A variety of alternative medicines and therapies have been becoming popular widespread nowadays, however some have also been criticized by the medical community that the methods are deficient in of scientific proofs. Alternative medicine is any healing treatment that falls outside the realm of conventional medicine. According to National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), alternative medicine practices are recognized into five main categories: alternative medical systems, biologically based therapies, mind-body interventions, energy therapies, and manipulative and body-based methods (Rahul, nd: 1of 2). In discussing whether or not to use alternative medicines, people need to first consider two sides of coin. On one side, alternative medicines point to their emphasis on mind-body care and the use of natural substances. On the other side, some argue that alternative medicines have limited evidences from scientific research about their effectiveness and they may also cause adverse side-effects.
Those who are in favour of alternative medicine believe that their mind-body medicine has powerful healing effects. The mind, body and spirit are involved in its healing method (Elizabeth 2009: 1 of 3). The ability of mind-body synchronization approaches to the interaction among the brain, mind, body and behavior enables them to operate the mind to recover patient’s health (NCCAM nd: 2 of 8). Examples of well-known mind-body practices are meditation, yoga and acupuncture. The distinction of mental benefit of performing regular meditation is the relief of stress, anxiety and depression. It is also known that meditation can help to improve physical condition such as high blood pressure and asthma. The study case of asthma patients in severe condition practicing in Sahaja Yoga illustrates that this meditation could improve their mind and also slow down the disease process (researchingmeditation nd: 1of1).
Yet another positive