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| 3. Emotional and mental factors. Psychological techniques are important for identifying and treating emotional and mental factors in health and disease. All the branches of psychotherapy are involved here, but especially the more holistically oriented approaches of humanistic and transpersonal psychology. A conscious and free-flowing emotional life is fundamental to achieving any inner harmony. This does not mean that everyone must get involved in depth psychology, but that attention be given in the appropriate form for an individual's emotional needs. |
| 4. Spirituality. Spiritual factors in human healing are becoming increasingly recognized by materialistic Western medicine. There are meditative and prayer-based techniques where the person aligns his or her being with a higher spirit, or those where a practitioner works with the energy body of a patient. Some openness to spirituality is vital and it might take the form of an uplifting sunset, being touched by poetry or art, belief in a religion or simply joy in being alive. |
| Gardening, Tree Hugging and Stress Management |
| If we get a bit creative it is easy to see how herbalism fits into a broad holistic context. The role of herbs need not be limited to their ingestion. This is a perfect excuse to get into the garden, walk in the woods and literally "smell the roses!" |
| As we shall see later in the book chamomile is a very useful relaxing herb, combining a pleasant flavor with a range of relevant properties. Before the Victorians developed the grass lawn (a major cause of stress for some people!) lawns were made up of varieties of herbs that could cope with being trampled upon, and chamomile was |
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