dailypractices-14Overall, Americans are not in a great state of health. One of the contributing factors is that most people link health exclusively to the physical body. While the physical body is important, when we only associate health with our physical body, we fail to recognize other factors that contribute to our overall well-being.

Most ancient cultures pointed to a connection between body, mind, and spirit and recognized that each composed a part of the whole. Now, integrative medicine and health psychology are beginning to recognize that health is influenced not only by the physical body but the spiritual, mental, and emotional bodies, too. Your health is dependent on all four facets, as opposed to just one of the four.

Building onto this concept, your overall health is also influenced by a trickle-down effect: The physical body is affected by our emotions, our thoughts direct how we feel, and our energy level sways our mind and our thoughts. Let’s get more specific on the details of each body and the practices you can follow to maintain their health. Read full article here.