Wellness of the Spirit

    Wellness of the spirit refers to our ability to cope with the everyday stresses and strains of living our life.  Quite often, the ability to cope overwhelms us, and if we don’t give sufficient time to the wellness of the spirit, or soul, we lose our ability to function properly.

    Today, the evidence of that inability exists in the form of anxiety attacks.  The attacks can range from extremely mild to unbelievably severe.  What is happening to us when we experience anxiety attacks?  Our system goes into a form of shock.  I refer to as a sort of “soul shock”; nothing is physically wrong that should cause us to become ill, and nothing is wrong mentally that should cause us to experience the panic; it is within our spirit that we have lost control.

    This loss of control can be momentary, or it can last for years.  The most debilitating part of the process is the inability to function even in the most usual of routines.  Short trips to the grocery store become impossible, because of the panic they create within the person. 

    Having experienced these panic attacks for a brief period of time, I can attest to their reality.  It is a frightening event that only serves to add to the panic.  The person experiencing these attacks feels as if they have lost control over their ability to function.  They cannot meet deadlines; they aren’t able to provide for their family, there are a host of reasons that cause us to come to the place of loss of control.

    I believe the hectic pace of life in this 21st century only serves to enhance the need to give our spirit, our soul, our inner voice a chance to be heard.  We drown out any opportunity to connect with ourselves during the course of our day, because we schedule everything, multi-task everything, and leave no down time for a conversation with our self.  It’s impossible to listen to your inner needs, if you’re talking on the phone, listening to the radio, or interacting with your children. 

    At the same time this era has taken from us any chance meeting of our spiritual needs, it has also provided more opportunity for planned downtime.  We have audio, video, and even massage clinics that offer us the chance to slow down and connect with our inner self. Never before has there been so much available to help us help our selves.  What is the hold up?  The biggest detriment is our lack of discipline and devotion to our own health and well-being.  What we tend to forget during this age of super-human feats, is that the only way to sustain the super-human person, is to keep that person, all aspects of that person, well.

    Wellness comes through concentrated effort, discipline, and devotion, to our body, mind and soul.  The wellness of our spirit or soul affects all other parts of our person, as evidenced in the presence of panic attacks, mental breakdowns, and the inability to cope.  The need to attend to our wellness needs should be added to our daily “to do” list, so that we schedule in enough time for our selves!

Wellness of the Mind

    Our spiritual input is a determining factor when establishing our wellness level. We all need the benefit of spiritual reflection, as a way of cleansing ourselves of the toxins of our daily life.  Spirituality is a way of assuring ourselves of a renewing, and rebirth of ourselves as caring humans. Wellness encompasses our state of being, mind, and health. It is a condition of the whole. Wellness is a condition of the mind, body, and soul.

    Meditation is preventive maintenance for the mind. Meditation gives us the opportunity to reflect on our inner self. To listen to that small inner voice that is supposed to help guide and direct our mental processes, but in modern day existence, is often drowned out due to excessive noise pollution.
   
    Our spirituality and meditation practices are the tools we have available to keep our mind as well as we keep our bodies. The mind is a complicated and versatile machine, but it can become overwhelmed and unable to function correctly, if we don’t take the time to keep it well and cared for.

    Our mind has varying levels of operation, known as brainwaves. As we pass through the different stages of our day, we enter various stages of brain wave activity. The brain uses this tool as one way to allow us time to rest our busy mind, and cope with all the pieces of information we’ve received, a way to kind of “mind file” for the day.

    When we don’t give adequate time for these processes, or we simply don’t get enough rest, our mind cannot maintain its state of wellness, just like our bodies aren’t capable of wellness if there is no chance to rest and replenish.

    Modern alternative medicine and holistic healers believe in the power of the energy that flows through our bodies; this energy radiates from our mind as well. It is believed to be the chief from of transportation for our body nervous system to carry out communication.

    Breathing techniques, music, aromas, and candle therapy are all ways we utilize the opportunities to reflect on our day, allow our mind to rest and replenish itself for further use.
   
