6 Pillars of Health
Being healthy isn’t just about eating well or having a positive mindset, it’s more about balance in the triad of life, body, soul and mind. That’s why at Body and Soul Alchemy, I teach the 6 pillars of health, so that you can nourish all the areas of your life for optimal health.
After years of dealing with my own health challenges including an emotional eating addiction, a gluten intolerance, thyroid issues, and issues related to estrogen dominance, I went on a quest to understand what I needed to do to feel better. I studied traditional and modern systems of healing such as Alchemy, Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Integrative and Functional Medicine. I wrote over 25 books and countless articles in conjunction with experts in these fields and applied what I learned to my own body and lifestyle.
In order to find the health you are looking for which is really a state of feeling “whole, happy and complete”, you must learn to balance body, soul (emotions), and spirit (your mind and spiritual practice). People may know this instinctively, but too often one or two of these areas are sorely need TLC because of the demands of modern living.
Without having the proper nourishment to all these areas, deeper imbalances inevitably occur. These imbalances cause illness in the body, negative emotion “loops”, and lack of awareness or mindfulness that keep you feeling stuck. These imbalances also impact your daily decisions that determine your physical health, your career, your relationships, and more.
Through my many years of studying alternative medicine, I’ve realized that the 6 pillars of health that are taught in integrative and functional medicine touch on all the areas.
Soul
Pillar 1 emotional health/connection to body
Pillar 2 lifestyle/environment
Body
Pillar 3 detoxification/oxidation
Pillar 4 diet/digestion
Spirit
Pillar 5 spiritual practice/mindset
Pillar 6 stress/dealing with inflammation
Soul
Do you feel like some days the joy has been zapped out of your life?
Or maybe you wish you could eat better but just don’t know how?
Do you love the idea of meditation but have no idea how to “get into it”?
Perhaps you just want to tune-up your self-care practices and find more ways to nourish yourself?
Then chances are you’ll want to take a deeper look at the six pillars of health to find out where you can balance more. Often I find that people are lacking in an area that they didn’t know about, and they sense that something is missing even though they have made an effort to get back on track. Take “Soulfulness” for example, it’s that enjoyment of feeling connected to our bodies and the naturally world around us and sadly with our industrialized way of living, most people are feeling extremely disconnected. However there are still plenty of ways to feel soulful and reconnect by using our senses every day in a pleasureful way that are also healing for the body and mind. This includes finding nourishment and pleasure in food, having an enjoyable self-care routine that is also healing for your body, and even how you dress can meet your need for connection.
I also help clients improve emotional well-being through mindfulness practices so that they can finally make the lifestyle changes that have always eluded them. This help them to accept and appreciate their bodies, connect more deeply to self-care practices like upgrading their nutrition and detox regimes so that they can meet health goals like losing weight, improving digestive health, balancing hormones, and avoiding chronic illnesses.
Body
Feeling tired most days?
Really confused about what to eat and when?
Sick of hearing all the conflicting nutritional info out that and have just “had enough”?
Do you have health challenges and not sure how food may be helping or harming you?
Are you having a really hard time losing weight and don’t know why?
Taking care of your body may seem upfront when in fact it is not. Part of the problem is that there is a lack of knowledge and sadly most health experts and even doctors aren’t up to date on nutritional science. I have found that what people consider “healthy eating” is far behind the curve in comparison to the up-to-date nutritional science and understanding what works for their own unique biology. And it’s not their fault because there is a lot of misguided information out there!
I have learned with healing my own chronic ailments and learning so much from integrative and functional medicine doctors, that diet is biologically specific. So many people are unknowingly sabotaging their efforts because they have the wrong, outdated information that is still being taught as healthy eating! To make matters worse, many people have undiagnosed food sensitivities (like I had with gluten), bacterial overgrowths which wreck their gut health and their metabolism, and hormonal imbalances that can leave them feeling drained. These things can make it impossible to lose weight, meet other health goals, and even get a sound night’s sleep.
Apart from following outdated information, people struggle trying various diets because they don’t know that there is no “one size fits all”. There are specific considerations to keep in mind when navigating the right eating plan– if you’re dealing with GI issues, if you have thyroid issues, what is happing with your sleep and. more.
Some of the basic nutritional aspects I teach you in the program is how to lower general inflammation, how to include more plant-based dishes, bests choices for proteins, healthiest fats, and whether or not you should consider removing dairy or gluten from your diet. I can also recommend practitioners who can help you go deeper with testing so that you can discover if you have food allergies, gut dybiosis, or nutritional deficiencies that are causing your issues.
Spirit
Not sure what you’re meant to be doing with your life?
Do you feel meditation is impossible? But you feel in your heart that you should be meditating and are also drawn to other mindset or spiritual practices?
Do you know that your negative thought patterns are really the things holding you back and you’re ready to break free?
Then it’s time to work on the “spirit” side of your life. This area is pretty much ignore in popular culture and is rarely an area that we are taught to nurture. However it is so incredibly important to our health because it gives us faith, molds our mindset, helps us to have purpose, and feel centered.
In this area, in my monthly program and one-on-one coaching we focus on feeling more connected to self and to your community. While this can be different for each person, it’s about exploring activities and personal connections that make you feel connected and uplifted. In the monthly program we work on understanding the importance of balances the chakras (energy centers taught in yoga and alchemy) and how to identify where that spiritual connection may be broken. I teach how to establish daily rituals to help give you more mental and emotional support.
In my monthly program, clients receive training in meditation, yogic breathwork and Qigong energy circulation exercises, and other energy-boosting practice like tapping and visualization.
Take The First Step Today On Your Journey To Emotional Healing
Maybe you have some questions you’d like to ask before you make a decision on becoming a client. Our client coordinator is standing by, happy to answer any questions you have to see whether or not Body & Soul Alchemy is right for you.