The Meaning of Wellness Is Lost: Why Reclaiming It Matters

You’re sitting there, feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders – while that familiar grip of anxiety tightens its hold. When these symptoms crop up, you go back to your typical “wellness routine”:

• Doing a daily meditation from your favorite YouTube influencer.
• Journaling to preset prompts that spark creativity.
• Talking to your therapist about your current frustrations.
• Popping pills and medication to manage your symptoms.

These methods provide some relief from the emotional storm inside you – for a little while. 

But your anxiety persists, lurking in the shadows and waiting for life’s inevitable changes to trigger its return. In these moments, you realize something is missing on your wellness journey – and you’re tired of temporary reprieves that simply patch up the cracks in your foundation.

You want to heal your whole self – and experience a transformation that leads to lasting, whole-body wellness.

As a spiritual counselor, my clients come to me feeling this exact same way. (So you’re not alone.) And I’ve helped them uncover the key to achieving true wellness. 

How? By using spiritual healing techniques that heal the deepest parts of your being and strengthen your mind-body-spirit connection.

I can help you go beyond treating your symptoms – because true, lasting wellness is so much more than the latest influencer trend. And understanding this concept is the first step to heal your whole self. 

Is the Current Definition of Wellness Accurate?

The Oxford Language Dictionary defines wellness as, “The state or condition of being well or in good health, in contrast to being ill.”¹ While this is an accurate definition of the word, many medical professionals use this definition to refer to the health of your body, or physical self. 

But that interpretation is a one-dimensional look at wellness. 

True wellness is the health of your entire being: mind, body, spirit, and emotions. And it’s so important to understand how all of these parts are connected. 

The Four Parts of Your Being

When I talk to my clients about healing their whole selves, I explain that there are four layers (body, mind, spirit, and emotions) that are a part of each of us. These four layers build on one another and act as an interconnected ladder within our being. 

1. The physical layer is on the surface, or at the top of the ladder. It’s where your body and any somatic sensations (like pain or fatigue) reside. 
2. The mental layer is one layer deeper. It’s where you encounter mental disorders or mindset challenges (like depression or negative self talk). 
3. The emotional layer is another layer deeper. It’s where all your feelings (like fear, anger, and joy) live. 
4. The spiritual layer is the deepest part of your being and the bottom of the ladder. It’s where your soul exists and a type of healing (called soul work) occurs.

I compare these layers to a ladder because wounds that occur on one layer can manifest up to another layer. For example, when you’re anxious (a feeling from the emotional layer), your heart might beat fast or your appetite might disappear (symptoms on the physical layer).

To experience true, whole-body wellness, you need to heal all parts of your being – especially the spiritual level, which most people ignore. Neglecting any of these layers can put you right back in your ineffective and unhelpful “wellness routine.”

Unfortunately, the Western medicine model does exactly that – it views your four layers as disconnected, separate entities.

Western Medicine’s Approach to Wellness

When you feel pain or illness, it’s normal to go to your doctor so you can discover what’s wrong. But Western medicine doctors will ask about, and address, your physical symptoms. 

For example, you’re experiencing a lot of anxiety right now. When you ask your doctor about the cause of this, they will usually start by looking into the following:

• Your family and medical history.
• Physical exam results.
• The start of your symptoms.
• Any medications and/or supplements you take.

While your doctor might be searching for your anxiety’s root cause, they’re assuming the source of the anxiety is rooted in your physical layer. Why? Because it’s the easiest part of your being to treat – and the most obvious place to look first when you feel unwell.

Your doctor might prescribe medication or pills to treat the symptoms, but most likely, they can’t tell you the reason for your anxiety. So they recommend you talk to a therapist – a completely separate medical professional who deals with the mental and emotional layers.

You might go through the same process and ask your therapist about the source of your anxiety. Just like the doctor, your therapist will examine your mental and emotional layers. Why? Because it’s what they’re trained to do – and the next obvious place to look when you feel unwell.

Your therapist might offer techniques (like meditation and journaling) to treat the symptoms of your anxiety. But if they don’t have the answers, your lack of progress can feel frustrating and upsetting. When you reach this point, it’s time to go deeper into your being and examine your spiritual layer.

But before you do that, it’s important to understand why Western medicine’s approach to wellness isn’t working anymore.

Why This Approach Isn’t Working

In the Western medicine model, the current interpretation of wellness relies on a single-level approach that provides temporary relief – not lasting change. Western medicine also:

• Separates the four layers of your being into disconnected parts that function independently of one another.
• Encourages medical professionals to specialize in one aspect of healing and ignore the other layers of your being.
• Discourages treatments that take a holistic approach to healing and promote whole-body wellness.

To make matters worse, “wellness” has become a diluted word in mainstream media. It’s overused in the health, marketing, and business worlds – and a common buzzword thrown around by influencers and trendsetters.

But if we want to achieve lasting, whole-body wellness, we must redefine what “wellness” really means – and we can start by examining our whole selves (body, mind, spirit, and emotions) during the healing process.

Reclaiming the Word “Wellness”

To reclaim the word “wellness,” we need to redefine what it means to be healthy. 

It’s time to find healing methods that address the whole person – and look further than the physical, mental, and emotional layers within us. How can we do this? By going deeper and achieving true wellness with spiritual healing techniques, such as: 

1. Ancient healing techniques – Depth hypnosis, applied shamanic counseling, and shamanic healing practices are ancient healing techniques that encourage you to play an active role in your wellness journey. What you learn will help you tune into your mind-body-soul connection. With this connection, you become empowered to heal yourself.
2. Soul Work – This type of healing addresses trauma or wounds that reside in the deepest layer of your being. It’s a powerful technique because its effects can ripple up the ladder and provide healing on all the other layers of yourself. Soul work is especially effective in preventing or healing chronic disease.
3. Healing Yourself From Within – You have the power to heal yourself when you rely on your inner wisdom, intuition, and guidance. Especially when it comes to soul wounds that live deep within your being. With my guidance, you can discover the divine power that lives within you.

With these techniques, each of us can reclaim true, whole-body wellness for ourselves. Which can lead to a new definition of wellness in the Oxford Language Dictionary – “The state or condition of one’s body, mind, spirit, and emotions being well or in good health.”

Work With a Spiritual Counselor

Wellness, in its most authentic form, is a state that occurs in all layers of your being: body, mind, spirit, and emotions. But Western medicine has taught us to keep each of these layers separate and disconnected from one another. 

This approach isn’t working anymore because it provides temporary relief instead of lasting change. So it’s time to redefine what wellness means and reclaim true, whole-body wellness. 

You can do this by working with a spiritual counselor (like me) and using spiritual healing techniques such as:

• Depth hypnosis
• Applied shamanic counseling
• Shamanic healing practices

You have the power to live a healthy life, and you can achieve true, whole-body wellness. 

Sources

“wellness, n.”. Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7317250941