I took my health for granted until I lost it.
I lost my health when I was about 17.
I started randomly waking up in the morning with itchy and burning swellings on my face and body. Had no idea what it was about.
Doctors had no answers.
But they tried to treat it with strong medicine.
Did not help. The edema was still there.
My doctor recommended me to take double dose and I did this for one year.
The sickness was still there.
***
One day I read the papers in the medicine pack and read that you should absolutely not take double dose for longer than a few days. That it could lead to neurodegenerative diseases and brain damage…
I felt tricked and angry, I stopped taking the medicine immediately.
I desperately started searching for answers on my own.
I read everything I could get my hands on. I saw every TED talk on the topic of health.
And I started reaching out to professors and world renown doctors who had helped many people heal themselves, without interference of synthetic medicine.
I learned about our body’s and mind’s inherent ability to heal itself, if given the right experiences.
I learned about our bodies and minds’ capacity to change and adapt to different environments.
If we only gave it the right circumstances, the right food, water, sleep, movement and moments of connection, we could heal.
***
I began working with the core ideas I learned: movement, sleep, food, connection and so on.
The edema “magically” disappeared.
***
My journey continued and I started becoming more interested in mental health.
Now it started to become a question of holistic health optimising.
***
I continued my journey of studying and interviewing more people in the holistic health field.
Fields that interested me a lot was neurobiology, positive psychology and social anthropology.
***
I came across some discoveries about some experiences and circumstances that benefited both the mind and the body.
I started seeing patterns.
Many naturally occurring experiences before the industrial society and before the agrarian revolution, where the healthiest for our bodies and minds.
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For example:
- Take off your shoes. – Grounding – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550830719305476#:~:text=Earthing%20(also%20known%20as%20grounding,and%20generates%20greater%20well%2Dbeing.
- Spend more time in the wild. – Ecotherapy/Forrestbathing/Wildfulness
- Gather wild edibles. – Nutritious diet, movement & sunshine
- Eat more berries (especially blueberries) – Nutritious diet & diverse movement
- Eat more fermented foods – Gut/brain Axis
- Grow your own kitchen garden. – Nutritious, organic food & diverse movement
- Take time to connect with the people around you. – Oxytocin & vasopressin
- Embrace the elements. Sauna & ice swim. – Neurogenesis & Hormesis
- Start crafting & creating more. – Mindfulness/Craftfulness
- Follow the circadian rythms – Sleep well
***
First I started to think I could do all these things separately.
It would take a lot of time but If I made a lot of money, I could manage to live a lifestyle where I could do all these things more regularly.
***
The list below are cultural tendencies which are comfortable & time efficient. Perfect for people who feel then need to spend more time working so they can spend more money to fill their needs.
These naturally fall away, more or less, when we start engaging in a more grounded and natural lifestyle:
- Buying shit you don’t really need
- Ordering food to your door
- Eating highly processed food wrapped in plastic
- Eating food sprayed with pesticides
- Working to the level of burnout
- Taking pain killers to lower the symptoms of a unnatural lifestyle (The root problem will still be there. Weather it’s overwhelming stress, disconnection or a sedentary lifestyle)
- Spending your free time believing you’re meeting your social needs on “social media”
- Spending your free time medicating yourself with Mainstream media/Netflix
***
I judge no one and I also see the shiny glittering of these cultural strategies of meeting our psychological needs.
But in the long run we are letting companies & technology replace the capacities of our minds and bodies.
In this way we slowly become weaker and less vibrant human beings, who become increasingly dependent on the larger system for our survival.
As long as things are stable, we can continue this artificial way of meeting our needs.
As long as the system takes care of us, we can continue with letting ourselves become increasingly domesticated.
***
With love,
Daniel
DANIEL GALOVAN 