“Just as the oak is already in the acorn, everything we’re meant to be and all we need to fulfil it is already within us. All it needs is the right conditions for its emergence.”
Derek Rydall
The idea that our minds affect the health of our body, and vice versa, is well supported by scientific evidence. On a practical level, however, mind-body wellbeing tends to be associated either with mind-body techniques (e.g., art therapy, counselling, hypnotherapy, laughter yoga, life coaching, mindfulness meditation, music therapy, relaxation, spiritual practices, and support groups), spiritual practices, or complementary therapies (e.g., acupuncture, tai chi, qi gong, yoga, massage).
But what if mind-body well-being was a skill that we could learn and get better at through practice – just like playing the piano, for example? What if, just like the little acorn, we had within us the blueprint for flourishing, all the knowledge and intelligence to support our ability to recover and heal after injury, everything we need to emerge into the healthiest, happiest, most thriving version of ourselves, and all we needed to do was to practice? To consciously, and purposefully create the ideal conditions for our unique ‘oak’ to emerge?
The good news is that research led by Richard Davidson at the Centre for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, now provides us with an extensive how-to framework for exactly that. Richardson proposes that wellbeing is a learnable skill grounded in the neural circuitry underlying four neurophysiological ‘constituents’ of wellbeing, trainable through the practice of awareness, connection, insight, and purpose.
Start training with these practices:
Just like any fitness or skills training program, the cultivation of these four well-being skills involves targeted, skilful, practice. Fortunately, the Centre for Health Minds ‘Healthy Minds Innovations’ is a virtual goldmine of resources! I personally found their Blog Page to be the simplest way to navigate to specific guided practices relating to each skill. Here are some to get you started:
Practice Awareness – a heightened and flexible attentiveness to perceptual impressions in one’s environment and internal cues, such as bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions – here.
Practice Connection – a subjective sense of care and kinship that promotes supportive relationships and caring interactions – here.
Practice Insight – self-knowledge concerning the manner in which emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and other factors are shapes one’s subjective experience and sense of self – here.
Practice Purpose – clarity concerning personally meaningful aims and values that one is able to apply in daily life – by watching the replay of this webinar recorded at the height of Covid.
References:
Cancer Council Victoria. (2023). Mind-Body Techniques. https://www.cancervic.org.au/cancer-information/treatments/common-side-effects/complementary-therapies/mind-body-techniques.html
Dahl, C. J., Wilson-Mendenhall, C. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2020). The plasticity of well-being: A training-based framework for the cultivation of human flourishing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(51), 32197-32206. https://doi.org/doi:10.1073/pnas.2014859117
Davidson, R., Kabat-Zin, J., Jha, A., & Paulson, S. (2013). Is the Mind-Body Connection Scientific? , YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3G6SAPEMuk
Davidson, R. J. (2016). The Four Constituents of Wellbeing, Greater Good Magazine: Science-Based Insights for a Meaningful Life. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/video/item/four_constituents_of_well-being
Davidson, R. J. (2016). The Four Keys to Wellbeing. Greater Good Magazine. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_four_keys_to_well_being
Davidson, R. J., Kesebir, P., Wagner, S., & Vidyarthi, J. (2023). Cultivating Purpose in Uncertain Times, Centre for Healthy Minds: University of Wisconsin-Madison. https://centerhealthyminds.org/news/events/webinar-cultivating-purpose-in-uncertain-times
Hart, P. (2023). What is the mind-body connection? University of Minnesota. https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/what-is-the-mind-body-connection
Healthy Minds Innovations. (2023). Blog: Covid 19 Updates Live Guided Meditations. Healthy Minds Innovations. https://hminnovations.org/blog/tag/covid-19-updates