Once upon a time there was physical health and mental health, two separate things treated very differently. Now there’s wellness, an active process involving choosing an attitude and lifestyle that suits every aspect of yourself, which nourishes your physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Wellness is a powerful idea, and it is changing people’s lives for the better, so what’s it all about? In this post we dive into the ideas behind wellness and look into why it’s so positive and so powerful whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever life has thrown at you so far.

So what does ‘wellness’ mean?

Wellness is how we feel when we actively pursue the things that lead to holistic health, when we’re healthy in every way. It’s the way we feel when we experience happiness, when we gather the kind of riches that don’t involve money, instead focusing on mental, physical, social, work and cultural wealth. Gratitude, mindfulness, positive thinking, finding resilience and living life according to the values we care about all inform our overall wellness, and luckily they’re something most of us can achieve. We can all learn to think positively, express gratitude for the things we have, and be mindful of how we’re feeling in the moment. We can choose to eat well, nurture good relationships, find work we enjoy, and cause no harm to the planet that sustains us.

Six aspects of wellness

Physical wellness means you nourish your body, get the right amount of exercise and sleep well. Mentally it means exploring the world through learning - which helps us to solve problems - and being creative, which sits right at the heart of being human. Emotional wellness means being aware of our feelings as they unfold, accepting them, expressing them positively, and therefore understanding the feelings of other people better. Spiritually it means looking for meaning, finding our own higher purpose. Social wellness means engaging with other people and the wider community in ways that matter, that mean something to us. And last but not least there’s environmental wellness, where we create positive relationships between the way we act and the health of our planet. Together they build a lifestyle that helps prevent disease, actively improves our health, enhances our own quality of life and ultimately benefits other people as well as ourselves.

The evidence behind the idea

This isn’t ‘woo-woo’, it’s actually science. There’s good evidence for a growing list of wellness approaches including acupressure and acupuncture, aromatherapy and art therapy, biofeedback, CBD, Chiropractic, exercise, forest bathing, massage, music therapy, optimism, psilocybin, stress management, transcendental meditation and yoga... and that’s just for a start.

What the experts say about wellness

So wellness is an internal resource that helps us think, feel, connect and function positively, an active process that helps us to build resilience, grow, and flourish. Good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and the ability to manage stress are the results of wellness, and it feels amazing. You might not be a millionaire living a life of luxury life but you’re wealthy in so many other vital ways, you’ll feel enriched. Once we’re happy, healthy, socially connected and have purpose, life unfolds like a flower. And if that sounds hippyish, it is... in the best possible way! You could even just call it ‘love’. When you love yourself, your life, your work and your planet, and you’re connected to your beloved tribe, you’ve achieved wellness.

Wellness and looking good

Because the way we look has such a big impact on how we feel, the simple act of getting dressed can give our wellness a nice boost. When you wear colours that make your heart sing and make other people smile. When you feel the texture of a piece of clothing you adore and it gives you a little thrill. When you’re warm enough, cool enough, just the right temperature. When you feel like you, when you’re confident, when you’re inspired. And basically, that’s what our gorgeous hippie clothing is all about. We source stunning alternative fashions, slow fashion that’s created with love and care, so you can feel your best whether you’re just hanging around at home, socialising, at work or out on the town.