Healing the Whole, Not Just the Parts.
Rethinking health and healing from a whole person perspective.
Hello readers! Today, I’m stepping back to look at your health from another angle.
In the U.S. today, medicine is divided into specialties. Even our primary care doctor is a specialty—they are reference specialists who refer patients to other specialists.
Let me start with an illustration. My friend struggled with terrible jaw pain for months. The dentist was convinced it was a misalignment issue and even suggested an expensive mouthguard. But it wasn’t until later—after multiple visits and no real relief from the mouthguard—that she realized the real problem wasn’t her jaw. It was stress. She quit her stressful job, and her sore jaw disappeared overnight.
Another friend kept getting pounding headaches. She found herself at a migraine headache specialist, who gave her migraine headache medication to use when she sensed a migraine coming. However, it turned out the culprit wasn’t a neurological issue—it was stress from a challenging marriage. After her divorce, her headaches slowly disappeared, and she no longer needed the migraine headache specialist.
In both cases, the doctors saw the symptoms manifested in a body part. But they failed to see the story behind it. They saw the jaw, but not the stress, the headache, but not the strain of a broken marriage. Healing isn’t just about fixing a part; it’s about understanding the whole person.
But you and I know that our body isn’t a machine with neatly separated compartments—it’s an interconnected, beautifully complex system where everything affects everything else.
And yet, modern medicine has spent over a century dissecting the human body into parts, breaking us into specialties and subspecialties so precise that we now have:
🔹 Ophthalmologists for the eyes, otolaryngologists for ears, nose, and throat, podiatrists for feet, dermatologists for skin, and dentists whose dominion reigns over teeth. But periodontists reign over the gums. If you have an issue with your tongue, though, there might be a battle of all of these specialists over who gets to address it — plus a host of others like a neurologist, speech pathologist, and oral and maxillofacial surgeons who can take the mechanical route to fix the problem.
🔹 And then there are nephrologists for kidneys, hepatologists for livers, gastroenterologists for everything from the esophagus to the rectum, and endocrinologists for the delicate symphony of hormones controlling our metabolism, energy, and mood.
🔹 And those who fight specific conditions are another group of doctors, like oncologists to fight cancer, rheumatologists for arthritis, cardiologists for the heart, pulmonologists for lungs, and let’s not forget allergists, immunologists, and neurologists each focused on one specific task in isolation.
We even have specialists for specific body parts within a system—retinal specialists (just the back of the eye), rhinologists (just the sinuses), and hepatobiliary surgeons (just the liver and bile ducts).
Medicine has become so highly specialized that it’s as if we’ve forgotten: we are not a collection of parts. We are whole beings.
Please understand that I am not disrespecting specialists. Specialists are invaluable. They dedicate their lives to understanding the intricate details of a single system, disease, organ, or specific body function. They are lifesavers. If you have a heart issue, you want the best cardiologist. If your gums are inflamed, a periodontist is your go-to, not a dentist.
But specialists, by design, focus on their piece of the puzzle. They don’t have the time—or the training—to step back and see how everything connects. That’s not a failure; it’s just how modern medicine is structured.
It’s why someone with chronic headaches might get migraine medication, even when the real issue is posture or stress. Or why a patient with jaw pain might get fitted for a mouthguard instead of being asked about stress or if they chew gum excessively.
But we have power! That’s where we come in. As individuals, we have the ability—and the responsibility—to zoom out, to look at the full picture of our health, and to connect the dots that specialists might miss. They are an essential part of our healing, but we are the ones who must put it all together.
What Dance Taught Me About Whole-Body Health
As a Zumba instructor, I always encouraged people to move their bodies as a unit—flowing, coordinated, and everything working together. Zumba blends aerobic exercise with dance; its energy and fluidity are a perfect example of how interconnected our bodies are. Each movement engages multiple muscle groups, and the rhythm of the music seems to pull everything into sync—not just physically but mentally and emotionally, too.
Then I took belly dancing.
Suddenly, I was being told to stop moving as a unit and isolate specific body parts—hips, ribs, shoulders, abdominals—each one controlled separately. It was ridiculously challenging. Moving from full-body coordination to isolating tiny, precise movements felt unnatural at first, even frustrating. My brain wanted to connect everything, but belly dance required me to break it apart.
This is similar to how we approach health.
We go to specialists who focus on just one part—our gut, our heart, our joints—without considering how it all connects. But just like in dance, isolating one part doesn’t mean it functions alone. Every muscle, every organ, and every system works together. And when we only focus on the parts, we risk losing sight of the whole.
Understanding the function of each body part is essential. But true healing happens when we step back and see how it all fits together.
We’ve Been Sliced and Diced into Small Thinking
Hyper-specialization in medicine is necessary—it reflects how complex we are—but it also means that most doctors see just one piece of the puzzle. As a result, we go to the doctor expecting them to treat “us” when they’re trained to treat a part.
And when they don’t see the full picture, our expectations are crushed before we even start.
I know a doctor with a rare reputation. No matter his patients' health issues, he ensures they are guided through their entire journey—not just the body part he specializes in. He answers their calls personally and connects the dots for them. This is rare, and it is needed. He has no idea how much that means to his patients—it’s priceless. (This is a nod to Dr. Rod!)
