The health care debates continue in Washington, D.C., Sacramento and other state capitals around our country.
Health care “reform” discussions often focus first and foremost on money, then on availability and choices of insurance plans and providers.
The politicians, however, are not focusing on quality of care. We should be focusing on getting successful outcomes from the healthcare we presently receive.
We are ignoring the real problem with our nation’s overall health and we are overlooking the one guaranteed solution to the country’s habit of spending too much money for too little actual medical improvement.
What is that solution? Provide the average person the power to select whatever medical solution they think will deal effectively with their medical condition.
The establishment western-style medical profession and medical businesses do not now fairly compete with so-called “alternative” health practices such as yoga, body-work (massage) meditation, and breath training (“pranayama” in the ancient language of Sanskrit).
Alternative health therapies get zero insurance company and government funding while establishment medical businesses get it all.
“Alternative” health practices developed over thousands of years, mostly in assorted non-European cultures. They are currently being refined on a grand scale in the United States by hundreds of thousands of paid and volunteer practitioners.
While millions of Americans, out of their own pockets, are paying for these health services, many millions more are not able to do so because of the lack of government and health insurance financial support.
Upper middle class and wealthy Americans are freely choosing to pay for these “alternative” health services. Why? Because they have little or no side effects, and they are incredibly effective in curing or controlling countless complex chronic conditions from auto-immune diseases to mental illness, to obesity.
Anyone who doubts the viability of these “alternative” ancient health practices, as practiced in the United States, should have visited last weekend’s “Shakti Fest” in Joshua Tree.
The event involved hundreds of simultaneous yoga and breath work classes, meditation sessions, body-work therapy treatments and also education. Added to these health practices were constant musical performances of American adaptations of ancient “Kirtan” music, singing and dancing.
Adding to the healthy environment were the on-site vendors selling healthy vegetarian foods, drinks, and ancient herbal remedies.
Thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds from around our country and abroad attended. The general health of the participants was obvious, even to the most casual observer.
Most participants camped out in the surrounding Joshua Tree desert landscape. Despite the obstacles of intense sun, blowing sands, and dry air, the attendees enthusiastically participated in their individually selected classes and sessions.
Most western medical professionals recognize that a patient’s motivation to get better, plus smart life-style changes to healthy daily practices, are the guarantees of successful medical treatments.
Yet, the medical establishment, insurance companies and governments fail to do the one simple act which would stimulate patient motivation and changes toward healthy lifestyles: the financial support of patient free choice of successful “alternative” health practices developed over thousands of years
Joel Block is a retired attorney and freelance writer living in Rossmoor.
