Mind Over Body

Sabrina Ooi, the co-founder of Calm Collective Asia, discusses the ways to achieving mental fitness—and managing the health of our mind

- Hashirin Nurin Hashimi

It is that time of the year when many of us are making new year’s resolutions—and more often than not, we focus on weight or appearance (“I want to lose X number of kilos; I am signing up for a gym membership”). We often think about the fitness of our body, but how about the fitness of our mind?

“We think about physical fitness first because we can see and measure it. But when we’re talking about the mind, oftentimes it goes back to how we’re feeling—and that’s not really quantifiable (even though some of it can be measured),” says Sabrina Ooi, the co-founder and CEO of Calm Collective Asia. “It’s also in our culture to not think so much about our mental well-being. But the two are actually correlated: physical well-being affects how you feel on the inside, and how you feel on the inside also affects your physical well-being.”