Recently, I came across a middle-aged working couple from an upper-middleclass background who attended gym, swimming and also went for yoga regularly but surprisingly had to go through surgery. The wife who is a schoolteacher had a spinal surgery and the husband who happens to be a doctor has been advised for knee replacement for both knees. They were also extremely careful about food and lifestyle. What then was going wrong with themIJ At a counselling session, I found that they were very sad people as they were suffering due to their children’s behaviour which was almost torturous. Their two offspring were adults, staying abroad but even then were indifferent towards the parents’ happiness. When asked about wellness, they seemed to be ignorant. They didn’t even know what happiness meant and were doing workouts in a mechanical fashion for fitness and weight control. Simultaneously, their baggage of unhappiness was increasing, due to which the body was degenerating day by day. For them, fitness meant keeping the medical parameters in control. They had not thought of wellness.

 What is wellnessIJ

Wellness is derived from the words as in ‘feeling well’ or ‘feeling happy’.  This cannot happen if the body alone is fit. The mind and soul also have to feel happy through efforts. When we go to a beauty parlour, gym or spa, the body comes back happier which may or may not last forever. Sometimes, people come back unhappy too in cases where the facial or haircut was not up to expectation. I recently met a lady who was so unhappy going to the gym. Apparently, her husband had forced her to join, while he himself was overweight and was doing nothing about it. let’s come to the mind component. I guess everyone knows what the mind is. Just to reiterate, mind is that which is based in the brain and generates thoughts and that too at a very high speed. There is also lateral thinking, which means that we are sometimes thinking of many things at a time and putting a lot of pressure on the mind or thinking faculties. Usually, women are habituated to lateral thinking. Mind is related to the brain organ and it also needs to relax. Our food habits in India do not provide much for the brain, especially when we are thinking of the body. A renowned doctor told me that sugar is the main food for an overactive brain. But we avoid sugar when we think of weight issues, etc. India has also very high incidence of diabetes; so this advice cannot be followed always. What then should we do to keep the mind happyIJ Now coming down to the soul, we all know that there is an element which can watch the body and watch the thoughts too. So, it is separate from the body and mind. You must have heard people speaking about how someone had hurt their soul, which indirectly meant that this pain was so much as to go beyond the body and mind. In common parlance in India, the soul is called ‘Atma’ derived from Sanskrit.

 Holistic approach

Wellness can be achieved only when all the three, i.e., the body, mind and soul can be kept happy. It’s not an easy task as the three elements have to be balanced. Nowadays, wellness centres have proliferated, but we have to see that they are catering to all the three. Some are residential and require us to stay for a week or so. Now, the question crops up: What do we do after coming backIJ They have instructions which we have to carry out daily. They also require that we follow up by going to the centre at regular intervals, say every three or six months. If it is not residential then the intervals could be shorter. Usually, it is for the whole family as all the members need to rejuvenate themselves. One bad apple can lead the whole basket to rot. Just as our vehicles go for servicing, we all need to go and recharge ourselves. There are a couple of wellness centres which are very famous like Ananda and Jindals health centre in Bangalore. Surprisingly, the attendance from Western countries at such places is growing by the day. While surfing on the net, one will come across a number of centres, but I would suggest that it is best when one checks with references because we require a holistic approach.

How to achieve wellness

Here are some suggestions which will help us find the medicines for the body, mind and soul. For the body, we require workouts, walking, Asanas, aerobics and dancing be it classical or even modern. Massage, reflexology, facials, spa and sauna work for both the body and mind. It was mentioned earlier that sugar is food for the brain but not for the mind. Meditation, dynamic meditation, guided meditation, listening to spiritual songs or even modern songs which are liked by the person, are required for the mind. Proper food comprising a balanced diet is required for all the three. I came across a lady aged around forty who was depressed, and counselling, medicines, etc., were not helping. On going deep into the problem, I found that she had anger against her mother since she was fifteen because her mother had stopped her Kathak dance practices as she was very conservative and did not want her daughter to go on stage. This led to severe frustration. It would have been difficult to resume Kathak after such a long time; so, she chose to join Shyamak Davar’s dance classes, and amazingly her depression vanished as she progressed in dance.

For the soul and the Samskara (past and present action and reaction history, in simple terms) which surround the soul, spiritual practices are the only balm which can help. These vary from religion to religion. It’s an interesting point to note that the medicines for the body, mind and soul are cross-functional as one provides benefits to the other two. let’s make a resolution to trace a good and holistic wellness centre and spend a few days there with family.

(The writer, a freelancer, is a futurologist and imparting spiritual guidance to young professionals)