Holistic & Spiritual Glossary

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Acupuncture/Acupressure
Fine needles are inserted into the body at meridians or energy centres. This ‘unblocks’ or regulates the CHI energy circulating the body, which in turn, stimulates the healing process. There is a mass of Chinese research but Western science does not yet accept the principle.

Acupressure
Using the Acupuncture points, pressure from the fingers is applied where appropriate.

Affirmation
Affirmations are positive statements that can be used to change the way you think about yourself and your health. Since the unconscious cannot tell the difference between a real or imagined idea, it responds to whatever suggestions you give it, eventually helping to create the reality that matches your most predominant beliefs, attitudes, and thoughts. By repeating positive affirmations each time a negative, self-defeating thought comes to mind, you can retrain your mind and learn to feel more confident, as well as improve your overall health. Over time, old, limited thoughts and mental patterns that contributed to anxiety, depression, or stress will lose their charge and eventually stop arising altogether.

Using affirmations does not mean suppressing any thought that is not "good", however, Instead, affirmations are used a reshaping tool that you can call upon to rid yourself of thoughts that serve no positive purpose. For example, if your are prone to headaches and your thoughts keep informing you that you haven't had a headache in a while and are therefore due for one, instead of giving in and feeding such thoughts, you can overcome them by using an affirmation, such as "I am headache free and I deserve to stay that way." Initially, this may seem to be silly or an attempt to fool yourself, but if you pay attention and keep repeating the affirmation, before long you will stay it and mean it and the results you expect will follow.

Affirmations can be used in any area of your life. To be most effective, choose one or two affirmations that feel most comfortable and memorize them, so that you can say them whenever a negative thought enters your mind. You might also consider mentally repeating your affirmation 10-20 times once or twice a day. Useful affirmations include :

• I am healthy, relaxed, and free of pain and disease
• I love myself, and I deserve to feel healthy and alive
• I approve of myself, and I'm safe to be who I am
• Every day in every way, I am getting better and better
• I am in the flow of life, and I am grateful for the gift of being alive
• My life is my own and I easily resolve my conflicts

Please refer to our affirmations article for more information on this subject.

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Alexander Technique
F.M.Alexander (1896-1955) was an Australian actor who lost his voice. He realigned his posture and found the voice returned. The Technique is to persuade the body to return to its normal position and so allow the brain to recognise and retain the realignment. The head and neck positioning are particularly important.

Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is the therapeutic use of scent, particularly essential oils (concentrated plant extracts or diluted hydrosols), to promote healing, relaxation and overall physical and emotional well-being by applying the oil to the skin and/or inhaling the smell.

Please refer to our Instore Aromatherapy Section for an A to Z guide to essential oils

Ayurveda
Ayurveda is an ancient Indian holistic system of health and preventative medicine. Ayurveda aims to provide guidance regarding food and lifestyle to enhance and maximise health and wellbing, using a system of treatments including diet, yoga and meditation.

The word "Ayurveda" is made up of two Sanskrit words: "Ayu" meaning life and "Veda" meaning the knowledge of. The definition of "Ayu" is said to be comprised of four essential elements - mind, body, sense and soul.

Bach Flower Remedies
Flower Remedies were developed during the 1930's by Dr Edward Bach to treat emotional issues with separate preparations. There are thirty eight different remedies that are given according to a person's personality type. The energy of the plants is captured in water and applied directly onto the tongue or in a liquid carrier including water, tea or coffee.

Biofeedback
Biofeedback involves measuring bodily processes such as blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature and response and muscle tension in order to raise a subject's awareness and control of these functions. Biofeedback tools range from something as simple as a mirror, which provides information on posture and body-shape; however the term usually refers to more complex biofeedback devices used in treating conditions including epilepsy, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, Raynaud's disease, chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting, headaches and high blood pressure.

By providing access to physiological information about which the user is generally unaware, biofeedback allows users to gain control over physical processes previously considered automatic.

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Crystal Therapy
Crystals transmit energies which are claimed to be able to tune to the bodie's fluctuating vibrations. Crystals are chosen according to their energy and the needs of the patient, with intuition playing a major role in their choice.

There are other systems such as:

Detecting the colours in the energy field of the individual and providing the tints which will help achieve a return to the normal. This is often practised by healers with the gift of extended perception either by sight or touch.

Colour can be used in the choice of clothing and furnishing since they affect the mood and attitude of mind.

The chakras are the bodies centres of energy and vital to the well being of the whole person. They are the energy centres through which our spiritual and emotional energies flow.

