From Blind Spots to Brilliance.
The Wellness Wheel: 10 Facets that Define and Refine Your Narrative. PART 1
When it comes to our wellness, it’s easy to develop blind spots. We get so caught up in habits and patterns that we lose connection to the innate wisdom that keeps us in sync. After years of drain and strain, our bodies begin to give way. Ultimately by our 40s, we start to see signs of illness and dis-ease. As if it were suddenly all new to us, we question how did this happen? Well, how did I get here? (same as it ever was).
Let’s have a look…
The foundation of our wellness can be seen as a wheel. There is a radial center with many spokes. Each spindle influencing the integrity of the whole structure. According to Dr. Vasant Lad, there are ten main contributing factors to our wellness, both physically and mentally. The initial five factors primarily govern our adaptability to the living experience. The second five are based on the choices we make to negotiate our lifestyle in relationship to the living experience. It really comes down to reaction, response, and relationship.
We’ll break down the information into two more digestible blogs for the next couple weeks. Though it will all seem very rooted in common sense practicality, it can be helpful to let it all absorb and take each point as it reflects in your life.
The first five beats in your daily rhythms.
Relationship: This is the cornerstone to our health and happiness, considering we are in a relationship with everything and everyone. Mirroring each other, we can see that which most needs to be healed or revealed. The space between self and other holds immense potential. Our self-awareness sharpens through communications and interactions. This awareness leads to clarity and through clarity, we come to find our truth. Most importantly in this lifetime, we learn to cultivate a deep relationship to ourselves.
Season: Each season brings distinct qualities that can either aggravate or harmonize with our constitution. Our preferences for specific seasons stem from personal comfort levels, gauged by how well we tolerate seasonal qualities like heat, cold, dryness, or humidity. We have to find our rhythm and calibrate to our surroundings to maintain balance. It's essential to navigate these seasonal fluctuations through appropriate behaviors in our diet and lifestyle.
Age: Ayurveda divides our life cycle into 3 stages. With every year we become more prone to certain symptoms. Each life stage can be more susceptible to certain diseases. Every wrinkle and scar tells our precious story. We adapt our routines and self-care many times throughout our life. For example, as we age, seniors may opt to increase fluids, keep the body warm, and joints lubricated through gentle movement. While during the stressful midlife era, it is most beneficial to watch for inflammation and keep the temperament cool.
Psychology: Every perception creates a thought, thought creates an emotion, emotion creates an action/inaction. A simple train of thought can create a biochemical reaction in cells, muscles, tissues, and organs. The mind and body are interconnected. Negative emotions disrupt our constitutional balance, and bodily imbalances can give rise to negative mindsets. The seeds of diseases are planted through cumulative emotional stress.
Stress: Stress has a pivotal role in our vitality. At the root of so much of our lifestyle choices- it effects our diet, sleep, clarity, intuition, and immunity. With it’s accumulation it is the foundation of much of our illness and disease. It’s weight can only be carried so far and its effects run deep.
Each spoke holds the key to your vitality.
Even though there are some things we cannot control like the passing of time, our genetics and the seasons, we can use self-care tactics and tools to mitigate the effects of living. So even things seemingly out of our control can be tended to. We are after all the center of the wheel.
Next time we will look at the final five factors in the wellness wheel. These relate more toward the choices that can put us in the driver’s seat. We are more tolerant and immune to stress disorders when we are in a supportive routine and lifestyle. The way we move through the world and interact with our surroundings effects our over all vitality. We then have the power to thrive in our passion and purpose.
