The Wellness Continuum - Part I

I often use a tool called the Wellness Continuum to help my patients embrace the perspective necessary to create health. With a little honest effort and attention it is easy to locate your current position on the Wellness Continuum and determine your current direction of movement.

Used with permission, "Wellness Workbook", © 1981, 1988, 2004 by John W. Travis. Please visit thewellspring.com.

The Wellness Continuum includes three distinct areas: an illness side, which
illustrates the undesirable path to a premature death; a wellness side, which shows the path to vibrant health; and a neutral point, which represents the symptom-free state of limbo that lies between the two. Because our health care system is primarily focused on relief care and the treatment of symptoms and disease, we have focused our time, energy, and money on the illness side of the continuum, with a return to the neutral point as our goal.

The neutral point represents the stagnant state between wellness and illness: There is no sickness, but there is no vibrant health either. The neutral point represents the final destination of a limited perspective of health.

Signs of Intelligence

On the illness side of the continuum, the pre-symptom category of signs appear like road signs warning us that we are approaching disease and death.

Signs are not usually spoken of in health care because we don’t often recognize them as being important. But our Innate Body Wisdom sends us these signs long before we become ill. We receive this feedback from our movement patterns, our mental attitude, our feelings, and the nature of the spirit that we express. The synthesis of this information will alert us that we are moving in the wrong direction.

Some examples of the signs of dis-ease are feeling tense, anxious, grouchy,
depressed, bored, stressed, or a general feeling of unhappiness with your life. Signs also include restlessness, lack of sleep, exhaustion, posture imbalances, temper flares, paleness of skin, a feeling of always being uncomfortable, or the overall realization that something isn’t quite right. If you pay attention to what is happening in the present moment, you increase both your awareness of the signs and your ability to resolve the dis-ease.

Symptoms are the natural progression of events when we miss the simple signs of disease. Signs and symptoms present themselves on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels of our experience, all at the same time. If you become compromised structurally, there is always a corresponding biochemical, mental, emotional, and spiritual counterpart. One level can present more prominently than the others, but as multidimensional beings we always register imbalance on each level simultaneously. Notice this the next time you are demonstrating signs or symptoms.

Please check back in April for Part 2. . . 

The Treatment is Not The Cure

When we don’t recognize the signs of dis-ease, and instead treat or obscure our symptoms, we will be led to the next stop on the Wellness Continuum: disability. The word “dis-ability” means to be unable to perform or to become separate from our natural ability to express health.

more to come!