A Return to Wholeness
Dr. John Demartini, who shared his insights on the observation of human nature and personal value systems, initiated the tone and manner of the Wellness Summit 2005. In his quest to discover the connection between mind, body and spirit, he realized that people are their own worst enemies when they label, judge and evaluate others according to their personal value systems, conceptions or misconceptions. This can make them ungrateful and unloving, in turn creating physiological imbalances in the body, and sickness. This is identifiable on different levels, from organs to cells, and energy. It is thus necessary to decode these symptoms to be able to move from sickness to wellness.

Dr. Demartini went on to explain how unconditional love and compassion are critical to attaining and maintaining a state of Wellness, with a return to wholeness rather than retaining the view of ‘ME’ against the universe. As we move from a terrestrial dense judgmental physical world to one that is celestial, harmonious and aware, with guidance coming from the soul, it is necessary to implement higher standards of education and awareness. The Spa industry is in the position to assist humanity back to its awakened state.

By taking a cosmological view of Wellness, Professor Marc Cohen’s research confirmed the fact that we are not separate from the universe around us. As our present system is closed, it leads to entropy or chaos. A healing process based on openness would foster uniting into wholeness, a personal connection to everything, with new breakthroughs no longer coming from molecular biology but through energy medicine. He takes a current analogy on sustainability even farther: “We agree that instead of giving a man a fish, teach him to fish. But, if he learns to take care of the river, he has fish forever.” The time for this change has come. Professor Gerard Bodeker demonstrated through his research and statistical analysis in the domain of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (TCAM) that people are looking for spirituality. As the public increasingly incorporates traditional remedies into their Wellness regimes, traditional complementary therapies are getting legal recognition and formalization. Also, people are no longer satisfied with testimonials, but are looking for hard evidence.

In the West, this is happening at the high-end, while in the East, this occurs at the low end as well as the high-end, where affluent Eastern consumers follow Western trends. He sees an important issue being that of creating a responsible industry nurturing not only the client, but also the environment and society at large. These values of respect and sustainability will need to be transferred to the clients, as well as society. As mindsets move from a medical ‘fix-it after it breaks’ philosophy, to that of healing where importance lies in maintaining health to prevent sickness, markets will also inverse since sickness represents an approximate 20% share of the market, compared to 80% for Wellness. People are now ready to pay for things that are critical to their well-being.

Dr. Geraldine Mitton recognizes 10 elements necessary to well-being; skin care/outer beauty, touch, mind-body (sound, colour, aroma, meditation, response to stress...), physical activity, water, environment (internal & external), food & wine (spa cuisine), education, customer care and synergy (the focused energy between a hotel & spa). An integrated Wellness model then takes into account a physical assessment, followed by detoxification, making sure to pay attention to words and behaviour. She realized that people who live to be over 100 all had certain secrets in common. They are enthusiastic, optimistic, enjoy life, eat in moderation and laugh and smile a lot.

Overview | Wholeness | Integration | Conclusion

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