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THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Much of what is now categorized as alternative medicine was developed as independent, complete medical systems, was developed long before biomedicine and use of scientific methods, and was developed in relatively isolated regions of the world where there was little or no medical contact with pre-scientific western medicine, or with each other's systems. Examples are Traditional Chinese medicine and the Ayurvedic medicine of India. Other alternative medicine practices, such as homeopathy, were developed in western Europe and in opposition to western medicine, at a time when western medicine was based on unscientific theories that were dogmatically imposed by western religious authorities.
Below is a list of people who have made a profound impact on Alternative Medcine:
Albert Abrams - inventor of Electronic Reactions of Abrams "technology", dynomizer, oscilloclast and radioclast.
F. Matthias Alexander - founder of the Alexander Technique, a movement retraining process.
Guillermo Arévalo Valera - Shipibo writer, vegetalista, and exponent of Amazonian traditional medicine
Avicenna - He was one of the most outstanding of Arab physicians in an era when Arab medicine was the most advanced in the Western world.
Edward Bach - Founder of flower essence therapy and the Bach flower remedies.
William Horatio Bates - Founder of the Bates Method alternative approach to eyesight improvement.
Gaspard Bauhin, or Caspar Bauhin - was a Swiss botanist who wrote 'Pinax theatri botanici' (1596), which described thousands of plants and classified them.
Henry G. Bieler - American physician and author of Food is Your Best Medicine, known for diet-based healing and treatment of Hollywood celebrities.
Hieronymus Bock - (Latinised Tragus) was a German botanist, physician, and Lutheran minister who began the transition from medieval botany to the modern scientific worldview by arranging plants by their relation or resemblance.
Paul Bragg - Known for the Bragg Health Crusades, the Bragg Healthy Lifestyle, deep breathing, water fasts, organic foods, juicing and listening to one's body.
Charaka - One of the founders of Ayurveda.
Deepak Chopra - Endocrinologist and Ayurvedic Medicine Practitioner, author of popular books on health and spirituality.
Nicholas Culpeper - English physician, author of the early seventeenth century Culpeper's Herbal.
Pedanius Dioscorides - was an ancient Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist who practised in ancient Rome during the time of Nero.
Mary Baker Eddy - Founder of Christian Science and its readvocacy of Christian healing.
Moshé Feldenkrais - Founder of the Feldenkrais method.
Galen - was responsible for the first major classification of plant medicines into groups
René-Maurice Gattefossé - is regarded as the Father of Aromatherapy and inventer of the word itself.
John Gerard - the compiler of one of the most influential herbals of the Tudor era, was born at Nantwich, Cheshire, in 1545, Sylvester Graham - Known for Graham Crackers and founded Grahamism.
Maude Grieve - was the Principal and Founder of The Whins Medicinal and Commercial Herb School and Farm at Chalfont St. Peter in Buckinghamshire, England.
Stanislav Grof - One of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology and founder of Holotropic Breathwork.
Samuel Hahnemann - Founded homeopathy.
Michael Harner - Synthesized shamanic beliefs and practices from all over the world into a system now known as neoshamanism.
Gustav Hemwall - Prolotherapy injection proponent.
Adolf Just - Late 19th/Early 20th century German naturopath. Advocate for the "Nature Cure" movement.
John Harvey Kellogg - Promoter of colon therapy at the Battle Creek Sanatorium in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Will Keith Kellogg - Inventor of corn flakes in 1894 and manager of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
Sebastian Kneipp - Bavarian priest who began the Nature Cure movement (1890s). Chiefly known for his contributions to hydrotherapy.
Louis Kuhne - Promoter of hydrotherapy, especially hip and sitz baths.
George Lewith - UK advocate for alternative medicine and professor at Southampton University.
Karl Axel Lind - Founder of Full-body reflexology.
Pehr Henrik Ling - Swedish pioneer of physical education. Falsely credited as the Father of Swedish Massage (that credit goes to Johann Georg Mezger).
Benedict Lust - Founder of naturopathic medicine in the United States. Purchased the rights to the term "naturopathy" from John Scheel.
Marguerite Maury - was an Austrian born biochemist who became interested in what was to become aromatherapy.
Caroline Myss - American medical intuitive, mystic and author.
Devi Nambudripad - Founder of NAET, controversial allergy treatment.
Leonard Orr - Developed Rebirthing.
David Orme-Johnson - Researcher and proponent of Transcendental Meditation technique.
Daniel Palmer - Founder of chiropractic.
B. J. Palmer - Son of D.D. Palmer and known as the "developer" of chiropractic.
Linus Pauling - Coined the term "orthomolecular medicine," the controversial use of Vitamin C and other megavitamin therapies. Pauling was however not a general supporter of alternative medicine.
Fritz Perls - Founder of Gestalt Therapy.
Vincent Priessnitz - One of the founders of hydrotherapy.
Partap Chauhan - Indian Ayurvedic doctor and the pioneer of online Ayurvedic medicine.
Wilhelm Reich - Founder of Orgonomy.
Ida P. Rolf - Founder of Rolfing Structural Integration, the first bodywork that attempted to change posture.
Maria Sabina - Mexican healer, mystic leader of Mazatec people, curandero specializing in the native psilocybe mushrooms.
Charlotte Selver - Introduced the concept of sensory awareness for movement education and healing, which influenced many health disciplines during the Human Potential Movement.
Herbert Shelton - Founded the Natural Hygiene movement.
Bernie Siegel - American MD and author who promotes cultivating one's attitude toward healing.
Rudolf Steiner - Founded anthroposophical medicine.
Andrew Taylor Still - Founded osteopathy, a manual therapy practice.
Samuel Thomson - 19th century herbalist, founded Thomsonian Medicine.
Mabel Todd - Founded Ideokinesis, a form of somatic education, in the 1930s.
Mohammad Ali Taheri - founder of two complementary medicines Faradarmani and Psymentology.
Dana Ullman - Proponent of Homeopathy in the United States
Mikao Usui - Founded Reiki during the early twentieth century in Japan.
Andrew Weil - Founder of Integrative Medicine and author.
J. R. Worsley - Founder of Five Elements school of acupuncture.
Frances Wright - Active in the American Popular Health Movement of the 1830s and 40s.
P. K. Warrier - Indian Ayurvedic physician who received Padma Bhushan in 2010.
Yellow Emperor (Huang Di) - Historically credited as the founder of traditional Chinese medicine.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - Founder of Transcendental Meditation.
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