Anza Sanctuary

Alternative medicine defines all natural therapies, herbal cures and unconventional treatments that aren’t recognized as medical practices but proved to be efficient in healing various medical conditions. Besides reestablishing the physical condition of the patient, complementary and alternative medicine practices also focus on the sufferer’s psychical equilibrium.

The most known unconventional techniques include acupuncture, reflexology, herbal treatments and naturopathy. All these are gaining popularity as they are less invasive compared to surgical and pharmaceutical treatments, they have less side effects and they also seem to be working pretty well for various illnesses. Besides treating the symptoms of a disease, alternative medicine claims to prevent future recurrences as well. So perhaps this is why these complementary techniques are getting more and more popular – they address the root cause of the illness, not only the symptoms and signs. And by doing this, alternative therapies are able to identify the triggers of that specific illness and to eliminate both the symptoms and the pathological agents that caused the disease.

As mentioned before, alternative medicine strives to treat each patient as a whole – an ailment is not just a physical problem but also a psychical one, because it affects the sufferer’s life in multiple aspects and fields. Let’s think of a heart condition for example – this not only reduces the patient’s possibilities when it comes to daily activities, sports, dietary habits and so on, but it also causes lots of stress and frustration. A person affected by a heart disease needs not only physical healing but also psychical rehabilitation. This is exactly what complementary and alternative medicine therapies do and this is why more and more people rely on this kind of treatments!

Alternative medicine is not a new age invention – it has been applied for the past 5000 years in countries like China and India. People in these regions actually have more confidence in herbal and natural cures than in medical practices. And the reason is pretty simple: although conventional medicine has its proven results and surely has a well defined role in today’s society, alternative therapies are safe and they work! For people in these countries, alternative treatments are not ‘alternative’ at all! They’re the basis of a long lasting health care system, concerned not only about the human’s body but also about his mental, emotional and spiritual needs.

But thinking that only Asian populations use alternative medicine methods is extremely false! Over a third of Americans admit they frequently use such healing techniques; breathing exercises, meditation, relaxation techniques, yoga, herbal creams and ointments, plant extracts and other similar treatments are used daily by thousands and thousands of people worldwide. And part of the reason for the increased popularity of these procedures and therapies is the recognition of the powers that the human mind has over the body. But although alternative medicine is gaining in popularity each day, we still have to admit that there are certain medical situations in which conventional treatments are absolutely necessary: severe traumas and emergency situations will surely be treated using advanced medical techniques.