Yoga in the Therapy Room: Tips for integrating trauma informed yoga

How can we begin to normalize conversations about menstruation and menopause? How can we break the stigma around these topics?

MEET Heather Hendrie

Heather Hendrie is a Whistler nature-based therapist and writer originally from Guelph, Ontario who has lived in Cusco, Costa Rica, California, Colorado, and the Canadian Rockies before calling British Columbia home.

Heather holds a Bachelor of Kinesiology degree in Outdoor Pursuits from the University of Calgary, and a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counselling with a concentration in Transpersonal Wilderness Therapy from Naropa University.

Heather is also an author, and her intimate writing style draws on her varied life experiences and works as a clinical counselor to remind us all that in our tough or embarrassing moments, we are not alone. Heather's first best-selling anthology, awfully hilarious: stories we never tell, won the Canadian Book Club Awards for Best Anthology in 2023. The second anthology in the series, period pieces, tells truths in an attempt to end shame around menstruation and menopause.

Heather considers herself to be an expert in play and JOY, and her inner child is obsessed with wearing all of her favorite patterned clothes at once.

Find out more at Heather Hendrie and connect with Heather on Instagram, and Facebook

awfully hilarious Instagram

awfully hilarious: period pieces by Heather Hendrie

awfully hilarious: stories we never tell by Heather Hendrie

IN THIS PODCAST:

• Why are these topics so difficult to discuss in our society? 5:08
• Self-publishing as a holistic Practitioner 15:03

• How is ignoring these topics harmful?
• Why is menstruation so deeply stigmatized?
• How is our mental health affected by not discussing menstruation and menopause?
• The importance of asking questions about these issues as a practitioner

• How can publishing a book help your practice?
• How to market your book as a therapist
• Finding the time to work on different projects
• The importance of finding your passion
• Resources for promoting your book

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

How can mastering mindful breathwork techniques help you achieve overall well-being? What is mindful breathing and how is it different from regular breathing?

MEET Kelsey Rudzinsky

Kelsey Rudzinsky is a Registered Nurse and Certified Breathwork Facilitator with a deep passion for helping people connect more deeply with themselves and with nature. After a decade of working in Western Medicine Kelsey stepped away from nursing to travel the world and feed a hunger for a more meaningful life. Along this journey, Kelsey experienced the transformative power of breathwork and has never looked back. She is dedicated to giving as many people the opportunity to experience this incredible self-healing modality as possible. Outside of work she enjoys yoga, exploring new places, training for American Ninja Warrior, and spending time in Nature.

Find out more at Boston BreathWork and connect with Kelsey on Instagram

IN THIS PODCAST:

• What is breathwork? 8:05
• Who is breathwork for? 11:22
• What are the benefits of breathwork? 22:06

• What is a breathing pattern?
• Finding what works for you as an individual
• What is the difference between breathwork and meditation?

• How often should you practice breathwork?
• What is Coherent Breathing?
• Examples of different types of breathwork
• The importance of setting an intention

• Breathwork for creativity
• Finding your true voice
• Connecting to your spirit
• Breathwork and spirituality
• Being trauma-informed when it comes to breathwork with clients
• Are there any risks with practicing breathwork?

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

What are some practical strategies for unlocking your intuition and spiritual gifts? How can we begin to trust our intuition and let it help us guide us as clinicians?

MEET Janee Paige

Janee is a Spiritual Advisor who specializes in Mediumship, Intuition Development, and Energy Healing.

Find out more at Goddess Of RJHS and connect with Janee on Instagram

EPISODE 161 BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SPIRITUALITY & MENTAL HEALTH: INTERVIEW WITH JANEE PAIGE

IN THIS PODCAST:

• What is intuition? 2:58
• What blocks you from your intuition? 8:22
• Tips on developing your intuition 15:52
• Sit in on a reading with Chris McDonald 36:37

• Learning to listen to our inner voice
• Why does connecting with your inner self matter?
• What's the difference between intuition and anxiety?
• What are some misconceptions about intuition?
• What is the difference between intuition and spirituality?

