Listen with your soul. Holistic philosophy of health and wellbeing.
One in four New Zealanders suffer from depression or anxiety. The New Zealand Mental Health found that many adults had been diagnosed with depression at some time in their lives and that women were more likely to have been diagnosed with common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. But, why? I ask.
Every day thousands of people are feeling trapped, lonely and overwhelmed, thinking that something is wrong with them and taking all sorts of medications that leave them numb, confused, and lost under the surface.
In this article series we will explore what we can learn from the Māori philosophy of health and wellbeing, Te Whare Tapa Wha, and how we can look after ourselves.
Have you ever experienced any of the following:
Woken up, only to feel that you can’t face the day, the people or your task list, and dream of pulling the covers over your head and staying right here?
Struggled to put on an old shirt, pants or skirt, which leads to a spiral of thoughts about how you have let yourself go, or not lived to your potential?
Caught up with an old friend or saw some of their Social Media posts and then started judging your own life and actions?
If you are anything like myself and answered yes to any of those situations or something similar you are not alone. I have experienced it myself. Research shows that one of four New Zealanders suffer from depression or anxiety and of those 75% are women like myself.
Every day thousands of women out there are feeling trapped, lonely and overwhelmed, thinking that something is wrong with them and taking all sorts of medications that leaving them numb, lost and confused.
But the good news is that with this being so prevalent we have a lot of experience in overcoming these issues. In this series of articles I am going to discuss a local New Zealand model for working with these issues.
The Māori philosophy toward health was developed by Dr Mason Durie in 1982 and is based on a holistic health and wellness model called Te Whare Tapa Whā, the four cornerstones (or sides) of Māori health.
The four cornerstones are like four walls of a house or four basic beliefs to life; each wall is necessary to the strength and symmetry of the building. These four dimensions are representation of an individual health and can be applied to any health issue, whether it involves physical or psychological wellbeing.
Listening with my soul I have laid here my own personal understanding and translation of the model and I hope I am not offending anyone.
The four aspects are:
1. Te taha tinana (physical health)
2. Te taha hinengaro (psychological/mental health)
3. te taha wairua (spiritual health)
4. te taha whānau (social health).
In this and the following three articles we will explore how these four different aspects of this model can be used to address common mental and physical disorders and more look into depression and anxiety problems.
If we understand the four aspects it is easy for us to pin point where the problem lay.
So let’s look at these four aspects:
Te taha tinana, the physical wellbeing – This cornerstone is all about our body; what we feed our bodies, how we treat it, how we move it, how we dress it.
Te taha hinengaro, the mental and emotional well-being - This aspect talks about the psychological health and wellbeing of the individual. What we think about ourselves, the self-confidence, how do we perceive our lives and how we behave towards ourselves and towards others.
Te taha whānau, the family wellbeing - That is about your social health, who makes you feel you belong, who is your tribe, who you care about and who you share your life with, your community, your family identity, history and system.
Te taha wairua, the spiritual wellbeing - The unspoken beliefs, fate, culture, the connection to the earth, the connection to nature, the land and the roots. It is all about our spiritual awareness, our soul and the energy that moves everything around.
This model explains that when mental, physical, spiritual and social connections are out of sync we have the tendency to develop mental, emotional and physical illnesses. Mind-Body-Soul are out of sync.
In this first article of the series we are going to look at the first cornerstone; Te taha tinana, the physical wellbeing aspect and what can cause mental disorders such as depression/anxiety.
Our physical wellbeing can be impacted by the foods we eat and how we look after our body.
World Health Organisation studies, has found that typical “Western” diets and way of living are associated with higher risks of depression and anxiety in adults and children. Kids as young as the age of eight have been diagnosed with depression or anxiety and of making suicide attempts.
Harvard Medical Health research shows that some foods and beverages, that we consume daily, are high in toxins, food colourings, emulsifiers, gum, saturated fats, oils, surfactants, salts and let’s not forget the refined sugars.
