Returning to our Roots: How Stewarding Holistic Wellness & Spiritual Development Benefits Society at Large
dun_deagh, Flickr
We have lost in our modern day society a sense of glue that unifies ourselves as individuals across the many roles/groups and places we inhabit and our place within a community and in the world. Many of us also have fragmented endeavors related to our health, wellbeing & cultivation of ourselves that lack an ongoing practice for developing ourselves in a holistic manner that connects us to our spiritual selves. Examples include:
One-off yoga or wellness workshops/retreats which bring delight & calm, but the energy and momentum get's lost upon returning to one's every day life that does not support or have a structure for carrying forward this newfound development.
Health approaches like pursuit of a diet that prompt weight loss and a sense of wellness at the time, but does not take into account one's health and wellbeing beyond just food that factor, such as: lifestyle, season, age, exercise regime, etc...
Specialized medical treatments that are easy effective for a certain bodily system, but hurt the long-term functioning, wellness & capability of other systems - example; the drug Lipitor which is the most commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drug in the US, but damages the musculoskeletal system, elevates risk of diabetes, mental decline & many other negative side effects. There's also spiritual qualities associated with many medical conditions, like high cholesterol, that the Western medical system does not explore or honor.
Limiting one's spiritual expression to take shape in such ways as attending church one day a week and not developing one's own capacity to steward a connection to spirit in our day-to-day lives.
There's a myriad of examples that can be pulled from all the different arenas in our lives that point to how we are not nourishing ourselves in a holistic manner and in many ways, we are hitting a limit to how we have been and returning to our roots in order to center and ground ourselves.
In the past in our society, our modern American culture had family doctors or priests that would offer a holistic means for understanding our wellbeing and connect us to that which is greater. However, with heightened specialization in the medical field and an over-emphasis on science and rationality in our society, we have pursued the American dream in an individualistic fashion that we are beginning to see does not serve our health and wellbeing as a whole (individually, collectively and as a society) nor honors and nourishes ourselves as spiritual beings. What can happen is a person can get hyper-focused in one area of their life, such as the examples I listed at the beginning, and experience success in that arena, but pay a price in the long-run and really spin their wheels in a way that does not allow their fullest brightest self as a sprit to shine out into the world.
As our modern world reaches greater levels of complexity, higher levels of stress, more unknowns we are coming to a place where connecting to our deeper roots, tending to all levels of being, developing the capacity to generate inner states of calm and collectivity and cultivating the means to access the hidden gems of spirit within ourselves will be crucial for navigating through these increasingly turbulent times.
Returning in our society to enlisting holistic guides that not only support us in our healing, but harness latent potential within and aid in our individual development that serves ourselves individually as well as ourselves as collectives that serve the greater good is one such means. Having regular sessions with people that deeply care about you and can see you in a myriad of ways will also aid in supporting the nurturance of one’s ongoing wellbeing and bringing forward of the magical spirit as well as stewardship of one's being across all levels of their life.
The ancient Greeks understood this concept and held the notion that good health came about from a cultivation of one's physical and social environments as well tied to human behavior. It was also important to ensure one's inner and external environments were tended to as well as inviting health education & skill development while enlisting individuals to be a part of democratic institutions so that personal and social health were woven together. According to Yannis Tountas, in the article The Roots of Holistic Health, "[The ancient Greeks] also recognized the importance of supportive environments and healthy public policy and reoriented medicine towards a more naturalistic and humanistic perspective." Even the Greek word “hygieia” that is the root of the word hygenic connotates a state of completeness and contentment. In other words, a healthy person is one that is well-balanced and exists in harmony with cosmic laws and order.
With all this said, it seems more and more important to aptly support one's health and wellness in a way that brings wellness to a society at large. Ancient civilizations, like the Greeks, understood this and pursued wellness on a number of levels to benefit their society. As the American culture faces onerous and challenging times, the benefit individually and collectively in developing and equipping ourselves has never been greater. To this end, in what ways are you cultivating yourself in a holistic manner across all the levels of your life? How are you supporting your internal and external health as well as connection with society and stewardship of society? Clearly, we have a lot to learn from ancient civilizations and I'd be curious to hear how you all are fostering this process for yourself and enlisting others for support.