Health is our nature. No matter what state of health we were born into, it is important that we take care of ourselves mentally, physically, and emotionally throughout our lives. A healthy functioning mind, body, and spirit can lead to optimal holistic living. The goal of holistic health & healing is to achieve and maintain a wholesome connection to our most powerful versions of self.
Scientifically, this Harmonious alignment of the mind and body is called homeostasis. Homeostasis, from the Greek words for "same" and "steady," refers to any process that living things use to actively maintain fairly stable conditions necessary for survival.
Personally, I like to call holistic health Divine Balance or Connection to Divinity.
Holistic health and holistic medicine consider your whole self and how you are relating to the environment.
A part of your holistic wellness journey is becoming mindful of your environment, to begin with. What are the biggest influences on your holistic wellness currently? How are you being intentional in your life? Are you creating a positive environment for your wellness?
Let’s think about some of the things that influence our environments.
Habits
Mindfulness is key to living a holistic life, we need the presence of mind to fully understand ourselves and our needs as a whole. Being mindful means being aware and present in the moment. Are you mindful of your habits? Do you habitually start your day with positive thoughts about the possibilities or do you mindlessly just allow everything else to set the tone for you?
It is such a game-changer to start your day off with some kind of a routine or as I like to call it, a rising ritual.
A rising ritual is a morning routine with intention and a lot more presence. As an Ayurvedic practice, my rising rituals consist of cleansing, breathing, movement, mantras, the 5 elements, and music. During this time, I determine how my day will be by affirming it. Starting your day with a focused intention really sets the tone for your entire day. Maintaining that focus is where the real work comes in.
A healthy mind is everything and self-talk is so important. It may seem silly but your mindset needs to be as healthy as possible. You may be new to mindfulness, but I guarantee you’ve practiced mindfulness many times. Any time you take a deep breath to focus, you’re being mindful. When you take time to think before you act, or take a step back from your emotions and act based on your values, you’re practicing mindfulness. Let’s take another mindful approach to our holistic wellness by discussing nutrition.
Nutrition
It can be difficult to get in the right mindset about certain foods. Lots of people try to force themselves to eat fruits and vegetables in order to lose weight. It’s not only about that. Fruits and vegetables truly heal the body. Eating fresh live foods strengthens our immune system and can prevent and even fight disease. In addition, holistic nutrition should enable a healthy relationship with food, viewing it as an amazing way to fuel and heal your body instead of a physical or emotional filler.
Holistic nutrition is focused on incorporating more whole, natural, and organic food into your diet while staying away from processed foods. Not because it is trendy or faddish but because of the way processed foods break down into our bodies. An unhealthy diet forces our bodies to work tirelessly to fight for balance. We weaken our systems with wear and tear the more we encourage hyperactivity of our detoxing cells and organs.
Holistic wellness is a lifestyle choice. It’s important to be mindful of the effects of your nutritional intake. Do you eat mostly energy/fuel for your mind and body? Are you constantly using your energy to break down and detox from impurities that you feed to yourself?
Choose whole foods whenever possible, such as whole fruits instead of fruit juice or applesauce, and whole vegetables instead of canned ratatouille or ready-made soups. Frozen fruits and veggies count as natural whole foods, too. Include some whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds as well. Try to eat these foods as much as possible— this will leave little room for the super addicting high-sugar high-fat high-salt processed stuff.
As you continue to grow on your holistic lifestyle journey, these habits will change and evolve based on your needs at any given time.
Once you start to integrate changes in one aspect of your life and it becomes a part of your lifestyle, you integrate changes into other aspects of your life as well.
Living holistically is deciding that it’s time to take your health/ wellbeing into your own hands.
It’s making the conscious choice to heal yourself and every aspect of your life and to form new habits that support your health.
Movement/Bodywork
Addressing your total well-being means taking care of your mind, body, and spirit. We addressed the mind and body with habits and nutrition. Now let’s talk about how this work becomes spiritual.
In alternative medicine, bodywork is any therapeutic or personal development technique that involves working with the human body in a form involving manipulative therapy, breathwork, or energy medicine.
Energy Healing is a powerful therapy that helps you connect to your inner source of vibrancy and life force, making it available to shift physical, emotional, and mental dysfunction to health and well-being. Some agree that our life force is our connection to The Most High. Therefore, balancing our life force IS a major part of spirituality.
So, back to bodywork. Movement affects everything, from circulation to digestion to metabolism to immunity. With movement, our bodies regulate hormone activity, detoxify and respire. Some modalities of bodywork are yoga, massage, acupuncture, reflexology, and more. Each of these modalities is thousands of years old and has proven to be beneficial holistically.
Here is a list of some benefits of bodywork.
-Provides deep relaxation and stress reduction
-Reduces blood pressure
-Relieves tension-related headaches and eye-strain
-Reduces levels of anxiety
-Relieves muscle tension and stiffness
-Reduces muscle spasms
-Provides greater joint flexibility and range of motion
-Enhances athletic performance
-Increases ease and efficiency of movement
-Promotes deeper and easier breathing
-Encourages faster healing time from injured muscles
-Improves circulation of blood and lymph fluids
-Enhances the health and nourishment of the skin
-Strengthens the immune system
-Increases awareness of body and of the body-mind connection
-Provides a relaxed state of alertness
-Creates a feeling of well-being
The key to creating a holistic wellness lifestyle is to plan for consistency. Identify the minor lifestyle changes you can make now and make them routine. It can be as simple as adding one or two of the listed modalities to your weekly routine. It could be helpful to journal your journey through your new lifestyle changes. You will be able to keep track of the subtle changes that take place in your mind and body. Now that you’re armed with all of these great holistic wellness tips… I’m sending you happy healing energy ✨.
Interested in doing yoga with me or holistic lifestyle coaching? Visit the site to learn how to book a session 🧘🏾♀️.
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