ctober 2016 Kitzbühel, Austria :Tracey Vincel and Patricia Ladis co-founders of KIMA Center for Physiotherapy and Wellness join 500 delegates from 45 different countries to participate in the 10th anniversary Global Wellness Summit. “Back to the Future“ was the theme, and the Tyrolean Alps the backdrop for this historic event.
It was an inspiring 3 days of connecting and collaborating with senior executives, owners of wellness businesses, physicians from around the world and others recognized as distinguished leaders in their fields. The Summit agenda featured high-profile speakers and addressed the timeliest issues such as Medical Wellness, Happiness and Wellbeing, Sustainability, Architecture on the cutting edge, Industry Research, Neuroscience and Beauty, and the Future of Integrative Medicine. The GWS certainly offered the vibrancy and relevancy that has become its trademark. Here are a few highlights:
WELLNESS AT IT WAS MEANT TO BE: Dr. Franz Linser, CEO, Linser Hospitality GmbH Austria. http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/wellness/wellness-as-it-was-meant-to-be/
With a theme of “Back to the Future” Franz Linser spoke about the visionary doctors of the 1960’s like Dr Halbert L. Dunn, Dr Jack Travis and Don Ardell who described Wellness as active health promotion through lifestyle change, embracing life as a whole…. not pampering and beauty. They defined health as proactive, connecting, living naturally healthy, living in natural rhythm, living in healthy surrounding, cherishing the gift of life and being grateful. They understood that the happiest people were surrounded by family and friends and lose themselves in daily activities. Franz suggests that we need to “go back to where we were” – back to the future. Obesity has doubled since 1980, birth rates are decreasing, and we have an epidemic of depression.. Are we living or surviving? Life expectancy has risen and in the FUTURE we need to live the vision of the founders correctly and transform for our world. We need to create an authentic wellness ambiance, transform “doing to BEING” and create biomes in which sensitive human beings can grow.
THE ECONOMY OF WELLNESS:Katherine Johnston and Ophelia Yeung, Senior Research Fellows at the Global Wellness Institute present on the 3.7 trillion Wellness Economy. http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/research/two-researchers-with-a-lot-of-balls/
The https://www.globalwellnessinstitute.org is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization with a mission to empower wellness worldwide by educating public and private sectors about preventative health and wellness. Through its four pillars, research, initiatives, roundtable discussions, and wellnessevidence.com, the GWI serves as a “hub” that informs and connects key stakeholders capable of impacting the overall wellbeing of our planet’s citizens. Wellness is a verb about action….the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to the state of holistic health.
The largest wellness economy is Beauty and Anti-Aging at $999 billion followed by Healthy Eating Nutrition and Weight loss at $648 billion, Fitness and Mind-Body at $542 billion, Preventive and Personalized medicine and Public Health at $534 billion, Complimentary and Alternatives Medicine at $199 billion, Wellness Lifestyle Real Estate at $119 billion, Spa at $99 billion,Thermal /Mineral Springs at $51 billion and Workplace Wellness at $43 billion. Why is wellness growing? 3 reasons: 1. Economic – more people who have money to spend 2. Health chronic disease is increasing 3. Shift in our collective consciousness
BACK TO THE ROOTS TO MANAGE THE FUTURE: Dr. Harald Stossier, Medical Director, VIVAMAYR Medical Clinic, Austria spoke about Salutogenesis which means to do whatever is necessary to remain healthy and about Dr F.X. Mayr (1875-1965) and his medical diagnosis system which spoke of a diagnosis of health not just disease. http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/preventive-personalized-medicine/back-to-the-roots-to-manage-the-future/
Dr. Mayr succinctly posits “the intestines are to man what the roots are to the plant. Only when these roots are kept in an optimal condition of nourishment and cleanliness, will the plant (man) itself thrive and remain in optimum health”
Thus Dr. Mayr counts among the few medically-trained nutrition experts who acknowledge that the human body is never built on what it ingests but solely on what it digests and absorbs. In fact, Dr. F.X. Mayr made it a lifelong study to investigate and map in intricate detail the intimate relationship between intestinal health and cleanliness and overall health as well as beauty, and here particularly the beauty and smoothness of the skin. Dr. F.X. Mayr’s research results are all related to wrong food choices and dietary habits such as too much food for the body’s energetic requirements, food that is not properly (insufficiently) chewed and thus not pre-digested, food that is hard to digest, unwholesome processed, or food consumed at the wrong times (such as late at night). Each of the above can or will lead to intestinal and consequently/eventually bodily toxicity.
THE FUTURE OF INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE Panel with Dr. Elke Benedetto-Reisch, Medical Director, Lanserhof Group, Austria, Dr. Harry F. König, Head of Medical Care, Brenners Park Hotel & Spa, Germany,Dr. Imke König, Spa Director, Schloss Elmau Luxury Spa & Cultural Hideaway, Germany and Dr. Christine Stossier, Assistant Medical Director, VIVAMAYR Medical Clinic, Austria http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/preventive-personalized-medicine/integrative-medicine-is-this-the-future/
What is integrative medicine? Integrative medicine is an approach to care that puts the patient at the center and addresses the full range of physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental influences that affect a person’s health. Integrative medicine is grounded in the definition of health. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
Dr Imke Konig spoke specifically on happiness and positivity. She studies neuroscience and how the brain works and how happiness happens and explains that “Emotion” is lacking in western medicine where the patient is divided into physical or psychological. As a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine she teaches that “the emotions are one of the biggest and most dangerous pathogens”. We are in a world where “ I must do this or I must do that but do you have to do that or WANT to do that?” Consider doing sport to stay healthy? What you like to do? So important that you like what you are doing – to stay happy. Many patients battle with diet and are told to eliminate lot so foods but we need to consider “not just what food we eat, but are we enjoying food?” We are going against nature – we need to consider what we want to do to become happy? HOW do we do this? Think about what you LIKE to do and consider what you HAVE to do because of what others EXPECT you to do? Especially woman running a household, what we call meditation or flow is what we concentrate on one thing. Imagine if there were no expectations?
Dr. Elke Benedetto-Reisch addresses the “power of the mind”. The mind influences every cell of the body. The medical and science approach is merging with mindfulness – body and mind are deeply connected. The field of Psychoneuroimmunology bridges psych aspects of life endocrine and immunological data and shows evidence for deep impact for mindfulness on our health.
The Panel also touched on the idea of wellness only being available to those that can afford it. What do you really need? Do you really need luxury? The most important things are things like fresh air, walking in the forest, being kind and compassionate to others… things that doesn’t cost anything.
TIME CAPSULE CREATED: http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/wellness/introduction-to-the-time-capsule/ To commemorate this historic 10th Anniversary Summit, delegates were asked to contribute their predictions for the future of the wellness industry, which will be sealed in a “10th Anniversary Time Capsule” in a ceremony on the final day of the conference, to be opened at the Summit in 2026.