The 9 Pillars of Optimal Health
Take Control of Your Health and Healing by Optimizing the 9 Pillars of Optimal Health.
Our Environment: Then vs. Now
The default in nature is health, so what makes us fat, sick, inflamed, lost and broken?
It’s because our environment has changed dramatically—and our genes, our bodies haven’t.
In the past, we lived as hunter-gatherers: we ate nutritious food and got plenty of exercise—outside in the sun. Daily exertion was followed by restorative rest. And social connection around the campfire!
This is in stark contrast to our modern society today, where there is a pandemic of poor health (obesity, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, depression, allergies, autoimmunity, cancer, etc.), but we wave away our constant stress, long hours indoors, lack of sleep, and survival on fast food and keep going until we reach our breaking point.
Perhaps, given that we share 99.99% of the same genes as our distant ancestors, you can understand that we are not the problem (you are not genetically doomed to develop the same diseases as your parents), but the new environment in which we now live.
Change
How can we change? Unfortunately, there is no magic pill, but we do have magical pillars of health (nine of them!). Valeo Life has created the 9 Pillars of Optimal Health to serve as a guide so that you gain the knowledge and insights to optimally organize your environment and in this way gain more control over your health and vitality.
Why Nine Pillars?
Nine is a magical number! It’s the largest single-digit number and symbolizes completeness. In Hinduism it is considered perfect and divine.
- In Buddhism, Buddha was believed to have nine virtues, which he was (1) Accomplished, (2) Perfectly Enlightened, (3) Endowed with knowledge and Conduct or Practice, (4) Well-gone or Well-spoken, (5) the Knower of worlds, (6) the Guide Unsurpassed of men to be tamed, (7) the Teacher of gods and men, (8) Enlightened, and (9) Blessed.
- In Chinese nine (九; pinyin: jiǔ) sounds the same as the word “long-lasting” (久; pinyin: jiǔ). And nine is strongly associated with the Chinese dragon, a symbol of magic and power.
- Nine is the third square number (3^2).
- “To go the whole nine yards.” “To be on cloud nine.”
- A human pregnancy normally lasts nine months.
Alright, you get the point. :)
What follows is a brief overview of what is covered in the 9 Pillars of Optimal Health training.
1. Light, Water, Air, Mitochondria
The Foundation of Life
In the first pillar we lay the foundation for health – using Quantum Biology.
Mitochondria are the energy factories in our cells. They are vital to nearly every biochemical reaction and cellular process in your body. Therefore, increasing mitochondrial function is one of the most effective ways to increase your overall energy levels and potentially slow down the aging process.
Mitochondrial dysfunction occurs when the mitochondria don’t work as well as they should due to another disease or condition. Mitochondria receive information from oxygen, food, and sunlight. When you fix these 3 inputs, you improve your hormone function and your energy, clean your neurons to improve your memory, and remove the plaque from your vessels.
2. The Mind
The Power of the Mind
In the second pillar we will dive deep into the power of the mind. It is your mind that shapes your reality.
Everything starts with belief. Believe that healing is possible! We will help you to adopt a healing mindset.
3. Brain Health & Sleep
Optimize your Brain & Sleep = Optimize your Life
To live your lives to the fullest, to reach your true potential, you need a sharp and healthy brain. We are talking about the cognitive, sensory, neurological, behavioral and social-emotional aspects of the brain. Optimizing brain health not only improves mental and physical health, but also enables you to make a positive social and economic contribution to the world and society.
4. Stress & Hormones
Balancing Stress and your Endocrine System
Everyone experiences stress to a greater or lesser extent, but the way we respond to stress makes a HUGE difference to our well-being.
The actual stress response is the natural reaction to danger or a challenge. Where it goes wrong is when no timely solution is found for the stressor and stress becomes chronic.
In this pillar you will learn about the nature of stress, mechanisms and how stress affects your hormones (endocrine system).
We will reframe stress. The word stress has a negative connotation for many people and we would like to get rid of that. A stressor is a challenge and an opportunity to grow, to become stronger and to increase your resilience. Let’s dive deep into the world of hormetic stressors and Intermittent Living!
5. Nutrition & Digestion
Food is information. What does it tell your Genes?
Food is energy. And food is medicine. Food gives us macronutrients but also vitamins, minerals, enzymes and beneficial phytochemicals that help ensure that we can optimally redox (reduction – oxidation, antioxidants), detox (detoxify), regenerate and repair – and manage our stress and balance hormones. Food affects everything.
