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Rethinking Health

  • Writer: DEL ALAMO alizé
    DEL ALAMO alizé
  • Apr 19
  • 9 min read
Overview of the article :

  • Comparison between the Western view (absence of disease, medical objectivity) and the Ayurvedic/holistic view (balance, cycles, subjectivity).
  • How our beliefs influence medicine and the treatments offered.

We rarely question how we perceive health. It’s as if the definition were fixed, universal, and self-evident. But while writing my thesis, I realized just how deeply our definition of health shapes the way we approach healing and even how we relate to our bodies as a whole. This seemingly simple concept influences everything from how we respond to symptoms to the kinds of care we seek.

The World Health Organization defines health “as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”This definition is extremely holistic, yet modern societies are still bound to a rigid, strict biomedical model where we tend to hand over responsibility for our discomforts to a third party --> strong tendency to externalize the responsibility for our well-being. In cases of serious illness, medical intervention is essential. But here, I'm referring more to chronic issues: colds, inflammation, digestive troubles, recurring fatigue… the everyday imbalances that speak volumes about our internal world. We’re taught, often unconsciously, to view health as something managed by others, doctors, specialists, and systems. Again, this can be incredibly helpful, especially when dealing with acute or life-threatening conditions. But what about the rest? What about the signs our bodies give us each day?

For these everyday ailments, our default response is often passive. There’s something deeply infantilizing in the way we’ve been conditioned to think about health as if our bodies were mysterious machines only experts can understand. We look outward before looking inward. We wait for a diagnosis, a label, or a prescription rather than tuning into/questioning our own choices and habits. Health is not only about medicine, it is how we embody our selves, how we align with our needs. Easier said than done if you ask me! The truth is that the body speaks in whispers long before it screams, but are we ready to listen, to observe, and to care for ourselves with curiosity rather than fear, judgment, and impatience? This could be the first step toward true healing.

Chronic illnesses rarely appear overnight. They often build slowly, showing up first as fatigue, bloating, skin issues, inflammation, poor sleep, etc. All these signals are easy to dismiss until they become impossible to ignore. Yet, we often wait for a clear label before we take ourselves seriously, or for intense pain. Pretty extreme, right?

The strength ( and struggle) of Holistic systems is that they help restore our sense of agency. They invite us to become participants in our own healing, to take responsibility, rather than being passive recipients of care. They remind us that we do have power and that healing often begins with the most basic, everyday choices: what we put on our plates, how we eat, when we eat, and even why we eat. Reclaiming this responsibility isn’t about blame, self-guilt, or restrictions, it’s about reconnecting. Listening to the body, responding with care, and remembering that we are not separate from our health, but intimately involved in its unfolding every day.

That’s why the concept of health itself is so crucial — > it fundamentally shapes the structure and philosophy of any medical system built upon it. How we define health determines how we approach illness, care, prevention, and even what we consider “normal.”
In Ayurveda, health isn’t seen as a rigid or permanent state we must strive to attain. Instead, it’s understood as a dynamic balance, a state that shifts constantly depending on countless factors: the season, the time of day, how we slept, our emotional state, what we ate, our environment, hormones, and more. Health, in this view, is not a fixed destination but a process, and this changes everything.
 

Ayurveda views the natural body "as naturally imperfect and therefore (...) naturally perfectible rather than as inherently healthy and therefore (...) inherently prone to disease and irrevocably mortal." (Alter, 2004, p.4).

This automatically leads to a proactive attitude towards health, our bodies, and life in general, advocating for an attitude based on of self-improvement.  This perspective is powerful because it replaces individuals at the heart of the process: We are not passive recipients of a diagnosis or dependent solely on external interventions; We are active participants in our well-being. Responsibility is empowering, and taking accountability for our well-being is the first step to embodying health. This approach calls for curiosity and expansion. Let's look at the context of the symptoms, connect information, and stop isolating everything: Why do I feel this way today? Was it the food, the weather, my thoughts, my habits, or a relationship? What drains me? When do I feel this pain/discomfort? When did it start? etc.

Ayurveda doesn’t offer a quick fix or a one-size-fits-all solution. It invites a deeper analysis, one that can feel uncomfortable or even frustrating for those who prefer to ignore discomfort rather than understand it. But in this discomfort lies the potential for true, lasting transformation. It encourages us to pay attention, take responsibility, and honor the small shifts that create long-term change. Let's focus on healing the root rather than just the branches, no?

What is health according to Ayurvedic classical texts?

"Ayurveda is that which deals with good, bad, happy and unhappy life, its promoters and non-promoters, measure and nature." (Sharma, Śarmā, & Dash, 1981, p. 47)

"Health is known as happiness while disorder is unhappiness." (Sharma, Śarmā, & Dash, 1981, p.62)

This statement is from the English translation of the Charakha Samhita, one of the most important corpus in Ayurveda. What is said can be taken literally. Like all holistic systems, Ayurveda deals with the whole body and everything that influences it. A happy life has a powerful meaning here; it is directly related to health, and those two words are used together almost as synonyms throughout the whole corpus.
Health = joy.  I personally love this definition! I find it surprisingly accurate for a term that resonates across all areas of our lives (internal, personal, external, and situational). Linking health to joy creates space for subjectivity, and it helps us stay proactive in our health journey.

Let's decipher those two sutras/aphorisms together!