    We must remember over the course of our daily routine, to make time to maintain mental wellness, as we strive to maintain physical wellness. The nice thing about the whole process is that, as we go about accomplishing these tasks, quite often the opportunities for preservation and care are interchangeable. We can help to quite our mind as we take our twenty minute walk. Or we have the opportunity to build muscle strength as we meditate.

    Often just the opportunity to listen to music will allow our mind the chance it needs to relax and regroup. It’s not always the most formal of occasions that we find an available chance to reflect and listen to that inner voice. It can be in the middle of the day, with the wind blowing through your hair, and the radio turned up really loud!

Wellness of the Body

    Wellness refers to the condition of good physical and mental health, especially when maintained by proper diet, exercise, and habits. Nutrition refers to the nurturing of our body, in our ability to keep it healthy and functioning as it is supposed to do. Our ability to provide the body with all the necessary food, vitamins, and minerals so that we continue to thrive in our daily life processes

    Wellness of the body occurs when all the body processes, physical and mental are functioning as the peak levels. What does it take to achieve a complete body wellness? It requires more than simply taking a trip to the gym, or a walk in the park.

    Many factors come into play when we consider our body’s wellness. The daily intake of food, vitamins, and water are absolute necessities, and most often the items thought about. What about the conditioning of our body to deal with life each day?

    Does our physical exercise have anything to do with the wellness of our body? Absolutely. For one condition without regard to the other, is not a complete whole. The body includes all of our physical processes, our mind, and our physical being as a whole. When we give thought to the wellness of the body, most often we contemplate our physical condition as it applies to our cardiovascular needs and our weight. But our bodies are much more than heart and a nice figure. What about all of our other organs? Are they well? How do we maintain a wellness of the entirety? Daily physical exercise that benefits the body as a whole, taking time to rest and restore what has been depleted from our body over the course of the day, and making sure that we adequately supply our entire body with the nutrition necessary for healthy function.

    If we use our resources wisely and educate our selves about the things our body needs to maintain wellness, over the course of our life, it isn’t a difficult thing to attain. But you cannot abuse your body for years, and then hope for immediate results in trying to attain an overall wellness. It didn’t become unwell overnight, and it won’t become well again that quickly.

    Proper attention to the physical needs of each part of your body results in the wellness of the whole. Every part of your physical body exists to work in unison with another part of the body. Two hands are necessary for optimal functioning of the limbs, two feet, two eyes, etc. The physical body is designed to work better than any machine invented to date. It is more complex and powerful than any piece of equipment we have on the market. It takes more abuse than believable, and continues to operate, even without the daily requirements being met, for several days. It is a fascinating machine, as machines go. But it is an even more fascinating temple, when we choose to care for our bodies as the temples they really are. They house our mind and soul, and when the body is well, it does a tremendous job of providing for our needs.

What Are Your Wellness Needs?

    As we go about our busy lives, our wellness needs doesn’t often come to mind. In fact, probably until you read the title of this article, it never even crossed your mind. But even when we are well, we have needs that help us to sustain that wellness.  Have you ever given thought to what those needs are?

    Your wellness rating is dependent upon your immune system, and what vitamins, supplements, and nutrition you provide for your immune system. Nutrition comes in the form of our daily intake of food our eating habits determine the value of our daily nutritional intake. What about vitamins? What role do vitamins and minerals play in our wellness needs? More than what some of you have been lead to believe or understand. The body’s ability to remain well under anything other than ideal conditions is a direct result of the nutrition received on a daily basis. The mind’s ability to remain well is, again, a direct result of our nutritional intake. However, when you use sound principles based on clean living, exercise, and healthy eating, you attain a state of equilibrium where you are meeting your nutritional wellness needs

    What about our preventive needs for our physical body? Alternative medicine, holistic medicine, and meditation all address different areas of preventive maintenance for our physical health.

    We don’t often think of the chiropractor until some part of our body isn’t functioning as it should, most often our back. But what about chiropractic care for the well individual? Is it a benefit to the well person, to visit a chiropractor when really nothing is wrong? You bet it’s a benefit and here’s why.

    The very nature of chiropractic care is the belief in the body’s own healing properties. Quite often, we can have small problems in one area of our body, and not even realize it until the effect is felt in a much larger way, somewhere else.

