Getting Intentional: Week 1

This week I joined an Intentional Health course. I feel I have a pretty good handle on my physical health —I’m a big fan of Dr Chatterjee, as my family will tell you; they roll their eyes as I quote him for the umpteenth time! —but I was curious about exploring a different holistic approach to health, including mental and spiritual health. So, I registered for the ten-week course a few weeks ago and didn’t think much more of it until the night before!

I had received a welcome email which included a reminder to do some pre-course questionnaires and measurements, so I duly did them at 9pm (feeling very tired and bleary-eyed!). I’m sure it was worth doing because they should serve as a record of my baseline, but I found some of the questions tricky to answer. For example, having enjoyed a pretty relaxing,  go-slow week, I wasn’t sure if I had met my 150 minutes of moderate exercise over the previous 7 days, so, note to self: I must start wearing my Fitbit regularly to keep a track of those accumulated ‘zone minutes’!

The next morning, I logged on to Zoom at 9:45am, with my mug of coffee in hand! Whilst an online course is very convenient, I was a little dubious about how the course leaders would manage to create the community feel of sitting together in person, drinking cups of tea! But I was pleasantly surprised by how well the breakout rooms worked on Zoom (I’d never used them before!), and it was lovely to start the course by giggling through an icebreaker game with my new partner!

We watched a couple of creatively designed videos (I challenge anyone to not find the Welsh accent of the narrator a delight!), which introduced the course and the idea of using government guidelines and the wisdom of the Bible to help us be intentional about living healthier lives, followed by group discussions.

There were a couple of messages I found particularly helpful. Firstly, I liked the idea of thinking of my body as a car; if I take care of it, it can take care of me, and it should be able to take me on longer journeys and on more adventures. Another thing I felt like I was learning afresh, is that it is actually really hard to be healthy in this day and age! Technology has made us lazy; wine and takeaways are no longer treats, but are often enjoyed regularly; we eat less fresh, locally grown food, and instead, supermarkets stock heavily processed foods. This is exactly why we need to take an intentional approach to our health!

I loved how the course leaders used Biblical concepts without it being too much, or at all pushy — I feel that I could take a friend with a different spiritual belief along to the course and they’d feel safe in that space.

So now it’s homework time. This week: a three-day food diary. I’ll try and resist the urge to alter my diet — and deny myself that dark chocolate I’m craving — just for the purposes of a healthier-looking diary! Here’s to keeping it real…