Being healthy has often been linked to having a healthy body. Most of the time, we tend to connote a healthy body with a certain weight and appearance. However, health has a holistic meaning that consists of various aspects, such as physical fitness, emotional balance, mental health, and spiritual growth.
In 1948, the World Health Organisation (WHO) defined health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. In 1986, the WHO further stated that health is a resource for everyday life.
Health as we usually see it
It is often said that our body is the only constant companion that will be with us throughout the journey of life. Our body, as it carries our spirit through this world, is a medium through which we sense most of our experiences. The physical body is a stepping-stone for higher possibilities, hence keeping it healthy is certainly important.
From ancient times, India was familiar with the science of vyayama (exercise) and its benefits. Physical activity for health and to keep ready for war was an essential ingredient of the Gurukula education, too.
It is all the more important for a teenager to form a habit of staying active physically to have a healthier life. A physically fit person tends to:
- develop a healthy cardiovascular system,
- enhance metabolism,
- maintain a healthy body weight,
- develop neuromuscular awareness
- and even ensure psychological benefits.
Even while we are at home, there are ample ways in which we can engage ourselves in physical activities by being creative with the space and items available at home. Be it yoga, dance, playing, running, climbing the stairs, etc. simple physical activities practiced daily can go a long way in boosting energy levels.
Health beyond the body
The Life Rasas
Emotional health is a person’s ability to accept and manage different emotions which one undergoes on a daily basis. Emotions can be understood as waves, small or big, that pass through us from time to time. Sometimes, they are minor fluxes of happiness, disappointment, anger while sometimes they are long phases of grief or utter joy. Learning to balance these various emotions is considered as maintaining one’s emotional health. Emotional health includes both emotional intelligence and emotional regulation. In ancient India, the concept of emotions has been understood through Sthayi Bhavas which are micro sentiments that produce stable emotions. This has been expressed in Indian aesthetic literature of The Natya Shastra enacted by Bharata Muni in 200 CE, Rasas are emotional flavors that can be evoked through aesthetics or a performative act.
There are eight rasas that comprise major human emotions are listed: Śṛiṅgāraḥ (शृङ्गारः): Romance, Love, attractiveness. Hāsyam (हास्यं): Laughter, mirth, comedy. Raudram (रौद्रं): Fury. Kāruṇyam (कारुण्यं): Compassion, mercy. Bībhatsam (बीभत्सं): Disgust, aversion.Bhayānakam (भयानकं): Fear, terror. Veeram (वीरं): Heroism. Adbhutam (अद्भुतं): Wonder, amazement. However, there is also an additional ninth rasa that is said to succeed after the previous eight, called Shanta-Rasa: Peace.
The mind game
For today’s generation, mental health has increasingly become a foremost concern. As much as it is important to encourage a conversation more openly and honestly about mental health experiences, we are also witnessing a risk of normalising and accentuating garden-variety anxiety which is experienced commonly by most growing youngsters.
Mental illness is often thought to be a matter of individual disorder. Modern psychiatry looks to features of individual experience, behaviour, and thoughts to diagnose mental illness, and focuses on individual remedies to treat it. If you are depressed, this is understood as your individual response to circumstances and the individual is then supposed to get treated. These are Euro-centric approaches towards the treatment of mental illness that consider the individual as an isolated unit from their family or community.
However, many non-euro centric cultures like the Chinese, Japanese, or Indian, have had different approaches. They do not understand emotions as something that lives inside of an individual, but more as something that exists between people. In such cultures, emotions are what people do together, with each other. That’s a completely different way of approaching health as an aspect of not just an individual but something that resides with the community as a whole.
Mental health could be seen as complicated. But if handled responsibly, where not just an individual but the entire society understands and accepts its role, we can take charge of our thoughts and actions.
Soulful living
We may refer to it as our soul, as a spirit or as energy, but spirituality is not a particular practice. It is rather a core dimension of your innermost self that provides you with a profound sense of who you are, where you came from, where you are going and how you may define the path of your life.
If you cultivate your body, mind, emotions and energies to a certain level of maturity, something else blossoms within you – that is spirituality. Spiritual health creates a balance between physical, psychological, and social aspects of human life. The Indian way has always seen the mind and body as not separate but deeply integrated and connected. India has had spiritual teachings for purposes ranging from management of stress to curing one’s illnesses. The practices range from yoga asanas, pranayama, meditation, or combinations of these and are now seen as the way to the greater and holistic wellbeing of both the individual and the society.
Spirituality is not always the same as one’s religion. The path to spiritual wellness may involve meditation, prayer, affirmations, or specific spiritual practices that support your connection to a higher power or belief system.
This article was originally published in the ‘Health’ edition of The Plus magazine.
