Four Holistic Therapies I Have Tried and My Honest Opinion of Them

I have always been curious about holistic therapies/treatments (also known as “complementary” or “alternative”). Saying that I believe it’s sensible for medical science to be the first line of treatment.

As a person who had cancer, I have seen and been sent some disturbing and infuriating fallacies about “miracle cures”.

My own experiences are just that, and not an endorsement. I would caution anyone not to get pressured into a course of treatments they cannot afford or are pinning too much hope on.

So, with that out of the way, let’s dive in!

Reiki

Reiki is one of the more “mystical” types of alternative therapies available. It can be performed on oneself if you learn the art/application of it as well.

It originated in Japan and involves the use of “spiritually guided life force” energy and hand-drawn sacred symbols. It can be practiced with a light touch or no touch.

The first time I tried Reiki was when I was undergoing chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

I was feeling scared about what my body was going through, and it’s possible I just wanted to believe something could help me, even a little.

The first time I had Reiki treatment, I didn’t feel relaxed, possibly because the practitioner was a man (who was perfectly nice, but I may have felt vulnerable, as it was an unknown thing I was trying). I felt nothing much from it, and “Is that it?” was my honest first impression.

I think it’s a subjective experience, and I probably would not have bothered with it again if I wasn’t in the situation I was in.

So I went back to try Reiki again, with a different practitioner. This time, it was with an older woman with whom I immediately felt secure.

From the moment she laid her hands on the crown of my head, I felt a powerful warmth, like a blanket emanating from her hands that spread out all over me.

I kept my eyes mostly closed and experienced the mild color flashes you might expect to see if you have ever meditated.

Areas of my body felt concentrated warmth, and sometimes icy cold when she would (it felt as if) “lift” something energetically out of me. It definitely felt like something was happening.

I felt calm and soothed, usually, but got emotional in one session where unprovoked tears came out. But again, I was under a lot of stress, so this was probably natural.

She warned me I would likely be tired afterward and need a nap, and she was right (admittedly I often needed naps, but I felt exhausted after lying on a table doing nothing!). I felt like my energy levels during chemo improved after I began Reiki. If it was psychosomatic, I couldn’t say.

I enjoyed the experience, and am open to the idea that Reiki healing is beneficial (saying that I had a positive outcome with my illness and did not pin my faith on this or any other non-medical therapy).

Acupuncture

Acupuncture originated in China and involves stimulating the “qi” or life force by using targeted pressure points with tiny needles.

This was something I wanted to see if it could help a physical ailment. The experience itself was relatively painless. I barely felt the needles going in at all. Twice, they pinched a nerve slightly if I moved in the wrong direction.

My experience of acupuncture itself was fine, and again, I needed a nap afterward! I had headaches sometimes afterward, but that is considered “normal”.

For each treatment, the acupuncturist would focus on some of the same areas but add in new ones that she thought might help. One drawback for me was that this acupuncturist’s style of treatment was a bit too “wellness fixes everything” in attitude for my liking.

I didn’t appreciate listening to someone drone on about exercise and diet while I laid there, helpless as a slug. To be honest, I would have preferred if she left the room/me in peace during the “lying there half-naked with needles in” phase!

Wellness culture sometimes minimizes the lived experience of cancer or anyone else who isn’t traditionally perceived as “healthy”, so I am sensitive to what I feel are “toxic positivity” inclinations in some corners of wellness or holistic type ideology.

I would be open to trying it again with a different therapist because it was not an unpleasant experience, but I cannot say I had any positive or noticeable effect from the treatment.

Acupressure

Acupressure is acupuncture’s lesser-known cousin; it is like acupuncture but there are no needles. I only tried this once. It was essentially a hippy-ish but strategic massage. The practitioner and I talked about why I was there beforehand in some depth.

The therapist methodically applied pressure to various targeted points on my body with her hands (apparently, it has to do with “meridians” which are the “path of the life force” (for balance, this is not recognized by western medicine). But if you are submitting to these kinds of things, it’s maybe best to keep an open mind.

It was an intense, but not unpleasant, digging into and relaxing the pressure points sensation. It’s hard to compare to other massages I have had because it was a unique technique. If you have ever tried Swedish massage, you might like acupressure. It is similar in intensity.

She also dramatically cracked my back at one point. It felt SO GOOD (Ahhh! That relief, am I right?). It was unplanned though, so please consider your spine with these things, especially if you have a history of back problems.

I felt fine, and more relaxed/loose in my muscles for a week afterward, and I wouldn’t mind trying it again.

Reflexology

The idea of reflexology is that areas of the feet correspond to the rest of the body, and when pressure is applied, it is beneficial to those areas.

It was essentially just a really nice foot massage treatment, but I only tried it once and it might offer more benefits with repetition. Aromatherapy oils were used, and I felt totally relaxed.

I think it would be a good “entry-level” type of treatment to try for anyone curious about these things. I would be open to trying it again, especially as I am now “lady with a podiatrist” years old (ugh!).

In Conclusion:

I hope this has been of interest to anyone who has ever wondered about any of these things, especially anyone who, like me, is “curious but skeptical”. I do not endorse or recommend anything mentioned here beyond entertainment value.

I enjoyed and feel benefits from a few things I tried. Are some things not for everyone or dubious about their legitimacy? Possibly so.

From my own experiences, there is no obvious harm in having a holistic treatment if it helps relieve any stress or other issues that a person may struggle to cope with.

I think these alternative therapies can fill a certain void in lifting the spirits and feelings of well-being, as long as a person’s entire faith is not vested in them. I think that the power of persuasion is a legitimate factor. If you want to believe something is working, you probably will feel the effects more than a complete skeptic.

A big takeaway from these experiences for me was also to never underestimate the power of a therapist-advised nap (or any nap!).

If I am ever excessively tired now, I try to nap. It really is so curative, it is societally mandated to take siestas in some countries for a reason, after all!

Thank you for reading.

*This article was originally published by the author on Medium.