Why Holistic Lifestyle Is The Key To Optimal Health?
In recent years science has made huge advancements and has been able to dig deeper into human biology and chemistry to trace the structures, fluids, secretions and elements in the body that have a role to play in various health conditions. From this place of understanding, humans have evolved to get to the roots of what different chemical and biological fabrics knit human body together and how these chemical and biological fabrics can be held together for optimal health. However, there is a gap in this approach! In the quest to get deeper to the physical components of human body, we have somehow adopted an attitude to look at each body part differently and treat it individually without considering the impact of each body part on other connected areas of the body. We have missed onto the holistic approach that is the little underlying secret to keeping body and mind not just in optimal working condition, but also in a state of feel-good factor.
Ancient understanding of optimally functioning human body and mind from the perspective of Ayurveda or even Macrobiotics, is not limited to only focusing on parts of the whole, rather focusing on the whole body-mind complex in totality. This means everything matters when it comes to being healthy and feeling great in one’s body and mind.
Holistic lifestyle is about looking at body-mind complex as a symphony of different rhythms playing in harmony with each other to create a collective ecosystem called optimal health. When we look at it as a set of separate parts joined together, the essence of creating a base for optimal health is lost.
For example, a gut related issue is not limited to gut health only. It impacts almost all functions of the body in some way. Like constipation is not a concern to be looked in isolation. A constipated body state means elimination process of the body getting blocked and body holds onto a lot of acidic toxins. Blood reabsorbs the toxins and that toxic blood moves all corners of the body with the absorbed toxins to be supplied to all cells. This weakens the cellular functioning and impacts our immunity and energy production. While at the body level a constipated person may feel congested and stagnated, at the mind level this may impact how a person feels. Sluggishness, tiredness, a feeling of heaviness even an attitude of irritability may manifest within. Over years such attitude may become a habit and show up in one’s behavior.
In such a scenario, a laxative to treat constipation may be only one part of the treatment. However, the diet must be altered to include more hydration and fiber right foods to open up the elimination flow. Simultaneously the diet must be prepared in a way that does not cause much of digestive load which may further hamper the elimination process. Worst still, a disturbed state of mind has all the power to shut down digestive processes. Thus, only laxative may not be a complete cure for constipation, the issue needs to be dealt with right diet, rightly cooked foods consumed at appropriate timings while also ensuring that the foods are consumed in a peaceful state of mind.
A holistic approach to health is a complete approach to how you live your life on a daily basis. Right from what time you wake up to the activities that you do in the morning, the kind of breakfast that you consume, your munching habits, dinner timings, sleep timings, food choices, state of mind through the day, everything matters because body functioning gets impacted by small triggers coming-in as a part of our daily habits, disturbing the internal functioning day-in and day-out until imbalances become big enough to show up as a chronic disease someday.
Thus, the ancient science of Ayurveda never looked at human body as a collection of body parts, but a whole conscious being with an innate intelligence that needs right internal environment to thrive on. This approach to looking at human health is preventive and supports flourishing health. The Ayurveda concept of Dinacharya is a holistic framework that takes into consideration how our body functions within and what time is best suited to activate which part of the body. The practices performed as per Ayurveda dincharya creates a smooth symphony of rhythms of different organ systems of the body. Biologically and physiologically this means that hormonal and digestive secretions of the body that form our body chemistry work in optimal order where imbalances do not arise and the body keeps working in an orderly fashion, which becomes a strong base for optimal health at any age of life.
Ideology Behind Ayurveda Dinacharya
Wake up Early: Early morning energy strengthens, freshens-up and rejuvenates the mind while preparing it for the coming day. The power of morning is also attributed to the release of certain hormones getting activated as we face the morning light. A late riser misses his chance to utilize the power of early morning freshening-up and the lousiness in attitude shows in the day ahead. Additionally, early morning also is the time when the body energy is automatically directed towards internal cleansing of metabolic wastes. This energy is lost if you are a late riser, thus you miss a chance to clean up all those metabolic wastes that breed within to create imbalances that later show up as chronic health concerns.
Starting the Day with an Intention or Affirmation: Early morning mind energies are pure and whatever intension you wish to communicate to your sub-conscious, the beginning of the day is the apt time to do so. Gradually what resides in the sub-conscious begins to change, so do you!
Movement and Exercise: The idea of exercising is to stimulate circulation which impacts energy production in the body. A good circulation ensures optimal pace at which energy flows in the body to give you enough internal resources to attain maximum results with your best foot forward through the day.
Physical Cleansing: The idea of physical cleansing like bathing, sense cleansing is to get rid of harmful toxins and activate the system. Cleansing has a rejuvenating effect on the whole system and helps mind focus and concentrate better.
Early Dinner and Evening Rituals: The idea behind early dinner and evening rituals is to slow down as the system gets ready to shut down for initiating cleansing processes at night. This impacts sleep duration, quality of sleep, body’s detox ability and the way your health shapes up in the long run.
