While western medicine provides some amazing life-saving research and treatments, one of its potential downfalls could be a tendency to look at the body in sections or groups of symptoms, rather than as a connected whole. By contrast, holistic health usually embraces wellness in more of a physical, mental, and spiritual sense.

The life expectancy of humans today is longer than ever. But what about the quality of those extra years? While people are living longer, they’re also experiencing high levels of fatigue, stress, and mental anguish. It seems like now — perhaps more than ever — is a critical time for taking care of the whole person through a more holistic approach to wellness.

What is Holistic Health?

When people discuss holistic health, they’re usually talking about an approach to wellness that encompasses the individual as one whole system of body, mind, and spirit. A lot of people also consider “holistic” to mean a more natural approach to wellness with minimal invasiveness. Holistic healing usually involves multiple complementary disciplines and alternative wellness techniques that may overlap with modern medicine, but are designed to look beyond the treatment of segmented symptoms to support the whole person on a physical, mental and spiritual level.

There are several wellness practices in the realm of holistic health. Many people who live with day-to-day discomforts and mysterious ailments embrace these and other practices to help them feel better:

• Chiropractic care
• Massage
• Herbalism
• Energy healing 
• Reiki
• Yoga
• Meditation
• Acupuncture
• Nutrition

There are 5 main components of holistic health and wellness. We believe these 5 aspects each make a major contribution to overall health and wellness, and together enable a person to be the happiest and healthiest they can be. If one of these aspects of holistic health suffers, the whole person may be affected.

Physical

This is what most people think of when they hear the word health. Since it’s often the physical body that communicates the first signs of a problem, this makes sense. Physical symptoms are usually easy to track or measure, which is probably why western medicine is so focused on them. 

Eating a clean diet, getting enough sleep, being active, and avoiding dangerous substances are all ways we can help our physical bodies function at their highest level.

Energy healing techniques like The Body Code™ could help you investigate your symptoms as communications from your subconscious mind. Through muscle testing, you may be able to access a wealth of information about how your body is functioning. You could learn what your body is asking you for, or what imbalances may be affecting your physical health. Once you know what’s going on, The Body Code™ can help you work to resolve it.

Emotional

In our opinion, emotional health is just as important as physical health. No matter how healthy your body may be, if you’re emotionally distraught or carry a huge amount of emotional baggage, you can’t be truly happy. Besides that, emotional health can often affect physical health if it suffers for too long. So how can you take better care of your emotional health?

Practicing mindfulness and regular stress reduction techniques can help us manage the day-to-day ups and downs of life, so bad experiences or bad days don’t turn into bad weeks, months or years. Keeping a journal can help, as can regular meditation or simple mindfulness techniques.

Energy healing techniques such as The Emotion Code® are designed to help you uncover and resolve trapped, negative emotional energies from past experiences that could be holding your emotional health hostage. With a few steps and by asking a few simple questions, you may be able to unpack your emotional baggage and feel like yourself again.

If you have severe emotional issues you are trying to overcome, professional therapy or counseling can help you and give you more tools to cope.

Spiritual

You don’t have to go to church to be spiritual. As long as you’re focused on your connection to your higher power and inner sense of self, you can have a spiritual experience. Aside from taking time to study and practice your own faith, some ways to support your spiritual health include spending time in nature, praying, and meditating. Getting Trapped Emotions out of your way by using The Emotion Code® can help remove any blocks between you and your more spiritual self.

Social

Most of us are happier when we have deep connections with friends and family. Even people who describe themselves as introverts have a need to connect. Even when circumstances such as illness or distance don’t allow for in-person connection, a good telephone or video chat can go a long way to satisfying that need. Even going for a walk around your neighborhood and observing people walking their dogs, working in their yards, or coming and going can help you feel a sense of belonging to your community. Volunteer work is an especially good way to get outside of yourself and feel not only socially connected, but socially responsible as you care for others.

Mental

People often wonder about the difference between emotional and mental health. The main distinction is that  while emotional health refers mostly to daily mood and feelings, mental health encompasses cognitive abilities that affect behavior and the function of the brain. 

Addressing mental health sometimes requires the expertise of a trained mental health professional. If you feel you might need this kind of support, please seek it out. However, there are plenty of ways you can support a positive mental state that may help improve your outlook, even if you combine them with professional therapy. These include taking care of the other aspects of holistic health: physical, emotional, spiritual, and social. 

• Physical: Stay active and eat healthily. 
• Emotional: Release emotional baggage. 
• Spiritual: Tune into your higher power on a regular basis. 
• Social: Stay connected to loved ones.

If you use these methods to take good care of yourself in a holistic way, you will probably be better equipped to handle the mental stress that life throws at you.

Take Care of Your Holistic Health and Wellness

Being mindful and proactive in caring for your holistic health needs can help you add life to your years, and may even help you add years to your life. When your body is trying to tell you something is amiss, make sure you’re taking good care of yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually, socially, and mentally.