As a Practitioner, I work with people’s spiritual health. But defining spirituality and health can be tricky. So I put together some definitions from medical studies on this interesting aspect of human health.
So, what is spiritual health and why does it matter? Spiritual health is a dimension of human wellness that integrates all dimensions of health: physical, emotional, mental, and social. Spiritual health creates meaning in life, cultivates altruism and ethics, and is based on individual perceptions convincing us of our ability to survive.
You could say spiritual health is a kind of glue that brings all the other pieces of health together. Perhaps what makes spiritual health different from other types of health is how it is grounded in clinical research.
How to Define Spirituality and Spiritual Health?
Before defining spiritual health, we have to look at where it came from. The big boss on the scene of human transcendence was always Religion.
Religion comes from the Latin root religio, which points to the bond between humanity and some greater-than-human power.
In the last 30 years or so, religion as a word has connoted the idea of outward or external commitment
The health and well-being of religious observance often varied [ref]D. A. Matthews and D. B. Larson, The Faith Factor, Volume III: Enhancing Life Satisfaction (Rockville, MD: National Institute for Healthcare Research, 1995); A. E. Bergin, “Psychotherapy and Religious Values,” Journal
of Consulting and Clinical Psychotherapy 48(\980): 95-105[/ref]. What we do know from the medical literature is that intrinsic religious experience improved health, but extrinsic religious commitment showed little benefit. [ref]M. J. Donahue, “Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religiousness: Review and Meta-Analysis,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 48 (1985): 400-19.[/ref].
Experience of the divine has always been the cornerstone of religion, but in recent years the gap between intrinsic spiritual experience is now distinguished from extrinsic participation in a religious system.[ref]Karren, Keith J. Mind/Body Health: The Effect of Attitudes, Emotions, and Relationships, 4th ed. New York: Pearson Benjamin Cummings, 2010.[/ref]
| Intrinsic Religion | Extrinsic Religion |
| Motivated by core internalized beliefs | Motivated by the Group norms or doctrine |
| Deeply personal | Impersonal and structural |
| Non subject to social pressures or conformity | Conformity to preserve one’s standing in a group |
| Deeply other oriented | Self- |
At best, extrinsic religious participation has a benign effect
But intrinsic religious practice is deeply personal and also deeply effective.
What is Spirituality?
Spirituality comes from the
Another level of distinction is the many denominations within a religious tradition. For instance, how the Baptist Christian experiences God in Scripture would differ significantly from a Catholic reads with Lectio Divina. Each sect of a major religious tradition has distinct ways of interacting with the divine.
Spirituality is the term that describes the same process of relating to the divine. Religion tends to emphasize the differing content of the divine. Who or what the divine is? What intellectual arguments for or against a dogma.
The theology, doctrine or dharma differs but the way one engages the holy experientially is the “spirit” or essence of the connection.
Jewish and Christian traditions (the embedded worldview of the West), have used biblical words such as Nephesh (Hebrew) and pneuma (Holy Spirit) to connote the idea of wholeness, breath, and the life principle. Nephesh or breath included the mind and body.
It was a whole person concept.
Eastern traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, or Sikhism, understand the importance of the human breath and utilize it in their meditative practices.
Early Shamanic healing ceremonies among Native Americans and Polynesians used similar rituals of drawing healing spiritual power within one who needs it.
Spirituality is an experience of oneness with the sources of transcendent power.
The new kid on the block is Secular Humanism which longs for this connection, lifestyle, and the healthy qualities it produces: such as ethics, Ideal Self, deeper connection with nature and a community to belong to.
Secularism yearns for such experience with the transcendent, which has led to many non-religious (or extrinsic religious) approaches to seeking spirituality, such as:
- Yoga for Trauma, weight-loss
- Transcendental Meditation (As promoted by Dr. Oz and Ellen)
- Mindfulness-based psychotherapies
- Mindfulness stress reduction
- Riekie
- Tai Chi and Chi Qong in Healthcare settings for staff
Aromatherapy - Guided Meditations
One could argue that Spirituality is a kind of intrinsic religion of the secular in the way it bonds people together from across extrinsic religions.
According to Goddard, Spirituality involves an integrative energy that “encompasses all aspects of a human being and is a means of experiencing life.”[ref]N. Goddard, “A Response to Dawson’s Critical Analysis of ‘Spirituality as Integrative Energy,'” Journal of Advanced Nursing 31, no. 4 (2000): 968-79.[/ref]
Unlike Extrinsic Religious observance, spirituality is based on feeling, experience. The primary sources of spiritual experience are:
- Connection with a divine being
- Connection to your Larger Self
- Connection with the earth, the environment, the cosmos, nature, animals, or others
In sum, spirituality is less about the intellect and more about a mystical quality expressed in practical
What are Health and Healing?
