Whole Human Wellness

Welcome to 2023. It’s a new year and we have a new focus at Revolution Power Yoga. We know the physical is a very important part of our overall wellness. Every new year, we hear about resolutions to lose weight, get fit, and work on our physical appearance. But what if we zoomed out from that one aspect of ourselves and looked at wellness from a whole-human perspective?. Each aspect of our lives plays into our wellbeing. We need  to look at the interplay between the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of ourselves and how each impacts the others. With 2023’s focus being on whole-human wellness at Revolution, let’s look at what some of these aspects entail and how they impact each other.

Let’s start with the physical body. We are all pretty well versed in how to take care of ourselves from a fitness standpoint. Especially here in the Vail Valley, we know how to get our heart rates up, our blood pumping, and how to burn calories. We’ve spent years at Revolution burning off extra energy and calories in hot, sweaty power yoga classes. Many of us also hike, bike, climb, and paddle to move our bodies. However, do you know about the impact fascia plays in our mobility? 

Fascia is the connective tissue that runs throughout our entire body, holding our organs in place, connecting our muscles to bones, and even connecting muscle to muscle. Our fascia can harden over time, which has huge implications on how we can and can’t move our bodies. A yin yoga teacher once said, “Move your body in all of the ways you want to continue to be able to move your body.” This means slowing down to do yin classes once in a while, which elongate and work out that tissue and  any tight muscles. Foam rollers and massage therapy may be needed to really get into the tissues that need to be worked out. Go for a sthira sukha approach: strength and ease. Finding that balance between strength and flexibility is one way to keep yourself feeling physically fit in a more well rounded way.

The nervous system is also a key player in whole human wellness and physical health.. We have a large nerve network called the vagal nerves (sometimes called the Vagus nerve) that controls our parasympathetic nervous system, aka our rest and digest state. This system controls specific body functions like digestion, heart rate and the immune system. We can get stuck in heightened states, or activated states, based on patterns and programming from our past inserting itself into current situations. This is where body awareness comes in. When we slow down and tune into ourselves, we can typically name the  sensations we are feeling in the body. When we can name things like butterflies in our belly, tight chest, tense shoulders, a tensed feeling in the throat,  we can ask ourselves why we are feeling this way and use some simple techniques to bring us back into a balanced state. With body awareness, we can also have better awareness of our emotional state.

This brings us to our emotional self. Many of us have taken to heart the constant messaging we hear about “good vibes only” and “do THIS to feel BETTER,” and we admire everyone’s glamorous-looking lives on social media. This is a disservice in terms of feeling and processing our entire human experience. When we deny certain emotions and don’t process certain events, these things don’t actually go away. We can’t actually stuff our emotions down far enough that they go “away.” We just continue to live life in a way that puts   up walls and limits our potential for true, deep happiness. When we allow ourselves the opportunity to tune into what emotions are truly alive for us in each moment, we can feel them and allow them to be acknowledged so they can properly and fully move through us. Be careful not to get stuck here! We don’t want heavy emotions to have the last say, but they need to be acknowledged and felt to get their message across. Some of my favorite ways to tap into my emotions are body scan practices, sound healing meditations, and journaling. Often when we slow down enough to feel what’s happening in our bodies, we can feel what emotions need to be allowed and moved. When we journal, we let these emotions out onto paper so they are no longer trapped inside. When we fully allow our emotions to just be, without a story attached, they tend to have the impact that is needed. It’s when our mind enters the picture that we can get into confusing places.

Now let’s bring the focus to our mental self, our mind. The mind is a powerful thing. It can be your best ally and your worst enemy. Your mind can often be the trap that keeps you stuck, and it can also be the tool that helps you find freedom. When we allow ourselves to get caught up in our thought patterns, that usually means we are living from our egos. Our egos are here as a way to keep us safe. They “keep score” in life and remember how old situations played out to prevent  us from making the same mistakes. Although that can be a good thing, it can also mean we are living in patterns and with protective mechanisms that no longer serve us as we move forward. Our ego is the home of fear and our mind is the trap that feeds us limiting beliefs. When we do exercises like meditation, we are able to watch our thoughts, to really see what unconscious patterns are running in the background. We get to see our own negative thought patterns, the stories we attach to emotions, and the fearful, protective mechanisms that are no longer helpful. With techniques like meditation and mindfulness, we can  allow the chatter to fall away and the true voice of our higher self to come through.

You might be wondering what  your higher self is. This refers to your real, true, Self, the motivations in your heart of hearts. Some people also refer to this as your spiritual self, True North, your center, or that still small voice inside of you. I believe this is your natural state, underneath the conditioning of the ego. This is the place that holds your deepest dreams and desires. This is a love-based state. How do we nurture our higher self? I believe we do that by nurturing all of the other parts of ourselves. When we are able to come into balance in other areas of our wellbeing, we are able to operate from a calmer, more peaceful state. From this calm, you can tap into your spiritual self more easily. A lot of meditative practices allow the mental chatter to be observed and slowed down so our spiritual self can be heard. Practices like self inquiry meditations, journaling, and even making a vision board can allow your higher self to shine through. When we drop out of a fear based state, I think we can then meet and nourish our higher self.

We have just scratched the surface on the parts of ourselves and how they all interact and influence each other. However, even from this short article, it’s clear that the  body, mind, and spirit are not separate. That is why we are bringing in a whole host of new workshops to hone in on specific areas of Whole Human Wellness. Be on the lookout for workshops focusing on envisioning your best life, incorporating mindfulness based stress management tools into your routine, reiki and energy healing, massage therapy and fascial work, sound healing and acupuncture, astrology, meditation, nutrition, financial health, breathwork, and so much more. 

I am so excited about Revolution’s direction in 2023.  We will still have plenty of opportunities to work out and sweat here at Revolution with the yoga practices you’ve come to know and love!! I’m also excited about the new opportunities to focus on other areas of wellbeing so that we may all move forward feeling more happy, healthy, and whole.