We all know that burnout, trauma, depression and anxiety are widespread, and we also know the eco-system, this beautiful planet, is rapidly decaying. And we are all wondering what to do about it. Whole People, from a place of deep collaborative care, has seen an opportunity to help change this. By coming alongside those who are suffering, and helping to turn that around; and in turn, helping to change the culture of a team, of a department, of an organisation, through the way we bring ourselves; one person at a time. -Lucy Fleetwood
I remember Mac Macartney of Embercome saying to me, “It’s how we bring ourselves, Lucy.”
At the time I didn’t quite get what he was saying. Then, after leaving my apprenticeship with him, I trained in Ayurveda, and the penny began to drop.
Ayurveda comes from the rishis of ancient India, it’s a holistic, nature-based health system that is over 5000 years old, which shows us how to support our biological balance— this underpins our mental health as well as the functions of cellular metabolism, so the cells ability to function. In other words Ayurveda explains how to address today’s chronic physical and mental health problems, and along the way, you start to change the world.
Yes! Taking care of your health can help change the world, and a new initiative called Whole People is doing something concrete in relation to this. But, first let me explain my claim.
The cell is the building block of every organ and process in the body, and it is the breakdown of cellular metabolism that is the root cause of all chronic disease, as well as our chronic mental health issues across the globe. Dr Cassy Means has written a great book called Good Energy, that explains this.
There are many reasons for this break down at the present time leading to imbalance within us; the high levels of stress that we live with, is a big part of the equation.
Ayurveda shows us how to return to balance and support cellular metabolism, yet it goes further, because the rishis of ancient India could perceive the subtle underpinnings of everything in the universe. Ayurveda gives advice on how to live in and return to, balance at that subtle level too. It is at this level that our mind is effected by the things we consume through all our senses. This determines how we bring ourselves, and the world we co-create.
There is a complex science to this but, in a nutshell, Ayurveda teaches the theory of the gunas—the energetic qualities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas —which underpin everything in the universe.
Sattva brings awareness, balance, light, happiness, and illumination into our experience. Rajas brings change, energy, drive, ambition, dynamism, imbalance, activity, disturbed emotions, pain, and passion into our experience. Tamas makes substance possible, allowing our bodies to exist, it also brings decay and in the mind dullness, inertia, resistance and confusion. We need all the gunas for physical experience but in the mind we need Sattva to balance out rajas, otherwise we will create the conditions that lead to disease and decay—tamas.
The Gunas aren’t separate things, they are just different ways the energy that underpins everything, can express. They are in a continual dance, within our minds, and within the world—effected by the choices we make, as well as the systems and cultures we are part of; that the minds of people, create.
Since the industrial revolution a rajasic leading to tamasic culture has arisen. Our systems and the culture they have come from are very rajasic—driven rather than flowing in balance—and tamasic—decaying. And, so are we. It is all interconnected.
We need to bring back the balance. Work cultures are no exception and, Whole People are addressing this.
To be transparent, I’ve recently joined Whole People as an associate, but that isn’t my only reason for writing this post.
We all know that burnout, trauma, depression and anxiety are widespread, and we also know the eco-system, this beautiful planet, is rapidly decaying. And we are all wondering what to do about it. Whole People, from a place of deep collaborative care, has seen an opportunity to help change this. By coming alongside those who are suffering, and helping to turn that around; and in turn, helping to change the culture of a team, of a department, of an organisation, through the way we bring ourselves; one person at a time.
And, these changes add up.
These changes will impact how we bring ourselves, and that, right there, is what can change the world, one person, one team, one organisation, one community at a time. And when you multiply that, you’ve got big change.
Western culture is currently keeping the minds of the people in a state of rajas without the balancing effect of Sattva, because we live in and keep recreating rajasic systems and cultures due to the way we bring ourselves; and this is leading to tamasic states within us, and all over the globe—decay and destruction, confusion and misunderstanding.
But we can do something about that. At Whole People we have an incredible team of associates, all with experience of what they are addressing as well as specific skills.
Whole People is a lived experience workplace crisis management consultancy, offering prevention by proactively identifying potential risks; intervening with immediate support and strategies from those with the relevant skills and importantly, those who have also lived through the experiences themselves. Whole People also offer long term solutions for recovery and resistance through crisis coaching, mentoring, webinars, workshops, keynotes, retreats and panels.
Wellbeing isn’t just about fluffy ‘happy’ times, it involves addressing work cultures that are pushing their leaders to the edge, by coming alongside them, one person, one situation at a time. To turn the entire culture around.
Perhaps you would like to know more, if so, please do visit the website and get in touch.
I suppose in a way, this post is also a big shout out, to Mac Macartney who opened my mind to the importance of how we bring ourselves; to the rishis of ancient India who gifted us their incredible perception of how everything in the universe comes into being, that you can’t separate the human being from the cosmos; and to Whole People, for coming into existence.