These harmful chemicals are poured into almost everything that we put into our bodies from foods and beverages to medications. These foods promote inflammation and oxidative stress (which affect cognition and mood) of the brain and inflammation of our gut. They are also wrapped or boxed in plastics that contained more dangerous synthetic pesticides, harmful fossil fuels and petroleum, which leach into our foods and enter our bodies and affect our te taha tinana, our physical health and well-being.
The problem is; that the high amount of additives plus preservatives plus saturated fats plus refined sugars, plus synthetic chemicals plus petroleum eventually adds up. The pharmaceutical companies and doctors keep prescribing higher and higher dosages of medications (which such as antidepressants that cloud your true self, numb the symptoms but do not deal with the real problem.
Now, let's be honest here, if you are anything like me, you know deep inside, that after you eat chips, soda, chocolate and ice cream, you feel sluggish, exhausted and lethargic. Sometimes it leads to heavy bouts of self-critique and harmful self-talk, that eventually change the way you view yourself and your life which can have a harsh impact on your mental health, your self-esteem. Your your spiritual health suffers as you start to doubt your beliefs, your social health suffers, maybe you don’t feel like going out and rather stay home, then eventually the entire family hurt. Research also has shown that people who blame themselves are more likely to become depressed and give up on personal growth.
Scientists have proved that some of those dangerous additives, preservative and chemicals foods have a drug effect in the reward centre of the brain and can produce addiction effects, driving a loss of self-control and self-haters which can eventually lead to mental disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Your body needs the energy to function well in all aspect of your health. While highly processed, refined, and sugary foods can impair brains functioning, high-quality fresh foods with vitamins, minerals, fibres and antioxidants, help to nourish our mind, body and soul and boost healthy gut and brain development.
The World Health Organisation research also found, that the way we treat our bodies, makes a huge impact on the way we think and feel about ourselves. When we sit at home in front of a screen hour after hour our eating unhealthy foods and beverages, our brains stagnate, shrink, and after a while stop functioning properly. Your brain slowly slowly stops releasing the happy hormones; dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin that can lead to head fog, memory loss anxiety and eventually depression.
Evidence suggests that by moving your body you can help your nervous system become “unstuck” and begin to move out of the depression or anxiety moments. I know from my own personal experience that if I do not exercise or at least go for my walks my days can look very grey and miserable.
Regular exercise not only benefits the physical aspect of the individual but also the psychological, mental health. When faced with mental or emotional challenges in life, exercise can help to clear the way you view your life. It also sharpen the way you think, it helps you sleep better and help you build resilience to cope with stress in a healthy way. Instead of resorting to alcohol, overeating foods, drugs, or other negative behaviours that ultimately only make your symptoms worse, go for a walk.
Exercises that involve cross movement that engages both arms and legs, such as walking, running, swimming, weight training or dancing, can boost your memory, can boost your mood and change your outlook about life.
When your body is physically strong, flexible and toned your perception of your life is positive and healthy. Your thoughts pattern is clear and your actions towards yourself and towards others are constructive. Mind, body and soul are getting aligned.
The mental benefits of exercise show that your brain releases neurotransmitters, endorphins and serotonin that distributed throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems. That makes you feel better, helps you concentrate on the positive aspects of your life and can foster your sense of self-worth. Exercise regularly can make you feel strong and powerful.
You start to be more connected to your community and socialise more because you are out and about seeing and greeting people. You become more aware of your surroundings and your connection to nature. Your spiritual awareness sharpens and you start trusting your own ‘gut feelings’ your intuition, you may start feeding your mind body soul with nourishing foods and drinking more water.
Nutrition and physical activity are extremely important for us women as we grow older. A healthy combination of good foods and a healthy exercise plan can reduce the symptoms of menopause, can delay ageing and even reverse many problems associated with mental and physical issues. The four aspects of your health and wellness, Te Whare Tapa Whā, are looked after and you can enjoy a good quality of life.
So in order to help our state of mind within the physical realm follow these basic guidelines:
Shop the perimeter of the store for fresh, refrigerated and frozen whole foods. Buy seasonal and local produce that is unwrapped. High-quality foods with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants help to nourish our mind, body and soul.
