The Pink Paper Summer 2013 Summer 2013 | Page 10

holistic

Finding Balance

By Dr. Lindsay Jones-Born

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What is finding balance, exactly? Balance can be both subjective and objective. Balance takes the forms of mental, physical, and emotional aspects of our every day life. What may be easier to discuss and comprehend are states of“ imbalance.”

An approach to this discussion is to take a look at how different systems of medicine find balance. Eastern science and philosophies tend to look at states of imbalance via Yin and Yang-in Chinese medicine- and imbalance of doshas in Ayurvedic medicine. These doshas are referred to as Pitta, Kapha and Vata.

Western Medicine

Western science helps determine states of imbalance via history taking, physical exams, and where indicated- blood chemistries and diagnostic imaging. Western medicine begins with a symptom and then attempts to find the specific cause for a specific disease in hopes to control, isolate or eradicate.

Naturopathic Medicine

As a naturopathic physician, I treat the whole person by taking many factors into account. The multi-factorial nature of health and disease requires a personalized and comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment. I educate my patients regarding their prognosis by engaging the patient to be an ally to their health-which is recognized as a result of balance in their physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social and spiritual factors.

The broadest scope of naturopathic practice is to utilize comprehensive, integrated, natural and conventional diagnosis and treatments. Methods are integrated and based on systemic, unifying principles of naturopathic medicine. The methods used by a naturopathic physician address physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, natural, inherited, socioeconomic and environmental aspects affecting an individual’ s state of wellness on an optimal wellness / disease spectrum. Naturopathic methods are all focused around addressing a person’ s imbalance in their spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health that has led to sub-optimal health and disease. The goal is to have someone be on a path to self-led healing through which they re establish their basis for health. This systematic method is known as the Therapeutic Order: 1. Re establish the basis for health 2. Stimulate the body’ s innate capacity and ability to heal 3. Tonify weakened systems 4. Correct structural integrity 5. Prescribe natural substances, modalities, or interventions for a pathology 6. Prescribe pharmacological substances for pathology 7. Use surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and suppressive drugs

Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine is an ancient system of health and healing that has developed over at least two millennia. Its development is based upon a continuous process of critical thinking, observation and testing. The Chinese physician approaches an individual’ s physiology and psychology along with symptoms and general characteristics to find any patterns of disharmony. This pattern describes an imbalance in the patient’ s body. Treatment is based upon finding relationships within the body( a patient’ s sign and symptoms in context with their life) and patterns of disharmony to then attempt to bring the body back into balance and restore harmony within the individual. The main goal is to maintain balance of yin and yang in all things. Yin and yang can be described as being a philosophical construct of two polar complements, even though yin and yang are opposite, one has no meaning without the other. Yin functions tend to be nourishing, cooling, building, and relaxing and relate to the structure, or substance, of the organs. Yang qualities tend to be energizing, warming, consuming, and stimulating and relate to the functional activity of the organs.

Ayurvedic Medicine

Ayurveda is a system of traditional medicine native to India that was established over 5,000 years ago and is still used today in many parts of the world. In Sanskrit, the word

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