The practice of chiropractic care focuses on the relationship between your spine and your nervous system. The spine is the structure, and the nervous system is the function. Chiropractic believes these two systems work in unison to keep and then restore your body’s health. 

    Acupuncture is the basic foundation for Traditional Chinese Medicine and is based on the belief that there are two opposing and inseparable forces within our body. They are known as the Yin and Yang of the entire person. The Yin is representative of the cold, slow, or passive principle, and yang represents the hot, excited or active principle. A healthy state is achieved by maintaining a balance state of the yin and yang. This is done through vital pathways or meridians that allow for the flow of qi, or vital energy. The vital energy flow occurs along pathways known as meridians. These meridians connect over 2,000 acupuncture points along the body. There are 12 main meridians, and 8 secondary meridians. Although traditional western medicine does not completely understand how acupuncture works, the proof that it does work has been shown in several studies conducted by western medical facilities.

    Meditation is the other form of preventive maintenance that we need as we maintain our overall wellness. Meditation is preventive maintenance for the mind. Meditation gives us the opportunity to reflect on our inner self. To listen to that small inner voice that is supposed to help guide and direct our mental processes, but in modern day existence, is often drowned out due to excessive noise pollution.

Information About Wellness

    You pick up the magazines each day, and you’re bombarded with health and fitness information. Advertisements and articles that are designed to impart much needed information to the reader about the state of fitness and health in America today, and what we as responsible citizens should do. I want you to stop, and think for just one moment. How do you determine your current fitness and wellness levels? Does your regular doctor as you each time you go if you believe yourself to be fit and well? Probably not. Nor does he give you any method for determining the status on your own. Fitness centers abound in this country, and most are staffed with counselors who can test your fitness level. What about your wellness level? Are they one and the same? They are not one and the same, yet they rely heavily on each other to keep you healthy.

    Being fit and being well are totally different conditions. Your wellness rating is dependent upon your immune system, and what vitamins, supplements, and nutrition you provide for your immune system. Fit people can sometimes be unwell. And well people can sometimes be unfit. However, when you do combine the two, and use sound principles based on clean living, exercise, and healthy eating, you attain a state of equilibrium where you are both fit and well.

    Most individuals do not take the time to completely understand the advantages of being both fit and well. We read and absorb the information we’re given through the media and health organizations, without ever pondering if we’re receiving all the information we need, or simply the part that is profitable to be seen or heard. Fitness gyms need your monthly fees in order to remain operational. They have no real concern about the condition of your immune system. Physical fitness is a condition of the body alone.  Hospitals and doctors need you as a patient in order to remain operational; they want you to know you need to be fit and well, but often leave out important pieces that affect your wellness and, therefore, your ability to be fit.

    What about eating habits? What about vitamins? What role does our daily intake play in our health, our wellness, and our fitness? More than you have been lead to believe or understand. The body’s ability to remain well under anything other than ideal conditions is a direct result of the nutrition received on a daily basis. The mind’s ability to remain well is, again, a direct result of our nutrition intake. For instance, the human brain doesn’t develop well without the necessary input of protein in our daily diet. No protein, no intelligence. No intelligence, then none of the other states is attainable.

    Our spiritual input is a determining factor when establishing our wellness level. We all need the benefit of spiritual reflection, as a way of cleansing ourselves of the toxins of our daily life.  Spirituality is a way of assuring ourselves of a renewing, and rebirth of ourselves as caring humans. Wellness encompasses our state of being, mind, and health. It is a condition of the whole. Wellness is a condition of the mind, body, and soul.

Vitamins: To Be or Not to Be?

    Nutrition as it applies to our daily lives means that we take in what we need to maintain our body’s healthy state. Nutrition has become an important word thanks to the involvement of the USDA in our daily food requirements, and the FDA’s involvement in determining what is and is not dangerous for us to consume.

    But what is our responsibility in the nutrition game? Do we understand what our nutritional requirements are, how to fulfill those requirements, and how to look for real nutritional value in our foods? I’m not sure that nutrition has been successfully addressed in its own right. We hear nutrition in relation to our vitamin intake, our fortified cereals and milk, and in the context that we need “nutritional value” from our food choices. But we don’t often stop to think, what do we really need in nutritional supplements?

