Health for most people means the state of no illness or injury. Health means a person's physical or mental condition.

For the health conscious 21st Century person health means much more. For example when I asked my friends these came up:

No illness, no sickness

Healthy, capable body

Good energy to get on with the day

No aches and pains

Healthy mind and good thoughts

Sleeping well

Waking up refreshed

Being happy

Healthy eating

Exercising

Being in Peace with yourself and with the world in general

Liking and loving yourself and your life

Being productive

Living an active life

Happy and good relationships

A good circle of friends to communicate and do things together with

Doing something that you love and enjoy

Compassionate heart towards others

While the term 'health' might not be defined by these words officially, when we thought what health means to us, my friends and I, approached the topic in a holistic manner or so it seems.

I am sure you get the same impression that this is the way the medical profession should approach our state of health as well!

They only approach the physical body and treat the symptoms. However, there is so much that signifies us when we are healthy or when we are unhealthy. There are many shades of grey before we become sick and the doctors can put their fingers on something specific.

There are many stages of health. Our health always can be improved further. There are so many little telling signs that we are loosing our health and that we should do something to turn it around. People accept that cold and flues, runny noses and allergies are normal. That high blood pressure and cholesterol level 'runs in the family' and can't be changed. They don't realize these are already signs that their health is going down the slope and more and more signs will be present and one day there will be the BIG Warning sign as well! That might be too late....

I believe that this is where the medical profession and our Western Society is lacking understanding. According to our Western Medicine, we are sick when our measuring system produces proof that we are sick. When something shows up in the blood or urine tests, when the X-Ray or the Cat Scan show that something is wrong.

We rely so much on doctors and instruments telling us that we are healthy or not that we totally lost touch with ourselves and with listening to our body. This has dire consequences in our lives. We trust drugs and poison our bodies with them. We accept that being on medication is normal and there is nothing that can be done. We totally forgot what the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (460-377 BC) knew. "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."

I remember when I was child, our family doctor used simple observations like examining my eyes, looking at my tongue and touching my glands as a start. Observing people, looking at the skin and touching the body gives a lot of information as a start. Those practitioners, who have been seeing patients for decades can tell a lot by these simple methods before they send the patient to expensive specialists.

Similarly, healers from the East have their own examination system looking at face and observing changes on the face, examining the body, how it moves and responds to things. I am concerned that if we keep going the way we go with Western Medicine, we will loose all the human experiences that these alternative and ancient healing arts represent. We become robots and machines with no understanding of ourselves and each other. We only trust the results that come from computers and machines. We loosing our intuitions, our capacity to think and feel.

What deeply concerns me is that we use science and technology to pretend to be Gods. Many believes that results and examination that come from machines and computers know everything and always right. While science and technology has advanced tremendously and we have learnt about the Universe and the human body a lot, we know so little!

We use science to support what we want to support and ignore results that we don't want to see. I am more and more suspicious when it comes to 'scientific evidence'. And while I love technology, I still believe that our mind is the most powerful 'computer'. Unfortunately, technology and science and as a result of all the recent advances in these areas, now education is dismissing skills to teach people to use their mind and teach them to think. To question everything.

Urbanization results in loosing touch with nature more and more. We hardly need to think about 'survival' in the old sense therefore our instincts are becoming lazy. People are becoming 'clueless' about themselves, about life, about looking after themselves, feeding themselves, about each other, about relationships. And terribly clueless when it comes to their own bodies. One of my friends pointed it out. It is nobody's interest that you would be healthy and live a long and healthy life. It is only your interest. And yours only!

I get very frustrated when I see pictures of young people advertising health and lifestyle. Our body can take a lot. If someone is not looking health and gorgeous at 20-30 and even close to 40 that means there is a big problem and they neglected themselves! I believe there is a huge need to revolutionize our education system and make health and finances a big part of it. We need to educate people to look after themselves better!

When it comes to healthy lifestyle and looking after ourselves I search the older people in this field. Because if they look great and are healthy at 70 or even 90, there is a better chance that they know something about this topic and can serve with a great advice.

I look for older yoga teachers, fit and healthy medical doctors, alternative advice from people like 90 year young Jay Kordich, the Juice Man for nutritional and lifestyle advice. The more I am looking, the more I am finding my people, the team I want to surround myself with and to get advice from. The people who support their message with their own lifestyle and the way they look and conduct themselves. They inspire me to be a better version of myself and improve myself every single day. Just remember, if you are not improving, you are getting worse!

Become a better version of yourself!

Cheers, Piroska