The 12 Dimensions of Wellness
The 12 Dimensions of Wellness include fundamental life processes that collectively interact to develop and shape our life experience and state of individual well-being. This powerful dynamic is referred to as the “Wellness Energy System”. It was developed in 1975 by Wellness Pioneer Jon W. Travis, MD, MPH. At Cora Cora Maldives, we want to give you the choice of exploring all of this, and more, at your own pace as you embark on a journey of freedom on our beautiful shores.
1. Self-Responsibility & Love
Self-Responsibility & Love form two critical foundations for personal wholeness and wellness. Unfortunately, we often prioritize the ones we love and our professional responsibilities first, leaving caring for ourselves last, lacking time and motivation to put self-care rituals and practices into place. If we are not practicing self-love, it leads to a negative self-image, driving us to have detrimental and damaging feelings about ourselves.
Discover your authentic needs and how to reach them. This way, you will learn the inherent power of self-compassion and how to overcome constant negative thoughts and feelings while increasing your desire to enhance your own wellness.
2. Breathing
The breath is the most fundamental life process – it’s the main way to bring energy and vitality into our body; breath replenishes the oxygen required for generating power in the mitochondria of our cells. Yet, despite the importance, we tend to be unaware of our breathing process and the benefits of mindful conscious breathing.
You will grow more aware of your breath when you practice inhaling and exhaling more slowly and with more conscious thought. Conscious breathing is like pressing a reset on your mind, which calms your emotions and enhances relaxation— strengthening your sensory consciousness, enabling you to feel more alive and comfortable in your own skin.
3. Sensing
We utilize our senses to navigate and experience our world— seeing, touching, smelling, hearing and taste. Many lifestyle variables, such as excessive workloads, prolonged screen time and poor sleep quality can diminish and overwhelm our senses. This is sensory overload.
When engaging with the sensing element, you’ll see how consciously using your senses in several regular everyday activities such as taking an afternoon stroll, eating delicious meals, playing music or enjoying a long bubble bath may improve your life. Bringing you sensory experience into focus enables you to be more present, make better choices, achieve higher levels and be more productive; all this, while also being more conscious and available in your relationships with your loved ones.
4. Eating
Eating, like breathing, is one of our major sources of fuel for the body that provides energy, allowing us to survive on Earth. Unfortunately with today’s packaged-processed-pre-heated food diet, we don’t get the steady energy we need to get through the day, leading to various health concerns and medical problems.
Throughout the Eating component, you’ll see how crucial it is to consume a predominantly whole food, plant-based diet. That include fresh foods wherever possible, enjoyed in moderation, to provide us with the strength and vitality we need to live our best possible lives. Genuine self-care means eating healthy for mental, physical, spiritual and emotional well-being. Learn about the significance of mindful conscious eating, which involves paying attention to your senses and breath while eating to help you slow down, enjoy your food thoroughly and optimize your digestion.
5. Moving
Our vital energy manifests itself in the form of movement. Therefore, it is critical for our health and well-being to maintain a dynamic balance of activity and relaxation. Unfortunately, we frequently become too sedentary in our fast-paced lifestyles, and we battle to find the time and and techniques to incorporate more movement or physical exercise into our lives. This might cause feelings of shame, frustration and resentment against one’s self.
What are your favorite ways to get moving? Do you enjoy hiking, hitting the gym, practicing yoga, maybe dancing or gardening? As you discover this component, you’ll gain knowledge of how important it is to maintain lifelong physical movement for mind, body and soul. Then, see how incorporating these approaches and strategies encourage you to enjoy physical activity even with a busy, bustling life.
6. Feeling
Emotions are your feelings. Thoughts and feelings are closely intertwined but are not the same. You react to every given circumstance by both feeling and thinking. However, most of us prioritize our views on a topic, dismissing our feelings. So it’s no surprise that so many of us aren’t very connected and in touch with our feelings.
This phase is all about being more conscious of the beautiful gift that are our feelings. We’ll work on developing our emotional maturity and our ability to detect and regulate our own emotions and the emotions of others around us. For example, when we are experiencing anger or worry, we will learn how to use our breath to become calmer and more focused.
7. Thinking
Our mind has the potential to be our best friend or worst nemesis. We may occasionally get into a destructive thought cycle that has a detrimental influence on our own well-being. When we lay down to sleep at night, we can’t seem to turn off our brains! Can we live in such a manner that our thoughts are genuinely beneficial to us?
This Dimension explores the power of thought, how it connects to physical and mental health and innovative ways to apply thinking to enhance your well-being. The brain has the capacity to evolve throughout one’s life, discover how being aware of our thoughts allows us to make better decisions for our well-being.
8. Playing & Working
We devote the majority of our time to work and every day duties, leaving much too little time for recreation. Most adults’ definitions of play are more likely to include escape activities than the happy, creative, spontaneous play that is important for our health.
Work-life balance allows us to rejuvenate and promotes personal health and well-being. This Dimension teaches you how to reclaim the spirit of play, which may help you reclaim your life’s balance.
9. Communicating
We may communicate our goals and needs by sharing our inner thoughts and feelings with others. However, we frequently face communication difficulties as a result of our prejudices and assumptions, as well as our failure to accurately hear what other people are saying.
In this Dimension, we learn to heighten our listening abilities and gain a deeper understanding of communication failures and understand how to have positive internal dialogues, as what we tell ourselves regularly has a significant impact on our well-being.
10. Intimacy
Intimacy can range from a personal friendship or familial connection to a long-term relationship or marriage. Intimacy is a necessary component of our health and well-being in every type of relationship.
We discover in this Dimension that sex is simply one form of intimacy. Platonic intimacy can be shared with a romantic partner, friends and family. This broadens our options for increasing closeness in our lives. In addition, we discover that trust is the cornerstone of intimacy, allowing for genuine connections. The key to developing intimacy in a relationship is understanding that we must always try to respond to each other with admiration, respect and open-heartedness.
11. Finding Meaning
Our desire for a greater purpose in life is a fundamental distinguishing feature of being human. Consequently, basic questions arise in the search for meaning. Who am I? What brings me here?
Pondering these questions might help us find deeper meaning in the acts and activities of our daily lives, which are all too frequently carried out on autopilot. We may live more freely as human beings by understanding and thoroughly experiencing who we are and what is significant and essential in our lives.
12. Transcending
The experience of being in a state of flow is one facet of transcending. It’s the moment of triumph, of breaking through that invisible barrier that separates being on autopilot from being present and aware, of saying “no” to life and saying “yes.” Likewise, spirituality, religion and recognizing our connection to something larger than ourselves are all aspects of transcending.
After you’ve completed your journey through the first 11 Dimensions, you’ll see that Transcending is where we experience the synergy of all the dimensions functioning together in harmony and to their most tremendous potential This is when we are in a state of flow and optimal balance, completely observant and immersed in the present moment.
