On the window of my office in Louisville, KY, there are two phrases: “Holistic Physical Therapy” and “Mind/Body Coaching”.
My husband and I drive by the office frequently, and he commented that the word “holistic” probably deters many people from reaching out. I pointed out that it probably attracts certain people to the business as well.
Then later this week as I contemplated the conversation, I began to get curious about what I think holistic means.
Here is what I’ve come up with. Holistic just simply means there is always another possible way to help you overcome your ailments. Mainstream medical care tends to look at disease, pain, and other health concerns in a very limited way. And if the tools they have in their tool box don’t work, they claim, “there is no solution to your issue.”
Here is where I get a bit irritated. Because people hear, “there is nothing you/we can do”, enough, and they start to believe it.
Holistic simply means, there are more options out there. I’ve got this purple toolbox with some really cool tools, like medicine, surgery, exercise. But ooh…there is also this orange tool box with some other cool tools like yoga, dry needling, mindfulness, and breathwork. Ooh – I almost forgot! There is a yellow tool box with coaching, nutrition, supplements, and cupping. I’m also consistently creating and building new tool boxes.
If I don’t have a toolbox with a tool that can help, I can find you someone who uses a different tool box altogether.
That’s the nature of holistic physical therapy. There are so many different options out there available to use, and why would you want to limit the tools to only one tool box?
Maybe holistic doesn’t have to have a bad name anymore, maybe we just have to help people understand what it actually means.
With love wherever you find yourself on your healing journey,
KC