Reclaiming Wellness Through Simplicity, Sovereignty, and Spirit, Paige VanderSloot, MS, LMFT, CST, DMQ Founder of Awaken Center for Healing

Sometimes healing starts to feel complicated. Another protocol, another supplement, another system to fix what feels off. And while those supports can have their place, they can also pull us further away from what is most essential.

Again and again, I find myself returning to a simpler approach to holistic wellness—something ancient, elemental, and deeply reliable.

There’s a poem that has endured for generations:

“The best six doctors anywhere and no one can deny it,
Are sunshine, water, rest, and air, exercise and diet.
These six will gladly you attend, if only you are willing.
Your mind they’ll ease, your will they’ll mend, and charge you not a shilling.”

As a therapist and Medical Qigong practitioner, I see this reflected constantly. Not only in physical health, but also in emotional regulation, mental clarity, and the quiet return of the spirit to the body.

These are not just basic habits. They are conditions that can support healing.

When they are in place, the system often has more space to organize and restore itself. When they are neglected, we may begin searching outside ourselves for solutions that were never meant to replace the basics.

Sunshine — Light for the Body, Clarity for the Spirit

Sunlight helps regulate your circadian rhythm, supports natural hormone rhythms, and can influence mood. In Taoist understanding, it nourishes yang energy—the force of warmth, movement, and conscious awareness.

Without sufficient yang, the system may begin to feel heavy, unclear, or unmotivated. Over time, this can become more than physical fatigue. It can also feel like a dimming of inner clarity.

Let your body receive natural light early in the day, even if only for a few minutes. Allow yourself to notice the light with as little distraction as possible.

This is not just exposure. It can also be orientation—a reminder to your system of rhythm, direction, and life.

Water — Restoring Flow Where There Has Been Holding

Water supports nearly every major system in the body and plays an important role in digestion, circulation, temperature regulation, and cognitive function. Its role, however, does not have to feel only physical.

Energetically, water can represent flow where there has been holding—where emotion has been contained, where the body has braced, or where life has been managed rather than fully felt.

Try drinking water first thing in the morning before stimulation begins. Let it move through you. You can also use water intentionally throughout the day through bathing, washing, or even simple moments of contact.

Allow it to represent release as much as replenishment.

Rest — The Medicine That Requires Trust

Rest is one of the most misunderstood forms of medicine. In a culture organized around productivity, it is often postponed, negotiated, or treated as something that must be earned. The body, however, does not respond to those rules.

In Chinese medicine, rest supports the Spleen system, which is associated with digestion, energy production, and thought. When rest is insufficient, both the body and mind can begin to lose coherence. Overthinking increases, energy becomes inconsistent, and the system may work harder while producing less.

Rest asks for something deeper than discipline. It asks for trust.

Trust that nothing essential will be lost if you pause, and remember that restoration is not a reward. It is a requirement.

Create space for intentional stillness. Even brief moments of lying down, softening, or withdrawing from stimulation can begin to restore what constant activity depletes.

Air — The Bridge Between Body and Spirit

The breath is one of the most direct ways to influence your internal state. It can support nervous system regulation, help you return to the present moment, and create a greater sense of internal space.

In both Taoist and Buddhist traditions, the breath is understood as a bridge linking the physical body with awareness itself.

When the breath is shallow or restricted, the mind often follows. As it deepens, the system may begin to settle.

Bring attention to your breathing throughout the day. Lengthen the exhale slightly. Open windows. Step outside. Let fresh air move through your environment and your body.

You do not have to wait until you are overwhelmed to return to your breath. It is available at all times.

Movement — Restoring Circulation to the Body and Mind

Movement helps clear stagnation, complete stress cycles, circulate qi, and give the body a way to process what it has taken in.

When movement is absent, tension and activation can accumulate without resolution. This may appear as restlessness, anxiety, physical tension, or emotional overwhelm—not necessarily because something is wrong, but because the system may need an outlet.

Movement does not need to be intense to be effective. Walking, stretching, Qigong, or spontaneous movement can all help restore flow. Even brief, intentional movement gives the system another opportunity to regulate.

When you move your body, you are not just exercising. You are participating in your own regulation.

Nourishment — Supporting the System at Its Root

Food is more than fuel. It is information that influences how your body functions, how your mind processes, and how stable your energy feels.

In Chinese medicine, digestion is central. When digestion is supported, the body can produce energy more efficiently, thoughts may feel clearer, and you may feel more grounded. However, when digestion is taxed, everything else can become more difficult.

Prioritize warm, cooked foods when possible, especially at the start of the day. Reduce sugar and highly processed foods gradually, without harshness or rigidity. Eat with attention when you can.

Allow nourishment to become something your body receives rather than something you rush past.

Final Thoughts

There is nothing small about these six doctors. They are quiet, consistent, and often overlooked, but they can become a foundation for meaningful shifts in health and wellbeing.

If you feel overwhelmed, resist the urge to immediately add more. More complexity is not always what the system needs.

Instead, return to what is already available.

Start with one. Let it support the next. Allow your system to respond.

You do not have to be good.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

– Mary Oliver