Beyond talk therapy, dive into a whole-person approach. Discover how holistic therapy weaves mind, body, spirit, and culture for deeper healing and wellbeing.

Imagine an intricate tapestry, woven with bright and vibrant colors. As you stand before this tapestry, your eyes scan from side to side, up and down, taking in the masterpiece as a whole. You notice the interconnectedness of each thread – rich colors and textures merging seamlessly into each other, distinct yet inseparable. This is the essence of holistic therapy.

Holistic therapy is a sanctuary for the whole person – mind, body, spirit, and culture.

It emphasizes curiosity over pathology. The fundamental question is not “what’s wrong with you?” but rather:

What is happening in your brain and body?
How is this experience understood within your culture(s)?
How is this experience understood within your spirituality (if applicable)?

Through this holistic lens, we see the tapestry of life and understand how each thread influences the others.

So, what exactly does holistic therapy look like?

It’s a beautiful convergence of various modalities, tailored to meet each person’s specific needs and circumstances. Let’s explore some pieces of the tapestry together.

1. Mind-Body Connection

Our bodies are intelligent messengers, transmitting information through aches, tensions, and subtle shifts in posture. Somatic therapy teaches us to listen to this wisdom. Instead of staying in the content of the mind (“I think…”), we can pause and drop awareness below the shoulders. We can notice if there’s anything happening in the body – a slight expansion or contraction of energy, a deep or shallow breath, an impulse to lean in or pull away.

Through mindful awareness, we recognize how physical sensations are linked to emotions, thoughts, and memories. We realize how past experiences, including stressors and traumas, get stuck in the body – like a piece of food that’s difficult to digest. We might use brain-body therapies, such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing), to release stuck traumas and untangle the knots of the past.

2. Culture

We all come from somewhere. Who we are is shaped by what came before us. How we think, feel, love, communicate, move, rest, grieve, heal, create, and plan our lives – this is all influenced, to some degree, by culture.

Culture is the energy that connects a community and travels across generations. It’s a collection of psychological and emotional templates – beliefs, values, stories, rituals, and rules. Each of us is touched by culture – even if we do not know exactly where we came from; even if we do not have a direct relationship to our families, ancestors, or communities of origin. Culture lives and breathes through us as human beings.

Holistic therapy invites us to explore our relationship to culture, in whatever way is helpful and healing. This exploration can take many forms: delving into family history, connecting with cultural places and practices, or exploring ancestral lineage.

As we uncover these threads, we may gain a deeper sense of identity and belonging. The puzzle pieces of our lives come together in a new way, helping us make sense of the past and present.

3. Spiritual Exploration

For many of us, spiritual exploration adds another layer to the tapestry of life. Spirituality may be experienced as a deep sense of purpose, meaning, reverence, inner peace, or interconnectedness with all beings. Various practices can nourish our spirituality – meditation, prayer, ceremony, being in nature, cooking, gathering in community, spending time with animals, or journeying with psychedelic medicines.

Ordinary activities, done with intention, can become spiritual practices. Weeding the garden can be an annoying chore… or a way of tending to the earth and connecting with Mother Nature. We can chug a cup of tea, or drink it with care and contemplation. What we treat as sacred, becomes sacred.

What spiritual practices look and feel like are unique to each person, culture, and community – if we choose to engage in spirituality at all. Holistic therapy creates space to explore this dimension of being, and to use spirituality as a resource in our healing process, should we so choose.

Weaving the threads together: how can holistic therapy support you?

If you’re feeling stuck in your healing process, it may be that certain threads in your tapestry – mind, body, spirit, or culture – are falling out of place and need some loving attention.

Within Western mental health, some forms of talk therapy over-emphasize the mind and ignore the body. Other modalities may not be sensitive to spirituality or culture.

Healing happens most effectively and deeply when we treat the whole person.

When we get curious about all the facets of a human being, we gain access a wealth of information. For instance — in the case of depression, it’s incomplete to frame it as “just negative thoughts” or “sad feelings.” From a holistic point of view, a person struggling with depression may be:

experiencing a neurobiological condition impacted by genetics, upbringing, environment, seasonal changes, diet, exercise, and/or significant life events
feeling the influence of past traumas surfacing in the present
grappling with existential questions (Who am I? What’s the meaning of life?) that may or may not be supported by their cultural and spiritual context
having a natural emotional response to the current circumstances of their life and the world

You see how holistic therapy pays attention to all parts of our experience? It’s an incredibly affirming perspective. When we struggle, we are not “broken” or “damaged.” Rather, something is off balance in the relationship between mind, body, spirit, and culture.

When we come back into balance, we feel our wholeness again.

This power to heal is within all of us, at all times.

Here are some questions to consider on your healing journey:

What do I notice in my mind? What kind of thoughts do I have? What content do I expose my mind to? Where does my attention usually go?
What do I feel in my body? What information is my body telling me right now? How do I take care of my body?
What are my communities? What are the values, beliefs, and traditions that guide my life? How is my relationship with my culture?
How do I define spirituality? What role does spirituality play in my life? How can spirituality be a resource for me?

If you’re seeking holistic therapy to help you heal & be well, let’s connect.

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Therapy services are available virtually, for adults located in Colorado.

About the Author

I’m Liz Zhou, a holistic trauma therapist (MA, LPCC, she/her). My work integrates teachings from psychology, neurobiology, multicultural awareness, and spirituality. I provide compassionate therapy for highly sensitive people across Colorado.

What Does Holistic Therapy Mean?