Did you know that there are 650 muscles within the human body? All of these muscles can benefit from well designed work out routines. Yoga is considered by the holistic health community to be a total body workout that increases strength, endurance, and flexibility in all 650 muscles. Nearly three quarters of the people who do yoga regularly are women, but men can also benefit greatly from yoga work out routines. A good private trainer can get you started on a yoga regiment that will work for you, targeting your problem areas and helping you set goals for natural healing.

Yoga is just one of many work out routines that exist within the framework of an alternative healing approach to exercise. Other examples of holistic work out routines include Tai Chi and Qigong. Philosophically inspired by Taoism and Confucianism, the history of tai chi stretches back more than half a millennium. In its many different expressions, tai chi not only serves to create fantastic work out routines, but is also thought to be effective at minimizing chronic pain and stiffness. As well, tai chi is a known stress reducer.

Qigong work out routines train practitioners in physical and mental endurance. With its emphasis on mindfulness, gentle movement, deep breathing, and flexibility, qigong workout routines strike many western practitioners as being a cross between hatha yoga and martial arts. Qigong work out routines provide people with a terrific method of recovering from physically debilitating diseases of neurological and psychological origin. Qigong is amongst the holistic healing work out routines that can especially help people recover from post traumatic stress disorder.

The above described work out routines are examples of an alternative health approach to working out. Many practitioners of such work out routines are also devotees of alternative medicine, which traditional physicians believe should be used in conjunction with western medicine. However, alternative medical practices are the norm for three quarters of the population in developing nations, and historically, alternative health care has been the only source of medicine for many societies. Though western medicine has certainly provided us with a number of important health related breakthroughs, eastger medicine and holistic work out routines can go a long way towards keeping people well, lessening chronic pain, and treating mental health problems. See this reference for more.