Ways to Flourish

Season 7 of Ways to Flourish is here! Lindsay, Calder, and Ginny are back in the recording room after a semester and a summer away. We talk about our past few months, our hopes for the upcoming semester, and some of this season's guests. Ways to Flourish releases every Wednesday, and you can listen to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or however else you get your podcasts. We hope everyone has had a spectacular FDOC, and we'll see you back here next week!

Have an idea for an episode? Have a question? Want to give us feedback? Email us at [email protected] or DM our Instagram @wellnesswm!

It's once again that time of the semester where we get to sit down and reflect on how the past few months have gone, as well as look forward to the future. Ginny and Calder have a long-distance chat about the expectations versus realities of our semesters, some work culture differences between William & Mary and France, and what we're looking forward to come summer and fall.

If you're still tuning into our little conversations, thank you so very much for being here! We love creating this podcast, and we hope our listeners can get as much out of it as we do making it. Good luck on final classes and exams, and Ways to Flourish will see you back here in the fall!

The month of May is Women's Health Month, which means that there is all the more reason to learn about what resources are available on campus that pertain to women's health. W&M VOX: Planned Parenthood Generation Action is a club that advocates for reproductive justice. Today, we talk to Becca Gaylin, President of VOX (and our very own Wellness Ambassador!), about what the club stands for, what meetings typically look like, why one may choose to use the term "pro-abortion" over "pro-choice," and how reproductive justice is for everyone.

Resources:
W&M VOX Instagram page
Planned Parenthood website
Youth ASC Resources
REPRO Rising Virginia
Sister Song website
Center for Reproductive Rights

Being at William & Mary, we've probably experienced imposter syndrome at some point. Although common, it is not insurmountable. Today, we unpack imposter syndrome with Kelly Crace, Associate VP for Health & Wellness. We chat about how imposter syndrome manifests, what factors can lead to imposter syndrome, and how we can create a healthy sense of "enoughness."

Join yoga therapist Patti DeBlass as she leads us through a real-time breath work session! As we talked about last week, breath work includes various techniques that involve our breathing, and it can be a pretty broad definition. Though there are many different techniques for various situations, the session today is meant to help you take a little pause to work on your physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness during a busy time of the semester. So, grab a chair, close your eyes, and hit play!

Yoga therapist Patti DeBlass believes in the power of breathing. In this week's episode, we discuss how mindful breathing can help us through our day, what some misconceptions are about breath work, and how certain techniques are integrated into other meditational practices, like yoga. Stay tuned for next week's experiential episode when Patti leads us through a session of breath meditation!

We have talked a lot on Ways to Flourish about meditation and its benefits, but did you know that you can even take classes about it? Dr. Mark McLaughlin leads a class called "Meditation & Wellness" during which students have the opportunity to learn about how meditation can be integrated into everyone's lives, and with registration coming up, it should definitely be on your list! Today, we sit down with Prof. McLaughlin and three of his students (who also happen to be Wellness Ambassadors!): Kevin Aviles, Max Beers, and Anne Ryan Gareis. We chat about what students learn about in Prof. McLaughlin's course, how meditation has impacted these students' senses of self, and how they integrate meditation into their own daily routines. 

Ways to Flourish hopes that you have had a great spring break and that you are entering the second half of the semester feeling refreshed and mentally well. Speaking of mental wellness, the new wellness tracking app WeBe is launching right now at William & Mary!

WeBe allows its users to track their mental health while engaging with their chosen communities. In today's episode, we talk to Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, co-founder of WeBe Life, Inc., about what the WeBe app is capable of, how it differs from other available mental health technology, and how her extensive background in mental health relates to her work with WeBe. Download WeBe today from the App Store or Google Play!

Resources:
WeBe website
WeBe YouTube channel
WeBe on the App Store
WeBe on Google Play
More about Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen

We all love our furry friends, but did you know that pet therapy is actually supported by science? We sit down to chat with Dr. Mark Sullivan, the handler of therapy dog Stella, as well as senior Grace Phillips about what pet therapy is, what kind of traits make an animal good at animal therapy, who benefits from pet therapy, and what Grace's research about animal therapy has found.

Make sure to visit the Wellness Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11am to 1pm to visit Stella, and keep posted with other pet therapy events around campus!

Our beautiful campus has practically been made for biking, and the recent nice weather means that getting outside is becoming easier than ever. The W&M Bike Alliance has existed for a long time, but it has seen renewed life in the last couple of years. Today, we chat with student Bike Ambassadors Charlotte Russell and Drew Laird about what can be the physical, mental, and environmental benefits of cycling, what amazing places cycling can take you, and how the Bike Alliance can offer a great community (and free bike fix-ups!) to W&M students.

Resources:
Bike Alliance webpage
Bike Alliance Instagram