Seasonal Influences of Five Element Chinese Medicine, this issue's Cover Feature is an eloquent testimony to the universal tides of the changing seasons and how our energy and body systems are affected by Nature's great rhythmic cycles. Barbara Barbara Payne also speaks to the many ways in which we can use herbs and oils to lighten up the dark days of winter.

The negative side of things remaining the same is, of course, stasis – being stuck. And in this regard there are many approaches to move and transform stuck or toxic energy, as described in some of the features in this issue – Yoga, Radiometric Thermal Diagnostics and Dielectric Resonance Management Techniques and Energy Field.

However, this expression usually describes events in the 'real' world, and it applies as much to Complementary Medicine as to other spheres. I could argue from a cynical perspective that although many of the faces, figures, books, journals, etc. appear to have changed over the years since Positive Health began (we will be entering our 10th year of publication next year), that much of this apparent change may be window-dressing rather than real healthcare transformation.

From a more proactive viewpoint, we can cite fantastic developments which herald the increasingly more widespread acceptance of complementary, alternative and integrated approaches. These include: the proliferation of published scientific research, a burgeoning of published books, the establishment of integrated health centres and practices embodying the best of 'conventional' and 'natural' therapeutic approaches, the more open attitude toward complementary treatments shown by medical physicians, and, perhaps most importantly of all, the unstoppable tidalwave of endorsement of natural medicines by the general public and consumers at large.

Regular readers know very well my frustration at the snail's pace of introduction of natural therapies into medical treatment for people suffering from arthritis, cancer, asthma, depression, even the common cold. I am the most vituperative critic of a healthcare system which uses toxic medicines, sometimes with lethal side effects. Despite the advice against the ineffectual and potentially lethal over-prescription of antibiotics by organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), I still hear about their inappropriate use by GPs.

It is true that battles, particularly regarding nutritional and herbal regimes for cancer treatment, have been raging over the past century, with the tragic loss of hundreds of thousands of victims, as well as the professional exile of many brave and pioneering geniuses who have developed therapeutic approaches in the face of unspeakable ferocity and hostility from their medical colleagues.

It is also true that, to my view, not much substantive change seems to be occurring; the GP, medical establishment, pharmaceutical industry, governments and organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO) appear to be in cahoots to freeze out all mention of alternative treatments.

However, it is my (non-rational) sense that things cannot and are not the same as they have been during the past one hundred years. The internet, which has brought an unparalleled degree of access and integration of information to the entire world's population will probably be the straw which breaks the proverbial drug companies' media's and governments' backs. There has been such a massive accumulation of information, coupled with virtually immediate access, that the traditional secrecy, obfuscations and stone-walling of non-conventional approaches (coined 'cul de sac epidemiology' by Dr Michel Odent, see book review page 58) will not persist.

Despite my cynicism and frustration, I genuinely sense, deep down, that a revolutionary paradigm shift which has been building up over many decades is about to swell up, break the dam of the establishments and flood the world, creating a new healthcare system which truly integrates the best of all traditions. And the instrument of all this, which will have occurred only due to the myriads of incremental changes which have taken place over many decades, will be the international electronic media and the internet.

Let us all drink a toast to the early arrival of this new health paradigm!