Healing issues like poor mental health, addiction, or even unhealthy patterns is nowhere near as simple as setting a bone, which is why it’s time to stop assuming one treatment is enough to help you heal and achieve the peace in life that you want. Holistic healing is powerful. So too are talking therapies, and yes, even medication. The world is a vast place, and every person is unique, which means that every approach towards addressing and healing mental health issues will also be unique to you.
You absolutely can attend cognitive behavioral therapy, take antidepressants, and also find a way forward through holistic healing journeys and methods like meditation, yoga, or even spiritual enlightenment. Limiting yourself based on any preconceived notion is just that, a limit. Some options may not work; others will. Committing to yourself means finding the balance that combines these essentials every individual needs to heal and grow:
- The space and willingness to address their pain, rather than hide from it.
- Community support in the form of friends, family, neighbors, and the wider community.
- The belief they can improve, and the willingness to keep trying.
- Physical support, either in the form of medication or through holistic therapies such as yoga, meditation, or physical therapy.
For some, simply engaging in these practices is enough to start rebuilding their life and working towards a holistic, well life. For others, most notably those with issues like chronic depression, it may also require a combination of those three essentials alongside clinical therapy and medication. Finding your combination is essential, and never giving up on your journey is a must.
So if you’ve found your healing journey limited by strictly adhering to the Western approach to medicine, it’s time to expand. Expanding means you can combine the benefits you have experienced from your existing treatment plan with these new approaches in holistic healing:
Holistic Healing Approaches to Combine with Traditional Therapy
Holistic healing can be spiritual, creative, or community-based. Your unique approach towards holistic healing could include elements from all three, or even go beyond. What unifies all the methods, however, is the fact that they encourage you to slow down and self-reflect. You need space and time to feel, and you also need to have the space and time to understand what you are feeling.
Understanding is the first step in leading a life of intention, whether that intention is general, such as being a better person, or more specific, like managing symptoms of depression.
While not extensive, here are a few powerful holistic healing approaches you can work towards or include in your holistic healing approach:
Yoga and Meditation
Yoga and meditation, or similar movement-based meditations like tai chi, are powerful ways to connect with your body while grounding your mind. Physically, they work to improve your strength, balance, and flexibility, which in turn can help you feel more in control of your body and, as a result, more confident in your ability to go about your day. When you add in spirituality and mindfulness to these activities, as they do in India, you have the combined approach of a full mind-body connection that helps you calm your nervous system and build resilience.
Breathwork and Meditation
Breathwork is another easy way to expand meditation through the use of controlled breathing exercises. Breathwork combines chest movement with oxygen, allowing you to slow down and focus while meditating. If you struggle with intrusive or runaway thoughts, the breathwork/meditation combination may be of help to you.
Spiritual Awakenings
Those who truly feel the benefits of yoga, meditation, and breathwork should continue their journey into the spiritual space and work towards a spiritual awakening. These awakenings are best and easiest to achieve when guided through by a shaman or guru. They work as a combination between a coach and a meditation guide, and help you envision the energy working through you, activating all seven of your chakras so that you can benefit from full-energy activation.
Many gurus are there to guide you through the entire process as well, from establishing enlightenment protocols and schedules to providing one-on-one guidance. This way, when you choose an option like the Master Nick Eagle is a healer from Sedona, you have a single, fluid journey from now to a spiritual awakening.
Art Therapy
Yoga, meditation, and spiritual awakenings focus on inner transformation. You can and should also consider how you can make outer transformations. The safest and most expressive way you can do this is through art. The point of art therapy is the experience of creating and expressing yourself through that creation, not the output. The single best thing you can do for yourself if you wish to include art therapy in your holistic healing journey is to forget about the end result, and simply feel. Focus on the process, and expunge those emotions, fears, and traumas into a form and let it go.
Sound Baths and Music Therapy
Sound and music are another powerful way to heal, and this case, the effects are a combination of physical and mental. Sound baths combine the power of frequency and vibration to help you physically and mentally. Music, especially in a music therapy context, can help you feel and express yourself.
Journaling
Another way to express those emotions and fears in a healthy way is by journaling. Your journal and can should contain every thought, worry, and insecurity that you have, but to really use journaling as a holistic healing tool, it’s also important to address those fears and self-reflect. If you feel guilt because you treated someone badly that day, write out how you were feeling when you did it, as you did it, and after you did it. Brainstorm why you felt that way in the moment, what the triggers were, and connect how you feel now with what you did.
This level of introspection combines therapy work with self-reflection and holistic healing. It’s also a powerful tool to practice emotional introspection, understanding, and, ultimately, can help you grow.
Community
Above all, however, community is critical. While you can commit to all of these holistic healing practices on your own, you are almost always better off doing them amongst others in a community. Being alone is isolating, and it makes every pain a mountain. Sharing it with others who understand and accept you allows you to share the burden and gives you the leg up you need to start healing and growing.
These are really good tips. Thanks for sharing.
Of course!