• Understanding what you need to work through as an individual
• What is Shadow Work?
• Interpreting and developing your intuition
• Why is intention so important when tapping into your intuition?

• The importance of meditation and self-care
• Breathwork and the importance of breathing properly
• How do you practice listening to your intuition
• What is energy work?
• Journaling and intuition
• How to incorporate movement into developing your intuition

• Asking for consent
• How to close out a reading

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

How can you break free from the restraints and judgments of a religious upbringing and begin to embrace your spiritual and intuitive gifts? How can you find your own healing path through spirituality?

MEET Samantha Bell-Walker

Samantha is an Intuitive, Healer, Psychotherapist, and Coach. She is a bright, bubbly person who loves to help heal others but has to walk through the shadows a time or two. She comes from a Southern Baptist upbringing where her gifts were dulled at an early age because she was "imagining things." Suffering through generational and other traumas to find her voice took years, but she finally embraced her true self. The years of struggle, sacrifice, grit, and darkness that I endured led her to heal herself. This path of healing came after the death of her father. Helping him transition in those last days, made her realize her strength and selflessness. But the real test came within those next years, her dark knight of the soul era when the healer needed healing. Samantha's personal therapy journey led her to holistic methods which led her to reiki and the rest was history. Her gifts resurfaced and magnified and her spirit pushed her out of her comfort zone to use them within her practice. Her sessions focus on creating a sacred space for individuals to be themselves holistically, spiritually, and mentally. She invites spirit into sessions for clients to be able to release things that no longer serve them. Her approach is collaborative and results in healing on a subconscious and conscious level. Samantha combines educational tools from the world of psychology such as Mindfulness, CBT, Somatic Therapy, and Family Systems with holistic and spiritual methods like Reiki and Energy Healing, Chakra clearing, EFT Tapping, Hypnotherapy, Herbalism, Sound Healing, and Oracle Readings. Her passions are trauma, generational trauma, ancestral healing, reading Akashic records and past lives, past life regression, hypnotherapy, shadow work, mirror work, cord cutting, and boundaries.

Find out more at The Attuned Clinician, A Ray Of Sunshine, Just Right Reiki, and connect with Samantha on Instagram

IN THIS PODCAST:

• How to recognize and embrace your intuitive gifts? 6:45
• Overcoming judgment when embracing your intuitive gifts 25:10

• The importance of finding a supportive community
• Incorporating holistic modalities into your healing journey
• Working through your core beliefs and embrace your intuitive gifts
• Spirituality vs. religion
• Accepting all parts of yourself as a healer
• What is your purpose?

• The power of acceptance
• Learning to grieve relationships that don't work within your spiritual journey
• Combining religion and spirituality
• Using your intuitive gifts as a clinician

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

What are holistic therapy intensives, and how do they differ from traditional therapy sessions? How do holistic therapy intensives address the interconnectedness of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being?

MEET Leah Barnes

Leah Barnes, LCMHCS, is the owner of Ridgeline Counseling and Supervision, PLLC where she provides online therapy to adults in North and South Carolina. She focuses on working with late-diagnosed or suspected Autistic and ADHD adults to get rid of internalized shame and ableism surrounding their neurotype, and learn ways to work with their brain, not against it. In addition to traditional weekly therapy, she offers therapy intensives to help clients dig deep into healing over the course of 1 to 3 days. She uses a variety of approaches during intensives, such as brain spotting, polyvagal techniques, therapeutic yoga, parts work, and more.

Find out more at Ridgeline Counseling, and connect with Leah on Instagram and Facebook

IN THIS PODCAST:

• What are therapy intensives? 2:58
• What are the benefits of therapy intensives? 9:19
• What therapy modalities can be used in therapy intensives? 15:45
• What are the challenges that come with this type of therapy? 25:09

• What is the difference between intensive and traditional therapy?
• Can you do therapy intensives virtually?
• How to schedule therapy intensives
• The importance of flexibility for intensives
• Why use therapy intensives?

• How can therapy intensives allow you to go deeper with clients?
• What type of clients would benefit from intensives?
• Who would not benefit from therapy intensives?

