was developed by Pythagoras, a Greek mathematician and metaphysician who lived during the 6th century BC. People have studied the relationships of numbers to dates and names for over 2500 years. They explore these associations to: Determine their Life Path and Destiny, learn what challenges they may have to overcome. identify peak moments in their lives, explore their special talents and skills and how to use them wisely, discover what they have the innate abilities to be.

Palmistry
Palmistry is the art of reading character and destiny from the shape of the hand and the lines of the palm. It is not fortune-telling but about knowing yourself and where you are going. The palm gives us a map of our life and it is up to us to make the most of it: through self-awareness we can shape our fate and affect our future.

Psychometry
It is a combination of normal psychic awareness plus the ability to read the energy patterns that we all leave on the objects around us. But it also acts as an aid to the psychic, helping him / her tune in better to their sitter. Most psychics who use this method tend to prefer metal objects, such as rings, bracelets or other jewellery, this could have a lot to do with the fact that these objects are in contact with the person on a more regular basis and therefore retain more information. But it can be almost anything, other psychics are good with cloth, such as clothes, again these items are in regular contact with the owner.

Runes
The runes are an ancient oracle, used by a questioner to ask advice on almost any topic. As with tarot cards, the questioner unknowingly selects those runes which will offer help on the particular problem at hand. It is you, the runes reader, who interprets what the runes say. It is a position of some power. Each individual rune has an inscription with three different meanings, one practical, others of a more mystical nature. The runes themselves are ancient, using a form of writing which may go back to the Carthusians and which has been linked to the Druidic Ogham script. They have undergone a revival of interest in the last few years because of the emphasis on personal responsibility and free will, concepts which resonate well in the twenty-first century.

Tarot Readings
The use of information made clear by Tarot Card Readings in order to gain insight into personal situations. This may be accessed either as a sitter (seeker) using the services of a skilled Tarot Reader, or the individual purchasing his/her own Tarot Deck and using it to read for him/herself. In each case, the advice and information accessed may prompt the person to pay further attention or do additional research concerning specific aspects of his/her situation - perhaps considerations that he/she might not otherwise have thought important, or even been aware of.

Shops

Health Food Shops
Health food shops specialise in selling natural, healthy foods and products, such as vitamins, vegetarian products, products free of artificial additives, preservative free dried fruits, nuts, cereals, etc.

Health Products & Supplies
This may typically include retailers of products used by therapists, such as treatment/massage tables, sundry products used by therapists, etc. It may also include, for example, the production of essential oils and essential oil based products for retail or distribution

New Age Shops
These are generally shops selling products such as crystals, essential oils, incense, candles, dream catchers, ethnic clothing, hand-made ethnic products, related books, CD’s, etc. Often these products are also sold online via websites.

Services

Insurance