The Five Foundations of Holistic Health
Holistic health has been a term used by natural therapists for many years but only recently acknowledged into the language and aims of modern medicine.
The five foundations of holistic health can be imagined as a stool with five legs, each leg representing a foundation.
When one or more of the legs become weak, then the stool (our health) becomes unstable and risks collapsing.
The five legs of the stool as I see them are: Rest, Consumption, Purpose, Physical Activity and Societal. These are the core components for holistic health.
‘Rest’ includes getting enough sleep, taking time out and doing activities that relax the body and mind.
‘Consumption’ relates to what you eat, drink and generally consume. Eating lots of fruit and vegetables, drinking sufficient water and not drinking too much alcohol all help to strengthen this foundation.
‘Purpose’ involves have a reason for being which can include your work, helping family or friends, volunteering or any multitude of activities that give you a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
‘Physical activity’ is about getting our heart rates up, strengthening the muscles and improving flexibility to improve or maintain our physical self.
The ‘Societal’ foundation is about our interactions with family, friends and the wider community.
Each foundation is as important as the others.
If you don’t maintain one of these, it can have dire consequences for the other foundations leading to poor health and the loss of wellbeing.
The Covid-19 virus has resulted in our foundations being rocked to the core, especially our ability to interact with other people (societal) and our work (purpose).
With lockdowns causing stress and loss of connection to our communities we all have to be aware and proactively strengthen each ‘leg of our stool’ every single day.
We all have different ways of working on these foundations.
If you consciously focus on each one day-by-day and do something to improve every leg of the stool, then you will have a good chance of being healthier and happier at the end of these restrictions.
Best of luck and keep safe.
If you are struggling during these times, please talk to your preferred health care professional, Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636) or Lifeline (13 11 14).