We are on our way towards defining Spiritual Health more clearly. Next, we have to look at what is “health” and “healing.”
There is a fascinating overlap between medical and spiritual language, when it comes to defining health and healing.
Health and heal actually both come from the word “holy” via Biblical
Healing has to do with bringing disconnected parts together. Whether it’s a broken bone or a broken spirit, healing
When we experience healed skin that was cut, we experience a kind of wholeness a “togetherness” now that there’s connection.
This is health.
Health is wholeness where there was once separation, oneness where there was once distinction, and aliveness where there was once death.
Without health and oneness there is no life.
What Constitutes Spiritual Health?
Spiritual Health is the combination of these two aspects:
Spiritual Health is not the same as physical health. I’ve seen too many patients who have proved otherwise. Whether its a mom with terminal cancer at 45 and 4 kids or a
Healing does not always result in a cure. Most the time healing is just recovery.
As Marc Barasch in Psychology Today points out:
But the quest for wholeness is never in vain, no matter what the outcome. To find it, we may have to forsake, once and for all, that misapprehension that sees God in what aggrandizers us, Beauty in what i unblemished, Wholeness only in what is intact. For those who can summon the courage to tread a path with heart, illness’s dark passage may provide a glimpse not only of what it is like to become whole but what it means to be fully human.”[ref]Marc 1. Barasch, “The Healing Path: A Soul Approach to Illness,” The Psychology of Health, Immunity, and Disease, vol. B, 10, in Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine, held at Hilton Head Island, SC, December 1994 (Mansfield Center, CT: National Institute
for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine: 1994).[/ref]
It may help to understand what the spiritual dimension of health is. Let’s talk about the spiritual dimension of health and the four aspects of spiritual health.
What is the Spiritual Dimension?
According to one study, by a medical researcher who interviewed a variety of health professionals, health educators, health students, and others who worked in the medical fields, these were the 8 parts of the spiritual dimension in healthcare:[ref]R. Banks, “Health and the Spiritual Dimensions: Relationships and Implications for
Professional Preparation Programs,” Journal of School Health 50 (1980); 195-202.[/ref]
- Something that gives meaning or purpose to life
- A set of principles or ethics to live by
- The sense of selflessness and an altruistic feeling for others; a willingness to give of yourself
- Commitment to God, which includes an ultimate concern
- Perception of what causes the universe to work the way it does
- Something for which there is not yet a rational explanation; recognition of powers beyond the known natural and rational
- Something perceived as being intuitively known; something for which there is no easy explanation, and so it becomes a matter of faith
- The most pleasure-producing quality of humans.
What are the Four Aspects of Spiritual Health?
From
- Acts as a unifying force that integrates the other dimensions of health: physical, mental, emotional, and social. Spiritual Health brings all these into a single whole
- Creates or brings into focus meaning in life. The sources of that meaning can vary, but it can serve as a powerful inner drive for personal accomplishment and contribution.
- Transcends the individual and creates a bond between the individuals. This common bond allows us to act sacrificially for another and guides our ethics
- Based upon the individual perceptions and faith. Spiritual Health acknowledges that there is some higher power at work and perceive that power is the cause behind the natural workings of the universe. Our perceptions and our faith bring us pleasure and convince us of our ability to survive.
Central to Spiritual Health is the ability to move beyond oneself to help others, and advance in self-awareness[ref]Pamela G. Reed, “Spirituality and Well-Being in Terminally III Hospitalized Adults,”
Research in Nursing and Health 10 (1987): 335-44.[/ref].
How Does Spiritual Health Influence Our Daily Lives?
Here’s a short list of the ways our spiritual health impacts our day to day living:
- Sexual intimacy
- Decision-making
- What movies to see
- The literature read
- The music is sung or listened to
- Family and relationships
- Career goals (vocation and discernment
- Whether to smoke, drink, take drugs, and much more.[ref]Glenn E. Richardson and Melody Powers Noland, “Treating the Spiritual Dimension Through Educational Imagery,” Health Values 8, no. 6 (1984): 28[/ref]
Most of all your spiritual health determines how much meaning and purpose you find in your life.
Related Questions:
How to improve spiritual health? Improving your spiritual health is simple and profound. I’d say, first begin with connecting with your Spiritual Center. This is the truth, Ultimate Source, philosophy that you try to live by. Connecting with it/him/her will allow you to create a rich conversation addressing loneliness and empowering your life for greater success. What do you believe about life? What is the one thing that keeps you going from day to day with a sense of purpose?
Examples of Spiritual wellness activities? Cultivating your spiritual wellness works best with activities. Our Spirit like our mind or body thrives on practice. Many of the great spiritual traditions have emphasized the importance of self-awareness, physical discipline, and mental clarity. Some examples include yoga, mindfulness, prayer, singing with a faith community to a transcendent being, acts of justice for the oppressed. Try some of these this week.
