This is a post written in collaboration with Elena Bensonoff of Wholistic®—an Elephant partner. We’re honored to work with anyone this dedicated to helping us heal mind, body, and soul and bring ourselves back into balance with the world around us. ~ Ed.

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“The old healer to the soul:
It’s not your back that hurts, but the burden.
It’s not your eyes that hurt, but injustice.
It’s not your head that hurts, it’s your thoughts.
Not the throat, but what you don’t express or say with anger.
Not the stomach hurts, but what the soul does not digest.
It’s not the liver that hurts, it’s the anger.
It’s not your heart that hurts, but love.
And it is love itself that contains the most powerful medicine.” ~ Unknown
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Can Holistic Healing Coexist with Mainstream Medicine?

Our bodies are intricate and complex structures, and the experiences we live through them are equally layered and complicated.

Many of us have begun to recognize that, in terms of our health, we are more than just the sum of our physical parts. And with this growing understanding, we are looking further than just the physical manifestations in order to heal our illness, trauma, and dysfunction. We are going to yoga classes to heal our PTSD, using mindfulness to support our recovery from cancer, and seeking out chakra healing to bring our nervous systems into balance.

More and more scientists and medical professionals have started to pay attention to “alternative” therapies and practices such as mindfulness, meditation, and yoga as studies have proven the beneficial effects of these therapies. We, in the Western world at least, are only recently fully waking up to our connectedness with everything around us and seeking to treat underlying causes, not just symptoms. To move actively toward true and vibrant health, rather than just reactively manage our diseases.

What exactly is a holistic practitioner?

They go by many names; non-traditional practitioner, holistic healer, alternative or complementary therapist. And they may use many different modalities, from herbalism to kinesiology, from pranic healing to chakra balancing. The common thread is their overall approach to health and healing. Holistic practitioners look at health in a holistic way; they see the mind, body and spirit as an integrative whole.

A deeper look into our energy system >>

Mainstream medicine, generally, tends to see the body as a collection of separate systems, with specialists looking at a particular area in isolation. While being focused and allowing for a deep knowledge of a particular system, this method often misses the complexity and intricate interactions that happen within the body.

The wisdom of holistic healing is based largely on empirical knowledge—meaning that the information is obtained from observation. This approach is as old as humanity, but for some, this lack of scientific data devalues the therapy. Although the holistic approach may not have scientific proof, it has centuries of empirical evidence to back it up.

The aim of the holistic practitioner is also somewhat different to the mainstream medical approach. A holistic practitioner seeks to restore balance by supporting and nurturing the body’s natural functions. Rather than suppressing symptoms, the aim is to address the underlying cause of an illness or disease. This is one of the reasons why the body has to be looked at as a whole. Taking this approach means that although results are not usually immediate, they are often long lasting.

But, because of the explosion of holistic healing in recent years, it can be a bit of a minefield out there when it comes to finding an experienced, authentic, and appropriate healer for our needs. And most of us recognize that it’s usually unwise to abandon medical science altogether but adopt a more integrative approach to their health and healing, one that combines scientific based medicine with more holistic methods.

Which is why some medical doctors are partnering with approved holistic specialists to offer a more comprehensive and wholesome approach to healing and pain management.

Elena Bensonoff, the founder of Wholistic® is one such leading specialist.

Elena is board-certified consultant pharmacist, spiritual health practitioner, and intuitive healer.

Get Elena’s free chakra assessment >>

While that might seem like an unlikely combination, each discipline shares the same overriding desire: to seek the truth, and to serve each patient as comprehensively as possible.

Her mission is to help people find balance and a deep sense of inner calm and belonging. So often, the root cause of our physical or emotional imbalances is embedded in difficult emotions we have experienced that are blocking the flow of energy in our bodies—increasing the likelihood of chronic pain, anxiety, and even disease.

She uses a blend of energy healing work, essential oils and salts to act as a vessel—redirecting the universal energy flow of light and love wherever it’s needed most in your body.

How does energy healing work?

Energy is an unseen force that flows around and through each and every one of us. It can be found in every cell, every nerve, and hormone in our body. Not only is it in our body, it also surrounds us. We’ve all experienced the feel of a place or a person. It is what makes us instantly like some people, and feel repelled by others. There are some places we feel comfortable in, and others we can’t wait to leave. This is all based on energy. It is not measurable, it is not quantifiable, and yet each of us has experienced it.

Although it is unseen, it can affect our health. The energy of emotions can cause physical symptoms. For example, when you are feeling angry you may get a headache. Or if you are anxious you may become nauseous. This is why if we only treat the symptoms, and do not address the underlying cause, it will do very little to fix the problem in the long-term.

Holistic therapists often use energy healing to activate the body’s subtle energy systems to remove deep-seated blocks. By breaking through these energetic blocks, we stimulate the body’s inherent ability to heal itself.

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We are more than the sum of our parts.

True healing happens when both our energetic body and our physical bodies are in alignment and working together. In our modern world, we tend to be disconnected from our energy. We ignore, suppress, or eliminate problems, rather than being curious about how they came about in the first place.

Unfortunately, when we disregard the energy behind the issue, and only aim to remove the symptoms, we never get to the cause of the issue. We may feel better in the short term, but one problem is replaced with another.

The same applies when we disregard science in favor of wholly alternative methods. We don’t provide our energetic systems with a grounded and stable base within which to heal. By integrating both the holistic medical and mainstream philosophies, practitioners like Elena are able to treat both the symptoms, and the foundational causes of a disease, providing a more complete therapeutic service.

By seeing the body as a whole, and treating underlying causes not just symptoms, they are able to work with their patients to achieve true health, rather than just provide disease management.
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Learn how Elena’s chakra healing can help calm anxiety, ease pain, and bring you
back to balance >>

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“My experience with Elena was nothing short of profound. Within minutes she intuitively knew the top 3 things I needed to work on without knowing anything about me other than my name.

I am a mental health counselor, so I spend a good part of my day being analytical and cerebral. While I believe in the power of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, I also believe that if we want to be our best selves we need to work on all aspects.

Working with Elena is the perfect balance. She gets you out of your thinking mind and in to your feeling body. If you believe that we are energy and we have the ability to open our chakras to experience living fully, go see her. If you don’t believe it, go see her. She’ll change your mind (and your spirit).”
~ Marissa Geraci, LMHC, Licensed Mental Health Counselor 

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Editor: Khara-Jade Warren

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