Wellness
Wellness is often explained as a multi-dimensional approach to the balance of health for a person based on 7 categories of life:
1. Occupational
2. Spiritual
3. Environmental
4. Social
5. Intellectual
6. Emotional
7. Physical
Imagine that the 7 categories are equal to the spokes on a wheel and are of equal strength. The spokes create a wheel, the wheel runs smooth and has no problem moving through terrain. Now, imagine the spokes are of various strength and are not all taken care of equally. The spokes are weak, different length and the wheel is not smooth but rough and make any terrain seem impossible to traverse.
We can use this imagery in our life when we desire progress in occupational areas of life, social, and on and on. If you become strong in certain categories that is great, however neglected areas or areas of weakness if not addressed may contribute to the overall decline of health in a person.
We take a non-traditional route to achieve wellness – “generalize, don’t specialize” – although there are times to focus on one particular strength or weakness, time should be spent on all areas of wellness in order to grow simultaneously.
We have principles in our clinic that may explain how we do things, this has been a very strong base for why our clients achieve goals very effectively and are able to sustain this kind of success over many years at any age. Our principles have been adopted because of evidence based research, personal experience, and RESULTS.
Principles of Wellness:
1. Safe & Pain Free
This is not your painless, sweat-less, do nothing approach. It is an approach based off of the natural healing process, to enrich healing and damper injury. Do what you can, and do it well- approach. Do what you like, and then add more to it -approach.
2. Consistency and variety
Consistency is the staircase to success. Especially when you use the stairs everyday. This approach of doing what is important first and doing that all of the time is what keeps the important things in life – important. I have never seen somebody complete physical therapy or a fitness goal or any goal for that matter, without doing something everyday that contributes to the end goal, EVERY DAY.
3. Rule of 1
This rule explains the rate at which you are ready to change or add something to your routine, whether it be physical, spiritual or any other. The rule of 1 is adding “only what you can handle” at that time. Most of the time we use the rule of 1 as a measurement of units; 1 dollar, or 1 pound, or 1 day. An example of this would be to add 1 healthy food to your diet every week, instead of making an abrupt change to your nutrition that would likely be unsuccessful or short lived, gradually change the way you eat with a 1 unit a week change and experience the change over time rather than all at once. This is a low stress, low barrier way of changing the way you eat and allows an ongoing positive change rather than an all-or-none approach to healthier eating. In order to make this more permanent you would also eliminate 1 non-healthy food a week.
4. Rule of 5
This rule helps to keep the Rule of 1 under control. With a lot of things, you can put a temporary limit on them to help control the volume or intensity of change. The rule of 5 allows you to do up to 5 things at a time and add or subtract the things that aren’t working as you go. An example would be with your exercise routine; doing only 5 different exercises at a time or less and using the rule of 1 within those 5 exercises.
Day 1
1. 1 Push up
2. 1 Pull up
3. 1 Squat
4. 1 Lunge
5. 1 Somersault
Day 2 would add 1 unit to each exercise, day 3 add another, day 4 add another, day 5 add another, and so on until you are satisfied or plateauing with your improvement. Limiting this to 5 things allows focus and having 5 keeps the routine various (whole body) so that all weaknesses and strengths are addressed.
5. Technique, Trust and Technology
Technique is the qualifier for adding or subtracting anything to or from your health. If you cannot perform the task safely and with opportunity to grow you will inevitably get hurt, even when your intentions are to improve. Consistent training on technique is the fastest way to build trust with yourself and with others. This is the mechanism that allows you to collaborate well within a social atmosphere and co-exist with others that are trust worthy.
Last but not least, technology- it isn’t the motherboard or voltage for something that we are talking about but the “way” that you do something. If you are able to improve the quality or rate of something because of an intellectual approach than that is technology. If you are still using the 1st calculator ever invented to help you calculate your total expenses for the month and it is faster to do it in your head or with pencil and paper, than you are allowing technology to slow you down. Using technology doesn’t mean it will improve your performance.
-I have made positive changes in my spiritual, occupational, emotional, physical, social, environmental and intellectual aspects of my personal health, by following these natural principles. In 4 years I have implemented tracking for body fat, running speed, strength, finances, mood, productivity, nutrition, and much more. All have shown improvement. Our Wellness members that have been consistent in attendance and practice of these principles have also measured and tracked “vital stats” of health and have shown improvement at all ages and abilities.
For more information on our wellness classes email me at adrian@pt-connections.com
Kids, adults and elderly populations want and need wellness. See our wellness schedule for weekly classes that are designed to keep Pueblo active and healthy through wellness education and practice.