I had the privilege to know a Buddhist monk when he was around 110 years old. One of the things he used to say to us was: "if you are not your own doctor by the time you are 40, then God help you"! What he meant was that we must learn to understand our selves and our own health, how to maintain it, and how to regain it if it slips.
We are complex beings, health is a complex thing and we are not given an operating manual for our bodies at the time we are born to teach us how to stay well and healthy. Many of us think health is purely a physical thing. To be healthy means paying attention to the body, mind, heart and spiritual connections in us.

I have spent 36 years in the holistic community. This has been very fortunate for me, because I befriended varying holistic practitioners who all had their own angle on helping people maintain and regain their health through natural means and I was able to learn from all of them. I feel more vibrantly alive and healthy today then when I was in my twenties.

Most people know by now that some form of movement or exercise is vital for good health. The majority of the pains we experience come from an imbalance in the muscular-skeleton system. Walking, swimming, dance, sports, yoga, and fitness training could all help to rebalance our body machine, and help our hearts and lungs to stay healthy as well. Blood pressure and diabetes are also affected in a positive way by exercise; moving your body for at least ½ hour four times a week in vigorous ways will make your body machine happy and reduce your stress level significantly.

You are what you eat. Everything you eat becomes your body, new skin cells, bones and so on. Nutrition made simple is: Eat as much raw foods as possible, fruits, nuts and vegetables. Read the labels on the food items you buy, if you can't read it don't eat it. Supermarket foods often are full of preservatives, colors and additives. Eat organic as much as possible. Stay away from to much sugar and saturated fats.

Most of us are already aware of the two previous important elements, but what about emotional health? Recently scientists have established proof that the thoughts we think affect our health, that negative thoughts and suppressed dark emotions lower the immune system. How do we work with that? This is where being healthy becomes a bit more complex.
For one, we can pay attention to what we think, literally observe our thoughts. Do negative thoughts help us solve our problems? Of course not! We can change what we think about like we can change a radio station, and choose to think about something pleasant, or intend a positive outcome to a situation instead of worrying.

Most of us as children were not encouraged to feel our feelings; by the time we have become adults many of us are totally out of touch with what we feel at any given time. We don't even know that we are angry when we are angry, and we think that feeling bad is bad. We think something is wrong with us if we are not in a good mood. Often we carry around old unresolved issues from a long time ago.

In this arena we might need some help from someone who is trained to help us clear things up. Body Centered Psychotherapists, Psychotherapists and Psychologists or a good counselor. Resolving and processing old issues help us feel better and therefore we feel happier, healthier and lighter.

We are spiritual beings. Our health is also affected by how well we connect to the greater whole whatever it is for us. Do we trust the flow of life and do we believe that we are a part of a greater mystery, or do we feel that we control it all, or that it's us against the world. Life is easier if we are able to surrender to the process and know that every difficulty that comes up is there for our growth, to make us stronger and clearer, and yes most of the time growth hurts and is darn uncomfortable. Are we overall able to trust life?

These are just some of the areas we need to pay attention to to be healthy and well. There is much to learn about how to stay and get healthy, and there has never been a better time to do it. There are wellness centers everywhere that offer massage therapy, yoga, meditation, nutrition, and self development classes. Start taking responsibility for your health, who else will?

The body's language is to communicate through sensations, discomforts and pains. Sadly we are not educated to understand this language or ever have been encouraged to listen to it. All we usually want is for the pains and discomforts in our bodies to stop as soon as possible. However it is through pain and discomfort that our body tries to get our attention to let us know that something is wrong. That is the body's language.

This pain that comes and goes, pounding aches and other varieties of sensations; these are all signals for us to pay attention; our job is to find out what the body wants and needs, usually the body wants us to take action as soon as possible.

Often we choose to ignore the pain and discomfort, or we take painkillers, then the body has no choices but to try to get our attention in other ways, either through increased pain and discomfort, or through manifesting symptoms in other areas, or through different diseases. Sometimes the body has been patiently talking to us for years. One thing is for certain the body is definitely letting us know that something we are doing must stop or change if we want to feel well again.

For example if we suffer from recurring heartburn after we eat, what we ate might have something to do with that. We might have to change our diet instead of continually taking antacids. Our body wants to be healthy. Often all it wants is some form of regular exercise, more water, less sugar, less saturated fats, more raw fruits and vegetables. Sometimes it wants big changes like a change in the job we are in, or a change in our relationships.

The cause of discomfort can also be of emotional origin, long term unhappiness sends its signals, like our heart feeling heavy, feeling tiered, lacking enthusiasm for life, and feeling joyless. It's very important for us to listen to these messages and find out what changes we have to make. At times we need professionals to help us figure out what to do. Let's start to listen to our body's language and ask ourselves what is it that it is trying to tell us? What does it want and need?

The body is not separate from us. Body, heart, mind and spirit all work together but it is the physical body that sends us signals when something is off. Let's listen, respond and correct, so we can feel well. Listening to our body is a life long commitment; we can trust that it will let us know when we need to make adjustments. Let's be grateful for the way it communicates with us. Pain and discomfort are here to help us if we are open to understand the message.