The topic of health is now more important than ever. For 15 years I have been researching how we can live life in a natural and healthy way. In this story I share with you my most important insights that I have collected over the past few years.

Initially I gained inspiration during the many courses and workshops I followed. I have learned from the herbalists, the naturopaths, the therapists, the shamans, the yogis and the mystics. I was able to integrate much of their knowledge & the essence of their message into my own vision.

However, I have gained the most inspiration by entering into a conscious relationship with nature. Your own life experience brings the true knowledge that cannot be captured with words and labels. For example, you can read a description of how an apple tastes, but only when you take a bite of the apple yourself and experience the taste, then you really know the taste.

The same counts for the “seven principles of health” that I discovered. You can read them for inspiration, but in the end your own experience, applying and integrating this knowledge, will be your real teacher.

Principle 1: A loving relationship with the sacred elements

Our planet is made up of the elements: earth, water, air and fire (and space). These elements are the building blocks of our physical body and the entire earth plane. The elements are much more than we think. These elements are conscious! That the elements are “conscious entities” will be a totally new understanding for many people.

The element of air that moves around and through your body has consciousness. The air you breathe is a conscious entity. The element of earth that supports you and that your body is made of is conscious. The waters of the earth, the water that blows through the sky in the form of clouds and the water in your body is conscious. The element of fire is also conscious.

A miracle has indeed happened, for these four entities, these immense beings of earth, fire, water and air have joined together to give us this body. This is a great gift given to us by Source. This fact alone fills me with a sense of deep gratitude and reverence. To me the elements are my sacred allies!

How do I maintain a conscious and loving relationship with the elements? My relationship with Earth runs very deep. Every day (also in winter time) I take a moment to walk barefoot on the grass, sand or earth. I love walking barefoot on the dew of our lawn!

While grounding I use my imagination to make an energetic connection with the planet. I imagine that there are ‘energetic roots’ from my root chakra & foot chakras going deep into the earth. Then there is a loving communication between me and the planet. I fill the core of the earth with the energy of love and the earth element gives my body everything it needs in terms of minerals, vitamins etc. The earth element also pulls the waste out of my body through the soles of my feet. Nice to have such a powerful ally! And it feels amazing  to be a conduit for the energy of love.

Water is also a great ally of mine! There’s nothing I like more than taking a dip in an ice-cold mountain river or mountain lake in Switzerland. Or when I’m in the Netherlands, I like to go to Terschelling for a dive in the North Sea. Wow, what a wonderful feeling a dip in ice-cold water gives you!

Every time I drink something I first utter a mantra to bless and vitalize the water. Water carries information. That’s why I prefer to drink running spring water from a mountain stream. Spring water is very much alive and contains information from the ecosystem.

Through our second chakra (sacral chakra) we are connected to the element of water. During group meditations I also always send light & love through this chakra to all mountain streams, lakes, rivers and oceans of the planet. I love spreading the good vibes through the entire ecosystem!

The element of air is also my friend. Every time I feel a breath of fresh air on my skin it is a great gift. Feeling goosebumps on my skin is a wonderful sensation. Every time the wind brings me a wonderful scent during a nature walk, I love it so much! The other day when I was on a hike in the Provence I smelled the scent of thyme in the air, it was a gift from my friend Air. Herbal scents and the smells in a forest make me happy. The heart chakra is our connection to the element of air. Through the heart chakra I send energetic messages of light & love to all corners of the planet. I visualize energetic little birds flying through the sky to all corners of the planet with a message of love!

The fire element brings me joy and optimism! Especially during the dark winterdays I look for the sun as often as possible. Every time the sun shines, I sit with as little clothing as possible in the sunshine. The sun enables our body to produce vitamin D. Vitamin D is very important for good health. However, the sun energetically gives us so much more than we realize. I don’t need to understand on an intellectual level what exactly happened. I love that there is an energetic connection as soon as you connect with the sun with attention and love. Where your attention goes energy flows!

I don’t care what passers-by think of me when I’m grounding or sunbathing. They may wonder: what is that man doing there with his bare feet on the lawn? The more you can let go of what others think of you, the better!

To summarize… When you enter into a conscious and loving relationship with the elements, they become your allies and you bring more health & vitality into your life. And not just your life… with this connection you bring more health, vitality, joy and love to All of Life. Everything is connected.

Principle 2: A loving relationship with nature

When I observe people in the Netherlands, I realize that many of us live in an illusion. We seem to be more interested in our technological toys than in the beauty of nature. If we no longer know and no longer see the beauty of nature, then we cannot love nature either.

It is now of great importance that we restore our connection with nature. We are one with nature. When we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. However, if we honor and love nature, then we create a loving life.

I can recommend everyone to go on a hike with a wild food guide. This guide will teach you about the edible plants, mushrooms, seaweeds, fruits and nuts. Especially cool if you can enjoy all those tasty nature snacks after the walk. This is a delightful way to connect with nature! There are also many herbs and mushrooms in nature that can boost our immune system.

