health at every size

De-Bunking Nutrition Myths & Exploring Intuitive Eating

De-Bunking Nutrition Myths & Exploring Intuitive Eating

Space Between Counseling Services Graduate Student Intern, Sarah Miles, felt compelled to write this blog to remind herself and other individuals that we have a choice when it comes to how we treat our bodies, and that there is an alternative to the cycle of crash dieting, starvation, and binge eating that so many of us are familiar with.

Back to Basics

Back to Basics

When you’re struggling with your mental health, being told to think about your nutrition, hydration, or sleep can feel patronizing or like a non-essential. However, when some of your most basic needs aren’t being met, it can make dealing with any mental health issues even harder. . It might not mean everything is better, but instead that your hunger, hydration, and sleep are not contributing factors.

A Holistic Approach to Healing

To suffer is the most human of conditions, but so too is to heal.
— Chani Nicholas

What is Holistic Health? 4 Approaches to Consider

The healing journey is far from linear and it is also far from uniform. Every person has their own winding set of experiences, responding to emotions as they emerge and doing the best they can along the way.

Therapy can be invaluable in this work, and it can be supportive to tap into the body’s wisdom in other ways as well. In this blog post, we will explore a variety of holistic approaches that inspire full-body wellbeing.

Photo by Emma Simpson via Unsplash

Photo by Emma Simpson via Unsplash

Acupuncture

Stemming from the practice of Chinese Medicine and developed over thousands of years, acupuncture supports balance in the mind, body and spirit. Perhaps you’re having a difficult time sleeping and are waking up at the same time every night or maybe your appetite has been off. Acupuncture could be a supportive treatment for you. Amongst other things, acupuncture can be supportive if you are experiencing anxiety or depression.

You can learn more about what to expect from an acupuncture treatment through the Maryland University of Integrative Health. Want to try it out? Mend offers affordable community acupuncture in Remington and at Quarry Lake. Additionally, Maryland Community Acupuncture in Patterson Park offers sessions for as low as $20.00.

Sometimes with the most painful of processes all we can do is learn how to be with it, refusing to leave ourselves because of it.
— Chani Nicholas
Photo by William Farlow via Unsplash

Photo by William Farlow via Unsplash


Naturopathic Care

Naturopathic medicine is built around six principles:

  • the healing power of nature

  • identify and treat the causes

  • first do no harm

  • doctor as teacher

  • treat the whole person

  • prevention

 
Photo by JWlez via Unsplash

Photo by JWlez via Unsplash

 

This modality of care is centuries old and practitioners are trained in physical manipulation, clinical nutrition, botanical medicine, homeopathy and hydrotherapy.

If you are wondering how to support your mental health while using your body as a starting place, naturopathic care is a potential modality to explore.

Dr. Emily Telfair, ND of HeartSpace Natural Medicine is a local resource for patients who are ready to open this door of their healing journey. In her words, she offers “support with connecting the dots between your physical symptoms and how they relate to your life experiences”.


Here in this body are the sacred rivers: here are the sun and moon as well as all the pilgrimage places...I have not encountered another temple as blissful as my own body.
— Saraha

Herbalism

Photo by Vero Photoart via Unsplash

Photo by Vero Photoart via Unsplash

In many ways, herbalism invites you to “stop and smell the roses” (or lavender, or raspberry, or that plant poking up between the sidewalk cracks you always thought was ‘just a weed’). The earth is bursting with plant allies if you know where to look. As you begin this journey, Zensations is the perfect first stop.  


Bodywork

Photo by Christin Hume via Unsplash

Photo by Christin Hume via Unsplash

Bodywork can take many shapes: traditional massage, craniosacral therapy, and nervous system regulation (amongst others).

Are you curious about what your body has to say about what you’ve been feeling and experiencing? Ladan Nabet and Metta Integrative Wellness Center are supportive Baltimore resources when it comes to unpacking your body’s voice.

There is deep wisdom within our very flesh, if only we can come to our senses and feel it.
— Elizabeth A. Behnke

This blog is intended to serve simply as a snippet if what holistic healing may entail; there is truly no end to the healing work that can be supported by each of these modalities. As you review the modalities discussed, ask yourself…

What have been your doors to healing?

Which doors are presenting themselves to you now?


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Meet Erin

Erin Bowman is one of Space Between Counseling Services’ newest graduate interns.  Upon her Graduation from the University of Baltimore’s counseling psychology Master’s program in 2020, Erin plans to seek licensure as a LCPC.

Erin is also a cyclist and enjoys exploring Baltimore’s parks by bike. When she’s not riding through the city, she can also be found reading science fiction and getting lost in bookstores.



Food, Body Image, & How They Shape Us

Food, Body Image, & How They Shape Us

We live in a society with brilliant advertising for nearly every product or idea imaginable. Simultaneously, we are constantly bombarded with images of unrealistic and unhealthy ideals of beauty. It’s no wonder that people feel conflicted about what to eat, and how to live up to the status quo, especially during the upcoming holiday season.