| The word "wellness" is a term that has been bandied | | | | The Egyptians way back in its ancient dynastic eras |
| about by health buffs and amateurs alike ever since | | | | were famed throughout the known world for |
| Dr. Halbert Dunn first coined the phrase "high level | | | | possessing physicians with tremendous abilities to heal |
| wellness" in his lectures at the Unitarian Universalist | | | | and to keep their patients healthy. The Edwin Smith |
| Church in Arlington, Virginia in the 1950s. Even though | | | | papyrus, an ancient manuscript dating to 1600 BC and |
| the idea of wellness, defined as "an active process of | | | | documenting the Egyptian methods of treating |
| becoming aware of and making choices toward a | | | | battlefield injuries, showed the attention given by the |
| more successful existence" by the National Wellness | | | | Egyptians to diagnosing injuries and ailments using |
| Association in Singapore, has caught on since that | | | | observation skills and knowledge of anatomy. The |
| fateful utterance by Dr. Dunn, the concept of wellness | | | | Egyptians, nonetheless, also approached wellness with |
| itself is not a new one. It seems that man has been | | | | considerable amount of superstition and magic, as |
| interested in keeping himself healthy and in promoting | | | | accorded by the Ebers papyrus, another primary |
| his general well-being since time immemorial. | | | | source on Egyptian medicine. |
| Every major civilization that existed since the hallowed | | | | The Chinese may not have approached the idea of |
| days of antiquity has promulgated its own ideas of | | | | wellness with the same amount of fantastic mysticism |
| how health and wellness should be promoted among | | | | that the Egyptians did, but they believe that each |
| the populace. A recurrent theme among these early | | | | process that the human body goes through is closely |
| civilizations throughout different periods is that the body | | | | related to its environment. To maintain health, the body |
| interacts with its environment, and whatever conditions | | | | and its environment must be in complete harmony. |
| that the body may be showing or may be | | | | Based on this principle, the Chinese have developed |
| experiencing is a result of this interaction between it | | | | acupuncture, their own brand of herbal medicine, as |
| and its environment. Some elements of the mystical | | | | well as therapeutic massage. |
| and the spiritual may factor into the theme as well. | | | | Harmony is also a principle behind India's Ayurveda, an |
| For instance, the Lascaux caves in France have | | | | Eastern medical practice that was developed some |
| prehistoric drawings of healers using plants to keep the | | | | 2,000 years ago. Ayurveda literally means "the |
| members of their clans healthy and strong. It is not | | | | knowledge of long life," and practitioners of this art are |
| hard to imagine these shamans chanting invocations | | | | rigorously trained in the extensive details of how to |
| while they administer their plant-derived powders and | | | | keep patients healthy through the use of natural |
| brews to his kinsmen who need it. | | | | materials, massage and surgery. |