What Is Wellness; How To Be Well.

Wellness is a word that is thrown around often and loudly these days. I myself consciously chose to name my business “All Ways Well” and I talk of Wellness often because ultimately, this is the heart of my job.  As an Acupuncturist, my primary purpose is to help patients achieve and maintain health and wellness.  

I believe Wellness to be something personal.  I can outline it generally, and tell you the feeling that I believe wellness should elicit, but the exact components of what it means to be Well in YOUR life are going to be unique and individual. Helping my patients define and seek these personal wellness goals is what I do with joy every day!

Therefore, I am going to seek to generally answer the question “What is Wellness “ and lay an outline for you to understand how to define wellness for yourself, as well as clarify why Acupuncture for Wellness is so powerful.

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What Is Wellness?

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Health as follows:

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Interestingly enough, this definition has not been amended since 1948! Clearly, however, it doesn’t need to be - it is a clear and concise definition of health that I believe still holds accurate and true.

But what about wellness?  My favorite definition of Wellness comes from the National Wellness Institute:

Wellness is an active process of becoming aware and of making choices toward a more successful existence.

What I like about this definition is the fact that it recognizes process. It encompasess the idea that wellness is something active, participatory and conscious.  It is also a big vague, which I believe is fitting because its personal - YOU have to define your own specific wellness parameters, which ultimately (as indicated) help you achieve a more “successful existence” which I will translate as happiness for sake of simplicity.

Even though I agree with the gist and like the direction, for me this definition isn’t perfect.  As an Acupuncturist and Chinese Medicine practitioner, I believe that health and wellness are intimately intertwined and that to achieve one, you must also be working towards the other.  For my purposes, Wellness is a feeling, a state of being in which you feel present, content, connected and satisfied with your path in health and in life.

How To Be Well? A Personal Assessment and Plan.

How to be well and achieve wellness is a personal question, and it depends on your specific health and wellness needs.  Just like the WHO definition of Health above, for both health and wellness many aspects of your life must be taken into account, not just the physical.  My favorite assessment for how you’re doing in different areas - the Heart Math Institute Stress and Well-Being Survey:

Heart Math Institute Health and Well-Being Survey

It examines Physical Vitality, Emotional Vitality, Social Connectedness, Spiritual Connectedness and Overall Well-being and graphs out your results for you in a simple and easy to read document.

You certainly don’t have to go through the survey, however, but I think these 5 aspects are a good snapshot to help you understand where you are and determine where you want to go.  If you don’t want to take the survey, just ask yourself:

1. Am I happy with my Health?
   
   
2. Do I feel emotionally calm/content stable and/or can I return to center easily when thrown off balance?
   
   
3. Do I feel supported/connected to other people in my life?
   
   
4. Do I have a spiritual connection or/feel a need for a deeper spiritual connection? (not everyone does or wants this, very personal!)
   
   
5. If I stop and close my eyes and just take a deep breath right now, do I feel generally well?
   
   

If you answered yes to everything above - Kudos!  Keep up the good work. If not, decide which areas of your life you want to improve, prioritize them, and pick at least one thing each month to do which helps you reach these goals.

If you’ve taken the Heart Math survey, you will get very detailed information about these 5 aspects as well as recommendations from them regarding actions.

In 3-6 months, depending on how you feel, go through the questions above or the survey again and see how you’ve done!

I know this sounds very simple, yet is actually very complex. This is why it is important to prioritize and choose just 1-2 things each month to work on.  The most important part is that you define a path and are walking on it, the goals will get closer with each measured step and you can take deep satisfaction in every one.

Wellness Acupuncture - Support and Active Treatment to Achieve Health and Wellness

Acupuncture, as part of Chinese Medicine, is a powerful path to achieve wellness.  When you see an Acupuncturist, you don’t just get an assessment of your physical and energetic health for a sole concern - you get an assessment of everything.  Your energetic channels traverse from the top of your head, to your nose to your toes - no single part of the body can be treated without at least partially addressing another.  

A treatment for carpal tunnel cannot help but also treat and improve health in the Lungs because the Lung channel traverses the wrist.  A treatment for shin splints cannot help but also improve digestion, stamina and energy because the Stomach channel is located in that area.

Furthermore, in Chinese Medicine each meridian or channel is also affected by different emotions, different states of consciousness, even the seasons!  This means that even when we are treating physical concerns, your emotional state and the general sense of well-being or dis-ease associated will also be addressed.

Truly, this means that if you want the easiest path to Wellness available - you should see an Acupuncturist!  They will do the assessment for you and be able to perform a concrete treatment which will improve many aspects of your health, while at the same time coaching you about how to map a path and achieve your goals yourself because Traditional Chinese Medicine includes dietary and lifestyle advice as well.

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Ready to Find Your Wellness and Keep It? Try Acupuncture.

The NCCAOM maintains practitioner listings of all licensed acupuncturists in the US and a quick search on their site will find you someone qualified and credentialed to help. If you have any further questions or want to book in with me, please don’t hesitate to email anytime or book online 24/7! Its my true passion and pleasure to help people achieve and maintain Wellness in as many aspects of their life as they can.

Yours in Health,
~Rebecca