Hi,
I am Jerry.
I am a mindfulness coach and founder of Nishrayasa,
A holistic wellness studio based in Fort Kochi,
Kerala.
One of the things I have noticed over the last few years is that people have become interested in wellness but also overwhelmed by it.
Someone recently asked me.
Jerry,
Where do I even begin?
There are morning routines to follow,
Supplements to take,
Ice baths,
Breath work,
Journaling,
Digital detoxes,
Sleep trackers,
Fitness watches,
Meditation apps.
Before long,
Wellness starts feeling like another full-time job.
And that's unfortunate because I don't think holistic wellness was ever meant to become another item on our to-do list.
When I hear the word holistic wellness,
I think of something simpler.
I think of remembering that you are one human being.
Not a mind dragging a body around.
Not a body that's expected to keep performing while the mind is exhausted.
Just one human being.
When your mind is anxious,
Your breathing changes.
When your breathing changes,
Your body tightens.
When the body stays tense for days or weeks,
Sleep becomes difficult.
And when sleep suffers,
Your patience disappears,
Your attention scatters and even small problems begin to feel much bigger than they really are.
Nothing in us happens in isolation.
Which is why I have never believed that stress is only in the mind or that healing happens only through the body.
The two are constantly having a conversation.
I see this almost every day at the studio.
People usually come because they have a specific problem.
I want to sleep or I have been feeling anxious or my mind won't just switch off.
These are wonderful reasons to begin,
But after a few sessions,
Many of them tell me something completely different.
They don't talk about the anxiety first.
They say,
I feel like myself again.
And I always find that interesting because maybe that was what they were searching for all along,
Not a technique or another productivity tool,
But just themselves.
With all the deadlines and responsibilities,
Notifications and constant thinking about what's next,
Many of us slowly lose the experience of simply being here.
Have you ever noticed that even when you are resting,
Your mind is still working?
You are watching something while checking messages.
Listening to a podcast while replying to emails.
Thinking about tomorrow while eating today's lunch.
The body may be sitting on a sofa but the nervous system never really receives the message that it is safe to relax.
Meditation taught me that rest is not the absence of activity.
Rest is the absence of inner struggle.
You can spend an entire Sunday doing nothing and still feel exhausted because your mind never stopped running.
And you can spend 20 minutes sitting quietly with complete attention and feel deeply restored.
That's the difference.
Holistic wellness is not trying to be perfect in every area of your life,
But about noticing earlier.
You notice stress before it even becomes burnout.
You catch tension before it becomes pain.
And you observe difficult emotions.
Before they completely take over your day.
The awareness gives you that choice and choice changes almost everything.
People often ask me how long they should meditate.
And honestly,
I think we are asking the wrong question.
A better question is,
How often during the day do you actually meet yourself?
Rather than your phone or your thoughts or your responsibilities,
Just yourself.
Even for maybe one conscious breath.
Because every time you pause,
Even briefly,
You remind your nervous system that it does not have to live in survival mode all the time.
And for me,
That is what holistic wellness really means.
Bringing more awareness into the life that you are already living.
And not trying to be a different person but simply becoming more available to the person that you have always been.
Thank you for listening.
