Social Awareness Month
July is designated as Social Wellness Month to focus on the importance of social well-being and healthy relationships. This month encourages individuals to build and maintain positive connections with others, fostering a sense of belonging and contributing to overall well-being and this month our sessions will include social wellness in their focus.
Social wellness means nurturing both yourself and your relationships. Emphasis is on the importance of healthy relationships, effective communication, and social support systems. Healthy relationships are a vital component of health. The health risks from feeling alone or isolated in one’s life are comparable to the risks associated with cigarette smoking, blood pressure, and obesity. The heart and blood pressure of people with healthy relationships respond better to stress and people who have a strong social network tend to live longer.
We are encouraged to connect with others, build meaningful relationships, and foster a sense of belonging and we can do this by making new friends, improving communication, and managing stress. These stronger social networks are associated with a healthier endocrine system and healthier cardiovascular functioning as well as enhancing the immune system’s ability to fight off infectious diseases.
But social wellness also involves self-care, recognising the need to prioritise one’s own well-being while also connecting with others. Social wellness contributes to overall well-being, including emotional and mental health. Social support enhances quality of life and provides a buffer against adverse life events.
This social support can take different forms:
- Emotional support: actions people take to make someone else feel cared for.
- Instrumental support: the physical, such as money and housekeeping.
- Informational support: providing information to help someone.
How to nurture relationships:
- Become a master of commitment. It’s important to be aware of precisely what you are committing to, so that you can realistically judge whether or not you have the capacity to follow through on the commitment.
- Make commitments you can stand by. In a relationship, it is important to be honest and empathetic to each other’s feelings, hopes, and dreams.
- Break the cycle of blame and criticism. It is important to own your part in the relationship dynamics.
- It can be helpful to shift your attention away from “fixing the other person” and onto more creative expressions for resolving conflict. Shifting the focus in this way will help to inject more positive energy into the relationship.
- Become a master of verbal and nonverbal appreciation.
Showing appreciation of others is critical to healthy relationships.
My yoga classes are deliberately designed to contribute to social wellness: they are a way way to grow your social network as you will meet new people whilst improving your mental well-being. The Saturday morning class has a coffee club and the yoga retreats that I run offer time to spend with people outside of class in a relaxing and nourishing environment … and there is always time for a chat after class.
It’s a time to reflect on social connections, practise self-care, and work on developing meaningful relationships.
Categorised as: Blog