“Unless you try it, it sounds very cosmic and very airy-fairy,” said Farida Khizam. Khizam, a practitioner of the Japanese energy therapy reiki, is part of what could be called a new vanguard of complementary and alternative medicine that has steadily been creeping up all over the world.
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a term for the group of medical systems, practices and products – things like homeopathy and acupuncture, and even yoga and meditation – that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine. By definition, there are no scientific explanations or verifications for CAM practices; as such, they are often disregarded as little more than gloried snake-oil scams.
But if many people are skeptical, and even outright disdainful, of complementary and alternative medicine, many too are opening up these unconventional methods. A retired army official who lives near Akkar told NOW Lebanon that he’s been hooked on Hujama treatments for five years. Hujama, also called cupping, involves creating a vacuum on the skin by placing inverted cups on specific parts of the body. It is believed by practitioners to unblock and realign the body’s natural energy. Sometimes, the process also involves puncturing the skin before applying the cup so that “poisons” and “toxins” are sucked out of the body.
While Hujama would be considered less than common, some CAM methods – like yoga and herbal supplements – are nearly mainstream nowadays. A number of major hospitals in the west have even established “integrative medicine” programs offering complementary treatments in conjunction with standard care. And while Lebanon’s medical establishment is not quite so convinced, CAM treatments are becoming increasingly available here on a private basis.
Working on invisible ailments
Khizam, a Lebanese raised in Australia, worked a pharmacist for twenty years in Australia and Ireland. She made the switch to alternative medicine – receiving a reiki master’s education in Ireland – after witnessing her customers go unhealed by conventional treatments. Today, she has thrown herself wholeheartedly into the world of holistic medicine, recommending books on everything from reflexology to color therapy.
“Whatever the ailment is, there’s always a psychosomatic background to it,” she said, expressing the basis of her belief in the effectiveness of reiki. “Obviously, the mind is not detached from the body and has an effect on it, and usually, (an ailment) is something connected emotionally or spiritually or mentally, in one way or another.”
Reiki, Khizam explained, works on the “seven different energy centers, or chakras… It works on this energy in the body, the aura around the body and in what they call bio-fields…” According to Khizam, a reiki master “can feel heat differences; for example, if it is very hot or if it’s extremely cold. Extreme cold usually refers to a blockage in the energy meridians… Sometimes you find that some area is extremely hot, and you know that there’s a lot of activity or, quite often, a lot of anger – usually in certain parts where people store anger and store pain – and then, quite often, it manifests in a sort of organ mutation that can ultimately results in some sort of cancer or something.”
All this talk of chakras and energy meridians may sound like hocus pocus, but Khizam has managed to win over customers. One of her former patients, Michel (not his real name), was diagnosed with MS in 1997. He made the decision to try alternative treatments after the drugs he was taking for “drop foot” – a common symptom of MS characterized by a terrible weakness in the leg – stopped working.
“I was very much for conventional medicine at the time,” he said, “but I have an open mind.” Michel tried meditation, which helped some, and later began attending reiki treatments with Khizam. He and Khizam both say that after the first few sessions, Michel was responding very well to treatment. Khizam said Michel’s recovered leg movement convinced her that “a large part of [Michel’s] illness was probably fear-based.” (Michel underwent a significant trauma in the past but chose not to discuss it on record.) Although the improvement was only temporary, Michel said the reiki treatments “opened his eyes.”
Not just hippies and health-nuts
Michel’s story is common insofar as he is an example of someone who turned to CAM after conventional medicine appeared unable to help. Batoul, a teacher from Saida, uses alternative medicine to treat migraines. “I tried many doctors,” she said, “and everyone said just to take painkillers.” She eventually consulted a homeopath, who told her to stop eating certain foods and performed energy therapies on her. “I still get migraines,” she said “but not as much and it’s much easier.”
According to Abdul R. Merhi, a homeopathic pharmacist who has been practicing in Lebanon since 1994, most people turn to CAM for minor ailments or ailments with obvious emotional aspects. “Most of my customers come for stress, or for food intolerances,” he said.
Sana, a 23-year-old public relations assistant, decided to give energy therapy a try after a bad breakup left her physically and emotionally exhausted. “I was skeptical, but I really wanted it to work,” she said, adding that while she felt “really good” after the treatment, she couldn’t say whether there were any lasting results.
As Sana described her experience, a friend chimed in with a more skeptical point of view. “It’s a scam,” the young man said. “Sure, I’ll admit that if you can convince someone enough, they’ll start to feel better; but do I think that some hippy’s gonna cure my cancer by feeling my chakras or realigning my chi? No way.”
In any case, with complementary and alternative medicine practices popping up all over the place, going to the doctor will never be the same.