Posted on Sun, Apr. 16, 2006email thisprint this
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Bypassing the doctor's office, heading for the wellness spa
Alternative medicine has become more mainstream, bu whether it works depends on whom you ask.
BY MADELEINE MARR
mmarr@MiamiHerald.comIf only doctors could keep their magazine subscriptions up to date.
''The average time you see your physician is seven minutes,'' says Charles Stuart Platkin, a.k.a the Diet Detective and author of Breaking the Pattern: The 5 Principles You Need to Remodel Your Life, ``and chances are you spent over an hour in the waiting room.''
Nope. These days, it's not easy being seen.
It's one of the reasons why alternative medicine has gotten so hot in the past decade or so. Frustrated by the system, many have been bypassing the doctor's office for wellness spas and holistic centers.
''People just aren't getting what they need from their primary and secondary care physicians,'' Platkin says from his office in New York. ``But, at say, a reflexology appointment, you'll get a full hour with a professional who will try to treat you the best way they can.''
Time management aside, does so-called non-Western medicine work? Depends on whom you ask.
''If you feel like you're getting results, then you probably are,'' Platkin says. ``The placebo effect is a very big component to all this.''
Dr. Thomas J. Rice, medical director at Pritikin Longevity Center & Spa in Aventura, also believes the tide has turned. His reason: We've literally lost touch with one another.
''So many of us are halfway deaf from loud noises and music and we've lost our sense of smell, sense of taste,'' he says. ``We don't touch, unless you consider touching a casual handshake.''
He sees ''no down side'' if you choose to treat your nagging neck ache with such tactile procedures as acupuncture, developed in China at least 2,000 years ago.
''Hey, if it helps you relax, or control your emotions, I'm all for it,'' Rice says. ``There's a lot to be said about spiritual well-being.''
Though you may think it's bunk, alternative medicine is more mainstream than you may think.
In 1991, Congress passed a law ordering the National Institutes of Health to establish an office, now called the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), to foster research into unconventional practices.
''It's amazing that the government is finally looking seriously at this type of healing,'' says Tanya Gullick, owner of the Mizaan Holistic House, a newly opened wellness center in Miami Beach that offers such services as feng shui classes, hypnotherapy and reiki. ``But this is not a trend; it's ancient. It's only now that people are becoming open to it.''
Gullick, who came to South Florida eight years ago from London, thinks that super-harried schedules play a large part in today's illnesses.
''Life in general is stressful,'' she says. ``We go through so much pain and struggle that we are all looking for [ways to salve] the mind, body and soul.
''With this type of therapy, there are no quick fixes. We look at the individual as a whole [holistically] -- How do they eat? How do they sleep?'' Gullick says from the small, homey space. ``It's no longer New Agey and unexplored. ''
Dierde Sours, who runs Shakra Relaxation Oasis in Coral Gables, is of the same mind-set. Her Zen-like spot -- offering everything from belly dancing ($14 a class) to Gwyneth Paltrow's favorite, cupping, when toxins are suctioned from the skin with warm glass cups ($85 for one hour).
'I tell all my clients, `Leave your mind at your door.' ''
Aaahhh. Aren't you starting to feel better already?
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