Healing Basics: The essentials for well-being
– making the most of the basics
Table of Contents
Healing Basics: The essentials for well-being or making the most of the basics are integrative with all healing modalities. If you ignore them or try to pretend that they don’t matter – you are only setting yourself up for failure.
So what are these healing basics or essentials for well-being?
They are the basic life-supporting practices that we should all do and yet, take so much for granted. The simple things like breathing, drinking, eating, exercise, sleeping, quiet time, posture, and our attitude. Put this list together and it sounds like the makeup of our life, doesn’t it?
My intention here is not to create a treatise and examine each fully, but rather to bring them to your attention and be sure you’re not taking them for granted. Or worse still, by ignoring them, to your detriment. These healing basics are all of equal importance, so their listing here is purely of alphabetical convenience.
Attitude:
The way we think and here I’m going to include speak affects so much of our life. Positive thinking is so much more than just having a “Pollyanna” attitude, or having an excessively cheerful or optimistic persona. The truth is all is not sweetness and light.
Nevertheless, the thoughts we think and the words we speak are the precursors of our activities. In other words – thoughts become or are expressed in words – which manifest and become things – which then become your reality. If you think good stuff—you get good stuff.
If you want health, think and speak health. You can’t go about bemoaning and speaking negatively and in the same breath expect healing to take place.
Breathing:
For the most part, this is automatically taken care of. However, it is easy to fall into bad breathing habits like shallow breathing, rapid breathing, and breathing through your mouth. The whole idea of breathing is to fuel the body with oxygen, which as it is used, is converted to carbon dioxide and then expelled. Slowing down our breath and using our diaphragm allows for more air into our system and greater time for exchange.
Nasal breathing further contributes to oxygen absorption. This is so important because most of our oxygen is absorbed during the exhale. This is slowed as it passes through the narrower nasal passages. Another reason why correct nasal breathing is so important is that a substance called “nasal nitric oxide” is released into the nasal passages and consequently the lungs. This is necessary to disinfect the lungs by killing microorganisms that can cause respiratory infections. Nitric Oxide is a molecule that is essential in helping our 50 trillion cells to communicate with each other. With proper oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange, the blood maintains a balanced PH level. This is essential to good health and well-being.
Try this simple breathing exercise. Using your nose, breathe in gently for a count of four. Hold for one. Exhale over a count of six. Hold for one and repeat. I often do this for several minutes at a time and repeat at intervals throughout the day. Frequently when I’m walking I do this exercise, counting on every second step. While I’m walking I usually drop the one count after the exhale.
Taking a couple of deep breaths is a great way to re-centre and return to the present.
Drinking:
Oh, how easy it is to get caught up and forget to drink plenty of clean pure water. Our bodies really don’t like being dehydrated. It places additional strain on our organs and reduces the essential supply for our body to sweat. On top of this, water is vital for all the electrical activity and communication throughout our body. It is this communication that plays such a crucial role in healing. Tip: Be sure to drink about two litres or eight, 8-ounce glasses per day.
Eating:
This should be simple enough, but how often do we eat what can only be junk food? The old axiom; “garbage in, garbage out, really does hold true for what we eat. The other thing to watch out for is not eating too much or too little. Avoid diet fads and be sure to eat wholesome, organic, and fresh food, with plenty of variety. Tip: Eat like your great-grandparents did.
Food is the primary fuel for your body: So, if you don’t use inferior fuel in your car, why would you use low-grade food to fuel your body?
Exercise:
Here, we are talking about gentle life-supporting exercise, not the athletic training kind. Walking at a brisk pace where you can still talk without puffing, for about thirty minutes daily. Swimming. Stretching exercises like tai chi or yoga, or whatever else takes your fancy.
The idea is to move. Move to get the blood flowing and oxygenate your systems. Move to make sure you don’t stiffen up. We are not meant to be sedentary, nor are we designed to be workhorses. But we are designed to be physically active. Physical activity equates to life.
Fresh air and sunshine:
Not mentioned in the shortlist above, but all so important to being healthy. I see sensible amounts of time in the outdoors as a requirement for well-being. Many of our body’s functions require fresh air and sunshine in order to maintain the status quo.
Sleeping:
Sleep plays a crucial role in good health and well-being. Getting enough quality sleep helps to protect your mental and physical health, along with your quality of life. Much bodily healing and repair take place while we are asleep. The way you feel while you’re awake depends in part on what happens while you’re sleeping. Sleep is involved in the healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. It also contributes to healthy brain function and maintaining physical health and vitality.
Eight hours of sleep per night is recommended for optimal health and functioning. Sleep deficiency can affect how well you think, work, learn, react and get along with others.
Posture:
Our posture plays such an important role in the way we feel, both physically and psychologically. It is extremely difficult to function correctly with poor posture. It places excessive strain and tension on our skeletal structure and muscles. Poor posture hampers full and complete breathing.
Good posture leads to less wear and tear on the body and enables us to live, feel and move well.
Stop slouching. A good posture also affects the way we look, but it isn’t just about looks. How we sit, stand, and walk affects both our health and our frame of mind.
Quiet time:
Quiet time was built in before our modern era. We had considerable amounts of free time to quietly sit and contemplate things. Life was much more sedate. Too many of us have forgotten this invaluable life support. Five, ten, or twenty minutes of quiet contemplation or meditation daily has a marvelous effect on us. It assists homeostasis, or our ability to maintain internal equilibrium and stability.
NB Without the healing basics being in place, any healing modality has a very hard time making a difference and achieving the desired result. This article itself is a response to a recent experience. A client/customer complained saying, “I love crystals, but they don’t work for me anymore. I’ve got lots of them, but I think I’ll just give up on them. Nothing works for me anymore.”
We have had several discussions about her problems and how to fix them. However, she doesn’t seem to be interested in getting the basics right, so that healing can take place. Healing basics are the natural foundation for well-being and are essentially associated with any healing modality, including crystals. Ignoring this, or pretending that they don’t matter, only makes it harder or sometimes impossible for healing to take place.
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© Ron and Sue Windred.
Disclaimer: The outlined metaphysical and healing properties in this website are for inspiration and reference. We gather this information and alleged properties from writings, books, folklore and various other sources. They are also dependent upon the attitude and beliefs of the individual. Furthermore they do not replace diagnosis or treatment by a qualified therapist or physician.
