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Tag: wholistic health

  • Ayurveda: Imbalance as the Root of Illness

    Maintaining a balanced lifestyle is an ongoing adventure — or perhaps more honestly, a challenge. You may remember the old Mars bar slogan: “A Mars a day helps you Work, Rest, and Play.” We know a daily chocolate bar isn’t actually the path to well-being, but the idea behind the slogan does reflect a deeper truth: when the essential rhythms of life — work, rest, and play — are nourished equally, we thrive.

    From an Ayurvedic lens, this balance is essential. Ayurveda teaches that health exists when we find balance in our constitutional type (the combination of the doshas Vata, Pitta and Kapha that is our own), in good digestion and removal of waste products from the body-mind. When these are functioning harmoniously, sustained by a steady mind and joyful spirit then we feel and act in line with our highest purpose. When lifestyle factors cause us to drift out of balance over time, we experience depletion, stagnation, irritability, anxiety or any kind of illness. Restoring balance is the foundation of healing.

    Yoga therapy shares this view beautifully with this Ayurvedic: it recognises that health is dynamic, personal, and deeply influenced by how we live each day.

    Ayurveda: Imbalance as the Root of Illness

    According to Ayurveda, imbalance begins long before diagnosable symptoms appear. It starts subtly — in the food we eat, in digestion, sleep, energy, or mood — and only later moves into more tangible issues. Understanding imbalances requires awareness, at least from time to time, not occasional crisis management.

    This is why individual assessment is essential. Ayurveda encourages multiple forms of daily self-observation, such as:

    • Tracking sleep quality and dreaming
    • Observing digestion, appetite, and elimination
    • Noticing energy peaks and dips
    • Monitoring emotional tone or irritability
    • Reflecting on mental clarity, agitation or stagnation
    • Checking for physical signs like dryness, heaviness, heat, stiffness, or restlessness
    • Observing responses to food, movement, and environment

    These simple check-ins help identify imbalance early — when it’s most easily corrected — and guide personalised choices for restoring harmony.

    Food as Medicine

    In Ayurveda, food is not only fuel but a primary tool for re-balancing the body-mind.  Rather than one universal diet, Ayurveda encourages eating based on one’s individual constitution and to support the digestive processes allowing for optimum nourishment. Where there are any current imbalances, choosing foods carefully can restore health balance.

    Sleep: The Ultimate Restorative

    Ayurveda calls sleep “one of the three pillars of life”. The three pillars (traya upastambha) are sleep, diet and balanced lifestyle. Quality sleep rests the body, rebuilds tissues, clears the mind, and stabilises emotions. The aim is for consistent sleep routines, that support all aspects of health and wellbeing.

    Cultivating Clarity and Calm

    Ayurveda and yoga agree on the importance of the mind – steadying the mind when there is unsteadiness, reducing stress and promoting emotional stability. Honouring emotional well-being requires awareness, acknowledgement, and skilled responses. When the mind is calm and there is clarity, we can better integrate all levels of being;  feeling open and connected — to nature, to others, to our authentic self.

    Physical Health: The Foundation of Balance

    Physical health supports all other layers of well-being and persona and spiritual development. The body is often the first place where an individual will notice imbalance. It is also the most accessible place to initiate healing through a suitably designed yoga practice.

    Ayurveda recognises the fundamental principle that health is not a fixed state — it is in a state of dynamic balance and when imbalance arises, we can restore our own rhythm and rest through awareness and adjustment.
    Ayurveda reminds us that illness is a message: something has drifted out of harmony. With mindful living, assessment and personalised choices, especially in the early stages of imbalance, we can choose adjustments to gently guide ourselves back into balance.

  • Rethinking Health: From Illness to Wholeness

    Exploring Approaches to Understanding and Maintaining Health

    Walk in nature with friends

    Health is often viewed in a linear way  – something we possess until it falters, prompting us to seek a remedy for our ailment. However, our understanding of health can be, and arguably should be, far more nuanced.