Stay out of the middle where more-processed foods lurk. Cook with ingredients that comes from the earth. Anything that is wrapped in plastic is poison to your body.
Look and read the nutrition information table before you put it in your trolley. Buy only what you can read and understand.
Look at the sugar content; dietary guidelines suggest limiting it to 10g per 100g (10%). Eating fresh fruit provides the satisfying sweetness of sugar with the bonus of fibre, minerals and vitamins.
Avoid eating fast foods and beverages. Drink water, not food colouring.
Get outside in the sun for at least 20 minutes per day and eat foods rich in vitamin D such as oily fish, eggs, cod liver oil or supplements
Regular physical activity is a valuable part of a prevention plan for mental and physical health disorders. Exercise for at least 30 minutes per day.
Instead of allowing your mind to wander, put your shoes on and go for a walk. Outdoor activities are shown to reduce the symptoms of depression, anxiety and even PTSD.
Having experienced depression and overcome it myself, I developed strategies for myself and a holistic set of tools to help others combat depression/anxiety successfully. Spiritual, mental, physical and social health is the core aspects of our wellbeing. When one of them is out of sync, we develop mind, body and soul illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
UPFITNZ believes that wellness is not one-dimensional; it incorporates Mind, Body and Soul. My holistic approach to health and wellness looks at the physical, mental, emotional and social health of the individual and empowers positive change. I provide holistic services including: Personalised Nutrition plans; Personal Trainer exercises; Life & Lifestyle coaching; and Mindfulness techniques but mainly a lot of Aroha. I am passionate about what I do as I know for my self that all these work together, overcome depression, anxiety and common physical health issues.
Learning how to control depression and anxiety can help you to grow and develop. We assess your health and wellness and develop personalised achievable goals and strategies to help you change for a better future for you and your loved ones. UPFITNZ teach you how to choose correct foods for your mind, body and soul. How to exercise your body for you and for your family.
UPFITNZ will teach you how to quiet your mind from unwanted thoughts, that will benefit your entire whānau, family. My qualifications alongside my own personal experience combating depression enables me to guide and support you to get in touch with the importance of your health and wellness to find peace and harmony in all aspects of your life. To live life feeling happy and fulfilled in your mind, body and soul.
I empower my clients to self-develop, explorer and transform their lives. I give them tasks and keep them accountable. Having been there myself and successfully overcome depression. I understand the pain and I know how to help you to develop a healthy plan so you can live life free of medications, sadness and frustration.
In this article, we explored the Māori philosophy toward health and wellness. We looked at the first and most important cornerstone, the physical aspect of our health and wellbeing. We looked at how we treat our bodies has an effect on our psychological, spiritual and social health. We also looked at how it can lead to depression and anxiety if hasn’t looked after properly. We examined the food industry and how it can cause mental and physical disorders. We discovered that eating healthy foods and regular exercises has a substantial impact on our entire health and wellbeing.
In the next article, we will explorer the Te taha hinengaro, the psychological/mental health of the individual and how the way we think about ourselves, the way we perceive our lives, and how we behave towards ourselves and others can lead to physical and mental disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Until then Love, Peace and Harmony to you all.
For more information:
https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/home/ways-to-wellbeing/
https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/10-tips-for-healthy-grocery-shopping#1
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/the-mental-health-benefits-of-exercise.htm
https://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/amygdala#1
https://pmgt.org.nz/mental-health
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-natural-menopause-tips#TOC_TITLE_HDR_2
Sources:
https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/assets/Uploads/MHF-Quick-facts-and-stats-FINAL-2016.pdf
https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/get-help/getting-through-together?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqdP9BRDVARIsAGSZ8AkDRhNgrSrrvk5q0IejKl2T74taULB0yxYtS4Sc2b8NpwtmCPPW-GoaAuSFEALw_wcB
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https://www.who.int/teams/nutrition-and-food-safety/standards-and-scientific-advice-on-food-and-nutrition
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet
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