Contributor – Rudolf Cymorr Kirby P. Martinez, PhD, RN

Within the Theory of Nursing Situation as Caring Moment (NurCaM), kaginhawahan is defined as the Filipino’s collective aspiration for an optimal human condition and the full flourishing of human potential (Martinez, 2026). It is the telos of Filipino caring—the end toward which all caring actions are intentionally directed.

All life nurturers, the Filipino Caring Philosophy and Structure (FilCaPS) term for carers, whether professional or not, engage in caring actions that are inherently teleological—that is, always moving toward a singular end: kaginhawahan (Martinez, 2025). These actions are not random or task-bound but deliberate, genuine, and grounded in our shared humanity, expressed through the concept of kapwa—the self-in-the-other. A mother cares through nurturance, a teacher cares through pedagogy, and a nurse cares through the creation of caring moments. Regardless of the caring process, all forms of caring ultimately converge toward the same aspiration: the flourishing of their kapwa through kaginhawahan. In this way, kaginhawahan provides a common philosophical horizon that links human and professional caring.

Etymologically, kaginhawahan comes from “ginhawa” meaning breath. In colloquial usage, kaginhawahan simply describes a state where the person can “breathe with ease,” free from the burdens of their context and being (Catungal, 2022; Paz, 2008; Strobel, 2022). In essence, kaginhawahan means being prosperous, peaceful, comfortable, and free from want or problems when everything aspired for is in order or easily attainable, achieving a sense of life satisfaction. Although closely related to the concept of health, wellness, comfort, quality of life, and wealth, kaginhawahan remains to be kaginhawahan, irreducible and distinct in itself.

Within FilCaPS, kaginhawahan serves as the unifying telos of caring. Although caring may be expressed differently by various life nurturers, all forms of caring ultimately converge toward the realization of kaginhawahan for one’s kapwa. This understanding invites us to appreciate culturally grounded aspirations of human flourishing on their own terms rather than forcing them into preexisting frameworks. Just as other societies have developed their own culturally situated visions of the optimal human condition, Filipinos have long articulated theirs through the concept of kaginhawahan.

Much like Ubuntu from Africa, Ikigai from Japan, Nirvāṇa from India, and S̄ukkhaphāph from Thailand, kaginhawahan is a deeply cultural expression of human condition, rooted in the unique value-orientation and lived experiences of the community where it emerges and continues to exist. These concepts should not be understood as direct equivalents of kaginhawahan. Rather, they are analogous cultural articulations of what a community regards as an optimal human condition. Each emerges from a distinct worldview, historical experience, and value system, and therefore carries meanings that cannot be fully translated into another cultural framework without some loss of nuance.

To equate all these concepts with health or wellness is to erode their meaning, diminish their depth and richness, and forcibly fit them to the Western colonial mold. Health and wellness themselves are culturally situated expressions of human condition rather than the ultimate universal standard against which all others should be compared and measured.

A society may aspire toward a vision of the optimal human condition that does not perfectly align with prevailing notions of health and wellness. To assume otherwise risks silencing their voice, embodied experience, and self-determination. Such assumptions also seem to be antithetical to the decolonization effort we have been pursuing.

NurCaM posits that one of the essential purposes of nursing is to champion a person’s optimal human condition—one that is aligned with the collective aspirations of their community, to foster the deliberate self-empowerment of persons. The version of the optimal human condition must be dictated by the person’s society rather than a predetermined, singular expression chosen by powerful, privileged outsiders.

Within Filipino nursing, kaginhawahan is understood as the symphony of health, wellness, and relational harmony (Martinez, 2026), emphasizing the communal and relational nature of the human condition as opposed to the often individualistic perspective of health and wellness. For example, a community-based program in the Philippines, such as post-stroke rehabilitation, that is grounded in Kaginhawahan and not just functional mobility, is more likely to be responsive to the concerns of the people they serve. A Filipino may become non-adherent to treatment protocol simply because they perceive themselves as becoming a burden to their family, especially when kaginhawahan was never intentionally integrated into their treatment, recovery, or reintegration back to society.

Kaginhawahan is transcommunal and intrapersonal. The notion of symphony within kaginhawahan means that health and wellness, which focus on equilibrium, vitality, and coherence, and relational harmony, the uniquely Filipino emphasis on attunement, solidarity, and communion, are unified and in synchrony. For many Filipinos, meaning-making occurs not merely when they themselves are flourishing, but when they flourish together with their family and significant others. There can be no kaginhawahan when the people we cherish are suffering, unhealthy, or estranged from one another. This profound sense of communion and stewardship helps explain the Filipino desire to uplift the quality of life of their family, including the decision of many to seek greener pastures abroad. For a number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), going abroad is their way of caring—a means of realizing kaginhawahan for the loved ones they leave behind.

