Healing Our Bodies Through Healing the Earth

We Can Only Be as Healthy as Our Environment

The World Health Organization (2006) defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" (¶2), and the American Holistic Health Association (AHHA) (2007) defines holistic health as "the unlimited and unimpeded free flow of life force energy through body, mind, and spirit." (¶1). In addition, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines holistic as "relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts" (¶2). Thus, from the perspective of holistic healing, one would want to take into account all aspects of a being, including physical, mental, environmental, spiritual, emotional, lifestyle, etc., in order to examine his/her wellness. All parts must be in balance.

According to British research-scientist James Lovelock's Gaia Theory (many aspects of which have now become accepted by the mainstream), the earth is a self-regulating superorganism of which we humans are a part, with its different parts working together as an interconnected whole (n.d., ¶6). Lovelock defines the Gaia Hypothesis (now Gaia Theory) as:

"This postulates that the physical and chemical condition of the surface of the Earth, or the atmosphere, and of the oceans has been and is actively made fit and comfortable by the presence of life itself. This is in contrast to the conventional wisdom which held that life adapted to the planetary conditions as it and they evolved their separate ways. "(Lovelock, 1979, p. 152)

In essence, Gaia's systems function much like those of a body, but maintain the balance of organic nutrients, temperature, oceanic ph, makeup of the atmosphere, etc. rather than corporeal functions. From a holistic viewpoint, then, all systems must be functioning properly in order to have a healthy planet.