The word ‘Chakra’ is taken from Hindi and means ‘wheel of energy’ There are seven chakras or energy centres within the body. Each Chakra has certain characteristics and influences a different aspect of the personality. The correct flow of energies through the chakras is vital for health. When the flow of Prana, or energy is blocked, disease results.

The Base Chakra, Mooladhara
This chakra controls the basic human survival instincts and provides an essential ‘grounding’. Our most basic human instincts originate from this Chakra.

The Sacral Chakra, Swadisthan Manipura
This is linked to sexuality and reproductive capacity.

The Solar Plexus, Nabhi
This chakra is said to direct our awareness of self within the world. This is the seat of our emotional life and existence.

The Heart Chakra, Anhata
Connected to love and compassion. This chakra is the centre of feelings of love, harmony and peace.

The Throat Chakra, Vishuddhi
Linked to individual creativity and communication.

The Brow Chakra, Ajjna
This chakra forms the seat of both intuition and awareness. It is seen as the seat of perception, often perception beyond our physical senses.

The Crown Chakra, Sahasrara
This chakra links to the persons spiritual connection with the universe around them, the link with the divine. This chakra also balances the interior and exterior energies of a person's existence, linking them to the world around them.

Essential Oils
Essential oils are liquids extracted (normally by steam or water distillation) from the flowers, leaves, stems, bark or roots of a plant. Essential oils contain the highly concentrated "essence" of the plant it was derived from.

Essential oils are believed to offer psychological and physical therapeutic benefits. These benefits are usually achieved through methods including inhalation and application of the diluted oil to the skin. The theraputic use of essential oils is covered by the wider term of Aromatherapy.

For profiles of individual essential oils, please refer to our Aromatherapy Section which contains an A- Z guide to the Essential oils sold instore.

Flotation Therapy
Floating in water in a darkened pool amounts to sensory deprivation: it is claimed that this can trigger the healing process.

The support of the water, which often contains Epsom salts, rests injuries and helps the patient to achieve good balance between the left and right cortex of the brain.

Herbalism
Herbalism, or herbal healing refers to folk and traditional medicinal practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Herbalism originated from the practises of ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Until recent centuries, herbalism was closely linked to astrology and sorcery; for instance Nicholas Culpeper, 17th century physician and astrologer, linked the used of herbs to astrological signs in his famous "The Complete Herbal".

The main difference between traditional medicine and modern herbal medicines is that herbalism uses and requires the whole of a plant, as opposed to extracting its active ingredient.

More recent theories of herbalism focus on a more holistic approach to health, and include advice and remedies specified for improvements to emotional wellbeing, lifestyle and relaxation, as well as addressing physical symptoms.

Holism
Generally regarded as a word from HOLOS ( Greek for whole).

In Complementary Medicine the whole is seen as more than the sum of the parts and describes treatments which are focussed on the physical, mental, emotions, vital force, Spirit and Soul.

Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a system for treating disease based on the administration of minute doses of a drug that in much larger amounts produces symptoms in healthy individuals similar to those of the disease itself.

The theory of homeopathic medicine is generally credited to 18th century physician Samual Hahnemann (1796).

Homoeopathic remedies do not treat the presenting symptom but the body’s ability to heal itself with the result that prescriptions for the same named disease are usually different in each case. Essentially Homeopathy seeks to treat the spiritual, rather than physical root cause of disease.

Incense
Please refer to our brief history of incense article for more information on incense, its history and usage.

Indian Head Massage
A massage of the upper-back, arms, neck, head and face which is carried out on a fully-clothed client, usually sitting in an upright chair (as opposed to lying on a therapy/treatment couch).

Iridology
Iridology (pronounced eye-ridology) is a non-invasive practice in which patterns, colours and other characteristics of the iris (the coloured area around the pupil) are examined to determine a patient's state of health and the presence of disease. Iridology states that each area of the body is represented by a corresponding area in the iris.

Iridology is not a treatment for illness in itself, rather it is used to diagnose health problems and make recommendations for changes in diet or lifestyle. Examining the eyes to determine health is an historical practice dating back to the ancient Greeks, although there is some dispute as to the merits of modern Iridology.

Mandala
A Sanskrit word that means "circle" or "centre" - a traditional design often utilising the circle as symbol of the cosmos and the square: often seen as a symbol of the man-made world. Mandalas generally exhibit a centre, a radial symmetry, and cardinal points.

Mantra
A Sanskrit word, literally meaning "Mind Protection". Mantras protect the mind from ordinary appearances and conceptions. In Buddhism there are four types of mantra:

1. Mind mantras
2. Inner wind mantras
3. Sound mantras
4. Form mantras

There are three main ways to recite mantras: verablly, mentally and by vajra recitation (the highest form of Tantric meditation)

Mudra
Mudras are ritual, non verbal hand movements and gestures used in Hindu and Buddhist religious ceremonies. In Buddhism, mudras are believed to derive from the divine movements of the gods, and that as such they evoke more spiritual meaning than spoken words alone. Mudras are used in rituals and spiritual exercises such as meditation and concentration.