The symphony of the elements of kaginhawahan, that is, health, wellness, and relational harmony, reflects the reality that in a resource-limited country, these elements may not be fully attainable, and yet if they are in synchrony, kaginhawahan may still exist. Consider a middle-class Filipino with limited savings and supporting a family of five, who was suddenly diagnosed with advanced cancer. Such a person may intentionally choose not to pursue aggressive treatment, not because of perceived difficulties, fear, or hopelessness, but because of the large out-of-pocket expenses related to treatment. This financial burden would make at least three generations of their family poor. There can be no kaginhawahan if only one person in the family prospers, while the rest unnecessarily suffer.

In a collectivist society such as the Philippines, people aspire for kaginhawahan not to distance themselves from the community that nurtured them but to become the instruments that will uplift their kapwa, their fellow human person. For Filipinos, personhood is always situated within community. We are who we are because of our connectedness with others. A Filipino nurse who has worked abroad and gained wealth, prestige, and success, yet intentionally severs their ties with their roots, may possess health and wellness, but not necessarily kaginhawahan.

Kaginhawahan, as the telos of Filipino caring, reminds us that caring for others as our kapwa is everyone’s moral obligation. Nursing, therefore, is not only a sacred discipline, a noble profession, and a societal covenant—it is also our answer to our personal calling to advance society through the betterment of human lives.

Kaginhawahan is one of many Filipino cultural concepts that deepen and enrich global discourse on nursing and caring. It offers an alternative lens through which human conditions may be understood and pursued. For Filipino nurses, a deliberate pivot toward kaginhawahan is not only timely but a necessity. In an era increasingly committed to cultural humility, decolonization, and person-centered care, kaginhawahan invites nursing to embrace a more communal, relational, and culturally grounded understanding of what it truly means to flourish.

References:

Catungal, R. (2022). Analysis of Well-being in Some Visayan Languages. Proceedings of the 36th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation, 30–34.

Martinez, Rudolf Cymorr Kirby (2026). Nursing situation as caring moment (NurCaM): A Filipino value-grounded theory of nursing. Nursology. https://nursology.net/nurse-theories/nursing-situation-as-caring-moment-nurcam-a-filipino-value-grounded-theory-of-nursing/

Martinez, Rudolf Cymorr Kirby (2025, November 17). Musing of a Nursologist: Komunidad, Kapwa, Kaginhawahan at Pakikiramdam: Values as Philosophy of Filipino Caring (Short Essay). Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17hS87ujJg/

Paz, C. J. (2008). Ginhawa: Well-being as expressed in Philippine language. In C. J. Paz (Ed.), Ginhawa, Kapalaran, Dalamhati: Essays on Well-being, Opportunity/destiny, and Anguish. UP Press.

Strobel, L. (2022). Ginhawa/Breath: Wholeness and wellness in the Filipino and Filipino American experience. Medium. https://doi.org/https://lenystrobel.medium.com/ginhawa-breath-wholeness-and-wellness-in-the-filipino%C2%B9-and-filipino-american-experience-e4346b2164f8

About the Contributor

Rudolf Cymorr Kirby P. Martinez, PhD, MA, RN, LMT, CAA, CSTP, CGNC, CTN-A, CNE, WWCC, HWNC-BC, AHN-BC, SGAHN, FFNMRCSI, is a Filipino nursologist, caring science scholar, and Kabaybay (Filipino Nurse Coach). He is the author of The Nursing Situation as Caring Moment Theory: A Filipino Value-Based Theory of Nursing and The Filipino Caring Philosophy and Structure: A Life-Nurturing System.

He is a Full Professor at the San Beda University College of Nursing and also teaches in the graduate nursing programs of Arellano University–Florentino Cayco Memorial School, Graduate School of Nursing, and Holy Angel University–School of Nursing and Allied Medical Sciences. He serves as Chairperson of the Philippine Nurses Association Department of Nursing Education and as the PNA representative to the Commission on Higher Education–Technical Panel for Nursing (2025–2028). Before entering academia, he practiced as a pediatric nurse in various settings, including as a school nurse, clinic nurse, and staff nurse at the Philippines’ largest pediatric hospital.

Dr. Martinez is a scholar of the Global Academy of Holistic Nursing and holds certifications in holistic nursing, nurse coaching, transcultural nursing, nursing education, and global nurse consultancy. He is also a Distinguished Fellow of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and a regular member of the Department of Science and Technology–National Research Council of the Philippines.

His scholarship focuses on the decolonization of Philippine nursing education and practice through the integration of caring science, indigenous, traditional, and folkloric health-healing practices, and Filipino values and virtues into nursing curricula and clinical practice. His work seeks to advance culturally grounded nursing and contribute to a deeper understanding of what makes nursing both distinctly Filipino and authentically caring.