By Renate Novak Health Choices Institute
I had the privilege to know a Buddhist monk named Bhante when he was around 110 years old. One of the things he used to say to us was, “If you are not your own doctor by the time you are 40, then God help you.” What he meant was that we must learn to understand ourselves and our own health, how to maintain it, and how to regain it if it slips.
We are complex beings. Health is a complex thing, and we are not given an operating manual for our bodies at the time we are born to teach us how to stay well and healthy. Many of us think health is purely a physical thing. To be healthy means paying attention to the body, mind, heart and spirit in us.
I have spent 36 years in the holistic community. This has been very fortunate for me, because I befriended various holistic practitioners who all had their own angle on helping people maintain and regain their health through natural means — and I was able to learn from all of them. I feel more vibrantly alive and healthy today then when I was in my 20s.
Most people know by now that some form of movement or exercise is vital for good health. The majority of the pains we experience come from an imbalance in the muscular-skeleton system. Walking, swimming, dance, sports, yoga and fitness training could all help to rebalance our body machine, and help our hearts and lungs to stay healthy, as well. Blood pressure and diabetes are also affected in a positive way by exercise; moving your body for at least half an hour, four times a week, in vigorous ways will make your body machine hum and reduce your stress level significantly.
You are what you eat. Everything you eat becomes your body, new skin cells, bones and so on. Nutrition made simple is: Eat as much raw foods as possible, fruits, nuts and vegetables. Read the labels on the food items you buy — if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it. Supermarket foods often are full of preservatives, colors and additives. Eat organic as much as possible. Stay away from too much sugar and saturated fats.
Most of us are already aware of the two previous important elements, but what about emotional health? Recently scientists have established proof that the thoughts we think affect our health, that negative thoughts and suppressed dark emotions lower the immune system. How do we work with that? This is where being healthy becomes a bit more complex.
For one, we can pay attention to what we think, literally observe our thoughts. Do negative thoughts help us solve our problems? Of course not. But we can change what we think about like we can change a radio station, and choose to think about something pleasant, or visualize a positive outcome to a situation instead of worrying about it.
Most of us as children were not encouraged to feel our feelings. By the time we have become adults, many of us are totally out of touch with what we feel at any given time. We don’t even know that we are angry when we are angry, and we think that feeling bad is bad. We think that something is wrong with us if we are not in a good mood. Often we carry around unresolved issues from a long time ago.
In this arena we might need some help from someone who is trained to help us clear things up — body- centered therapists, psychotherapists and psychologists or a good counselor. Resolving and processing old issues help us feel better and therefore we feel happier, healthier and lighter.
We are spiritual beings. Our health is also affected by how well we connect to the greater whole, whatever it is for us. Do we trust the flow of life and do we believe that we are a part of a greater mystery, or do we feel that we control it all, or that it’s “me against the world”? Life is easier if we are able to surrender to the process and know that every difficulty that comes up is there for our growth, to make us stronger and clearer — and, yes, most of the time growth hurts and is darn uncomfortable. Are we overall able to trust life?
These are just some of the areas we need to pay attention to to be healthy and well. There is much to learn about how to stay and get healthy, and there has never been a better time to do it. There are wellness centers everywhere that offer massage therapy, yoga, meditation, nutrition, and self-development classes.
Start taking responsibility for your health. After all, who else will?
Renate Novak is the president of Health Choices Institute and Holistic Massage School in Hillsborough. She can be reached by calling (908) 359-3995 or by writing to [email protected]. On the Web: http://health-choices.com.