Food is also information. It informs our genome and metabolome about the environment we’re in. You probably know how bad ultra-processed foods are for you. But is it wise to eat a Colombian banana in the midst of winter in Europe?
The strength of your digestive system determines which nutrients are absorbed and it is often said that we are what we eat, but it is more correct to say: we are what we absorb. Therefore, healthy digestion must be defined as the optimal digestion, absorption and assimilation of food. We are going to work on that together.
6. Gut Health & Immune System
Rebalance your Gut and Boost Your Immune System
Your gut is a long twisting tube which separates your insides from the outside world. That’s why yout gut barrier is so important; it needs to keep harmful invaders out of your body. And that’s why about 70% of your immune system is housed in your gut.
Health starts in the gut (mouth actually). Your oral-gastrointestinal tract is home to trillions of bacteria and these bugs are essential in the most basic mechanisms of human life, such as digestion, energy production, immune system and detoxification. The other side of the story is that disease also starts in the gut (or mouth). Our gut can be a battlefield where pathogenic bacteria have the upper hand. With the stress and toxicity of today, your gut is constantly under attack.
In many people, the natural balance in the gut is disturbed and there is a hyperpermeable gut (a leaky gut wall due to stress for example). This has an incredibly large domino effect on the rest of your body. Toxins and bacteria can slip through the gut wall and into your bloodstream, where they trigger an immune response and over time this causes more and more damage to your body. This is called endotoxemia: endo means inside – poisoning from within.
When your system is bombarded daily with an endless stream of toxins that we absorb, you will become chronically low-grade inflamed. The immune system then demands so much energy, that other systems, organs and tissues can be neglected.
Depression, anxiety, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hormone imbalance are examples of conditions that can be the result of low-grade inflammation.
In this pillar we will focus on repairing your gut, resolving chronic infections and rebalancing your microbiome. And all this will help you to strengthen your immune system and detox your body as well. You will feel more energy, lose weight, and banish brain fog.
7. Detoxification
Supporting your Detoxification = Supporting your Healing
Today we live in a toxic cesspool. Toxins are unfortunately everywhere and almost unavoidable. This pillar delves deeply into optimizing detoxification and of course reducing toxic pressure in your environment. Detoxification is an ongoing physiological process that involves the mobilization, transformation and elimination of toxins from external and internal sources.
We will cover the major organs for detoxification and elimination: intestines, liver, kidneys, lymphatic system, skin and lungs.
8. Movement & Physical Training
Movement is vital to life
Movement is the best pill there is; it is a medicine that turns on hundreds of genes and processes for vitality – and prevents degeneration.
We are made to move: walk, run, jump, swim, squat, lunge, hinge, bend, push, pull, carry, climb, throw, rotate, etc.
It is movement that gives us healthy joints, strong bones, physical strength and good circulation; including cardiovascular circulation, good coordination and reflex reactivity. It also improves our cognitive ability and mental well-being. Without movement, we do not stand still, but rather we deteriorate.
Today we have elevated sitting to an art form, but excessive sitting is linked to many ailments: from back pain and obesity to heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and depression. Countries like Australia and Canada have labeled prolonged sitting as a catastrophe.
Let us find learn what happens when we don’t move and let us find ways how we can improve our movement.
9. Connection & Spirit
We are wired for Connection
We humans are social creatures. Developing social skills (communication, cooperation) is what made our evolution possible. Unfortunately, we’ve come at a time where we’ve managed to cause great damage to nature, plants, animals, our food and ourselves – in a period of only a few decades. Along the way we have lost the connection with what we essentially need: the sun, clean air and space, pure water, nature and natural food, movement and each other.
In this pillar you will learn about your connection with yourself, with your ancestors, with others, with nature, with the Earth and with the Universe.
Fortunately, awareness is now increasing enormously and it is much easier than you think to change course. You can stay very close to yourself, because if you understand that your own health is linked to that of your fellow human beings and to your natural environment, you can work towards balance on all fronts at the same time.
Balance
It is important to understand that no pillar is more important than the others. It is about achieving optimal health and healing through a good balance between all pillars. The sooner we can integrate the lessons of the 9 Pillars into our lives, the better we will be able to live and thrive / flourish.
We do not have to go back in time to sleep in cold dark caves and go hunting and gathering, but we can focus on organizing our modern lives according to ancient wisdom that is more in line with our genome (genes) and metabolome (metabolism, mitochondria).
The goal of the 9 Pillars of Optimal Health is to give you the necessary knowledge and insight to give you back control over your own health & healing, and life.