  • The terms "good" and "bad"," "happy" and "unhappy" reflect the dual nature of experience. Ayurveda embraces both the positive, pleasurable, and negative, painful aspects of life and seeks to balance them to find a holistic approach to health, as opposed to systems that focus only on eliminating symptoms.
    This statement is a good introduction to understand how health in Ayurveda is an entangled worldview.
  • "Promoters" and "non-promoters" refer to all factors that influence health (activities, diet, social environment, direct environment, house, behaviors,relationships etc.) It is all about balance: something helpful in one context can be harmful in another. This quote emphasizes that adapting habits and routines (Dinacharya, Ritucharya) to seasonal and individual needs is the key to maintaining a happy life (health).
  • The term 'measure' insists on how important quantity is. According to Ayurveda timing, quantity, and combinations are as important as quality to avoid excess or deficiency, both of which can be detrimental to health. Depending on these factors, anything can be considered an antidote and a poison, Chapter 20 (Sutrasthana) often titled "Dirghanjivitiya Adhyaya" or "The Chapter on Long Life" of the Caraka Samhita, clearly states « Health and disease have the same source ». This sutra insists on the reciprocity between health and disease, placing them as relatives rather than opposing or fixed states. The distinction between the two is not absolute but can be seen as a continuum in which each state influences the other. They both represent 2 sides of the same spectrum.

    The idea that anything can serve as both a poison and an antidote emphasizes the complexity of substances and their effect on the body. It also highlights the importance of context, dosage, and individual constitution (prakriti). This introduces us to one of the most important concepts in Ayurveda, and I believe any holistic system:

    Nothing is absolute, everything exists in relation to something else.

    Something is only hot compared to something colder. Every herb, food, and element has certain properties, such as warming or cooling, dry or moist, which can be beneficial or harmful depending on how we use them. For example, a particular spice can help digestion in a moderate amount but can cause irritation or imbalances if consumed in excess or by people with a special doshic imbalance. Similarly, a substance that is considered toxic in a specific context can have healing properties when used differently. Ayurveda emphasizes not only the properties of a substance, but also the way it is prepared, administered, and prescribed. No treatment is suitable for everyone or in all circumstances. This is why we have to take into account the characteristics (gunas) of all things and people to constantly adapt the therapy.

  • The term "Nature" means that we also have to look at the nature/composition of substances (from food to thoughts). In Ayurveda, we talk about qualities (gunas), and it can refer to things such as dryness, heat, softness, sharp, sweet, etc. Gunas can describe a food, a season, an effect on the body, a texture, a dosha, etc. But as we said before, everything emerges from a relation, nothing is absolute. For example, one guna can have a different effect on two substances: heat gives a dry quality to bread, but a liquid quality to butter.
    Certain qualities/gunas generally occur together: Cold, wet, heavy, and coarse are more associated with the downward movement to form the physical body and the contracting effect of the body's channels. Hot, dry, light, and subtle are more associated with upward movement to form the mind and the dilating effect of the body's channels.

I love this aphorism because even if it seems short at first, a lot can be said and understood from it! It outlines the key factors and mindset that are better explained throughout the whole corpus to achieve a happy life (health).

The concept of Health in the West

As Western medicine developed, its way of diagnosing illness changed. It moved from a more flexible, symptom-based approach, where each person’s experience of illness was unique, to a stricter system where diseases were seen as fixed and clearly defined. When Ayurveda was later studied from a Western point of view, its more personalized and symptom-focused style was often seen as unscientific or disorganized. Back then, the newly established Western frameworks were often prioritized over the intrinsic value of the content itself, emphasizing form over substance in the evaluation of different medical traditions. Over time, diagnosis became more connected to rules, paperwork, and even the financial side of healthcare. Now, medical ideas are closely linked to social and institutional systems, with standardized procedures influencing clinical practice. Moreover, the biomedical framework tends to adopt a universalizing perspective, applying the same diagnostic criteria across diverse populations, sometimes overlooking cultural, personal, or contextual variations in how health and illness are experienced. While this model remains dominant in many healthcare systems, there is growing interest in integrative approaches that complement biomedical care with attention to lifestyle, mental health, and broader definitions of well-being.

In the West, disease is often seen as arising from internal pathologies, leading to a lesion of some kind, or as an external attack on the body by bacteria, viruses, or other microbes. The external environment is seen as a source of constant danger, meaning that the individual's health is always at risk (desempowering posture). The COVID-19 pandemic is a vivid example of this dynamic.

According to the biomedical model, health is commonly defined as the absence of disease or physiological dysfunction. This model prioritizes observable symptoms ( so physical), measurable data, and standardized diagnoses. Rooted in scientific inquiry and evidence-based practice, biomedicine has led to major advancements in public health, pharmaceuticals, surgery, and emergency care. However, this focus on biological processes often sidelines the psychological, emotional, environmental, and social factors that also shape health. As a result, the individual’s subjective experience of illness may be underemphasized or seen as secondary.


As a therapist, I don’t hold any magical solutions. My role is to offer perspectives, possible pathways, and treatment suggestions to help people find their own, individualized healing pathway. The notion of autonomy is soooo important! I also see it as a huge distinction between Western medicine and traditional healing systems, or more broadly, between a medicine that treats only the physical body and a holistic approach that considers the full spectrum of our existence.

We often treat health and disease as universal, fixed concepts, overlooking the intricate relationship between diagnosis, societal influences, and the evolving nature of their definitions. But As we've (very) briefly explored, the understanding of health varies significantly across cultures, shaping the medical systems that emerge within each context.

So let me ask you:
How do you personally view health? How would you describe it? Do you resonate more with the Ayurvedic approach, the biomedical model, or perhaps another holistic framework? Or maybe you have your own, unique perspective?

 
 
 

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