Creating a Whole Health Movement for All – MIND, BODY, SPIRIT AND COMMUNITY

Initiative TakeCare®, a National Initiative that Invites People to Take Care of Their Whole Health
Grantee Partner Healthy US Collaborative
Follow Ebony as she brings yoga to a community who, like her, didn’t believe it was meant for them. Through yoga, they find their own inner awesomeness and reason to TakeCare by healing their minds, bodies, spirits, and communities.

No matter what mistakes you’ve made, no matter what flaws you think you may have, you… are…awesome.

Ebony, Drawn to the Mat

Drawn to the Mat is one of 15 short films produced by TakeCare, a national initiative that invites people to take care of their whole health. At the heart of this initiative is a new understanding of health – Whole Health. Too often we think of health as a physical attribute only. Whole Health is about creating a sense of health and well-being in ALL aspects of our lives: MIND, BODY, SPIRIT AND COMMUNITY. These four pillars interconnect to form a relationship with ourselves in the most complete sense. No one of these is more important than the other. Each one provides connection with the others to shape our awareness of who we are as human beings interacting in a global community.

To achieve its mission, the Healthy US Collaborative assembled a team of national leaders in health, healthcare, filmmaking and communications to flip the script on how we think about health. TakeCare was first piloted in four underrepresented communities – Sacramento, Tucson, Nashville, and Omaha. The goal was to focus on smaller and mid-size areas where there are diverse communities with compelling health needs that would prepare TakeCare for a national launch. Through events, TakeCare Fairs, and small group discussions, individual community members introduced their friends and neighbors to TakeCare in these cities.

Across all the pilot activities, the Healthy US Collaborative measured its actions and impact through focus groups, reports from site visits, surveys, interviews, and TakeCare Chair meetings. The results were impressive: 

  • 94% of participants said they were more inspired to “Take care of myself.”
  • 89% of participants said they will tell others about the TakeCare Campaign.
  • 84% of participants said they plan to act on the community connections they made at TakeCare events (e.g., attend yoga class, try meditation).

One participant said, “I wasn’t eating the right things, and I was feeling sluggish the day I went to the fair. After the fair, it gave me some motivation to make changes. Weeks after the fair, I started taking vitamins, and taking my high blood pressure seriously. Also, I started exercising.”

Through TakeCare, we invite each other to recognize and embrace our great WHY – why do we want our health? To acknowledge our great WHAT – the obstacles in the way of our achieving that WHY and to access the great HOW – those simple tools that enable us to achieve small goals to overcome those obstacles. Through education, community support, and highlighting the simple ways in which people have transformed their lives, TakeCare seeks to inspire a Whole Health movement for ALL.