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Namaste
Prounounced "Nam-as-stay". A Hindu greeting/blessing commonly used in yoga.

Read our article about the meaning of "Namaste"

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
NLP is a therapeutic technique to detect and reprogramme unconscious patterns of thought and behavior in order to alter psychological responses. The basic principle of NLP is that it is in an individual's power to change their own subconscious programming for the better. NLP seeks to create positive and improved responses, and its applications include most areas involving human communications, such as education and accelerated learning, creative processes, health and wellbeing.

NLP is closely connected to, and relies in part on the use of hypnosis as an altered state of awareness which causes a person to be more open to auto-suggestions in NLP.

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Om
A sacred Sanskrit syllable and character, "Om" in used by Hindus and Buddhists in religious rites. Om was originally used by the Hindus as an exclamation of assent, like "Amen", then as an invocation, and later as a symbol of the trinity formed by the Hindu gods Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma.

"Om" is a composite word, composed of three different letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. The English equivalent of those are "a", "u", and "m", and represent the Trinity of the three supreme Hindu Gods: Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer. These three letters when pronounced properly together are said to create an invigorating effect in the body. Because of its significance this sacred syllable is spoken prior to any chants offered to the Gods.

Reflexology
The principle is that all the organs in the body are reflected on the foot or hand.
By pressing the relevant point, healing can be transferred to the particular area in need.
Original practitioners thought that crystal of lactic acid which caused sensitivity must be crushed to enable healing to take place. The pain was often considerable and this process has been superseded with more gentle methods.

Reiki
A Japenese healing discipline developed by Mikao Usui.
The principles are similar to most other healing techniques except that the system follows a pre-determined set of hand positions which form the basis for each treatment.

The system replies on the development of the students ability to transfer the healing energy and this may take considerable time.

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Shaman/Shamanism
Derived from the Siberian Tungus word 'saman' meaning person who has been possessed by, and mastered the spirits. Shamanism is possibly the oldest world religion, originating in Siberia over 8,000 years ago. It is reputedly a path to higher knowledge which is gained through the experience of rituals, ceremonies, prayer and meditation, in addition to the undergoing of initiation trials and tests. These rites of passage enable the shaman to carry out ancient healing practices.

Shiatsu
Shiatsu is a Japanese system similar to Acupuncture without the needles.

The practitioner may use elbows, feet, knees and fingers to transfer the "QI" or vital energy to balance the whole body of the patient.

Please refer to our sacred space article for more information on creating shrines.

Sri yantra
A Sri yantra is a meditational image used in Hindu meditation. The word is derived from the root "yam," meaning "to sustain". The Yantra is used to maintain a focused state during meditation. It is usually composed of an outer geometrical form enclosing a series of interior geometrical designs. Each particular design is used to concentrate on a specific purpose or intent during meditation.

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Wu Breathing
Wu is a Chinese breathing technique. Lit down in a relaxed position with your head on a little pillow and your arms resting at your sides, your feet a little more than hip-width apart. Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, just behind where your front teeth meet the gums, and begin to breathe naturally through your nose.
Imagine the breath coming through your nose to the top of your head and then down to the centre of your belly. Continue breathing and visualizing in this manner 20-30 minutes, concentrating on the breath coming in through your head. Repeat morning and at night.

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Yin Yang
The Yin Yang is a Taoist symbol of the interplay of forces in the universe. In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang represent the two primal cosmic forces in the universe. Yin (moon) is the receptive, passive, cold female force. Yang (sun) is masculine- force, movement, heat. The Yin Yang symbol represents the idealised balance of the forces; equalibrium in the universe.

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The word "Yoga" has two meanings, each of which go some way to explaining it.

The Sanskrit root yuj means to yoke or to bind, it also means union or communion with the will of the spirit (Paramatma or God). Yoga is a practice by which the mind, body and spirit can be focussed upon and unified with the spirit of the universe.

Yoga is about balance, harmony and moderation and the practice of Yoga consists of mental exercise, physical exercise and even guidance on diet and living. Yoga is the ultimate embodiment of the "Mind Body Soul - Whole" philosphy.

Yoga originated in India where the search for enlightenment and unity with the divine will was central to the culture, yet it has seen a resurgence in recent decades even in the more secular western world.

Zone Therapy
Zone Therapy is another name for Reflexology. Healing treatment is given to the zones of the foot which appear reflect the sensitivity of certain organs.