Is health just about our body? Missing the obvious?

Almost all health interventions are focused on the body, with little or no thought to what may be the root cause of ill health, or health beyond the body. This is the current biomedical model of health.

It’s primarily focused on the physical body and considers disease as a form of biological malfunctioning, biochemical imbalance or neurophysiological disturbance. More importantly, the biomedical model of health, considers the mind and body to be separate and independent of each other and thus, the mind does not influence the body!!

But this WRONG assumption that goes totally against your own subjective experience. In other words, how your thoughts (mind) can influence your body’s biochemistry, blood pressure, heart rate and much more.

Consider this: You go to your doctor and your blood pressure is measured, it is the blood pressure, the physical symptoms that is considered the “disease” and thus treated with chemicals to force it to come down. However, the cause of the stress is psychological, it’s the stress that creates the physiological changes, which then manifest as symptoms and are “treated”. The symptoms themselves are informing us that something is out of balance, they are not the disease.

The reason the current model of health does not work is that it is trapped in this assumption. It considers the psychological (mind-body connection) and social processes independent of the disease and symptoms and kept outside of the treatment purview.

The inadequate biomedical model focuses on treating:-
The symptoms of the disease not its root cause, and considers disease as independent of the patient, without any consideration on the mind-body connection.
The biomedical theory of disease grew around the conviction that most diseases are caused by invaders from the outside ‘microorganisms or germs’, genetics or inflammation.
Since the biomedical model assumes that the mind has no influence on the body’s physiology, it completely dismisses the impact of unhealthy mental states on physical body.

Health begins with the mind. In contrast to this incomplete model of health, a more comprehensive and integrated model offers a holistic model for health and wellness.

1. Physical health, cultivating movement, agility, freedom from pain, chi (life force)
2. Mental health, cultivating inner peace and free of unhealthy mental states
3. Emotional health, cultivation of positive psychological states e.g self-compassion, healthier self-image, self-esteem, self-worth
4. Transpersonal health, cultivating expression, creativity, purpose & meaning

The root of health begins with the mind, that generate emotional states, felt within the body as physical sensations. The body is mirroring the unbalance within, the physical body is not the first point of call for health, but the last.

Unlike the current mind body disconnected biomedical model, the consciousness based psychological model recognises both the mind-body connection and the role of consciouness for health and unleashing human potential.

Dav provides you with an evidence based model for health, healing & wellness. Healing does not refer to the narrow sense of curing illness, or disease, but promoting health, wellbeing and prolonging life.

His approach has wholeness, interconnectedness, integration, freedom, connectivity, creativity and joy central to what it means to be “healthy”.
The transformative process brought about by his approach results in the cultivation of health & wellness, in which one is rooted within oneself; In which at a physical level, there is absence of physical pain and malfunction; at a mental level there is presence of contentment, clarity and attentiveness and the absence of unhealthy states of anxiety, stress, depression. At the emotional level, the transformation of unhealthy states of low self-esteem, unhealthy self-image & self-worth, guilt, shame and the cultivation of positive emotional states of self-compassion, inner wisdom, optimism and at a transpersonal level, increasing self-knowledge through self-discovery.

So, Health is not merely the absence of disease or illness, but also, subjective state of wellness. Wellness is related to subjective happiness, life satisfaction, actualisation of one’s human potential towards self-realisation.

So how does one cultivate optimum health and wellbeing?

There are four stages to the cultivation of optimum health and wellbeing.

The first stage is to bring a person back from ill health and dysfunction. This involves healing interventions that can alleviate, reduce or eliminate individual from physical pain, as well as mental and emotional suffering. Enable individuals to recognise the direct connection between their mind or mental state and their physiology. This stage is about regain control of your health and wellbeing. The MBi (consciousness based mindfulness intervention programmes, courses and retreats are designed to enable individuals to regain control on their health)

The second stage is the maintenance, since health is dynamic and not fixed, this stage introduces practical practices to improve and maintain health, and to protect oneself from risks that can result in ill health at physical, mental, emotional and even at a transpersonal level. This stage enables individuals to recognise the role of the mind and emotions on one’s physical health and general wellness.

This stage introduces the individual to their personalised emotional physiology, learn to recognise the role of emotions on their health and wellbeing, recognise the difference between unhealthy psycho-emotional states and taught how to recognise and transform unhealthy physical, mental, emotional states into healthier states, through the application of wisdom, worldview and experiential evidence based practices.

The third stage is the cultivation of positive and health enhancing psycho-spiritual states, including positive psychological states associated with compassion, gratitude, optimism in addition to living life per ones own personal ethics.

As our physical, mental, emotional needs begin to be met, and actualise, the fourth need of “self” arises, a process of self-discovery and transpersonal growth and development, beginning to explore beyond the actualising ego.

This profound journey to self-realisation is the pinnacle of health and wellness, in which our psychological identity, is recognised and over time transcended towards the fundamental nature of one existence, Awareness.

The personal discovery and development journey is assisted through seven stages, which begin with identity and worldview, evolving through emotional intelligence, personal ethics right through to spiritual intelligence and selfless expression

The consciousness based intervention places the control on your health in your hands