1.Holistic health refers to a philosophy of medical care that views physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of life as closely interconnected and equally important approaches to treatment. While frequently associated with alternative medicine, it is also increasingly used in mainstream medical practice as part of a broad view of patient care. 2.What Is Holistic Medicine? Holistic Medicine is defined by the Canadian Holistic Medical Association as follows. Holistic medicine is a system of health care which fosters a cooperative relationship among all those involved, leading towards optimal attainment of the physical, mental emotional, social and spiritual aspects of health. It emphasizes the need to look at the whole person, including analysis of physical, nutritional, environmental, emotional, social, spiritual and lifestyle values. It encompasses all stated modalities of diagnosis and treatment including drugs and surgery if no safe alternative exists. Holistic medicine focuses on education and responsibility for personal efforts to achieve balance and well being. Suzan Walter, President of the American Holistic Health Association (AHHA), put together an excellent summary of the principals of Holistic Health. The summary can be found on the AHHA Web Page. For those unfamiliar with Holistic Medicine, I strongly encourage reading this short summary. 3.Philosophy Holism refers to the idea that an entity is greater than the sum of its parts. In the case of health, the entity in question is the human body. Holistic concepts of health and fitness view achieving and maintaining good health as involving more than just taking care of all the various components that make up the physical body—attention must be paid to aspects such as emotional and spiritual well-being as well. The goal is a wellness that encompasses the entire person, rather than just the lack of physical pain or disease. Holistic health is not itself a method of treatment, but instead an approach to how treatment should be applied. Traditional medical philosophy approached patient care as simply attempting to correct physical symptoms, using standardized methods such as the prescription of drugs or the undertaking of surgery, while the patient is only passively involved. In contrast, holistic approaches to health are wide and varied. When the concepts of holistic health are put into practice within the health care system, the approach to therapy takes on a new dimension; traditional medical care is expanded to encompass a broad spectrum of therapies coordinated to meet the totality of a particular individual. The focus is no longer on just the disease, but the whole person. The role of the patient also changes in learning how choices, actions and attitudes affect the present condition, and how one can be an active participant in the healing process.

Question:
I'd like some help naming this very strange alternative health technique. I attended the Omega Institute about 20 years ago and there was this guy there advocating a very strange exercise. I never got to take his class but the intro discussion was something like this:

Some doctor/practitioner in Germany (swedish? swiss? somewhere else?) discovered a technique of contracting your voluntary sphincter muscles (eyes, mouth, anus) all at the same time over and over (I think it was like, one contraction per second or two). What this would do, supposedly, is trigger the brain to continue these contractions and I think it would synchronize with your involuntary sphincter muscles and perhaps other skelatal muscular contractions. I think he said you get to experience a full body workout while your mind disassociates from your body. This supposedly promotes improved physical and mental health. I think he characterized it as an induced seizure.

I'm not sure about all the facts, but it was definitely a synchronized voluntary sphincter muscle contraction exercise that caused one to go into some altered state of consciousness to get a physical workout while somehow freeing the mind.

Anyone know anything more about this strange modality?

Answer: Exercises involving the voluntary contraction of certain sphincter muscles (which, unless I'm badly wrong, aren't present in the mouth or the eyes) are commonly called "Kegel exercises" and are, as far as I know, quite effective in reducting post-partum incontinence in women and (though there's less evidence) increasing orgasmic intensity in men. I know of no evidence to support claims beyond those.