Wellness is the buzzword of the century. While the concept of taking care of our health holistically is not a new one, some of the biggest problems that affect our wellness are a very modern scourge. They include stress and anxiety, which have never been more prevalent than today in our modern, technology-driven lives.
In 2017, the Everyday Health media platform published a special report on “The State of Women’s Wellnessâ€, based on a survey of more than 3,000 US women. While the report encompassed a raft of issues relating to women’s health, one of the most enlightening was the identifying of five “definers†of wellness and recognising their effect on our physical and emotional health.
Wellness Identifiers
The five wellness identifiers cited in the report are: stress, anxiety, sleep, healthy eating and exercise. While it’s not hard to understand the importance of the latter three on our physical health, stress and anxiety are harder to quantify in terms of our wellness quotient. But, in fact, says the report, they are two of the biggest contributors to poor physical health (including the prevention of disease), and there’s a definite correlation between people who nurture their own needs and their resulting good health.
Stress and Sickness
Stress is no longer a phantom ailment and health professionals have documented its links to the onset of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and even cancer. Where previously these kinds of illnesses were often attributed to external factors, now their diagnosis and treatment are being approached in a more holistic way. As one expert puts it: “You can’t separate people’s bodies from their environments.â€
Treating Stress and Anxiety through Self-Improvement Techniques
The Everyday Health report cites Doctor Mikhail Varshavski’s claim that instead of considering stress as an enemy, if you can turn it on its head and treat it instead as an ally, it can lead to significant changes in physical health. But how does one do this?
As women, mothers and nurturers, we’re conditioned to put everyone else’s needs ahead of our own. But while putting ourselves last might be viewed as altruistic, the links between stress and poor health put it in an entirely different light. We’re simply no good to anyone else if we’re failing ourselves, so taking care of ourselves should be our number one priority. It’s not selfish, it’s simply good sense.
Embracing Desire
Women often feel selfish if they take “time out†for themselves, but this kind of recalibration has marked health benefits. One of the most effective self-improvement techniques for women is the partnered practice of OM, which harnesses the power of meditation with our deepest physical experience.
Experts liken the effects of the repression of desire to that of stress. But by embracing the desire for intimacy and connection through the practice of OM, a woman can experience positive changes in all areas of her life – both emotionally and physically.
Repression (of anything, including desire) affects our ability to respond to events – or to put it simply, it makes it harder for us to “do lifeâ€. But if we’re able to tune in to our needs on a regular basis, there is none of the bottling up that can so often lead to a physical or emotional crisis.
Practicing OM as one of the self-improvement techniques used to embrace and nurture desire allows women to pay attention to their own needs and achieve real intimacy and connection. Beyond that, as the Everyday Health report concurs, doing so can also lead to an improvement in physical health.
Juliette Karaman-van Schaardenburg is a director at TurnOn Britain and a qualified OneTaste coach and Orgasmic Meditation trainer. She works with both couples and singles, teaching them specialised self-improvement techniques to aid in recovery from trauma by tuning into their body and intuition.
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