Wellness is quite the buzz word. Thankfully, we are mindful of needing to improve our overall physical and emotional health to guard against our fast-paced lives. We are more aware of the need for a holistic approach to health for developmental growth, and deep communal engagement in order to create confidence in oneself to develop our unique abilities. Wellness highlights the fundamental web of life that intricately ties us with others and our surroundings.
At Ketamine Health Centers we too are driven by a holistic vision of mental health. Incorporating alternative approaches to treatment that put our patients on a path to personal wellness.
Yet, if you survey the social and political landscape today one is often left wondering, Where is the disconnect? Why are we not in a better place, on a more sustainable path to healthy cultural engagement and more robust social networks for interpersonal growth, given all that we know?
The missing link, I believe, is educating our youngest generation of leaders to embrace a lifestyle that fosters wellness on all levels. Teaching them early on their responsibility to themselves for creating healthy attitudes. Attitudes that can shape behaviors to create happiness in life, even in the face of adversity. Wellness programs should be part of our educational curriculum.
When a holistic approach to wellness becomes woven into our social fabric, prevention will help us identify more serious mental health concerns early on. In order to develop a robust sense of Self, children need to learn the principles of growth that lead to vitality and synergy. These principles highlight the interconnectedness of life. The mind-body-spirit focus that we need to help us develop resilience in the face of anxiety, insecurities, and traumas. Perhaps even providing better means to break the cycle of abuse when present.
Many teachers and schools around the country are already incorporating holistic principles in the classroom. And there are more resources in the community to aid with this development, as seen through clinics such as Coral Gables Counseling Center. Yet, establishing wellness as an essential part of a school’s curriculum is the most direct way to preventative health measures on a national scale. Tailored wellness programs can teach children to identify the energetic connections that shape us, and how that deeper knowledge translates into helping us make better choices. The goal is to strengthen (inter)personal connections to all that surrounds us, which will provide an ethical compass to help guide more complicated decisions.
Young children need to learn the importance of how using deep-breathing methods can help calm one’s mind to better take action amidst stressful and hurtful situations. Offering movement meditation such as yoga or tai chi, and nutrition/body awareness that highlight our connections with the natural world, will foster the mind/body/energy synergy that strengthen us at our core. For adolescents, we must focus more on respect of person and place, and the development of healthy social connections, including how to represent oneself in the digital world. Highlighting our civic and environmental responsibilities by incorporating more service-oriented projects at higher levels of education.
When we fundamentally integrate a holistic perspective on wellness into our educational system, we will establish a preventative path to overall health that will benefit our society. We will create a new generation of leaders capable of tackling the very challenging, but bright future ahead of us.
OVER TO YOU:
After reading this blog, which holistic approach resonates with you to begin incorporating into your life? Your family’s?
