A fresh breeze is blowing through many corridors of medicine today. Patients and professionals are demanding that the heart and soul of healing be reinstated, alongside the best of modern technology. Many people acknowledge the multiple dimensions of living, healing, and curing, dimensions that were overlooked in our exclusive courtship with the bio-scientific-technological model of medicine.

This breeze is a new model of medicine for the twenty-first century. It is an integral model that is, at its very core, a dynamic, holistic and lifelong process. In fact an integral practice that exists in widening and deepening relationships with yourself, your family, your culture, your connection to the natural world and with the great mystery of life (Schlitz et al. 2005).

An integral perspective honours multiple ways of knowing, represented by different viewpoints, belief systems and worldviews. It moves beyond cultural competence, in which we consider different worldviews in the course of living and working with diverse ethnic and cultural groups, to a deep appreciation for the divergent systems of healthcare that coexist in a modern medical context. Chinese medicine, curanderismo, Spiritism, Christian Science, evidence-based medicine – each offers insights into healing. In this way, the integral model is inclusive of both conventional and alternative approaches, but always with a sense of discernment for what is right and true within the various healing systems (Schlitz 2007, p. 58).

An integral perspective is as much about healing as it is about curing. It involves harnessing our desire for health, as well as our will to live.