    Is health simply the absence of illness, or should it be seen as a dynamic, wholistic state of well-being? How do these differing perspectives on health shape our health? The traditional approach centred on illness and treatment, and a broader, wholistic view that emphasises prevention, balance, and the optimisation of health for a healthy life.

    Health as the Absence of Disease

    For many, health becomes a concern only when something goes wrong. This reactive perspective dominates clinical medicine and much of Western healthcare, where the focus is on diagnosing, treating, and managing specific ailments. When we experience symptoms, we seek professional help, undergo tests, and often receive medication or perhaps another intervention, such as physiotherapy. Here, health is defined in negative terms – as the absence of pain, dysfunction, or disease.

    This approach is primarily our current model for managing our health. Modern medicine has an impressive ability to identify and treat acute illnesses, offer a level of control over some chronic conditions, and address emergencies, which has dramatically increased life expectancy and reduced suffering. However, it can also lead to a narrow view, where individuals neglect their health until a problem arises. By seeing health primarily in the context of illness, there’s a risk of overlooking the many factors that contribute to ongoing well-being.

    Wholistic Approaches to Health

    An alternative perspective views health as a positive, dynamic state that encompasses physical, mental, and social well-being. Influenced by traditions such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and more modern wellness thought, this wholistic approach recognises the interconnectedness of mind, body, and environment. Instead of waiting for problems to emerge, the emphasis is on maintaining balance and preventing illness through lifestyle choices, self-awareness, and fostering supportive relationships.

    Wholistic health involves a proactive stance: eating nutritious foods, staying physically active, managing stress, nurturing emotional health, and social engagement. Mental health, in particular, is given equal prominence, recognising that anxiety, depression, or chronic stress can impact physical health just as much as a virus or injury. In this sense, health is not a static state but a continual process of adaptation and adjustments in self-care.

    Prevention and Personal Responsibility

    The holistic approach encourages individuals to feel more empowered in their own health, making informed choices about diet, exercise, sleep, and social connections. Public health campaigns and workplace wellness programmes increasingly reflect this shift, aiming to empower people to adopt healthier habits and reduce risk factors for chronic disease.

    However, it’s important to acknowledge that personal responsibility is only part of the equation. Social factors such as income, cost of healthy food, education, housing, and access to healthcare play a significant role in an individual’s ability to maintain good health. A truly wholistic perspective considers not only the individual’s choices but also the broader social and environmental contexts that shape those choices.

    Bridging the Divide: Integrative Health

    Recently, there has been a growing movement towards integrative health, which seeks to blend the strengths of conventional medicine with wholistic practices. Integrative health professionals might use medical treatments for acute illnesses while also recommending lifestyle changes, mindfulness practices, and complementary therapies to support long-term well-being.

    This approach recognises the value of medical interventions but also recognises that health is complex and multifaceted. It acknowledges that well-being extends beyond the doctor’s surgery, encompassing daily habits, psychological resilience, social connection, and the environments in which we live.

    Influencing our Health

    How we think about health profoundly influences our actions, priorities, and quality of life. While it is essential to address illness when it arises, adopting a wholistic approach encourages us to cultivate well-being in a proactive and sustainable way. By embracing both approaches – treating illness when necessary and nurturing overall health every day – we can move towards a more balanced and fulfilling understanding of what it means to be truly healthy in our life.

    Reflections

    • Consider how your daily routines—diet, sleep, movement, and social interactions—support your physical and mental health. Are there small changes you could make to offer greater balance?
    • Reflect on your coping strategies for stress and emotional challenges. Do you feel equipped to manage life’s ups and downs, or might you benefit from new approaches such as mindfulness or talking therapies?
    • Think about the role of your environment, including your relationships, workplace, and community. How do these factors affect your overall well-being, and what can you do to strengthen your support networks?
    • Assess the influence of societal factors, such as access to healthy food and healthcare, on your health choices. Are there barriers you face, and how might you seek support to overcome them?
    • Finally, ask yourself what health means to you personally, beyond the absence of illness. What steps can you take to nurture a sense of fulfilment and resilience in your everyday life?