The Western world is only just awakening to holistic wellness that encompasses mind, body and spirit. Many are also realizing that there is an additional fourth component that ancient healing traditions have incorporated for centuries: that of our environment. Ancient healers knew that there is no human health without environmental health, as they are inextricably linked.
For those of us in spa and wellness, we must form genuine, mutually beneficial learning collaborations that combine modern scientific and medical knowledge with the wisdom of traditional healers around the world if we want to provide truly authentic and transformative holistic wellness experiences for our guests.
A lifelong spa-goer and wellness product devotee, Irene Macabante uses her 25+ years of branding and marketing experience to create memorable spa experiences that drive customer loyalty and boost wellness brands’ reputation. As founder and CEO of The Citrine Consulting Collective (www.citrinecc.com), she ensures that its mission and vision are carried out with integrity, efficiency and transparency.
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The Western world is only just awakening to holistic wellness that encompasses mind, body and spirit. Many are also realizing that there is an additional fourth component that ancient healing traditions have incorporated for centuries: that of our environment. Ancient healers knew that there is no human health without environmental health, as they are inextricably linked.
For those of us in spa and wellness, we must form genuine, mutually beneficial learning collaborations that combine modern scientific and medical knowledge with the wisdom of traditional healers around the world if we want to provide truly authentic and transformative holistic wellness experiences for our guests.
It’s time to appropriately learn from ancient societies and their healing traditions for answers in holistic health, sustainability, environmental stewardship and planetary respect. Learning from these traditional healers will lead us to environmentally harmonious healing practices and ways of life for all. For thousands of years our ancestors have known the secrets to health and longevity, and this knowledge must be preserved and passed down.
Related: [Inspiration] Wellness Offerings from Around the World
The Mind-Body-Spirit Triad
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 80% of the world’s population relies on traditional healing modalities and herbals for primary health care and wellness. The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) states that in 2020, the traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) sector comprised $413 billion. In the GWI’s definition, this sector encompasses many different holistic, traditional, indigenous and mentally—or spiritually—based practices, including homeopathy, naturopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture, TCM, Ayurveda, Unani medicine, energy healing, traditional/herbal remedies and supplements, and much more.
Healing traditions are as old and diverse as humanity itself. The diversity of these healing traditions is due in part to how each culture evolved alongside their need for health and wellness. Among these traditions is the common understanding that each person’s health and wellness are reliant on the integrated effects of mind, body and spirit. In healing practices like Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda, this triad concept is ancient, going back thousands of years.
In the ancient Ling Shu text—the canon of acupuncture dating back to the 5th century B.C.—states that “all diseases are rooted in spirit.” The teachings also state that it is the spirit that heals all disease. The Hawaiian Huna spiritual tradition sees the body as possessing three souls: a physical soul, a conscious mental soul and a spiritual higher soul. Ayurveda is rooted in two key principles: Mind, body and spirit are totally connected; and nothing has more power to heal and transform the body than the mind and spirit.
Although the modern-day spa has deep roots, having grown from some of the most long-standing health practices in the world, it’s only been in the last couple of decades that we have redefined spa-going as a wellness practice that focuses on intrinsic health. What was once all about luxury pampering has now become a holistic approach to health and well-being.
The Environment and Wellness
In cultures that view themselves as stewards of the Earth, a healthy environment powerfully enables healthy and harmonious ways of life and is a necessary component in holistic health and wellness.
In her book Dimensions of Human Behavior: Person and Environment, Elizabeth D. Hutchinson describes the dynamics of our ongoing interaction with our inseparable environment. Each part of a system affects every other part as well as the system as a whole. Every day, people inevitably impact the environment and are, in turn, affected by the environment. This dynamic relationship is self-sustaining as people depend on the environment as much as the environment remains viable due to human care and trust.
Traditional cultures generally embrace stewardship worldviews, meaning that they perceive themselves as the caretaker inhabitants of the environment, not the owners of it. They view the environment as a precious resource that nurtures life, promotes good health and educates those willing to learn from careful observance. In turn, they choose to live in a harmonious and sustainable fashion that not only honors but protects their natural habitat.
Today, we should be more concerned with the balance between the natural world and human health. Think about all the ways that both the Earth and we as a species are unwell right now. When it comes to disease, there’s a saying in the scientific and medical communities that “genetics loads the gun, and environment pulls the trigger.”
Related: 5 Wellness Practices from Around the World
The Quartet In Practice
As spa and wellness professionals, many of us are well dialed into many of the traditional healing practices from around the world that are still in use today, especially those that are easily translated into a spa experience.