• The importance of having training in the modalities that you use
• How to schedule your intensive sessions
• The importance of utilizing an intake form beforehand
• What should your session's timeblocks look like?
• How to follow up after intensive sessions

• Managing your time and energy as a therapist
• How to integrate multiple modalities into a session
• Creating another revenue stream with therapy intensives

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

How can you begin to incorporate unique self-care techniques into your practice? How can you begin to expand your self-care toolkit and elevate your overall well-being?

IN THIS PODCAST:

• In today's episode, we dive back into some lesser-known self-care practices. We will look at 7 more self-care strategies that you can incorporate into your practice today!

Episode 173 Self-Care Practices You Might Not Have Heard Of Part 1

Outdoor Labyrinth behind Millbrook Baptist Church, 1519 E. Millbrook Road, Raleigh, NC 2760

The Horse Shoe Farm

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

How does sleep affect mental and emotional well-being from a holistic perspective? What are the common sleep-related issues clients face, and how do these impact their overall health?

MEET Kevin Handley

Kevin Handley is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Professor of Psychology in Virginia. His private practice focuses on providing Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and other evidence-based approaches (CBT, ACT & Positive Psychology) to help people thrive. His coaching, consulting, and continuing education for behavioral health professionals focuses on practice growth, self-care, ethics and risk management, and practical strategies to help improve their clients' sleep health. As an award-winning professor and a frequent speaker, he often speaks to professional and community groups about sleep, positive psychology, and other topics in the hopes of helping as many people as possible apply psychology to improve their everyday lives.

Find out more at Kevin B. Handley, PhD, and connect with Kevin on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook

Use this link to get a 20% discount or use code HOLISTIC

The Ethics of Sleep Health: Efficacy, Equity, and Clinician Self-Care on June 27th

IN THIS PODCAST:

• What is healthy sleep? 4:17
• How is insomnia diagnosed? 9:23
• Holistic solutions for better sleep 12:28
• Why is sleep health so important for practitioners? 30:44

• Defining what healthy sleep is on an individual basis
• How much sleep do you need?
• Why is it important to ask clients about their sleep habits?
• Sleep health and mental health

• Focusing on better quality sleep
• What puts you at risk for insomnia?
• Examining the correlation between depression and insomnia

• What factors go into sleep hygiene
• How to make simple changes for better sleep
• The importance of a sleep schedule
• What is the R.I.S.E.U.P method?
• What is the CBT-I Sleep program?

• Modeling sleep health to your clients
• Self-care and ethics for therapists
• How to begin addressing better sleep with your clients

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

Why is integration important in clinical practice? What challenges exist in aligning unconventional practices with conventional therapy?

MEET Tina Vitolo

Tina Vitolo, LCSW, is a Doctor of Social Work with almost 20 years of experience. Her doctoral dissertation, focusing on Complementary and Alternative Interventions in clinical social work practice, was published in the Journal of Research on Social Work Practice. In her private practice, Tina integrates Human Design, Crystal Healing, and Intuitive Practices with established clinical theories such as Psychodynamic, Transpersonal Psychology, Existential Humanistic, Jungian, and Person-Centered approaches. Tina also runs The Black Sheep Therapist, where she coaches unconventional therapists on integrating unconventional interventions within an evidence-based framework. Her Innovative Practitioner Accelerator Program offers education and empowerment to therapists seeking to broaden their therapeutic approaches

Find out more at The Black Sheep Guide, connect with Tina on Instagram, and join her FB Group: Black Sheep Therapists: Embracing Unconventional Practices In Mental Health

IN THIS PODCAST:

• What are the limitations of more traditional therapy? 4:12
• Complimentary modalities vs. holistic modalities 9:47
• What are the misconceptions of alternative healing modalities? 25:10

• What is evidence-based Practice?
• What are the 3 components of evidence-based practice?
• The importance of building rapport with your clients

• Aligning with health and healing
• What are the benefits of complementary therapy modalities?
• Providing a safe space for your clients and colleagues
• How can therapists begin to embrace authenticity in their practice?

