The word "holistic" has gotten a lot of press the last several years, but many who are not interested in holistic health and beauty therapy dismiss it as just another new age fad that will pass. Of course, holistic is much simpler than that. Holistic therapies are simply those that view the person as a whole rather than a sum of parts. Holistic therapies, for example, may stimulate key areas in the hand or foot to treat a digestive problem (reflexology) or may stick pins in seemingly random locations to treat migraine headaches (acupuncture). While this may seem silly from a purely mechanical point of view, the practitioner of holistic health and beauty therapy know that every part of the body is connected to every other and they take advantage of this fact to design therapies that are effective but have few or no side effects.
Holistic health and beauty therapy is becoming increasingly popular and today it is difficult or impossible to visit any upscale salon that does not offer holistic health and beauty therapies such as Ayurveda, Reiki, reflexology and similar holistic treatments. Not only is holistic health and beauty therapy safe and effective--it has also become trendy.
So how does holistic health and beauty therapy stack up to the more standard options that we are used to in the west? As far as the treatment of disease goes, holistic healing methods such as reiki and acupuncture have not been universally accepted by the establishment. However, relaxing, salon style holistic beauty and stress relief therapies are consistently viewed as highly effective.
