If you have been wanting to live a more natural lifestyle, it doesn’t start with the big changes, but the small ones. But, exactly what is holistic living?
Basically, it begins with the things you decide to incorporate into your daily routine. For example, it could include reducing waste, using natural remedies, and improving your wellness.
There are many ways to incorporate holistic living into your life. Keep reading to learn more about ways to live more holistically in your daily life.
What is Holistic Living?
Living holistically means to live in wholeness and balance. It is an awareness that you don't just have a body and mind, but that you are also a non-physical, multi-dimensional being.
Benefits of Living More Holistically
Here are some of the top benefits of living a natural and holistic lifestyle using natural remedies.
Preventative Medicine
People who live holistically take responsibility for their health.
The concept of a life force (or qi, prana, chi, or vital life force) is central to the philosophy of holistic healing. It is the essence that helps the body heal itself. In a holistic approach, illness occurs when there is a disturbance within this life force.
It is only our symptoms that help us to identify what we need in our lives to recover and restore our own healing energy.
Natural living is often confused with never going to the doctor again. This is not true! Instead, it is more of a way to manage your health and prevent the need for conventional medicine. Of course, you should always see your doctor when needed.
Fewer Chemicals, Additives, and Artificial Ingredients
The more natural you are, the fewer neurotoxins, chemicals, and additives you are going to have in your food, cleaning supplies, and personal care products.
You Can Save Money
Think of all the specialty items you no longer have to buy when you begin reducing waste and living more holistically!
Optimum Wellness and Health
Living a more natural and holistic lifestyle is not about being perfect, but instead just improving your life. It is an amazing way to live a healthier life that will allow you to feel strong, flexible, energetic, and rested.
Simple Ways to Live More Holistically
Holistic and natural are broad terms that might mean different things to different people. To avoid becoming confused, it helps to understand some simple ways to make changes.
Consider what your lifestyle is right now. Take a few days to journal what you tend to do from morning to evening. Add all the food, self-care products, cleaning products, and everything else you use.
What are your habits?
Do the foods you eat contain a lot of unnecessary ingredients?
Do you take a lot of over-the-counter medications?
This is vital information to help you figure out how to live more holistically by making small changes.
Small Steps Make Big Improvements
For significant improvements in your life, it takes small and simple steps. Don't attempt to change every single element of your life, replace all cleaning products, switch to all-natural skincare products, and never eat processed food ever again. This is not a wise approach, nor is it sustainable.
Choose one small thing to change at a time, then when you get used to this new way of living, you can change the next thing.
Water is Life
Over half of your body is made up of water, so it makes sense that you need a lot of water throughout the day to function smoothly. Water helps you stay hydrated, gives you natural energy, is amazing for your skin, and can keep you from snacking too much. Almost any issue you face externally or internally can at least be somewhat improved by knowing how to drink water correctly.
Reduce Chemicals and Additives
To live a more holistic life, begin reducing chemicals and additives by buying more natural products. This includes a wide range of products, including cleaning, skincare, beauty, and so much more.
There are over-the-counter natural options for just about everything you use in your life. You can find natural kitchen cleaners and air fresheners, moisturizers, and shampoo. Don’t try to do everything at once, but start changing one product at a time.
When you run out of something and go to the store to get more, just try to choose a more natural or organic option.
Feed Your Body Clean Ingredients
Begin switching to a cleaner diet of mostly whole foods and unprocessed meals that you cook at home. This is an easy way to live a more natural lifestyle, simply by not eating too many processed, prepackaged, and frozen foods.
You will be healthier, you will save money, and you will feel so much better.
It feels great when you feed yourself and your family home-cooked meals. For good health, food should be fresh, easily digestible, and prepared with love and care.
Focus on Holistic Mind and Spirit Connections
To achieve the highest potential of well-being, It is helpful to start focusing on your mind and spirit connection. This could include:
- Practicing mindfulness and meditation
- Unplugging from technology
- Reading more from real books
- Writing in a journal
- Breathwork
Choose activities that:
- Improve your emotional and mental health
- Expand your mind
- Help you learn
- Help you get more in touch with yourself
Maybe you spend all your time indoors and want some fresh air and vitamin D, so you choose to spend time outdoors as much as you can.