Many health issues that people experience will disappear if they would spend time in the garden daily. Building your own herb garden is one of the best ways to connect with nature. This herb garden will become your space of love to connect with nature on a daily basis. It’s fun to make your own herbal tea and very healthy to add herbs to your salads.

If you connect with a garden with love, then this garden loves you too! Herbs will spring up in your garden that can specifically help you with your health issues. There is no coincidence, everything is connected. Nature knows exactly what your body needs. The herbs that can make your body better, grow in your own garden.

Principle 3: A loving relationship with yourself

The relationship you have with yourself is very important for your health. If you truly love yourself and let this energy of love and gratitude flow through your body daily, it will have a wonderfully beneficial effect on your physical well-being. The energy of love heals, brings harmony and vitalizes every cell your body.

However, if you spend the whole day in fear, self-criticism, anger, hatred or sadness, then that is literally an attack on your own body. Many of our modern diseases originate in our minds first. So a conscious person examines every moment of his life whether he/she comes from love or fear in every thought, deed and word. It is very helpful to be aware of your current state of being. This state-of-being determines what you attract energetically.

Principle 4: A loving relationship with the Source

The relationship you have with the Source of All (God) is essential to good health. I see Source as my great Beloved! I see Source as my great Friend. Source is present every moment of my life and reminds me to look at everything and everyone through the eyes of love. Source is also present in every human being! We are all one with each other. All too often we forget this principle. We get too caught up in the illusion and we forget that at the core we are all one with Source.

Sickness is purely a human creation. When we bring our lives back into alignment with Source, there is healing. If you do get sick, it is important not to make the enemy of a disease. Illness is a signal from your body that there is an imbalance. Often we have ignored the subtler signals of the body and now an illness is a stronger signal from nature that we need to change something in order to restore harmony. The best answer to an illness is acceptance & gratitude. Then use the signal to make a positive change to restore balance.

Principle 5: Nutrition for body & mind

The most ideal way to feed yourself is, as far as I’m concerned, wild food foraging. You get the food directly and free from nature. Wild food meals are nutritious, medicinal and often look beautiful with a little creativity. Another powerful way to get what the body needs is to grow your own food. For example a permaculture garden or a food forest. This not only provides a bountiful harvest, but also more biodiversity to the place where you live.

It is also nice to be able to harvest your own fruit and vegetables at a self-harvest garden. If this is too much trouble for you, you can get your veggies at the local health store.

When purchasing food, I always look at the following three conditions:

1. Is it organic? I don’t buy food which has been sprayed with pesticides.
2. What are the ingredients that were added to this product?
3. Are the farmer’s intentions pure? Do they love their land and product?

Garbage in, garbage out” is an expression from the ICT world that is used to point out to people that software can only provide meaningful information if they are fed with correct information. It works the same way with our body. I see my body as my temple. And I like to keep my temple clean!

The same principle also applies when it comes to nourishing our minds. What do we fill our minds with? I try to feed myself with inspiring books & podcasts and I like to listen to beautiful music. I spend a lot of time in nature. With this I feed my body & mind with the soft energy of nature.

Principle 6: Detoxification

Unfortunately, in this modern world, many contaminants are present in our living environment. It is extremely important to detoxify your body. Think of a detox cure or a few days of fasting. It can be very healthy to juice fast for a few days several times a year. This gives the body time to purify, because the body does not have to put energy into digesting food for a while. Furthermore, there are many yoga & breathing exercises (pranayama) that you can apply to detoxify your body.

Principle 7: Balance

Are you a lazy person by nature? This temperament can lead you to bore out. In that case, give yourself a daily kick in the ass to get moving. Learn using perseverance and self-discipline to appeal more to your inner fire! For example, it can be very healthy to start your day with yoga exercises such as ‘the sun salutation’. Our body needs movement to stay in balance. After my yoga exercises I feel energetic. I feel my body flowing.

On the other hand, I also see a lot of people who have too much fire. This temperament can lead you to burnout. Such fiery types exhaust themselves too much and would benefit from creating more ease & relaxation. Sufficient rest is very important! In the winter time I like to wrap a warm woolen blanket around me in the afternoon and hibernate for half an hour. It is also a healthy habit to meditate in the morning or evening. Meditation brings inner peace and balance.

It is very important for your physical and mental health to create balance in your life. Only you can determine what you need at this moment. In terms of topics such as nutrition, detoxification, exercise and rest, you must determine where the balance lies. If you become too extreme & too strict and too fanatical then there is no balance. However, if you are too loose & easy on yourself then there is no balance either. True health can only be found if you walk the middle way between all extremes.

-The End-

ps. It is my wish that these 7 principles will bring you exuberant health and vitality! If you like this story please let me know.