I've been on my own journey with the concept of wellness fundamentals, and I would like to share a little bit of this journey with you...
If you look up "pillars of health" online, you're likely to pull up pages headlining 3 or 4 or 5 or 6, even 7 pillars of health. I have ruminated extensively on "What are the real pillars of health?" Many, if not most of you, have heard me talk about 4 pillars of health, which I've discerned from observations in my private clinical practice. Pretty much consistently, an imbalance in one or a combination of these 4 areas are either part of the root cause or a symptom that is aggravating a condition and perpetuating a cycle of disharmony. Those 4 areas are (in no particular order):
What you put in your body (food, drink, supplements, etc)
Sleep
Managing stress and bouncing back
Surrounding yourself with nourishing relationships (maintaining strong boundaries with or letting go of ones that drain you)
I've been saying this for may years now...and I have always felt like something was missing...
Last year, I had a great opportunity to present a 2-hour lecture on "Healing Ourselves Through Community" at a graduate level seminar. The invitation came at a time when I was (and still am) deeply thinking/researching about Chinese ancient history and the dynamics of politics, culture and public health around the time that the foundations of today's Chinese medicine were forming. Naturally, my talk drew heavily from this material and was a exercise in seeing how this really specialized and academic thinking could bear any useful information for everyday life.
It did.
Of course, it seems so simple now...but of course, it's totally not.
I will state this as sure as I know my eyes are brown, the 5th foundation for wellness is: Practice and Intention.
The only way our visions of, our needs, our yearning for transformation (physical, mental/emotional, spiritual) can truly manifest is through everyday practice and intention.
As you carry on this winter, I hope you have a chance to discover a vision of wellness and positivity that makes all the quiet parts of you sing. And I encourage you to be so present with that energy that it permeates every cell and you harness it into whatever your everyday practice will be, making repetition and routine feel expansive and uplifting.
Wishing everyone spaciousness where you need it the most,
Ana