HEALTH AND WELLBEING

On Health: Principles and Practices Part 2. 

“Love of the self, self-compassion, a feeling of fullness, of wholeness, may emerge from the experience of being integrated” Dan Siegel.

Integration, the linking together of differentiated parts, underlines our wellbeing. It is both a theory and a practice. It’s practice begins with observation and awareness. The act of observation itself facilitates change. Awareness has been shown to promote a vast array of diverse functions such as body and emotional regulation, body and mind coherence and fosters empathy, orientating our relationships towards wellbeing (Siegel 2009). Awareness can be cultivated in many ways- through structured practices such as mindful breathing, meditation, qigong, or body mind practices such as yoga and pilates, yet may also commence most simply by observing ourselves- our bodily based sensations, where it is, how it feels. It can extend to include observation of our thoughts, emotions and our external environments. In contemporary times awareness has also been closely associated and intertwined with mindfulness- “ The process of observing the present moment unfolding in an unjudgemental manner” referred to by John Kabat-Zinn (cited Ravidran, 2000). When we are mindful, when we notice, we offer ourselves the possibility of choice and change, alleviated from old patterns of rigidity into presence and acceptance and maybe ultimately love.

References and Further Reading.

Siegel D, 2009, ‘Mindful Awareness, Mindsight, and Neural Integration’, The Humanistic Psychologist, 37: 137–158, cited online Sept 22,. https://www.openground.com.au/assets/Documents-Openground/Articles/e11efea8b2/Mindful-Awareness-Siegel.pdf

Ravindran, Deepak Dr, 2021, The pain-free mindset. Vermillion, London.

Oct 20 2023.

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