Holistic Living. Living a Holistic Lifestyle. Living Holistically. Have you heard these phrases and wondered, what is this “Holistic” thing people are talking about? What does Holistic mean?

Holistic is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts.”

So what does that translate to if we’re trying to live a Holistic Lifestyle? Living a Holistic Lifestyle means taking our entire being -  our mind, our body, and our spirit/soul - and living in such a way that we are nourishing and doing everything for the benefit of our entire being.

Confused yet? Don’t be! 

How can we nourish our Physical Body through Holistic Living? 

• We can take care of our body by exercising our muscles to keep our body in correct balance. Muscle imbalances are the main reason why people have back or joint pain. 
• We can also take care of our body by stretching to keep everything perfectly aligned. When we are little, our bodies are in perfect alignment. Have you ever watched a little child squat down into a sitting position. We were built to do that!  Over time (and lots of sitting in chairs) our bodies change so that we cannot move in the ways they were created to move. Stretching either by Yoga, Pilates, Thai Yoga Massage or other methods will help to get our body back to its optimum form.
• We can nourish our body by eating nutritious, healthy foods. When we change our mindset and eat for nutrition instead of eating for pleasure we greatly improve our health.
• We can take care of our skin by using all natural products to cleanse and nourish the skin. Did you know the largest organ of your body is the skin? It makes you look at your skin differently knowing that, or at least it did for me. 

Next - How can we nourish our Mind through Holistic Living? 

This gets a little tricky, since sometimes it is unclear what is the mind and what is the spirit/soul. The mind is our thinking and reasoning, while the soul is our spiritual self, our essence. 

• We can exercise our mind by playing games. Number games (like Soduko), word games (like Scrabble), and reasoning games (like Pull the Pin) all help to work the left side of our brain while creative games such as Drawn Together and Kaleidoscope Doodle Pad all help to work the right side of our brain.
• We can take care of our mind by reading. Try to read different styles of books and more challenging books. I try to read a fiction book and a non-fiction book at the same time. 
• We can nourish our mind by always learning. There is so much information out there and so many different topics! I love learning new things and I am always encouraging others to learn something new as well. 

And last but certainly not least - How can we nourish our Spirit/Soul through Holistic Living?

• We can take care of our spirit/soul by helping others. It can be as big or as small as we want at any time. It can be as easy as holding a door for someone, picking up trash alongside the road or as big as volunteering at a local Habitat for Humanity.
• We can nourish our spirit/soul through regular prayer and/or meditation. Take some time each day to quiet the mind and allow the spirit/soul to communicate.
• We can also protect the spirit/soul by limiting the amount of violence we are exposed to each day. Violent movies, music, and video games do nothing to improve or nourish our spirit/soul - it does the opposite. This is a topic for another day, but our bodies listen to what we say and what we expose it to. We should try to keep our homes positive and light instead of negative and dark.

Do you want another trick to figure out if something is spirit/soul related? Do you ever do a good deed and feel a swell in your heart? Or hear bad news and feel a sinking feeling in your heart? That’s your spirit/soul!

And there you have it! A crash course on Holistic Living. If you live mindfully of how your actions are effecting your overall wellbeing, you are living Holistically. When you are aware that “you” are your body, your mind, and your spirit/soul, you are living Holistically. 

I gave a few examples about how to nourish ourselves through Holistic Living, but there are so many more ways. 

Do you want more tips and tricks about how to incorporate Holistic Living into your life? 

Follow me on this blog, on my Facebook page, or on my Instagram page. 

Do you have a business that reflects the Holistic Living lifestyle? Message me! I’m looking for local businesses to pair up with and may feature your business. 

Hello and welcome! My name is Michelle and I am a wife to an amazingly supportive husband, a mamma to a son, two daughters, and an awesome daughter-in-law, and a dog-mom to a feisty Mini American Eskimo.

My background is in the health sciences. I have my BS in Biology with a specialization in Medical Technology. I worked 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry, specifically Quality Control. I have always been fascinated by our amazing bodies.

I've been on the wellness journey since 2010, when my husband and I started eating healthier and exercising to improve our lives. Since then, I feel as though I have been nudged along this wellness path, gaining knowledge and helping people along the way.

In 2012, I became a massage therapist. This gave me an opportunity to help my clients feel better without resorting to pain medication, if at all possible. It was through massage therapy training where I first learned about the mind-body-spirit connection and how important it is to have balance in all three areas. Massage therapy school is also where I first learned about the amazing benefits of essential oils.

In 2014, my husband and I were blessed with our first child together. Later that year, we discovered she had a rare genetic condition which caused her to lose function in both of her kidneys. She went on dialysis until she was big enough for a kidney transplant. I was blessed to be a match for her, and was able to give her my kidney in April 2016. Being a living donor is an amazing experience and I would do it again if I could. We are both doing well with our single kidneys.

Having an immunosuppressed child changed how I view life. I do not take for granted my health or the health of my family. I am more adamant now then I was before about making healthy choices in what we eat, what we put on our bodies, and what we use to keep our home clean.

Recently, I have been battling GERD so digestive health has been on my radar lately. Through clean eating, natural remedies, and the power of these amazing oils I have been able to stop using the acid blockers my GI doctor insisted I would be using for the rest of my life. If you know me, you know I really do not like taking medicine unless absolutely necessary and I try my best to find alternative means to feel better. 

Today I am still on the road to health and wellness. There is always something new to learn, and little by little I am making changes to help my family reduce the amount of toxins in our lives.

Welcome to the Holistic Living Lifestyle! 

Together we can learn to live Healthy & Balanced.