Holistic Medicine: A Life Without Fear

Originally published on kellybroganmd.com.

There is a radically different way to think about health. You may have heard about it, but are you clear on what it truly means, and the transformations it can yield in your mind, body and spirit?

You can fight or you can trust.

It’s really that simple. 

In conventional medicine, the body is a faulty machine that needs to be monitored, tinkered with, and saved from itself through chemical and surgical interventions, the avoidance of which could spell disaster. Through the conventional lens, for example, it’s us versus the germs and if we get exposed to one, they get in and try to get us. Our only responsibility is to take antibiotics and symptom-managing over-the-counter drugs while we continue to punch the clock. If we choose not to take antibiotics, well then, infections can spread and even kill! It’s all about FEAR. The unexpected, the devastating, the fatal. 

But there’s another story that you can ease into (or snap into in my case).

From this perspective, the body responds purposefully to its internal and external environment. Acute infectious illness – think coughing, diarrhea, sneezing, runny nose, night sweats – mobilizes cellular debris and can be seen as an effective and sophisticated method of detox when needed. In fact, based on our growing knowledge of the microbiome, some theorize that illness is simply a resonant activation of internal microorganisms when detox and recalibration are needed. We grow from the experience of acute illness in important ways – even if this means simply forcing you to pause and get into bed! In fact, you wouldn’t want to interfere with this, but rather support the body through it. 

It’s a frame shift but a profound one.

It’s the difference between using a warring mentality and a peacekeeping one. I have progressed through a type of alternative medicine that in many ways, continues to see the body as a series of cogs and wheels with problems to be fixed by using supplements rather than with meds. 

There’s something even more powerful that is possible and it involves honoring the body’s vast realms of unquantified wisdom, the power of belief, and the incredible potential for quantum leaps in self-healing when spirituality is included in the assessment.

Here’s what I had to say on the subject at the Functional Forum in Utah – 2016. Let me know what you think!