“Holism is the belief that everything in nature is connected in some way.” – Dorene Peterson, ACHS
Hey All! I am so excited to be sharing my “official” first post with you today! I want to start by saying that I have been a bit nervous to get this going! I have so much information to share with you all, and a deep passion for living a holistically healthy life and spreading the knowledge to you, so you have the tools to take your health back into your own hands, and skip happily down the path of holistic healing! It is a bit daunting yet exhilarating that I finally have the opportunity to really spread my knowledge to people as well as learn alongside you while I do so! I want you to know that I am one of you! This has not always been an easy journey for me, as we all know none of us are perfect. I have not always been a health-conscious person, and even as I began my journey in becoming a holistic health coach, I had my ups and downs, but what I have most learned through it all is that we all stumble and fall sometimes. Just because it is my passion to help others live healthy lives does not mean I am constantly able to apply all of this to my own life! We live in a crazy hectic world today. Although I am trying to implement all that I am sharing with you I would be a liar to say that all that I will be sharing with you are things that I have already applied to my own personal life! A lot of it, yes, but also a lot of it I will be implementing in my life alongside my blog posts because I am just as much in a journey of holistic healing as each and every one of you are! Some may find it a bit crazy to be getting health advice from someone who has not always been a health conscious individual, and one who everyday is still working towards become the healthiest version of myself I can be, but I personally think that is the beautiful aspect of my blog and the journey we are starting together! So let’s jump in, shall we!?!?… I figure a good place to start is touching base on what exactly holistic health is to me, how it differs from the western medicine philosophies, and why and how Sei Mee Teas philosophies and products support the path to holistic living. In my own words, holistic health is an approach to wellness through balancing mind, body, and soul. Every human (or living thing for that matter) is a perfect mixture of physical, psychological and spiritual parts. Holistic health is a focus on the concept that all parts create a whole, and all parts need to be in tune and balanced with each other to function properly! The word holistic is a term coined in the early 1900’s by a man named Jan Christian Smuts. Yes, the very man who was also two-time prime minister of South Africa. A student of natural science, Smuts created his philosophy on the organization of nature. Viewing the universe as a whole system as opposed to its smaller individual parts. The word holistic was derived from the Greek word holos which means “whole”. Smuts personal definition for his new found word was,
“The tendency in nature to form wholes that are greater than the sum of the parts through creative evolution.”
Back in the day when this philosophy was all coming together the word holistic was actually spelled “wholistic”. Over the years the English language adopted the “holistic” way of spelling, but for me, I like seeing the original spelling because it helps put into perspective the true meaning behind this word. (So throughout this blog journey you will probably see me write “wholistic” and “holistic” but know they are interchangeable). It didn’t take long for the medical world to pick up on this new term “wholistic”, and adopt it into a way of healing people, but oddly enough around the same time in history allopathic or western medicine really started becoming a thing. The definition of allopathic medicine is as follows:
“A system of medical practice that aims to combat disease by use of remedies (as drugs or surgery) producing effects different from or incompatible with those produced by the disease being treated.”
In my own words, allopathic or western medicine is the use of pharmaceutical drugs and surgery to subside the symptoms of disease NOT treat the disease itself… Two other definitions that I feel are important to really understand holistic vs allopathic medicine are general definitions of health and disease. As defined by the World Health Organization health is:
“A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Disease, which is the opposite of health is defined as:
“A deviation from the normal structure or function of any part, organ, system (or combination of these) or from a state of wellness.”
So, some basic background on how the human body works to tie this all in together (and by the way, I am going to make this as simple and straightforward as possible!) … We have 11 major organ systems that make up the human body:
Integumentary (Skin)
Skeletal
Muscular
Cardiovascular
Endocrine
Nervous
Lymphatic/Immune
Respiratory
Digestive
Urinary
Reproductive
And within these systems, there are 5 levels of organization that create the systems which include:
Chemical level (atoms and molecules)
Organelle level (vesicles)
Cellular level (neurons)
Tissue level
Organ level
As you can see there are many different parts of the human body that make us whole! These separate systems all have a purpose or a role in the body, but without each other, the body does not work.
Separate parts interrelated with each other!!
