Bill Hetler is a retired physician who, nearly 60 years ago, believed that there were six most effective ways to determine and maintain a patient’s path to health: These ideas, taken together, became the philosophy of the National Wellness Institute.
Hettler co-founded the Wisconsin-based organization in 1977, eight years after he began developing the Six Points Health Model, an idea that first emerged when Dr. John Fair, a professor of preventive medicine, was giving a commencement speech at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
While Hettler and his fellow medical students studied illness and treatment, Fair spoke of the importance of balance and awareness in medicine and health: skepticism fueled curiosity, which led to the philosophy Hettler would propound a decade later.
The components of wellness, as advocated by the National Wellness Institute and numerous other national organizations, private companies, and private practitioners, are intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, occupational, and physical. Many variations have been proposed over the years, but the basic idea is that balancing these areas can improve an individual’s overall health.
Stacey Seward Vandiver, owner of the recently opened Soul Body Studio in Fort Myers, is one of several holistic wellness providers in Southwest Florida touting the principles and benefits of holistic wellness developed by Hetler. But she also understands the lack of understanding of the term, especially when the two are combined.
“Holistic is a buzzword, and wellness is a buzzword, right?” Vandiver says. “How do the two work together? Holistic can mean many different things, and so can wellness. When you put the two together, I think it’s a beautiful combination.”
Experts believe that holistic wellness should complement, not replace, conventional medical treatments such as medications and surgery. From diet to exercise, spiritual counseling to acupuncture, chiropractic care to psychotherapy, holistic practices claim to achieve optimal health and wellness.
At SoulBody Studios, Vandiver believes that “true well-being is a balance of mind, body and soul.” The studio’s motto is “Move, Strength, Recover.” Classes range from low-impact interval training to barre and Pilates, to restorative classes that incorporate stretching and other physical movements, as well as foam-rolling exercises.
“For the general public who thought, ‘Oh, it’s just exercise or diet or just this or that,’ I think COVID-19 has put it (health) in front of everyone. It’s become more mainstream,” Vandiver said.
“There are some big pillars that support it. Yes, it’s nutrition, and yes, it’s sleep. And there are other pillars that influence it, and they’re important, but they might not be as big as the others. Think relationships, spirituality, creativity, career.”
Vandiver reiterates that these areas support wellness and allow an individual to feel balanced and connected. When combined with holistic practices that succinctly identify the root of the problem, holistic health naturally creates overall wellness.
“What we’re doing is diversifying your daily life,” Vandiver says. “We’re not going to help your career. We’re not going to help your spirituality, necessarily. But we’re going to work on some pillars. Your exercise, your movement, is really important.”
“At Soulbody we believe that you don’t need to beat yourself up. You don’t need to train really hard and beat yourself up to stay healthy and moving, right? There’s a saying that goes, ‘train smarter, not harder.'”
Root Cause Holistic Health and Medicine in Fort Myers focuses on wellness as a health collective. “We see you as a person, not just a collection of symptoms to be corrected,” its website states. “We pursue balance and wellness through lifestyle management, nutrition, and natural compounds and therapies whenever possible.”
The platform from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, agrees.
“Patients are increasingly seeking holistic approaches to medicine that address the overall health of the body, mind and spirit,” the organization asserts. “To the holistic practitioner, patients are seen as unique individuals, not a collection of symptoms. Health is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, but a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.”
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translation:
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