Today, most people cross their fingers and hope to see a doctor for five minutes before being ushered out with a prescription.
I don’t know what’s happened to healthcare, but I know this: it is not designed for whole-person healing. It is designed for sick care; when we mistake it for anything else, we misplace our hope.
The Solution: A Paradigm Shift—The Health Hero Mindset
We need a new way of thinking that places modern medicine in context rather than on a pedestal. Modern medicine can do incredible things, but it is not the answer to everything. It is one tool in our health arsenal.
Think about it this way: if your body were a car, the doctor would be the mechanic. They can fix the brakes, replace a broken belt, and change the oil. But they don’t drive the car, fuel it, or clean the interior. That’s your job.
If we want true healing, we must own the driver role in our health journey. That means:
✔ Taking care of the Core 4: Nutrition, Movement, Sleep, and Hydration
✔ Nurturing our mind, emotions, and spirit
✔ Seeing modern medicine as a strategic tool, not a magic wand
A Health Perspective Shift
Let’s take two people—both struggling with chronic fatigue, joint pain, and brain fog. One handles it as I typically see today, and the other handles it the Health Hero way.
🔴 Person A: Visits a specialist. The doctor orders tests, finds mild inflammation, and prescribes medication. They feel slightly better but still exhausted, so they see another specialist and then another. Each doctor addresses their piece of the puzzle, but no one sees the whole picture. They begin to feel like a collection of medical codes rather than a human being.
🟢 Person B: Still sees the doctor but recognizes that medicine alone won’t fix this. They ask, “What is my body trying to tell me?” They track their sleep, nutrition, and movement. They manage stress. They start to see connections—how poor sleep worsens their pain, how certain foods trigger brain fog, and how movement helps their energy. They become the detective in their own healing.
Both sought help, but one outsourced their healing while the other took the wheel.
What Other Cultures Get Right
Many traditional healing systems never lose sight of the whole person. Ayurveda, for instance, doesn’t just treat disease—it seeks balance between the body, mind, and spirit. Traditional Chinese Medicine views symptoms as part of an intricate web, not isolated malfunctions. Indigenous healing practices often center around spiritual, communal, and environmental well-being.
In contrast, Western medicine excels in acute care but often falls short in whole-person healing.
You Are More Than Flesh and Bone
Beyond the biological systems, there is something deeper within us—our spirit. Whether you call it soul, energy, life force, or simply the essence of who you are, it is as real as your heartbeat. It fuels resilience, purpose, and the will to heal.
Healing isn’t just about fixing what’s broken—it’s about restoring wholeness. That means nurturing not just the body but the mind and soul as well. Science has already shown that hope, faith, and belief can accelerate healing—not just in theory but in measurable ways.
🔹 Studies on the placebo effect prove that the body responds powerfully to belief.
🔹 Research on spirituality and healing finds that people with a strong sense of purpose recover faster.
🔹 Stress and negativity fuel disease, while hope and gratitude promote health.
We are designed to connect—to each other, to nature, and something greater than ourselves. Whether you find your strength in faith, in nature, or in the simple trust that your body was created with the ability to heal, this connection matters.
We often look to doctors, medicine, and lifestyle changes to heal us—and they can help tremendously. But what if the missing piece isn’t just biological? What if true healing also comes from something deeper—something spiritual?
Healing isn’t just physical; it’s spiritual, too.
For many, healing is more than just a physical process; it’s a spiritual one. Different cultures and traditions have long recognized the connection between the body and spirit. Hope is a powerful force in healing. We see it in medicine, research, and human resilience.
Healing isn’t just about fixing what’s broken—it’s about restoring wholeness. And sometimes, wholeness isn’t found in another test, medication, or treatment. Sometimes, it’s found in surrender.
Own the Power to Heal
You are more powerful than you think. You regain control when you shift from expecting someone else to “fix” you to realizing that healing is in your hands.
🔹 Doctors are valuable, but they are not healers of all of you.
🔹 Medications can help, but they are not your cure.
🔹 Your body is wise—if you listen, it will tell you what it needs.
The Core 4—Nutrition, Movement, Sleep, and Hydratoin—are essential. But so is nurturing your spirit, trusting your intuition, and leaning into something greater than yourself.
If you’ve placed all your hope in medicine alone, you’re missing the biggest piece of the puzzle: you.
A New Era of Health
Modern medicine can save lives. It can repair damage. But it is not the whole answer—it is just one piece of your health journey.
You are the missing piece.
When you step into the Health Hero mindset, you stop waiting for the perfect doctor, treatment, or diagnosis to solve everything. Instead, you start taking intentional, strategic action toward healing.
Because your body is not a sum of parts.
It’s you. All of you.
And healing happens when we see the whole picture.
I can’t wait for you to read my book, Health Shift: Your Personalized Guide to Making Strategic Health Decisions. It will give you a comprehensive approach to healing and health. The healing journey is waiting for you! And I’ve officially got a release date for the book — May 13. Stay tuned, guys. It’s not about perfection; it’s about progress!
— Dr. Alice
A little more about Dr. Alice Burron and Strategic Action Health:
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Health Shift: Your Strategic Guide to Making Strategic Health Decisions book is coming May 13, 2025! Mark your calendars!
Great article!