Healing for Body, Soul and Spirit

A readable overview of the ideas and practices of anthroposophic medicine. Conventional medicine focuses on the body's physical symptoms. But more and more patients are questioning the limitations of this approach and are exploring holistic approaches, such as anthroposophic medicine, which also addresses the human soul -- our individual thinking, will and feelings -- and the human spirit, our self-awareness and essence. Anthroposophic medicine is an extension of, not a replacement to, conventional medicine. This comprehensive book introduces and explores the philosophy and practice of anthroposophic medicine, which is based on principles developed by Rudolf Steiner. It discusses many alternative therapies and areas of health including artistic therapies, massage, childhood illnesses, cancer and psychiatry. Healing for Body, Soul and Spirit will inform and engage a general reader, with no medical background, who is interested in alternative and holistic approaches to human health.

Modern medicine examines and treats the human body in terms of chemical and mechanical dysfunction. For this reason, conventional drugs and other interventions relate purely to the physical symptoms, and frequently involve exposure to unwanted side effects. Anthroposophical doctors are conventionally qualified practioners who go on to train with a fuller picture of the human body, examining the wider dimensions which make the human organism function as an actively thinking, feeling and aware person. Using Rudolf Steiner's principles and related treatments and therapies, anthroposophical doctors often attend to cases which conventional medicine has failed to cure. By responding to the wider picture of the patient, in terms of lifestyle, temperament and sociability, they can re-establish a healthy balance while greatly reducing the use of conventional drugs.