The Secret to Lasting Health: Wholistic Ritual
Feb 6, 2022
The Secret to Lasting Health: Wholistic Ritual
What’s the difference between a habit and ritual? Between ritual and routine? Why is it that a ritual can include some habits and routines, but not all routines and habits are considered rituals?
Enough with the questions! What does any of this have to do with being healthy and well?!
I firmly believe that when you are transforming your health, you have to start by creating healthy habits. Maybe you create a habit of eating a nutrient-dense breakfast, or of packing healthy snacks, drinking water regularly, or waking up early to workout. When all these habits combine, they create a healthy routine.
A routine is the organized schedule in which your habits exist. You have a routine of preparing your nutrient-dense breakfast and snacks the night before you need them, of going to bed earlier so you can get adequate sleep before waking up to workout, and of making dinner at 6p each night so you’ll have plenty of time to digest before bedtime.
Creating healthy habits and routines are essential parts of starting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and living a long, health-filled life. But here’s the challenge: habits and routines can change, and they may only exist for a finite amount of time. For some, they might only exist when actively working to achieve a certain health goal (i.e. “I want to lose 10 pounds,” or “I want to train for a half-marathon.”) Then sometimes they only exist as long as the parameters of your life exist (“I got a new job, and the commute is much farther,” or “I have a baby now, and my free hours are fewer”). The moment those parameters change, new routines have to develop, but that’s ok! We just need to remain flexible to pivot and recalibrate how healthy habits can still fit into our life, even when our routines need to shift.
So what’s the magical formula for adopting healthy habits that last a lifetime? The answer is in the transformation of these health, mindset and lifestyle habits into meaningful rituals.
A ritual is a habit that has become sacred or cherished beyond the act of simply doing it. When I use the term “sacred,” I’m not referring to anything religious, although you may find that as you establish daily health rituals, they may become a kind of spiritual practice in themselves!
Health rituals can range depending on the person and what that person deems sacred or worthwhile. It could be as simple as drinking a cup of lemon tea in the morning after a silent meditation or eating dinner with family and loved ones every night. It could mean that you spend Sundays outside in nature while you read or journal or tend to your garden on Saturdays because you appreciate growing your own vegetables. It could even be a self-love date that you take yourself on once a week to recollect your mind and thoughts. You decide what it is, but anything can become a ritual if it has a deeper meaning for you in your life and - more importantly - if you are mindful of its meaning in your life.
Obviously this topic is meaningful to me. The concept behind a health ritual is quite literally the name of my private practice. Adopting wholistic rituals – ones that provide goodness, light, balance and joy - is a foundational philosophy upon which I believe long lasting health and longevity can be achieved. A goal of my practice is to help my patients find ways to not simply adopt healthy habits (although it often starts here), but to transform these healthy habits into rituals that hold meaning and substance in their life.
A ritual is the act of mindful appreciation and reverence for a particular habit and the purpose it serves in your life. Forming a wholistic ritual is a stage of enlightenment on your health journey and can be a powerful phase of growth and healing.
How can you begin to reframe your health habits into health rituals? Consider the following:
1. Reformulate your thought process. Ask yourself: “What’s the real reason I’m doing this thing?” If your answer is: “Because I know I need to” or “Because it makes me skinny,” these aren’t rituals as much as they’re probably temporary habits. Try appreciating the benefit a habit has on your life rather than thinking of it as a chore.
2. Does it bring you joy? Rituals will always bring you joy in some capacity. Whether it’s the joy of a quiet moment alone, of treating your body well, or the joy of compassion and kindness you show to yourself or to others. If it doesn’t bring you joy, it’s likely not a ritual.
3. Does it leave you feeling better when you’re done? Wholistic rituals should make you feel lighter and happier than you were before. They often promote feelings of wellness, balance and restoration, and when practiced over time, the best ones can change your life.
Your health is sacred. Forging wholistic health rituals that promote lasting balance and joy in your life are the types of lifestyle shifts that make the biggest difference. If you’re interested in learning how to find your own balance and joy, reach out and let’s talk!