understand health through health

The World Health Organisation defines health as a "state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease" (WHO, 2010).

Is health and wellbeing an absence of illness, disease or mental distress or is it an achievement of physical and mental fitness?

​Our health is affected by many factors such as the environment, the existence or absence of a support network, where we live, our finances, as well as our lifestyle. Volumes have been written on the subject of health and wellbeing - in the end 'health' is just a word, and every word has a meaning. What makes the difference is what it means to you. 

You will hear about healthy lifestyles, the best new remedies or exercise regimes, but these will not work for everybody or forever. Your commitment to your own health and wellbeing status can be enhanced by understanding all the factors that govern your health - past, present and future. ​

Your Uniqueness

Health is unique to each person. Each body and every cell within that body has its own uniqueness attached to it. What works for one body will not work for another body. We all understand that we look different, we speak different, and we are individual. Yet, we will very easily follow the same routine as someone who clearly appears completely the opposite to us.

Our uniqueness is the beauty of life. Every living thing around us is unique. Should our health not be treated as uniquely as we should be? A wonderful comment by the ancient sage Vyasa in his commentaries on the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali says, “yoga should be known through yoga”. Similarly, health should be known through health.

Until we understand what health is it is very difficult to work towards it.

A commitment that many of us don’t feel is necessary while we feel ‘healthy’. We often become interested in the means to achieve good health once it goes wrong, which we do not see happening until it is too late. We can only understand health if we really pay attention to what that feeling is and be able to use that as our starting point. Once we know ill health, we have to come back to our health perception to balance us. It is this perception which I understand to be the important component of our threshold to pain, happiness, pleasure or grief. To explore this and to learn how to bring this threshold to an appropriate level takes time and commitment. We have an innate setting for our health and to discover what this is will always allow us to rebalance in times of poor health.

On my travels, I went to a clinic in Southern India, renowned for its ability to pacify and bring about balance in health. When I decided to check myself in, the doctor questioned me about my health in order to diagnose and treat a disease. Why would a young seemingly fit man from Europe be here, if not to treat an illness? When I said, that essentially I feel great, I’ve never felt better… she smiled knowingly at me and invited me to stay for 7 days and enjoy the benefits of maintaining my health and enhancing my longevity by focussing my strength into understanding how to maintain the  balance of health. To understand what my own body and mind constitution may be prone to and how I could take measures to avoid that happening. 

The doctor was surprised but impressed, that I had decided to come to her hospital BEFORE getting ill. She did not turn me away. That would be laughable here in the UK. It would be deemed as a ‘wasted appointment’, ‘putting a strain on the NHS’. We must wait until we are sufficiently ill, and then some more, before we get to see our doctor. This is most certainly the reason for the strain on the NHS. Most people become chronically ill, which means that there is little to reverse the process, but simply treat the symptoms for ever more. This is cost-ineffective. We have all heard that ‘prevention is better than cure’. But we do little to bring this into force.

What Is My Philosophy?

Over the years, I have witnessed the repeat prescribing pit of inappropriate use of medicines and believe in deprescribing on a case by case basis, of the most commonly problematic drugs that are routinely prescribed for short term use only but remain on a prescription for several years. This is a result of a struggling NHS and overworked GPs and nurses. It is this vicious cycle that is leading to more chronic illness that requires treatment, despite the increased life expectancy we see today because of the commendable effectiveness of allopathic medicine.

I truly believe in the effectiveness of medicines we use for acute conditions and there is nothing more significant in our armour than the antibiotics that keep infections at bay. However, these are also limited and will continue to cause more strains of resistant pathogen to develop, unless we begin to understand how to naturally enhance our immunity to help us combat the minor infections without antibiotics.  

We should be aiming for a treatment-free period of life. Let us not just accept that medicines keep us going. Let us find the commitment to live by our means.

The body is a powerhouse of cells and energy and defence systems that are being dulled by modern day living and blanket regimes termed ‘healthy lifestyle’ that do not work for everybody. There is no such thing as ‘one size fits all’ approach in healthcare, yet this is often what we employ.

I believe in developing the right methods and techniques to help improve health, by drawing from our individual experiences and perceptions. Together we write a bespoke ‘prescription’ that is tailored for our individual or family needs. It is a personal plan for you.

I have confidence in bringing health into a ‘family’ context, where we learn from those we live with or spend most of our time with. Family means our support network. Together we can observe each other, understand the benefits and risks of doing or not doing certain things, so we can support each other and be the gentle reminder of the commitment we are making to our future health and longevity.  

We must consider not only our health but that of our offspring too, and I believe the processes we follow prior to conception, through pregnancy and post-delivery are key to the health of our future generation. Ensuring we are balanced in health physically and mentally, means our progeny is more likely to be too.

At PharmAveda we can help you understand your health constitution using Ayurveda, bring balance through Yoga therapy while delving deeper into your body through meditation. At the same time we can take a detailed look at your medicines* (if you take them) and understand how they fit in to the complex of your uniqueness. This integrated approach brings about the understanding of health through health.

*Any clinical recommendations concerning medicines will be made professionally and with the integrated consideration of your GP or healthcare provider.