Positive Health Online

What happens at the interface of mind and body is arguably one of the most exciting and profound areas of health and life today, as it has been through the millennia. Not by accident have ancient disciplines including yoga, Qi Gong, and Chinese medicine, focussed so profoundly upon both body and mind, with the recognition that unhappiness, anger, fear and shock may be at the root of many physical diseases.

That this knowledge is alive and well today is evident from the articles featured in this expanded issue - Qi Gong, Yoga, Chinese Medicine, NLP, Digestion and CranioSacral Therapy. The Research Updates also contain clinical evidence that bereavement in HIV-positive individuals following the death of their intimate partner, leads to immune changes affecting HIV progression and mortality.

However, as Dr Allan Rudolf points out in his column (page 52), being a practitioner oneself does not guarantee one's own longevity; two of the world's most gifted body therapists - Lauren Berry and Moshe Feldenkrais - tragically died prematurely. Both were smokers and adopted unhealthy lifestyles. Furthermore, their loss has deprived the world of their precious knowledge and skills. Knowing the answers is not enough - practice is also required in order to embody and live the truths we espouse.

Which brings us to Leon Chaitow's moan (page 27) about the snake oil aspect of health shows - jewellery, candles, incense, T-shirts, etc - which tends to overshadow or even obliterate the participation of the more clinically validated therapeutic disciplines in complementary medicine - nutrition, homoeopathy, osteopathy, bodywork, acupuncture, aromatherapy etc.

Positive Health will be at the Your Health Show at Olympia from 11-14 July, at Stand No. G 612. In celebration of our two year anniversary since the launch of Positive Health magazine, we will be featuring very attractive prices for back issues and introductory subscriptions. We look forward to meeting many of you, our readers and friends. See you there!