According to Dr. Prue Eddie (Osteopath) there are 5 keys to healthy balance, or 5 key focus areas to pay attention to in your life in order to feel a sense of wholeness or healthy balance in your life.

We have broken this down into the following:

1. Nutrition (more than food)

   People naturally immediately think about the food they put in their mouth when we mention the word nutrition and we completely understand why.

   However there is a little more to nutrition than meets the eye.

   Nutrition not only includes the food itself, but it’s quality which can be affected by length of storage and handling, the quality of the environment in which it was grown, water, light, pollution and so much more.  If you would like to know, click here.

2. Movement (more than exercise)

   The quality, consistency, variation and quantity of movement all makes a difference in regards to our longevity.

   There are many types of movement and one type has the ability to cross over and alter another.

   Breathing, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness, strength, agility and physical balance are all important.  Learn more here.

   In addition, we have internal body movement which is very important to the bodies self repairing and functioning capacity and can be overlooked.

3. Body Awareness (physical body and beyond)

   This includes our ability to sense our own internal body movement and function (called interoception) including tuning into our physical and emotional self. Then we have proprioception (our ability to use localised sensors in our connective tissues to stabilise our body or joints locally and send that information to the brain) plus sensory integration.

   This involves coordinating our body movement in space and includes spatial recognition.

4. Mindset

   You often hear people talk about a fixed or set mindset or a growth, otherwise known as an abundance mindset.

   A fixed mindset is where our brain may decide it has made a decision about something and wants it to stay exactly the same.

   A growth mindset is often described as being more open, flexible and adaptable to the world around us and promotes learning new things.

   It was once thought this was a set process and couldn’t be changed, but we now know that we can learn to be more adaptable over time.

5. Relationships

   Many people will automatically deviate with the relationship they have with their partner or a family member.

   But relationships start with the relationship with yourself and then extend out from there.  Building and maintaining relationships involves communication, connection and community.

Facilitating and expanding our awareness of these 5 key areas allows us to enhance our sense of self and provide an equilibrium to our lives.

A transcript of the video can be found below.

So often we hear about people needing more balance in their life.

What does that actually mean?

What does it entail?

So, what do you need to do?

There’s so many questions around that or what it might mean for one person or what might constitute balance might be different to another.

But certainly like work life balance, that’s sort of a funny one. People, think they have their work or they have their life.

And I think so often, you know, that these things, in health, when we’re working in health, they come together, and then if you’re enjoying what you do, like they say, it’s not really work, is it?

But now let’s think about balance in regards to your health and well-being.

What does that actually constitute?

What does it mean?

How can you support yourself to have better health and a more fulfilling life?

So, one thing that I believe is that you can really break it down into five key main areas, which obviously then you can break those down into further areas as well.

Those five are the following.

Nutrition

So if you’re not eating well or as well as you could be, certainly they’re might be something that you can work through and it can improve on there.

Then there is……

Movement

If we don’t move, we can’t live.

Movement, I truly believe it’s a fundamental foundational principle of life.

Anything that basically that lives, it moves.

Then we have talk about…..

Mindset

You know, what kind of mindset are you?

Cup half empty or cup half full kind of person?

So what we talk about often is worth or abundance mindset.

Well, more like a fixed sort of mindset.

Maybe you find it a little bit, hard to make change, or be adaptable, for example.

So, and certainly people think that this is sort of static, but in actual fact, these things you can train yourself to being more life flexible or open.

Body awareness

Now we can break this down into three main areas like what’s body awareness.

And how is that relevant to me?

Is it just how I feel to a certain extent, yes.

Your physical as well as emotional sense of health and well-being and your inner self.

And then if we kind of translate that to the external world is relationships, communication and connection.

So I kind of put that all under……

Relationships

And certainly, partly we have the relationships with ourselves and then the relationship that we have with others.

So if you have any questions about that, feel free to get in touch and let me know, you can always pop a question below about the 5 keys to healthy balance and we’ll get back to you.