What is Wellness?

Wellness is generally used to mean a healthy balance of the mind-body and spirit that results in an overall feeling of well-being.

It has been used in the context of alternative medicine since Halbert L. Dunn, M.D. began using the phrase high level wellness in the fifties, based on a series of lectures at a Unitarian Universalist Church in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. The modern concept of wellness did not, however, become popular until the 1970's.
Dunn defined wellness as “an integrated method of functioning which is oriented toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable. It requires that the individual maintain a continuum of balance and purposeful direction within the environment where he is functioning.” He also stated that “wellness is a direction in progress toward an ever-higher potential of functioning”.

The term has been defined by the Singapore-based National Wellness Association as an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence. This is consistent with a shift in focus away from illness in viewing human health, typical of contexts where the term wellness is used. In other words, wellness is a view of health that emphasizes the state of the entire being and its ongoing development.

Wellness can also be described as “the constant, conscious pursuit of living life to its fullest potential.”