With holistic health care, the focus is on ensuring that all parts are working together to maintain a state of homeostasis or a relative constancy of the internal environment. With allopathic health care, the focus is on treating the symptoms of disease. The easiest way for me to understand and relate this information to my daily life is the car analogy… it’s very simple! Our bodies are like our vehicles… made up of many different parts that when connected properly become this functioning vessel of sorts. Well, think about your car and what happens when one part goes out on you or when your check engine light or gas light comes on. You’ll probably find yourself sitting on the side of the road waiting for the tow truck, or in the mechanic’s shop diagnosing and tuning things up, or in the gas station refueling. Well once in the mechanic shop two things can happen… Either you brought it to your trustworthy family mechanic who gives it a thorough look, makes sure everything is in tip-top shape and ready for the road again, or you bring it to the shady back alley mechanic who throws some duct tape on your leaky hoses and sends ya on down the road. In my opinion, these two different mechanic situations are great analogies of holistic health care and allopathic healthcare (holistic healthcare being the family mechanic and allopathic being the shady back alley mechanic). The car analogies could go on and on… What happens when you put cheap shitty gas in your car? Its starts pinging and not driving as smooth… What happens when you don’t keep your oil levels up to par? Your engine blows up What happens when your alignment is off? Your tires wear down, you get a flat, ruin your rim and can no longer drive Our bodies work in the exact same way! It is absolutely essential to our overall well being to focus on keeping our bodies healthy and preventing diseases before they can take over and weaken our immune systems. I am going to sum this up with what I feel are the 5 most important aspects of holistic healthcare… 5 most important aspects of Holistic Health to get you started on your journey to wellness: 1. Everyone is their own “healer”: Back in the day before western medicine there were no such things as doctors, there were healers, witches, shamans, chiropractors, and naturopaths depending on the culture. Well, every good healer knows that the power to heal is in each and every one of us…deep in our DNA, and at the end of the day you ultimately know what is best for you and your body. Any naturopath, health coach, chiropractor, healer, etc. will tell that there is no one right or wrong way, as everyone is an individual down to the atoms and molecules dancing through our bodies. Now, these professionals are here to give us information and guide us down our healing journeys but again, at the end of the day, YOU are the one who is truly healing yourself.
2.Nutrition: Hippocrates couldn’t have said this one better…
“Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food”.
The car analogy fits great here as well… our food is like the fuel we put into our cars. You put shitty cheap gas in your car and it is going to start wearing down a lot quicker than if you used higher quality gas. You put diesel in an unleaded engine, and the car will break down and a lot of the parts will be ruined! I compare this to putting nutrient-dense, whole foods in your body as opposed to putting processed, refined low nutrient foods in your body. Whole foods fuel and energize us, processed refined foods kill us! A few of my favorite nutrition quotes that are easy to remember and really stick with me are…
… “You are what you eat today and don’t eliminate tomorrow”…
… “EAT THE RAINBOW”… and I’m not talking about skittles 😉
“What is food to one person may be bitter poison to another”
3. Interdependent parts make up a whole person: All aspects of our beings need to be taken care of to live a life of optimal wellness. This means not just our physical bodies but our mental/emotional and spiritual parts as well… 4. Having a healthy relationship with your external environment: Your personal relationship with your environment is a huge part of holistic health that many don’t think about when it comes to their own personal health, but this all comes back to the origin of the word wholistic. Smut, the man who coined the term was basing his philosophy off of the universe as a whole! Just as I have explained that our bodies are made up of inter-relating parts that make up a whole human, we humans as a whole are inter-relating parts of our whole universe. Without us, our planet and environment would not be the same. 5.Prevention: I cannot stress this aspect of holistic health more! You will be hearing so much about prevention if you stick with me and keep reading my blog posts! The main focus of holistic health is prevention. The idea behind all of this is that if you provide your body with the proper nutrients, exercise and rest it will be strong, healthy and able to fight off disease on its own. For some of you reading this today, you may already be familiar with Sei Mee Tea and our philosophies behind our business, but some of you may be new to us so I want to touch base a little bit on our products and what we have going on… Sei Mee Tea is a certified organic Japanese green tea company, based out of Enterprise, OR, on a mission to spread the power of Matcha and Sencha tea products. Japanese green tea is becoming a very powerful aspect of holistic health, healing and disease prevention. With technology ever increasing, we are able to find out more and more about the health benefits of these amazing teas! What really pulls these products apart from other green tea products is that we use the WHOLE plant. What I mean by this is that as opposed to steeping green tea leaves (which is still powerful and medicinal) Matcha and Sencha are finely ground up tea leaves that just get mixed straight into your water or liquid of choice, or cooked right into your daily meals. The purpose in this is so we receive 100% of the nutrients found in these teas which is what makes these teas such a powerful option in your support plan or lifestyle modifications in journeying to a healthier you! Another powerful benefit of Sei Mee Tea’s products is their purity! We pride ourselves in being some of the cleanest purest green tea around, meaning our products are 100% organic, Non-GMO, free of radiation, and free of heavy metals such as lead and mercury. Believe it or not many other green tea companies have these contaminants in their products!! So if you are interested in trying Matcha or Sencha tea products, check out Sei Mee Tea’s website at www.groundgreentea.com and take comfort in the fact that you are getting the best of the best!! And, at the end of the day just remember WHOLE… WHOLE… WHOLE!!!!! Thanks for checking out my blog!! I hope you all enjoyed and will stay tuned for more on holistic health and disease prevention!!!! Cheers!!! This article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent disease. This article has not been reviewed by the FDA. Always consult with your primary care physician or naturopathic doctor before making any significant changes to your health and wellness routine. Resources: Allopathy Medical Definition. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/allopathy Constitution of WHO: Principles. (2016, September 01). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/about/mission/en/ Patton, Kevin T. & Thibodeau, Gary A. (2016). Structure and Function of the Body (15th). St. Louis, MI. Elsevier Inc. Petersen, Doreene. (2017). NAT 308: Holistic Nutrition (17th). Portland, OR. ACHS. Understanding Holistic. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ahha.org/understanding-holistic/ ‘Wholistic’: A Natural Evolution Of ‘Holistic’. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/wholistic-word-origin-and-use
Meet the Author: Mackenzie