One example of the mind-body-spirit-environment “quartet” is the Maya of Central America, who lead a traditional lifestyle in the jungles and rainforests, and maintain their traditional medical systems as part of their culture today. Maya medicine is a complex blend of mind, body, religion, ritual and science. Health was the result of living according to the laws of nature and society.
Some aspects of Maya medicine can be seen in modern spa and wellness offerings: The Maya regularly used sweat baths, which were often combined with massage to alleviate gynecological symptoms such as dysmenorrhea, menopause, premenstrual tension and fertility issues. Many still go to the sweat house to bathe, steam away aches and fevers, engage in curing ceremonies or enjoy the companionship of neighbors, especially at planting time or before a long journey. After childbirth, women make several visits to restore and purify their bodies. In small traditional communities, shamans prescribe sweat baths as an integral part of healing ceremonies.
Meanwhile, Ayurveda is all about revering nature in healing. Proponents of the ancient practice, who are also leading experts in Western medicine like Deepak Chopra, have helped usher it into the mainstream wellness consciousness as a viable and effective healing modality. The popularity of yoga, one of the tenets of Ayurveda, has also helped to bring awareness to this ancient healing practice.
Roughly translated as the “knowledge of life,” Ayurveda is a traditional method of medical treatment in India based on the concept that illness arises when the body’s three systems, or doshas, are out of balance. To balance the nervous (Vata), the venous (Pitta) and the arterial (Kapha) systems, Ayurvedic practitioners primarily prescribe medicinal herbs and massage with oil. Additional healing methods can include yoga, sweat baths, meditation, medical enemas and nasal cleansing.
Modern Indian society recognizes Ayurveda as a legitimate medical system, in which practitioners receive state-licensed, institutionalized medical training. Approximately two-thirds of India’s rural people, who comprise 70% of the population, use Ayurveda for their primary health care needs.
Rooted in Hinduism, the philosophy of Ayurvedic medicine contends that the body, mind and soul are connected to the outer world. Ayurvedic principles regard nature as our greatest healer, teacher and guide; we are in our best state of health and vitality when we are living in harmony with our natural environment in its cycles.
The health of our bodies is literally programmed to function based upon our surrounding environment, but in the modern era we have become disconnected from nature and its cycles and rhythms. Ayurveda addresses this imbalance and restores the harmonic connection with nature by focusing on the elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether/space), which make up our dosha, or mind-body type/constitution.
Food and the seasons are also major parts of healing in Ayurveda. When we eat seasonally available, whole foods that stimulate the six tastes perceived by our taste buds, our bodies can more easily recognize and translate the food into energy for our dharma (our life’s work), in alignment with our essential nature.
Similarly, changes in seasons influence the three doshas. A simple principle that Ayurveda operates on is this: If you follow a seasonal routine that is aligned with your inherent nature, and keep tweaking it slightly with each seasonal change, you are bound to have a longer, healthier and stronger life.
These are just a couple of examples. Each culture’s healing tradition grew and evolved based on the environment in which they were living, and the health needs of their people connected to that environment.
When you view wellness from this perspective of interconnectedness and combine it with all the scientific data we have on the environment and health, then incorporating nature into our work as wellness experts should be paramount.
Mindful Implementation
When implementing any traditional medicine and wellness practice, first ensure that all of your practitioners have been thoroughly trained, have the proper certifications from accredited institutions, are passionate about helping people heal using this particular modality, and operate with integrity and respect. T&CM is not regulated in the same way that allopathic medicine is, so it’s up to leadership to ensure that the modality is practiced at the highest standard possible.
Second, ensure that your guests have access to all the goodness that the traditional medicine offers, not just the ones that were cherry-picked for the sake of convenience. Traditional medicine is highly individualized, and each person is always offered healing from the vast scope of resources available (whether it’s herbs, bodywork, food, etc.), that integrate body, mind, spirit and nature.
You can also make your facilities and seasonal offerings less performative and more transformative by really incorporating nature in a mindful way. Sustainability should be at the heart of every wellness experience we offer. By allowing our facilities and services to embody mind-body-spirit-environment wellness, we are also allowing for planetary healing while tending to our own well-being.
A lifelong spa-goer and wellness product devotee, Irene Macabante uses her 25+ years of branding and marketing experience to create memorable spa experiences that drive customer loyalty and boost wellness brands’ reputation. As founder and CEO of The Citrine Consulting Collective (www.citrinecc.com), she ensures that its mission and vision are carried out with integrity, efficiency and transparency.