    Vitamins and minerals are more readily available to us than ever before, and we’re still no better equipped to actually determine what we need to take, than we were forty years ago. Just because we see the latest advertisement about a particular vitamin and decide the symptoms of deficiency apply to us, does not mean we need to rush out and purchase the product. The symptoms of deficiency for lots of vitamins and minerals are the same or overlapping. What we need is a way to detect, on an individual basis, what our body’s lack, and then plan a suggested nutritional solution.

    The complete lack of unity between our medical field and the herbal field, (this is the field that vitamins and minerals belong to) is a disgrace in a country so forward thinking as the United States. But it is also where we fall short in providing our citizenry with the tools they need to make better, informed decisions. The medical field has long resented any contact that patients might make with herbalists, vitamins and minerals, or any other proposed health aid, that wasn’t directly related to medicine.

    Thanks to this prevalent attitude among most all doctors, we have missed great opportunities to advance a generation’s health. If you were to take a cross section of the population, and check for adequate levels of the most used and fortified vitamins and minerals, you would probably find the as high as 80% or the population is lacking in a least one of the vitamins and minerals. Now, that doesn’t sound too bad, until you stop to think, what if it’s calcium? A calcium deficiency brings on osteoporosis, a deteriorating of the bone. This disease alone costs millions in medical expense to the population.

    Can you see how a little more cooperation and open-minded participation on the part of our medical field could result in far fewer health problems? It would also have provided the general population with a viable way to discern their vitamin and mineral needs, accurately. Blood tests, urine tests, and other simple office procedures would provide the vast majority of the information needed for us to arm ourselves, and head off to the health store. Preventive medicine comes in all shapes, forms, and tablets!

The Yin and Yang of the Healthy Individual

    The Chinese believe our bodies are complete halves, one side being the passive and the other being the aggressive, and it only through the successful union of the halves, that we have the healthy whole.

    Western medicine has so far, not subscribed to this theory, in whole. There is compelling evidence to support many of the Chinese theories on the joining of the body’s energy forces and balancing our flow of energy through the entire body.

    Chiropractic and acupuncture philosophies base their entire practice on the successful correlation of the body’s energy flow, nervous system impulses, and skeletal alignment.

    What we do know, about individuals is that the entire system must be in balance for attainment of true wellness and health. Our physical, mental, and spiritual existence must be aligned and working as a whole. To better understand this principle, we need to take a closer look at some of the ancient healing techniques and philosophies. Perhaps then we can develop a better understanding of how our body works with itself to heal.

    In the tradition of acupuncture, the vital energy flow occurs along pathways known as meridians. These meridians connect over 2,000 acupuncture points along the body. There are 12 main meridians, and 8 secondary meridians. Although traditional western medicine does not completely understand how acupuncture works, the proof that it does work has been shown in several studies conducted by western medical facilities.

    The very nature of chiropractic care is the belief in the body’s own healing properties. Quite often, we can have small problems in one area of our body, and not even realize it until the effect is felt in a much larger way, somewhere else.

    The practice of chiropractic care focuses on the relationship between your spine and your nervous system. The spine is the structure, and the nervous system is the function. Chiropractic believes these two systems work in unison to keep and then restore your body’s health. The word “chiropractic” is taken from Greek, and means “done by hand”.

    If you take the basic premise from each form of healing, and apply it to the knowledge that we have about the interaction of the mind, body, and spirit, you can see that these ancient healing philosophies are very accurate in their belief about treatment and how the body works. They were able to discern this hundreds of years before science could actually provide the proof.

    The amazing part thing to me is that with all of this knowledge, and all the opportunity for self-help and healing that we have available, we still have individuals who suffer simply because they aren’t willing to put forth the effort to learn and participate. We have every possible venue for healing options available, for the low-income, for the middle-income, and for the wealthy. There is no bias when it comes to availability. We simply need to take advantage of the yin and yang of our opportunity. Part of the halves is in place, now we just need the participants.