During over twenty five years working as a Thai massage therapist and Yoga teacher, I have studied, researched and explored widely differing ideas on health, wellbeing and fitness from both Eastern and Western viewpoints. I’m interested in modern health sciences, evolutionary sciences and social sciences, how they interrelate and what that means for health and the body/mind. I’m also interested in Asian traditional medical systems, particularly those from Thailand and India, their holistic viewpoints and how their ideas and practices can help us stay well in modern societies. Oftentimes modern health and wellbeing ideas are repackaged and reframed versions of what traditional medicine says but with more modern scientific detail – not necessarily a bad thing.
My own experience is that health is a combination of factors:
- Feeling physically balanced, stable and strong enough. Wherever we are at with our bodies; young, older, with physical challenges or disabilities – it pays to put some time in each day in whatever way we can to stabilise and balance our bodies. It’s a fundamental that significantly affects how we feel.
- Feeling mentally/emotionally comfortable with oneself and others. Some of this may come with age and experience, but we can make it an intention to learn about ourselves, who we are and practice encouraging others in the same way.
- Some sense of connection with community, nature and the wider world. If we’ve lost this it may need some effort to re-engage An extension of the previous two points in many ways.
- Accepting that all of this is quite an individual process depending on our inherent constitution, life circumstances and cultural context. It can take a bit of time to know who we are and create a sustainable healthy lifestyle that works for us personally amidst the many demands life.
- A spirit of curiosity around all this.
Whilst it is certainly not the only way, for me a combination of Yoga, meditation, some cardio exercise, a decent diet, enough sleep and making time for hobbies, community and social activities has so far been a winning combination in staying well amid the demands of a full life. When possible a regular sauna and receiving a massage also really helps. Some aspects of a self care regime might sound time consuming, but not nearly as time consuming as being compromised by illness, excessive stress or burnout. When in balance the improvement in energy levels and day to day quality of life is well worth it and we are then more available to give to others. Some phases of life and circumstances are clearly easier to create this than others, as life in a modern society with its social and financial pressures inevitably bear down on us at times. In response to this pressure we need a degree of courage and commitment to stand firm and prioritise what’s important in life. It’s not always easy. The best self care regime of course is the one you are going to realistically stick to in the context of your life and could take many forms.
Blog Posts:
Most of my blog posts are about this subject in differing ways.
Blogs on this area .
ADHD at 60. How it Started, How it’s Going.
The Sustainable Path to Health and Longevity (Expensive Quick Fixes not Included )
Learning Thai massage over 25 years, my experience.
Meditation and its Philosophy in Plain English.
How does tension collect in the body ? How is it affecting us? What can we do about it?
