What is wellness, it is a word that we hear tossed around a lot in fitness, nutrition and spiritual circles, so let’s take a deeper look.
Wellness (as defined by dictionary.com)
1.the quality or state of being healthy in body and mind, especially as the result of deliberate effort.
2.an approach to healthcare that emphasizes preventing illness and prolonging life, as opposed to emphasizing treating diseases.
There is a reason the fitness industry is a multibillion dollar a year industry fitness and wellness are overwhelming topics. Even in the above definition you will see several trigger words that can often act to cause confusion and a surrendering of power to those you think know more than you. When engaging fitness, wellness and nutrition it is of course important to seek out guidance and information, but we MUST still engage our intuition and discernment. Too often do I see people toss out intuition and discernment with the promise of quick results, and impossible goals. In the above definition you see the following: state of being healthy, deliberate effort, and prolonging life. These phrases are ones that can cause the most confusion when making the decision to move into a place of greater health and well-being.
One of the first things that you should do is make a commitment to YOU. What are your reasons for wanting to move into greater states of health. If you do not have a journal by now YOU SHOULD. Journals and logs are your best friends on the spiritual journey, and fitness/wellness are part of that journey.
Keeping a journal is one of the first ways to bring wellness into your life. A commitment to daily logging of your calories, your workout routines, but also your intentions, moments of gratitude, your emotions, insights, dialogue with your intuition, anything and everything. A journal is sacred space, and too many of us keep a separate journal for each aspect of our lives, this can often divide us. Keeping one journal (for at least a while) where you write everything allows you to get an overall picture of where you are. I know many people like keeping electronic journals, but often with these you only get narrow focus on what is right in front of you, non-electronic journal allows you to flip forward and back, to shift around, add notes to, cross things off.
One of the reasons I am stressing the importance of a journal is that you’re going to need it for the next part of this blog.
In order to move into wellness, healthy living, and fitness you’ll first have to define what these are to you.
What does healthy living mean to you, what does it look like, feel like, and what would it take for you to move in that direction? These are questions to meditate on in your journal. Contemplative meditation allows us to arrive at our own definitions. When we OWN wellness, fitness, and health we can begin embodying those principles. We know where we are, and are less likely to linger in murky waters. Remember also that your definitions can change daily, and should. As you grow and evolve on your path to wellness, so will your definitions. What changes are you making, and what is changing you. Some days emotions may dictate you take a day off, others those same emotions may dictate a powerful workout to burn off energy.
What are your intentions for moving towards wellness, fitness and healthy living? Intentions are more important than goals. Often when it comes to fitness we set goals that may seem impossible, “I am going to lose 15lbs in 3 days!”, or “I am going to work out 7 days a week for 6 hours a day” or any number of the passing fads that present false promises and unrealistic goals. Intentions are much deeper, they are in the moment, they have greater purpose and we can live them now. An example would be “Today, my intention for my great work of wellness is to love myself through the movement of my body, to nourish myself with greens, and to breathe in this moment fully.” Intentions can be single words that you carry with you through the day, “Today I carry love in all my actions, thoughts, words, movements, and nourishment”. Find what works for you. Setting intention allows us to have a place to start, it allows it to show up daily and to commit to our life fully. In a later article I’ll talk about setting positive/healthy goals that are in alignment with your intentions.
Make lifestyle changes. Wellness and Fitness are a way of life. When you feel healthy, whole, and nourished you are able to rest more fully, engage your life with more passion, and wield magic from a place of full power. Your journal allows you to look back on your journey, to see where you were, where you are growing, and where your struggles exist. It allows you to find appreciation and compassion for ourselves.
In coming articles I’ll take these ideas deeper, we’ll move towards lifestyle changes, and as always feel free to post your questions in the comment section below.
What holds you back from moving towards health, wellness, and fitness?
How do you define health? Wellness? Fitness? Are these definitions mutable or are they rigid?
You are ALL loved. You are ALL Beautiful. You are ALL Divine
Namaste and Blessed Be.
Mike Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT
The storm is upon us. The body follows the mind, and right now stress seems to be permeating the global experience. Now, more than ever physical body spiritual practices important for connection and stepping into the storm. Things are not easy for many right now (but when are they truly ever easy). We are getting to step into our tests in new ways, and as we step into engaging spirituality, the divine, and intuition we cannot forget to include the body. The body follows the mind. When we are crippled by stress or overwhelmed by life the body reacts. For many this means sore backs, achy joints, loss of mobility or even sickness. The phrase “I’m worried sick”, become literal.
Bhakti Witch 