Holistic Therapy at Ember Wellness
Holistic therapy is an in-depth method of therapy that incorporates each facet of a client’s lifestyle into the treatment plan in order to help each client reach and exceed their mental, physical and emotional goals. Holistic therapy is not more time consuming than other modalities of therapy, but it is more cohesive and may include diving into areas such as nutrition, sleep and lifestyle (hobbies or screen time). This type of therapy could be the answer for many who are feeling like they have been trying to move forward but are just stuck somewhere or those who feel like they are already doing what they can but it doesn't feel like it is enough. If you are still unsure about holistic therapy, read on to get a deeper understanding of what holistic therapy looks like at Ember Wellness.
What Does “Holistic Therapy” Actually Mean?
When you google “what is holistic therapy” most links state something like “therapy that is integrative and incorporates traditional and non-traditional modalities to help treat the individual as a whole.” This is a nice sentiment but I cannot help but think it does not explain what holistic therapy looks like in practice. I think if you start with a good thesis you can take out some lines like the one that just finished before this to be more concise. One could (and should) argue that every therapist and every type of therapy treats individuals as whole beings. Holistic is a buzz word at the moment and therefore many providers are including it in their description of services. In this post, I am going to break down what holistic therapy means to me and what holistic therapy looks like at Ember Wellness.
The word holistic stems from the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We are seeing more and more research coming out to demonstrate that we are more intertwined within ourselves than we ever could have previously imagined. Many cultures have paid more attention to the concept of holism than western medicine for centuries and most of the holistic trends you see popping up in western societies today are regurgitations of what many eastern and indigenous cultures have practiced for centuries. Most of you reading this are likely living in America and grew up in the system of western medicine. Western medicine is a marvel but has some serious gaps, such as believing that we are simply “a sum of our parts”. I can see how this way of looking at medicine could be enticing because it makes our health and wellness seem relatively easy to remain in control of and quick to fix. But the reality of the matter is that every part of our body and mind has push and pull on every other part of our body and mind. If we do not recognize these relationships, we are doing ourselves a disservice by making our path to wellness much more challenging. Too often, I speak to members of my community that feel so defeated and unheard by the health care system simply because they are seeing practitioners who look at each aspect of their life, or each symptom they are experiencing, as separate issues. At Ember Wellness we see clients as complete individuals and tailor our treatment accordingly. So let us get to the nitty gritty, What does it mean to get down to business with a holistic therapist?
How We Incorporate Wellness Into the Therapeutic Process
At Ember Wellness, holistic therapy is defined as a therapeutic process that takes into account the individual's mental health while considering the client's nutrition, sleep, physical activity and lifestyle. The reason I believe it to be important to consider all of these aspects of life is that without thought given to each area in turn, it becomes much more challenging for clients to feel and see improvement. It may sound daunting to embark on a journey focusing on all these aspects at once, but I see it as necessary because until we consider your life as a whole we will never be able to remove all the roadblocks necessary for you, the client, to reach your desired quality of life. When put into practice, these actions are often less time consuming or overwhelming as many assume. Examples could simply be helping clients find and remember what time of day they need to eat a snack or helping a client choose a physical movement practice that fits their lifestyle and schedule.
Common Misconceptions About the Holistic Approach
One big misconception about the holistic approach in general is that you need loads of free time and resources to be able to see improvement. This is due largely to the fact that for a long time therapy and wellness in general (physical health, nutrition, sleep) really was only for the wealthiest individuals, and that stigma still persists today. I could go on and on about the gentrification of wellness practices in the US, but that is for another post. What I will say here is that many will read this and feel overwhelmed. Indeed there are memes on instagram with people jokingly saying “ok so you're telling me all I have to do is… drink water, eat enough but not too much and of the exact right food. Walk but also run and lift and stretch and throw out all my bathroom products with chemicals that start with a P and change my sleep habits…” No individual needs to feel as if they need to start their life from scratch and do every healthy habit that their algorithm is suggesting they do in order to improve their quality of life. Therapy at Ember Wellness is all about incorporating small, medium and sometimes large changes in your life that work with your schedule, goals and every day demands in order to allow you as the client to feel confident, comfortable and strong in your own body and mind. Your holistic therapist will help you define what health means in your life and will help you build a path to reach that point and maintain it or go beyond.
Therapy Tailored to You
What I love about being a holistic therapist is that anything you want to bring to session could be relevant to shaping your goals. You are not identical to any other human so why should your treatment be? At Ember Wellness you will receive holistic therapy that is tailored to you and will help you reach your goals from a rounded perspective. We build approachable treatment plans with our clients that consider each area of their lives they would like to see changes or shifts in and we aid and educate our clients through the process of growth with support throughout those areas. Holistic therapy is about removing roadblocks you didn’t even know were in your way to get you the best care possible and find the best way forward. Let us help you define your difference!