The Roots of Holistic Living & Self Care
I believe we have lost many sources of connection, reflection, and perspective that can help us to navigate the world and our inner selves with clarity, wisdom, and trust.
In my studies, I have found there are common tools that many indigenous cultures still use for holistic well-being. And because they are so common in cultures around the world (going back thousands of years) that they would have been our human birthright had we grown up with our Land-based ancestors, regardless of which continent we were on.
When I teach these tools, clients ‘Sigh’ in relief, as if they always knew there must be another way for them to relate to themselves and the world around them.
Below are the tools I use with clients and students to help them return to a a sense of Soul wholeness and well-being.
Each of these tools was essential to me finding my way home to my own Inner Wisdom, and frankly, my personal sense of sanity in a crazy world.
Anyone can learn to use these practices to holistically support their well-being.
Astrology offers us clues... to how we’re innately wired to thrive by pointing towards our specific needs, talents, and challenges in this life.
Modern astrology can offer us the kind of objective, deep reflection and self awareness that our Elders traditionally would have offered to guide us as we were growing up. It offers clues as to how we’re wired to learn, grow, and thrive in this life - but we have free will to choose what to do with what we’re given - it does not define us.
For thousands of years, cultures on every continent tracked the movement of the planets and stars as part of their cosmology and culture. They recognized patterns in the energy of the world that corresponded with what the sun, moon, and planets were doing.
Observing the movement of the seasons and heavens was one of the earliest metaphors humanity used to understand the human psyche and track the flow of life - it is truly an ancient art and cosmological science.
It reminds us that life moves in endless cycles and seasons and is not a linear experience.
Nature Connection teaches us how to restore our fundamental thrival wisdom that comes from our human senses, primal instincts, and intuition.
Humans are capable of many inner and outer senses beyond the basics (smell, taste, sight, touch, hear) - nature connection practices return us to the subtleties we are capable of intuitively sensing within ourselves and in the world around us.
The practices also reclaim our place in the world of Kinship as Human Beings connected with the The Land, all Beings (4 legged, winged, swimmers, and crawlers), and the elements.
This kind of presence and connection nurtures our essential sense of well-being because our nervous system reconnects to our place as one with all beings.
Creative arts therapies reclaim the sensorial, primal arts for expressing feelings our rational mind does not have words for.
These practices allow us to release deeply held emotional wounds we carry that we cannot process through talking.
They also allow us to express our unique sense of creativity and joy in a tangible way that moves our spirit.
Humans have used these expressive tools (painting, drawing, sculpting, music, song, dance, drama, etc.) since the dawn of time which is why even babies are driven to use them to express themselves.
Herbalism & Chinese Medicine practices ... are the holistic medicine practices to restore our innate ability to understand what all the parts of us need for harmony and nourishment.
Traditional medicine systems show us proven pathways for wisely tending our own needs while also knowing when and what kind of help we need when disharmony arises.
We remember our birthright to care for ourselves with the power of Food as Medicine, plants as allies, and energy work that tends the root of our disharmony, not just the symptoms.
Dreamwork is the ancient art ... that gives us a window into the wishes and fears of our heart and soul.
It allows us to see and heal the wounds our unconscious is trying to process, while also providing a valuable connection to insight from our Soul.
Dreams are also a place of advance warning for potential health issues or relationship troubles. When we heed the messages early, we can catch something when it’s small. It also gives us the chance to observe how we might respond in a dream, kind of like a dress rehearsal so we can make adjustments for how we would handle something in ‘waking life’.
When we find ourselves in a pattern of nightmares, it’s usually a message or a choice we’ve been avoiding for some time, so our subconscious has turned up the volume to get our attention.
Earth-based spirituality and seasonal living practices ... help us orient and connect our Soul into the physical experience of being a Human.
These practices connect us to the rhythms and flow of the world around us (seen and unseen) to help us find meaning and purpose while also teaching us our place and responsibilities as a member of this larger web of life.
Ritual and ceremony bring sacredness to everyday life by reminding us of our Kinship to all beings - that we are part of something larger than ourselves.
Somatic energy and sound work use the traditional healing arts that allow us to feel where we have repressed emotions or pain in our physical body and spirit.
Cultures around the world have their own names and systems for how energy moves through and around the body in connection with the Earth and Spirit.
In Asian medicine practices these energy systems are known as Meridians and acupressure points; in Ayurveda there are Marma points; and most indigenous cultures without written languages also practiced some form of energy work (sometimes called “shamanic work” in modern English).
Traditionally, sound work was done through singing, dancing, drumming, rattling, or playing other instruments that produced sound waves (bowls, gongs, chimes, etc).
When our body feels safe enough to release its burden, these modalities help relax and loosen the old energetic wounds that are ready to be integrated in our consciousness.
