What is holistic wellness?

There is no greater wealth, than health itself. But what exactly is health? Health is merely not the absence of disease, but encompasses all aspects of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. In order to achieve optimal wellness so that you can live life to your full potential, wellness needs to be holistic. Holistic wellness considers the entire individual and is not just simply treating disease, but also preventing disease through various modalities. Once you comprehend what holistic wellness truly means and why it is so important, you will inevitably live a more balanced and fulfilling life. Simply put, change your habits, change your life!

What exactly is holistic wellness?

Holistic wellness illustrates the importance of living a well-balanced and harmonious life by engaging in healthy lifestyle habits. It emphasizes self-care practices and behaviours which involve the integration of mind, body, and soul. Holistic wellness strives to accomplish health by treating the whole person rather than focusing on symptomatic presentation. It also strives to prevent disease by empowering you to engage in lifestyle habits that will consequently change your life! Through the establishment of healthy lifestyle habits and strategies, you too, can live a life an enriched with meaning and joy.

Why is holistic wellness so important?

Holistic wellness recognizes that human beings are complex. Our biological processes are interconnected, self-regulating, self-healing and are influenced by a multitude of factors both internally, and externally. Holistic wellness can treat, reverse, and/or manage chronic disease depending on the stage of pathological severity. It is comprehensive, preventative and proactive, and promotes healthy lifestyle habits which ultimately lead to long-term sustainability, optimal health, and improved quality of life. Moreover, holistic wellness emphasizes a mind-body connection, thus lifestyle habits that nurture this connection, will enable you to live a life with the utmost vitality.

What are the different types of holistic wellness?

Holistic wellness can be broken down into different dimensions.

Emotional:

This area of wellness is attributed to being in tune with your emotions, feelings, attitudes and beliefs. This requires a great deal of introspection and invariably requires compassion, sympathy, and empathy not only towards others, but towards self.

Physical:

You need to get moving and fuel your body with nutrient dense food— it’s that simple! Make exercise fun by incorporating some form of exercise that you truly enjoy as this will lead to long-term sustainability. Have fun with healthy food too — plan date nights and try new recipes; there is no shortage of content in this area. Additionally, do not neglect your sleep. Unrestful sleep will inevitably effect all areas in your life!

Social:

It is vital to maintain, nurture, and cultivate meaningful relationships within our communities. Develop friendships, enjoy being present, put your phone down, care for others and allow others to care for you. Lastly, find a way contribute to your community and be of service to others.

Mental:

It is important that you challenge yourself mentally through the engagement of meditative practices, learning, reading, creativity, and problem solving. This results in the maintenance of a positive and balanced mindset, which enables you to manage stress and tackle life’s challenges effectively.

Spiritual:

Developing a sense of meaning and finding purpose in your life is crucial to living a life of peace and harmony. It requires contemplation, introspection, as well as understanding and questioning your beliefs. Finding purpose will provide you with resiliency, tenacity, and fortitude. The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

Easy ways to practice holistic wellness?

So how do we put all of this together? There are several ways you can lead a life filled with joy, vitality, and meaning. It is imperative to create healthy lifestyle habits which include: regular exercise, eating nutritious food, stress mitigation, restful sleep, and establishing meaningful connections. Holistic wellness is not passive, but rather, an active state of constantly striving to be better. It requires discipline, motivation, intention, and support. It is also important to mention that a huge part of wellness revolves around the food that we consume, which in turn, effects gut health, mood, energy, and vitality. Get moving, practice mindfulness eating, hydrate, connect with nature, socialize, and you will be thriving in no time!

Final thoughts on holistic wellness?

You are the creator of your wellness journey. There are many healthy lifestyle habits one can establish in order to create the greatest source of wealth, and that is, health. Holistic wellness is comprehensive, proactive, and is an ongoing desire to be better than tomorrow. It requires awareness of what constitutes health and wellness and adapting behaviours that lead to desirable outcomes, which is living optimally in a state of harmonious balance. With intention and dedication, you have what it takes to live longer, happier, and healthier!

References

  1. https://www.wcsu.edu/ihhs/what-is-holistic-health/
  2. https://www.who.int/about/accountability/governance/constitution
  3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5508938/
  4. https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/what-is-wellness/? gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAlJKuBhAdEiwAnZb7lRP39ozASWt12Jw9uYs7CLL3GOHez K3YI7kCTu6Ira0dgj0cEG43kBoCtd4QAvD_BwE
  5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470658/

Dr. George Makrides, ND
drgeorgemakrides (IG)