Dimensions of Wellness
By Cassie Schuster, ND, MH
Everywhere you look these days you see the word “wellness.” There are wellness centers, wellness spas, wellness programs, and products advertising that they lead to wellness. the list seems to go on forever. Wellness is definitely a favorite buzz word in the horse community and everyone seems to be using it, but what does the word wellness mean?
Most people equate wellness to health, and I would agree with that to some extent. Being healthy and being well certainly appear to go together. But let’s look a little deeper.
Let’s say that I’m leaving my doctor’s office with my laboratory results, and everything shows that I’m in great shape. My weight is acceptable, my heart rate is good, my blood pressure is under control, in other words, I’ve received a “clean bill of health.” Things are good, right?
But what if my marriage is not going so good at the moment. What if I just lost a job that I really loved and I’m about to lose my farm or ranch, or my child is seriously ill in the hospital. Am I still “well”? Wouldn’t I be anxious about the future and experiencing unhealthy levels of stress? Could you say that I was emotionally well? How about our horses? After going through an episode of colic your horse “seems” fine, but what’s going on inside his head? Is he “well” and now you move on? Is he anxious about eating again? Is he cautious? Probably!
The truth is that wellness is much more than mere physical health. Our health and wellness level is the result of complex interactions between our behavior, our life experiences, our environment, our state of mind, and our physical reaction to what is happening around us.
There is a popular theory that says that wellness has seven dimensions. These dimensions are: physical, social, occupational, intellectual, emotional, environmental, and spiritual. Each of these dimensions contributes to our overall health, or wellness.
To see how these different dimensions could affect our lives, let’s look at the dimension of occupational wellness to see how it applies. Let’s say you are a horse trainer. Do you find your work satisfying? Do you feel that you are making a difference in ways that have meaning to you? Do you feel that you are challenged, or do you long for more rewarding jobs? Do you enjoy your clients, even the difficult ones? Do you have a good balance between your work and your own riding time? Does your work affect your home life? Do you feel appreciated?
Our jobs can be a great source of personal satisfaction, or an unrelenting burden that seems to seep into every pore of our being. When we interact with our horses, we transfer our “wellness” to them in either a very positive way or many times, in a stressful way.
As a holistic practitioner working with horses it is my routine to examine lifestyle habits of both the horse and the owner as a whole, versus looking at an individual symptom. Wellness and holistic approaches are all about the whole body, about balancing the different dimensions of life and health. Wellness is the active, lifelong process of becoming aware of the different dimensions of your life and health, identifying the dimensions that need improvement, and making changes in lifestyle behaviors that help you attain the highest level of health and well-being possible for you.
When working with horses and their owners, I believe that the benefits of a holistic approach include meaningful changes that come from within and which aid in promoting long-term modifications and healing of body, mind, and
spirit. The positive changes in the owner will always transfer to a positive feeling in the horse.
I invite you to examine the different dimensions of your wellness and look for ways improve upon them. I believe that you will find that small improvements in one area will result in improvements in other areas as well. And this, of course, benefits the relationship we create with our animal companions.
