What is Wellness?

Wellness is not just the absence of disease - its something much stronger; the more wellness you have, the less you will be affected by illness. Wellness is an alternative to dependency on doctors and drugs.

Wellness is a mindset, a predisposition to adopt a series of key principles in many areas in your life that lead to high levels of well-being and life satisfaction. Moving towards high-level wellness will involve the three steps of awareness, education, and growth.

There are many definitions of the word wellness, one of the original pioneers in the field of wellness, John Travis, MD shares six definitions of wellness:

• Wellness is a choice - a decision you make to move towards optimal health
• Wellness is a way of life - a lifestyle you design to achieve your highest potential for wellbeing
• Wellness is a process -a developing awareness that there is no end point, but that health and happiness are possible in each moment, here and now
• Wellness is a balanced channeling of energy - energy received from the environment, transformed within you, and returned to affect the world around you
• Wellness is the integration of body, mind and spirit - the appreciation that everything you do, and think, and feel, and believe has an impact on your state of health and the health of the world
• Wellness is the loving acceptance of yourself

Beginning in 1972, Travis, developed his Illness/Wellness Continuum to illustrate the relationship of treatment to wellness. He also defined 12 dimensions of wellness with the Wellness Energy System. To view his 3 key concepts and the Six Dimensions of Wellness click on the links on the left.