What is a Wellness Practice?

“This term, I would like you all to take up a wellness practice, keep a journal about it, and then write up a paper on your experience and what you learned,” my professor told us early on in my first semester at NYU. I had already read this on the syllabus a couple weeks prior and was very excited. “Does anyone have an idea of what they might do?” My hand shot up. So did a few others. I waited my turn as people considered meditation, quitting smoking, and starting a yoga practice.

“Yes, Laura?”

“Is it ok to do a relatively new to us practice? I started a new practice a couple weeks before the term.”

“Yes, I think that is fine. What’s the practice?”

“Muay Thai.”

“What?”

“Muay Thai. Thai boxing. It’s a combat sport.”

“Oh? Okay…” My professor’s tone indicated her skepticism.  I was nonplussed. I am used to being met with funny looks because I have a tendency to think outside of the box.  

Wellness is often thought of the thing we seek at retreat centers and spas. But wellness is a process defined by goals and intentions, not by the specific activity alone.  Maraget Swarbick, who has created a wellness model being employed at state and federal levels, defines wellness as: 

A conscious, deliberate process that requires a person to become aware of and make choices for a more satisfying lifestyle. Wellness is the process of creating and adapting patterns of behavior that lead to improved health in the wellness dimension and heightened life satisfaction.

I was engaging in Muay Thai to improve my cardiovascular health, my athleticism, and my mental health through playful and social engagement of aggression.During class we various do drills in which we kick, punch, block and throw combinations. Sometimes we shadowbox but we generally work in pairs - one person holds pads while the other practices technique. Proper technique demands using your total body and speed. Also, we are not sparring. Class provides a solid workout, and like any wellness practice I was careful to engage in Muay Thai in a way that supported my goals. I selected a sport and teacher carefully and limited myself to training only once or twice per week - paying attention to my own nervous system’s needs.

In the last year, I have been exploring movement in more planes, learning how to move between stiff and supple states, practicing explosive movement patterns, and finding opportunities to play with other people as part of my own wellness practice in healing from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). One of my teachers, Jane Clapp, introduced me to the idea that as we heal we want to move more - beyond the yoga mat or weightlifting platform. I have found this to be true with myself and my clients.

As I moved more I began to miss Karate - a sport I chose to walk away from for nervous system health when I was grappling with PTSD. 

Like Muay Thai, Karate had provided fun cardiovascular training, physical play with others, and a social outlet for engaging with aggression.That said, there was plenty about Karate and how I practiced it that was harmful to me and I believe certain aspects of martial arts culture would remain harmful to me. These factors run contrary to a wellness model: reduced agency due to a hierarchical culture, one that emphasizes building discipline through externalities like regular and frequent attendance as opposed to trusting internal motivations, and little attention spent on down-regulating the nervous system at the end of sparring classes. 

With that in mind, I kept my eyes open for a different combat sport, removed from dojo culture, that would allow me to be more casual and playful with the practice. Little did I expect to find it in a barbell club. But one afternoon while I was at JDI Barbell, coach Jesse was training with his Muay Thai teacher, Justin. They ran drills, right there, among the barbells and squat racks. 

The first thing I noticed was how much work it was. The second thing I noticed was that Justin smiled a lot and it was genuine. It was the smile of someone having a tremendous amount of fun, and yet his approach was clearly grounded in expertise and focused on proper technique. And the third thing I noticed was that I was jealous of Jesse moving around, punching and kicking, while I stayed in place doing split squats and chest presses.  

I had heard that Justin offers a free class at JDI Barbell every Sunday. Free is the perfect price to try something out. So I asked Justin about the class. As we spoke, I could tell that he viewed Muay Thai as not just for fighters but for people looking to have fun. There was no dojo - in fact we were in what felt like my house. I had to hold myself accountable when it came to participation - which aligns with a wellness practice which should come from internal motivation, reinforcing agentic action. And what Justin was offering was a lot of hard work, an emphasis on technique, a channel for aggression but space to laugh too. 

Two Sundays later, I tried Muay Thai and was sold. I was moving in new ways. It was hard, it felt good, it challenged my edges but in a way that felt empowering and safe. 

While there are plenty of ways to meet my wellness goals of more cardio, new ways of moving, and engaging in aggressive play, this is the way that works for me, right now, today. The pursuit of wellness can occur outside of spas, off the cushion, and beyond the doors of therapists’ offices. Wellness is not just the practice you are engaging in but by how and why you are engaging in it. Remember, wellness is behavior that leads to “improved health” and “life satisfaction.” I am more cardiovascularly fit three months in, and I am no longer envious of others training or missing karate because I am satisfying the internal drive to move in this particular way. 

If you are looking to add more wellness into your life, stay open to the idea that what is wellness for your friend may be different than wellness for you. And that different people’s practices vary by training and temperament. So next time you think wellness, maybe you will picture a meditation cushion. But maybe you will picture something others might not, and that’s okay, too. As for my wellness project, when all was said and done, I got an A on my project with the following comment: wonderful report and quite eye-opening for me - I would never have thought of a combat sport as a wellness practice - and as a healing practice!!!