In this blog post, we look into the topic of Wellbeing, (also known as Wellness). As one of the original wellness centres, this is the core principle of what we do and what we want to achieve with our clients. As Therapists, it is also often what led us to practice our healing arts.
Wellness is an often overused and somewhat misunderstood term, so without further ado, let’s dive in!
What is Wellbeing? (also known as Wellness)
Wellbeing is not just the absence of disease or illness. It’s a complex combination of a person’s physical, mental, emotional and social health factors. Wellbeing is strongly linked to happiness and life satisfaction. (Better Health Channel)
Wellbeing, also known as wellness, prudential value or quality of life, refers to what is intrinsically valuable relative to someone. So the well-being of a person is what is ultimately good for this person, what is in the self-interest of this person. Wellbeing can refer to both positive and negative wellbeing. (Wikipedia)
When your body is functioning at its optimal capacity, then your wellness is being well supported. Wellness doesn’t mean that you’re never going to get sick, it just means that you’re doing all the things you can to ensure that your body can get through whatever it is that ails you.
What are the factors that may influence wellbeing and how is it measured?
Being subjective it is not that easy to measure but research shows that our view of our lives, our selves and personal circumstances may influence our sense of wellbeing. This may include our health, living situation, engagement with others and feeling of safety and community.
Why is Feel Amazing Wellness Centre in Chatswood focused on your wellness?
It’s in our name!
We choose to work in this helping profession because of our own life experiences, our core values and the meaning it gives to our lives when we help others. We believe in the value of human interaction and the difference our actions and words can make towards others feeling better and experiencing positive changes in life. Feel Amazing Wellness Centre was opened in 2005 and I chose the business name because it is the reason we do what we do. When our clients say they feel amazing after treatments, it means we are doing our job well.
We are also committed to providing you with information and to keep engaging with you regularly. We do this through our hands on treatments, emails, blog and social media posts.
Why is my wellbeing important?
Having positive wellbeing is essential for your health – it can influence your ability to cope with life, everyday stresses, health challenges, how you work or contribute to the community. So each of us being aware of our physical and emotional needs comes into this. With the changes that have been happening in so many of our lives lately, and on a global scale, we have had to relook at what makes us feel safe, secure economically, socially and politically. It is therefore only natural to be considering what we value as an individual and what contributes to our quality of life. This might include our friendships, activities we enjoy engaging in, any spiritual or religious beliefs we may have, goals we want to set, and what we do that gives us a sense of belonging and meaning. There have been many people making changes in their lives. On a simple level, wellbeing is more important than ever.
It’s important that you look after your wellbeing because if you don’t do it for yourself, then who will? It’s one of the most important things you can do for your health too. So self-care is hugely important, it’s the secret ingredient to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. And if you don’t take care of yourself first, you won’t be able to take care of anyone else.
In regards to our health, physical activity such as regular exercise and good nutrition can reduce the risk of developing serious health conditions and prevent disease. While having supportive relationships with others can improve mental health. If you have a body that isn’t functioning at its best, then your wellness is likely not being supported.
When we consider these factors we are also becoming aware of and actually contributing to the wellbeing of others. We don’t have to be alone in this world, no matter how challenging our circumstances, there is support out there and with technology we have seen how innovative we can be when it comes to keeping in touch with others. Most of us are now familiar with the word Zoom (beyond comic strips!).
How to improve or boost our own wellbeing:
- Stay connected, engaging socially with others
- Keep active – physically moving more promotes health and influences positive ageing, while new learning brings with it a host of benefits for a healthy body and mind
- Engage in life, notice what’s going on around you, enjoy the moments
- Helping or giving to others – this also enhances our sense of engagement, adding value to the contributions we make and meaning in our lives
How do our treatments at Feel Amazing contribute to your wellness?
We work with you on a holistic level and so our treatments help body and mind. Symptom relief is a goal, but so is addressing the underlying causes to what is contributing to any ill health you may be experiencing.
Our amazing treatments offer relaxation, pain relief, reduction in muscle tension and stress, correcting imbalances in the body and treating many common ailments.
Wellness and Change
We’ve talked about wellbeing and some of the factors that contribute to improving our sense of wellness, improving our health and helping us to become more aware of how we engage with others. Taking stock, reviewing and talking about what is important in our own lives can sometimes lead us to take steps in a new direction. There are often transitions in life, whether at work or in our personal lives, or in the wider world beyond. This is certainly the case for me.
Change
“If you don’t change, life is stagnant, you have nothing to look forward to.”
We may be used to change, but it’s not the same for all of us. Some people are better at dealing with change than others. But change is a natural part of life, and there will always be times when we feel more comfortable with it and times when we feel less comfortable.
You can’t always control major changes in your life, but there are things you can do to help cope with them. It’s important to remember that there is a difference between coping and dealing with change. Coping means making the best of a situation, while dealing with change means coming to terms with it and taking action to complete the transition.
We can learn how to cope with stress by starting small and making changes – a good start is by reading this interesting blog!
So, what can you do to live better with change? The answer is that everyone responds to change in different ways. In fact, your response to change can be so different from someone else’s, that you may feel like you’re coping differently even though you’re going through the same experience. Here are some tips for coping with change in your life:
- Accept that change is happening – we may want to deny it, but this can actually contribute to the stress. So acknowledge that it is happening and you could tell yourself it will be OK. Not everything has to be resolved today. The way we think about it can impact how we feel we are coping.
- Change can cause stress – whether we see the change as positive or not, an increase in stress can happen. So be aware of this and put in place some strategies to help manage your stress.
- Keep up with your regular routines – while change is happening it helps to keep doing some things the same. Keeping record of your normal routines can help take the emphasis off what may be causing uncertainty. We still have some control in our lives.
- Try to do the things that are good for your body – comfort food and bad habits can help us feel better temporarily, but in the long run they are only going to cause more issues, so eat healthy, get some regular exercise, and do the things that have helped you physically and mentally in the past.
- Try and look at the positives that are coming from this change. We can learn from our experiences.
- Think ahead to what you may need – if you know you are going to have more stress coming up, think about what can help before the time. (Booking a massage is a great way to manage stress.)
- Give yourself time – it takes time to get used to some changes, just as it does with new routines and habits which we have talked about before.
- Get support if you need it – you don’t have to do it alone. Talk to others who you know will listen or seek professional help if needed.
- You may not be the only one going through this, so communicate, ask questions if you need to, and remember that others may be needing support too.
What is Feel Amazing’s commitment to you?
Here at Feel Amazing Wellness Centre in Chatswood, your wellbeing is important to us and that’s why we offer a holistic approach to services. We are a team that will work together. We make sure we are on top of the latest research in our areas of expertise. Feel Amazing offers treatments that can help you on a physical and emotional level. Our practitioners are professionals and will provide you with personalised treatment and attention. We want the best outcomes for you from your appointment with us.
The ability to improve your health situation, to feel and stay well is our hope for each of you.