Being Holistic

What Does Being Holistic Mean?

I have been pondering recently what it truly means to be a holistic dentist or practitioner. Is it purely a philosophy that one applies to the way that they work, the way they view a patient/client, the materials and medications they recommend and the modalities that are used or is it more than this is?

Where Does Being Holistic Start?

Is it that to be truly holistic the practice of it must come first from a way of life that one lives, with the intention of that livingness being passed on through the way that they are that makes a person holistic? That it is a livingness from the body and not solely information that one has required from the mind which is conveyed by a recall to your patient.

Anyone can learn and regurgitate information then claim to be holistic but is that enough?

We all know the phrase “practice what we preach” yet how many of us know doctors who smoke, naturopaths who drink alcohol, practitioners who choose unhealthy lifestyle habits and lack true vitality and health or are burnt out from working too many hours, seeing more clients than they can handle and are desperately trying to “save” others at their own expense.

To me this doesn’t feel like a holistic approach at all; as I too used to be that way – working long hours and not truly caring for myself or my body and then trying to educate my patients on how to care for themselves. Surely if we don’t practice what we preach then all the information we pass on or share with our clients is hollow and lacks any basis or foundation and is in fact little more than empty words backed up by the fact that you have a qualification or title when it should be backed up by the quality of how you live and all that you are.

Holistic Dentistry

One of the major tenants of holistic dentistry is to use materials that will not harm or be toxic to the body and thus we do not use mercury-based fillings nor fluoride and are very focused on and committed to nutrition, prevention, oral hygiene and gum care.

This is a great starting point for health care but what if being holistic goes deeper than this and has to be more encompassing? What if the way we are living and the way that we are could be as, if not more, harm to our patients as the materials and chemicals we avoid using?

If the way we live has the potential to harm another then it makes sense to me that to be truly holistic would mean choosing to live in a way that supports the practitioner to be clear both physically and energetically so as not to harm or be toxic to our clients. But what would this way of living be, what would it look like and what would it require?

State of Being, Energy and Holistic Lifestyle

If we come from an understanding that everything is energy, then everything we do, say and think is energy. And therefore not only are we a physical being made up of flesh and bone but we are also made of energy. And, if that is indeed the case, then what if that energy could and does affect others?

If everything is energy, then the energy that is in me is in everything that I do and say, and in every needle I give, in every filing, I place, in every gesture I make, in every interaction that I have and so on. If this is a possibility then would it not be wise to ensure that the energy within me is also harmless so that when I work holistically with a client or patient my energy is not harming them.

Could this be what being holistic is truly about?

If we give consideration to energy then a true holistic practitioner would choose to live in an energetically responsible way to ensure first and foremost that the quality of the energy they are is totally clear, harmless and non-imposing so as not to affect or alter the energy of another so that the way they are comes with energetic integrity.

Equally, with-in us all is an energy that is our natural essence which resides in our inner-heart, it is our natural way of being, our inner-most or esoteric, that which comes from love.

Being Holistic Is Being Ourselves

Left to simply be we can connect to this essence and be who we are in full and express from that fullness or energy.

Our natural essence would express love, joy and harmony and never impose upon or harm another as it knows and sees all as equal to itself.

But we live in a world that does not want or ask us to be who we are. Instead, our world bombards us with ideas, beliefs and education that tell us we are we what do and the roles that we play. It tells us and teaches us who to be rather than letting us know who we are from what is naturally there to impulse us forth.

We then live life from the outside in rather than from the inside out, so that we then act in a way that allows us to take in what suits us to best give us the recognition, acceptance and identification that we then believe to be love which isn’t love at all but us pandering to and pleasing others by behaving in way that gets us the attention we so desperately seek to make up for losing our true connection to self.

If we were able to live in a way that assisted us to re-connect to our essence or inner-most and know who we truly are then what we naturally express energetically would be an all-encompassing livingness that would allow us to truly claim that we are being holistic.

But are we able to live in a way that allows us to re-connect to that natural essence with-in and how would we go about it when the world is set up for us to not know who we are?

Reconnecting To Who We Are

In truth, it is actually quite simple. It is a simple as making a choice, a choice that says I know I am already love, that I come from the divine (God) and then applying some tools to re-confirm and bring you back to that. For me, these tools and awareness’s came from the presentations, teachings and books of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine that were resonating with a knowing with-in that was already mine but which until then I had yet to give a voice to.