• Understanding the research that goes into alternative modalities
• Finding research on these modalities
• The importance of knowing your clinical theory
• How to determine which modalities to use with your clients?

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

What is Multidimensional Psychiatry and how can this integrative approach to mental health help your overall well-being? How can water healing be brought into your mental health practice to provide physical and spiritual healing?

MEET Elizabeth Nguyen

Elizabeth Nguyen, MD was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her parents were refugees from Vietnam who arrived in Honolulu in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War. She received her BA from Stanford University in Human Biology, her MD from Northwestern University, and her Psychiatry Residency and Child Psychiatry Fellowship training at UC Davis. She started her career in community mental health, with specific interests in cross-cultural psychiatry, the intersection of spirituality and mental health, and the healing power of water and the natural world. She is currently in private practice in Davis, CA where she incorporates energy healing into her psychiatry work. She recently published her first novel Aloha Vietnam about a Vietnamese American family navigating cross-cultural issues in mental health treatment and recovery. Of the inspiration behind and the intention for Aloha Vietnam, Elizabeth says: "There is so much trauma and healing in the human ancestral lineages, and water, art, and storytelling help us in becoming whole and natural again."

Find out more at Multidimensional Psychiatry, and connect with Elizabeth on Instagram and Facebook

Water Keepers Community

Aloha Vietnam

IN THIS PODCAST:

• Multidimensional psychiatry vs. traditional psychiatry 7:23
• What is water healing? 8:40
• Restoring your own water flow 14:10

• Understanding ourselves and our clients as a "whole person"
• Using our own energy for healing

• How does our disconnect with water affect us?
• What is your relationship with water?
• How to restore your connection with water?
• What is your "own body of water?"
• Finding water resources wherever you are

• How does energy work in your body?
• What causes energy stagnation?
• Incorporating movement and what is the "Melt Method?"
• Restoring water flow walkthrough!
• What is Blue Health?

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

How do you integrate somatic interventions with traditional talk therapy approaches? What are some common misconceptions about somatic therapy, and how do you address them with clients?

MEET Kim Bevans

Kim Bevans is a body-oriented therapist and Embodiment Expert. Kim received her master's degree from Columbia College Chicago in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling. Kim is a Board-Certified Dance/Movement Therapist and Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Massachusetts. Kim provides therapy to women who over-intellectualize, spend too much time in their thinking minds, and feel emotionally overwhelmed. Kim helps women hear the call in their bodies and hearts to facilitate deeper connection, understanding, and healing within themselves. Her private practice is in Boston, Massachusetts. Based on her years of embodied clinical experience and ongoing learning, Kim provides education and consultation for therapists who want to level up their mind-body toolbox.

Find out more at Kim Bevans, and connect with Kim on Instagram

Check out her Top 6 Somatic Intervention, a quick reference guide of dependable somatic skills to deepen your sessions by bringing your client into embodiment now

IN THIS PODCAST:

• Somatic Therapy Vs. Traditional Therapy 4:00
• What are the different kinds of Somatic interventions? 6:04
• What role does a therapist's own embodiment play in facilitating Somatic interventions? 14:30

• Understanding the difference between Somatic therapy and body-oriented therapy
• Integrating multiple modalities into a session

• The importance of movement and body sensations in session
• Learning to put words to how we feel in our bodies
• Understanding the client's individual needs
• What is a "verbal run?"
• How to teach your clients to tap into their own movement

• The importance of understanding how movement feels to you as a therapist
• Helping your clients understand what Somatic therapy is
• Understanding your client's specific needs
• How to educate your clients in Somatic intervention
• What are the challenges when integrating Somatic interventions into sessions?

Download the Free guide: How to build confidence and competence bringing yoga into the therapy room

The Yoga in Therapy Collective —where therapists learn, grow, and get support with yoga-informed practices

Explore the Yoga Basics for Therapists course—designed to help you confidently and ethically integrate yoga into therapy

Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

Instagram: @chris_mcdonald58

Join the Free Bringing Yoga Into the Therapy Room Facebook group

Leave a review and subscribe to this podcast

Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)