According to a 1997 national survey, Americans spent at least 12.2 billion dollars out of pocket for some form of "alternative" care in the previous year. Clearly, people believe that natural and holistic therapies are useful and many are willing to pay for them. Many more, however, probably would choose holistic approaches if they could find a way to do so.

If you answer "yes" to any of the following questions, this article may be of assistance:

Are you routinely spending a lot of money for OTC vitamins, supplements, herbs, etc. with no or little noticeable results?

Do you wish you could see a holistic care practitioner but don't know how you can possibly afford it?

Are you limited by a traditional insurance plan that covers some alternative/complementary modalities but not your therapy or therapist of choice?

Are you drawn to a holistic therapy but restricted because your insurance requires hard obtaining pre-authorized referral from your primary care physician?

There was a time in my life when I could have answered yes to most of these questions. My life was stable and I was making a modest but livable middle class income with good job security. At the same time, like many of us, I was extremely stressed, unhappy, anxious and depressed. I knew I could use some help but I couldn't see how I could possibly afford what my insurance wouldn't cover. Then my life hit a major crisis and I found answers that weren't as difficult as I had imagined.

I hope the following tips that I've found to be true and transforming in my life will be helpful in some way to others:

Make a choice and do it.

Even when I was forced by pain and crisis to deal with my stress, my motor-mind kept telling me I couldn't afford it. However, my body and heart were screaming for relief. In her great wisdom, my first Reiki/massage therapist told me at my initial visit to simply do whatever I felt I could do. I decided to give it a fair shot and committed myself to weekly sessions for a month. A month passed and I was so pleased with the cumulative results that I found myself committing to the work a bit longer.

It wasn't long before I suddenly became aware one day that I was able to afford this work. Once I had chosen to take care of myself, the priorities in my life gently and naturally shifted to accommodate this choice. I never felt deprived, never forced a budget on myself and didn't noticeably change my standard of living. I just noticed that I had grown to need just a little bit less of a number of things I viewed as essential. Overall, my life became more balanced.

Choose your care wisely.

I used to spend a fortune with little results on vitamins, supplements and products chosen from ads and articles I had read. Today I wouldn't dream of addressing my concerns holistically without competent professional advice. I now know this is in my best interest, and inevitably, it saves me money in the long term.

While there are many excellent healthcare products and therapies of all kinds and a lot of reputable self-help information available, this is based on general information and guidelines. Minimum daily requirements and recommended dosages do not account for individual differences and what may be going on within your body and being at any given time. If you are taking products by a label you could easily see little or no results because you are taking the wrong thing or the wrong proportions of the right thing. And worse yet, you could do yourself harm with too much for too long a period of time.

The wisest words for all who would use holistic products is to know that natural and holistic does not necessarily mean safe for indiscriminate use. Herbs, homeopathic, etc. are powerful medicines, and even vitamins and supplements, when not taken appropriately, can be toxic or create as much imbalance as they can resolve.

A trained expert in Oriental Medicine, naturopathy, herbology or nutrition, etc. can save you both money and your health by assuring that you receive what is most appropriate for you. The money you can save also may contribute to your ability to choose other supplemental modalities for stress or life transformation.

Be patient and go with the flow.

The advice I received from my first holistic practitioner has stuck with me for many years and serves as a guide to my work now with clients. "Do whatever you can do." I have come to know from deep in my inner being that there is no right or wrong way for us to follow our life path. Once we have chosen, a way will be provided and our path will appropriately evolve from there whether rapidly or gradually.

If you don't see how you can afford a therapy you would like on a frequent basis, then simply choose what you think you can do for the moment. Give it a fair try on a regular basis at whatever pace is comfortable for you. You could receive a miracle with a single session or you could gradually improve. Be patient and open. Gradual improvement is still improvement.

Trades and Barters

If you provide a service or product that a practitioner may find valuable, don't discount the possibility of finding someone willing to trade their services for yours. While practitioners have to balance trades within the nature of their practice and their need for cash flow, if you have something of value the potential may exist to work out a mutually beneficial deal.

Spend your money wisely.

Another area that has been helpful for some is to look at how you are spending the money you have, especially in the areas of taxes, insurance and interest rate debt. If you are adequately informed you can do this yourself. If not, a good professional money manager or tax specialist can sometimes save you hundreds of dollars a year in payments and insurance over-coverage while keeping you adequately protected for emergencies. The money you save could contribute to care you never thought you could afford.

In general, take an honest look at your life, make informed choices and know that there is always a way. Don't wait for a major life crisis to force you into putting yourself first.

About the Author

Carrie Laymon is the owner of PathFinder, an energy healing practice that uses individualized approaches to achieve health, joy and abundance for people and pets. She teaches Reiki and provides educational resources, holistic care consultation and classes to facilitate self-healing and personal transformation. Techniques include Healing Touch, Reiki, Access Energy Transformation, Magnified Healing, flower essences, and higher dimensional light body work. Prior to this work, she directed continuing medical education programming in the traditional medical community for 10 years.