I began to apply these tools and teachings to my daily livingness, in my way, and I got to feel who I am again and live from what my body feels and not that which my mind has been fed.

It has not been something that has happened overnight but more a gentle unfoldment of me and a discarding of that which gets in the way of me being me.

At first, it was challenging as it brought up so much of what I had buried, denied and tried to numb myself from feeling and being aware of. It has required a willingness, to be honest, to be aware, to seek true healing, not relief or comfort and a commitment to me living me to the best of my ability.

Through a loving dedication to self and an unwavering commitment to be a student of me I feel I have found a way of livingness that supports me to be who I truly am. Now I am not perfect, and thankfully no perfection is here sought, and there are times when I have “wobbled” and had my ups and downs but it is about the ability to acknowledge when I am with me and when I have lost myself and then be able to utilise the tools to bring myself back to me and my livingness.

The first step in re-connecting to self is the gentle breath meditation which arrests the energy of the outside world from entering your body so you get to feel where you are at, have a marker that you can live from and feel when you are no longer being gentle.

Gentleness then becomes a way of being and the more gentle you are the more self-love you begin to experience. Self-love and gentleness are the bridge from the chaos of our life back to the stillness (or love) that we naturally are.

Self-love is about making choices not to alter who you are and to deeply honour and nurture your body. For me, this means choosing not to consume foods that make me stimulated, numb or dull or change my biochemistry, physiology or my energetic quality. Thus over time, I have been able to feel that there are certain foods that no longer support me to re-connect to and live from my inner-most; these foods include gluten, dairy, sugar, caffeine, alcohol and starchy carbohydrates.

Self-love also means caring for my body by not pushing myself beyond what feels comfortable or gentle in the way that I do things, exercise or carry my shopping for example. In this way, I can connect to what feels right for me and what doesn’t, then honour that feeling rather than ignore or override it.

I actually get to listen to what my body wants and needs and not what I think it does from what I have been told or taught from others. (for more details see Esoteric living or Universal Medicine).

By listening to my body I have come to realise that it has a natural rhythm that asks me to honour it by winding down before bed and going to sleep early so that my body can recharge, regenerate and heal so as to awaken feeling refreshed with true vitality to go about my day.

To facilitate being able to be aware of my body and my feelings I allow myself to have moments during the day which I use to check in and recollect myself. It can be stopping to sit quietly for a few minutes, whilst I’m eating or having a cup of tea or just taking a few gentle breaths before I move on to my next task during the day. Within this I practice conscious presence which means that my mind is with me in what my body is doing; my mind is concentrating on the task at hand paying attention to even the smallest detail and quality of energy.

For example, when I am typing I am aware of and can feel my fingertips pressing the keys, when I walk I feel how my body moves and the pressure of my feet against the floor rather than walking and my mind being focused on what has just gone before or what may be about to happen in the future.

Conscious presence allows me to be connected with myself and stops me becoming drained by living two or more situations at the same time, one in my body (the now) and one in my mind (the past or the future). I can feel if I am not with me and regather myself via the gentle breath thus arresting any ill energy that was running in my body.

These simple tools or techniques along with being willing to deal with my issues and reactions and look at my ideas and beliefs so as to clear them from my body and live more from my own inner impulses have assisted me to reconnect with and live the real me.

I have been working as a holistic dentist and practitioner for over 25 years and have come to understand the importance of living with true vitality in my life as a way to not only enjoy my life to its fullest but also because it is only in the reflection of the way one lives that the same love and care can be inspired in another.

After much time spent studying both dentistry and other modalities which never felt quite right, I found the level of care and integrity and the truly whole-istic approach I was looking for in the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. And thus from living in such a simple way, a way that can be truly considered whole-istic I feel that I can claim to be both an esoteric and holistic person, not merely a holistic dentist.

Being Holistic Is A Way Of Life

Being holistic is more than following a set of guidelines, philosophies, ideas and beliefs or saying that you treat the body as a whole.

Being holistic is a livingness, a way of life that connects you to who you truly are and lets that express in all that you do so that you leave another equal and unimposed upon. It is a livingness that comes from the inner-most and naturally impulses you to be all that you are in your fullness knowing that all others are equally that livingness should they choose to re-connect to it. Being holistic is choosing to live with energetic responsibility, energetic integrity and energetic quality.