The Importance of Holistic Wellness

I have studied several holistic health approaches because I have a passion for holistic wellbeing. I believe that health should be in the hands of the individual and everyone should have control for how they feel and show up in the world rather than having to rely on medicine and constant doctor's office visits. The American medical system only suppresses symptoms with medication and does not provide a cure. It does not target the root cause of illness or disease and it doesn't properly educate on preventative care, quality of life or longevity. There is also no medication provided by pharmaceutical companies that DON'T have any negative side effects. These side effects throw off your homeostasis even more and can lead to other health problems.

Don't get me wrong, there is a place for western medicine, such as in the case of emergencies or extreme conditions. I just don't believe it should be the first and only option when it comes to healthcare. Unfortunately, people are more exposed to pharmaceutical commercials and billboards on a daily basis than holistic practices to avoid medication and chronic illness altogether. This is why most people don't know what holistic wellbeing is or what it can do for you or its importance.

Holistic Wellness

Holistic well-being is simply, preventative care. When you live a holistic lifestyle, you're actively preventing illness, disease and other chronic health disruptions such as infertility or anxiety and depression. It reduces your chances of having to be on medicine and improves longevity and mental stability, especially in your later years. Medical professionals are now finding that what we thought of as "old age diseases" like arthritis and dementia, can actually be avoided by living a natural and preventative lifestyle.

Holistic wellbeing is caring for ALL of you which includes your physical body, brain, mind, and your spirit, in a holistic or natural way on a daily basis.

Why ALL of you? Because all of these pieces that we view as separate parts of ourselves are not separate at all. Our entire being functions as one. When we have a thought that thought creates a molecule in our brain that is then sent throughout our body affecting our physiology and subtle energy fields.

This may seem like a lot, but I will show you how simple it can be and I'm guessing you probably already have some holistic lifestyle practices in play that you didn't even realize.

Body

Caring for your body holistically can be as easy as eating a healthy diet full of whole organic foods. Eliminate alcohol and processed sugar and increase electrolyte water and physical movement. Pay attention to ingredients in your food and if you suffer from digestive issues, it may be a good idea to see your doctor for food allergy testing. You don't need to spend an hour or more in the gym everyday either if you don't want to. A gentle yoga practice and daily walks outside will do the trick. Exposing yourself to nature on a daily basis has shown to drastically reduce cortisol levels and increase "feel-good" hormones resulting in more energy, overall happiness and better-quality sleep. Oh ya, get plenty of sleep too!

Keep in mind, caring holistically for your physiology can get much deeper than this. This is just a starting point.

Brain and Mind

No. These are not the same thing. Your brain is the physical organ inside of your skull. Your mind is your thoughts, emotions and consciousness. It is not a physical thing. Your mind, or consciousness, has the capability to construct your own reality. One way we construct our realities is by the way we treat ourselves physically which is a reflection of our thought patterns. How we treat ourselves physically is a direct indication of how think and feel about ourselves. We can evaluate how we treat ourselves as a way to identify our thought patterns to help us find weaknesses or illogical forms of thought and change them to form the type of external circumstances we want to see. However, this is just one way to reflect on thought patterns. I just used the physical body as an example in this post because of the topic discussion.

We can support our brain by providing it with proper hydration, blood supply, and vitamins and minerals as well as physical activity. Physical activity was mentioned in the previous section but I'm stating it here again simply because they cannot be separated. What happens to one part of us happens to all the other parts. Studies have shown that physical activity is healthy for the brain as well as the physical body.

Another way we can practice brain health is by using it! Do something mentally challenging everyday even if it's 10-15 minutes. This will keep your cognitive functioning strong and has been shown to reduce chances of dementia.

Spirit

I personally believe that we are spirits having a physical experience. There are several reasons why I believe this and will maybe discuss it in a different post, but this is why it's important to allow our spirit to guide us throughout our life. Our spirit, or higher self, communicates with us through our intuition and "A-HA" moments. We can connect more strongly with our spiritual self by quieting our mental chatter through meditation and breath work.

Sidenote: The food we eat contributes to how "loud" our mind is. If you drink alcohol and eat a lot of refined sugar or take marijuana on a regular basis this will have negative consequences on your thought patterns, mental chatter and physical health. If we don't create a clear vessel (body/mind) to allow spirit to get through to and send us the messages we are meant to receive, we won't accurately receive those messages and can throw us off the path we are meant to be on.

Other spiritual practices include yoga, reiki, prayer, automatic writing and practice being completely present in the moment. So, you could say that doing your daily chores is a spiritual practice as long as you aren't allowing your mind to wander while doing so.

Meditation and breathwork have shown evidence to improve memory retention and overall brain chemistry which improves a person's quality of life having a positive impact on health. There are both spiritual and physical benefits to meditation and breathwork. If you want to improve any area of your life but don't know where to start, start with meditation.

To summarize, holistic wellbeing is a preventative form of care that includes the entire self- the physical, the mental, and the spirit. Living holistically well increases your quality of life which leaves less room for illness and increases longevity. There are several ways to live a holistic lifestyle to which I only mentioned a few in this post. Some other holistic practices you can incorporate into your daily life are Aurveyda, massage therapy, reiki and herbalism.

Do you have holistic wellness practices in your life that you didn't realize? If so, what are they? What are some others that you could easily begin using?