I find it difficult to explain to people what I do ( the program that I offer to teach my clients ), what I believe in & would like to advocate to as many people as possible. In this post, I am going to take a shot at explaining it. It's going to be a long post as it's something I am passionate about.
So, let's get started.
What is holistic wellness ?
Holistic wellness is an approach of looking at your health as not something that is "purely physical" but understanding & acknowledging that there are mental and emotional aspects of wellness that you need to take care of to experience that overall sense of well being.
A little bit of a background
When I started out on my own as a 'Group Fitness Instructor' about 7 years back & conceived my own program for women, it was very similar to any other fitness program - a warm up, followed by main workout & cooldown. Focus of the daily workout was on building the physical health related aspects of fitness - Endurance, Strength, Flexibility, Balance etc. I continued this way for a few years. During this time I got to understand my clients, their lifestyle & their needs better. I began to question my program. Did my clients really need 60 minutes of physical workout ? How much strength, endurance etc did they need to function effectively ? ( based on my understanding of their lifestyle & needs ). What else did they need to go through life with ease ?
I wanted to genuinely add value to my clients lives by teaching them in that 1 hour they spent with me, that which they could apply to the remaining 23 hours of their day, that would help them live better.
While movement no doubt improved the quality of their life, I felt I needed to address the mental and emotional aspects of wellness that my program lacked.
So I got thinking about how I could do this.
Being a yoga teacher I knew the best way to calm the mind is through the breath. So I decided to include breathwork into their daily workout routine. While few of my clients were uncomfortable with the new class programming, they soon turned around after experiencing the benefits.
Next was emotional well being practices. This was a little tricky to introduce at first. So I started a private group for only interested students.
I picked up a few practices such as Mindfulness, Self love, Conscious relaxation etc to work on. Over time I conceived a total of 30 practices. These were further drilled down to 10. All of this is there on my conscious living blog, in case you are interested : https://acourseinconsciousliving.blogspot.com/2020/12/daily-10-practices.html?m=1)
So as a group we began working on these practices. We would pick one to focus on each month. We read books, journals, listened to TED talks on the topic, took up courses to further our knowledge and intentionally performed one action every day to strengthen that particular practice.
It helped that we were all equally diligent and consistent. The practices had a transformative effect on us.
And I began noticing how this group was responding in a better way to their physical fitness, health & life in general as compared to the other group that came in only for the workouts.
Practicing mindfulness, daily gratitude, self love, etc made this bunch show up for themselves more, they beat themselves up less & were having a positive approach to their life.
After 3 years of keeping this group exclusive, I decided to merge the 2 groups.
While I am aware that only a few students practice diligently, the ones who do, benefit immensely and they also grow to be better individuals from the inside - kinder, more aware, calm to just name a few attributes that I have noticed.
And this gets me really excited. As being a better human is an important value for me.
What does all of this mean for you ?
Look at your health holistically - Body, mind, emotions. While it's natural for us to want to improve our physical health, lose weight, look good etc & take up physical exercise solely for that, it's important to not ignore the mental and emotional aspects. They are not going to improve on their own. Just as you lift weights to get stronger, stretch & do yoga to get more flexible, you need to “do something” on a regular basis for your mental & emotional health. A positive mindset ( which comes from intentional mindset training ) will have a far-reaching impact on your physical health.
Here are some things you can choose to do to get started in these areas :
A. Start a Breathwork practice :
It will help you stay calm & is a great starting point for more challenging practices such as meditation.
You can do a few minutes of resonance breathing ( equal counts inhale & exhale ). You can check out the resonance breathing app & use it for self practice : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ayny.breathingapp . Else you can try any other pranayama practice such as the ‘Alternate nostril breathing'.
If you are not comfortable with these then just stick with taking a few conscious deep breaths. That will help to steady the mind too.
B. Practice Mindfulness :
Pick up any routine task & be present with it. I remember starting out with brushing my teeth mindfully, and over time, it became easier for me to be mindful with other activities such as eating, which helps me greatly in maintaining my physical health. Mindful eating has given me the freedom from measuring food.
C. Practice daily gratitude :
Gratitude makes you feel emotionally content. Find a way to do this in a way that resonates with you.
D. Practice daily self love :
This practice will help you fall in love with taking care of yourself. You will no longer need to force yourself to eat your veggies or show up for your workouts, or make other seemingly difficult choices. You will begin to do them "for yourself".
( Some ideas on how to practice here : https://acourseinconsciousliving.blogspot.com/2019/02/self-love.html?m=1 ).
Just get started with these. Strengthening even one of these practices will have a positive impact on your health & overall well being.
Way Forward
Trust the process & put in the effort. Start small but stay consistent.
Best way to know if you are making progress, is asking yourself, how peaceful & at ease you feel as you go about your life & your goals.
If you are already training with me then I hope this post inspires you to take these practices a little more seriously. And if you are someone who is just interested in being healthy & fit, then I hope this post inspires you to put in effort into every aspect of your wellness, not just physical 💕
Need of the moment and very well written.. I immensely enjoy these practices and my gratitude that you have touched my life to make it definitely more peaceful and happier person❣️