Or you are under a lot of stress and start journaling to get to the bottom of it. Use your current struggles to decide what will be the best option for you.
Holistic Living for Your Mind, Body, and Spirit
Natural living encompasses so much for your health and wellness. Some people think about natural living as the way they eat, others consider it about the cleaning products they use. But in reality, it is improving your mind, body, and spirit all at once.
Defining Holistic Living for You
What do you think of when you think of holistic or natural living?
It's essential to make this distinction first because it means something different for everyone. It might depend on your current lifestyle and where you are now.
Think about what you want to improve in your life to make it more natural. Some people, think of holistic living as eating clean foods and using less technology.
In contrast, other people are focused more on preventative care with things like natural herbs, essential oils, and other forms of alternative medicine.
Holistic Body
For a more holistic body, it often starts with what you put on and in your body. For natural foods and products, you are looking for fewer chemicals and additives and more natural ingredients. Your body wants more natural products that come from the earth, so think about what is made organically that you can use on or in your body.
Organic produce, fresh farm eggs, local meat and poultry, incorporating herbs like ginger and turmeric and anything grown without toxic chemicals is a big part of holistic living. You can add in exercise as a way to move your body and keep a healthy body while using natural products on your hair and skin.
Holistic Mind
There are also some choices that help you improve mental health, such as writing in a journal, meditating, or practicing mindfulness.
You can start using essential oils to relax instead of other medications. Or gradually begin working on a yoga routine that helps you feel centered and balanced.
An easy way to figure out what your mind needs right now is to think about ways in which you are stressed, anxious, or struggling with your feelings or emotions. This can help you figure out which direction to go.
Holistic Spirit
Your spirit connection is going to be much like the activities you use for your mind. However, it expands more of your soul and spirit, such as self-care and self-love. It is participating in activities that help you re-energize and maintain equanimity through trying circumstances.
Many people turn to things like Yoga or Pilates, meditation, prayer, a spiritual practice, or grounding for their spirit and soul.
Common Mistakes People Make When Living More Naturally
Wanting to live more naturally is a noble goal, but unfortunately, many people don’t understand what this means or make some common mistakes. Here are some areas where you might be going wrong, but don’t worry – they are all easy to fix.
Trying to do it All
A very common mistake made when trying to live more naturally is when you try to do it all.
You can’t “win” at living a holistic life. You don’t need to do it 100 percent perfect 100 percent of the time, and you don’t have to dedicate all your time and energy to it.
What this is going to do is overwhelm you and make you think you are failing because if you don’t do everything perfectly, you won’t do anything at all.
Remember that doing just a little something is better than doing nothing when it comes to living more holistically.
Not Making Consistent Change
It is better to start slow with your new natural lifestyle, and work on changing small things, one at a time. Don’t attempt to change everything at once, but work on more of a consistent change. This allows you to take small steps that don’t completely change your life rapidly and make you feel like you can’t keep up.
Choose one thing at a time, like buying organic produce or switching out your skincare products for more natural ones, then change the next thing when you feel ready.
Failing to do Proper Research
If you don’t spend some time planning, researching, and educating yourself on living a holistic, sustainable lifestyle, you might not realize all the other mistakes you are making. Be sure you understand what is natural, what organic means, what you can recycle, and so much more. There is a lot to learn about living more holistically, being sustainable, and reducing waste. It is a BIG lifestyle change and one that requires you to continuously learn more as you go along with it.
Forgetting About the Small Things
Living more simplistic and natural is not complicated and doesn’t have to be expensive. Don’t spend your entire budget on pricey essential oils and organic food. This is a common mistake that often leads to people giving up because they think they can’t afford it. But there are many ways to cut costs and not make it so complicated for your family just to live a natural, holistic lifestyle.
Focus on putting healthy and supportive things into your body and mind, and your spirit will thrive, and you will automatically be living a holistic lifestyle.
Don't forget to follow us on Pinterest. Thank you for your time and reading.
The information presented here is in no way meant to serve as medical advice. If you are experiencing symptoms of any kind, please consult with your physician.