High-level wellness is a term first coined by physician Halbert Dunn, who published a book of the same title in 1961. He described wellness as starting “with personal awareness and desires, supported by attitudes, behaviors and lifestyle choices for the purpose of living a life that is satisfying to oneself in all dimensions of life” (Dunn, 1961/1977. Dunn was clear that wellness was a whole-person approach and a disciplined commitment to personal mastery, including personal responsibility and environmental awareness.
Although wellness has come to relatively recent attention in Western culture, it is interesting to note that the concept is not new.
In Eastern cultures, wellness practices are as old as the cultures themselves. In some Asian cultures the doctor is paid to keep people healthy and is not a doctor of illness but a doctor of prevention. In China, hundreds of citizens gather every day in various locales to practice tai chi, a martial art with proven health benefits. This is such an ingrained practice that business professionals arrive, do their tai chi, and then put their suits back on to continue on to their place of work.
Wellness practices can also be found in other cultures. The Native Americans used the medicine wheel as a function of daily life and in making choices toward wellness. The medicine wheel is a spiritual and psychological practice for creating a mindset that is grateful and open to all the earth gives. One can find similar practices in the Ayurveda tradition of India, the Huna practices of Hawaii, tribal practices in Africa, the aboriginal cultures of Australia, practices and traditions in the Orient, and other ancient cultures across the globe.
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