Episode 173 Self-Care Practices You Might Not Have Heard Of: Solo Episode By Chris McDonald

Chris McDonald: In a world where self care is often synonymous with bubble baths, massages, and face masks, in this solo episode, I explore with you some self care practices you might not have heard of. These techniques can truly elevate your well being and bring more balance into your day. Get ready to expand your self care toolkit as we discuss unconventional methods for nurturing your soul.

So grab your favorite cozy blanket, and Find a comfortable spot to unwind and join me on this journey of self discovery on today's episode of the Holistic Counseling Podcast. This is Holistic Counseling, the podcast for mental health therapists who want to deepen their knowledge of holistic modalities and build their practice with confidence.

I'm your host, Chris McDonald, Licensed Therapist. I am so glad you're here for the journey.

Welcome to today's episode of the Holistic Counseling Podcast. I am Chris McDonald, your host. Hope you are doing well today. This is a solo episode. I'm here to talk to you about self care practices you might not have heard of, some unusual ones, or maybe you've heard of some of these, but I may have some other information to share, a different way to use the practices.

And as I was researching this, I realize there's so much I could do for this episode, so I think we're going to have to have a part two and maybe a part three, who knows? So there's so much I've even learned from this podcast alone, my time here for three years that, man, I could do an episode just on all the highlights that I've learned over the years.

So, but self care, I think though, if we, if we rewind for a second and think about self care, it is overused. A lot of times, it's so cliche. Oh, just, just go get a mani pedi. You'll be all right. But it's, it can be so much deeper than that, right? I'm just going to give you some practice today, but just knowing that self care, we got to really look at, do you need to change your mindset around self care?

Sometimes that can be a practice alone, right? Just how do I think of myself care? Does my body tense up when I think about it? Am I telling myself a story, a narrative that I don't have time for this? That's for other people. I don't deserve this. I know that comes up a lot with clients. I see they don't feel worthy of making time for us.

So that's a whole other issue, right? That you need to go deeper with therapy. And if you're really struggling and feel stuck. And don't seem to be able to make time for yourself or a limited time, then it might be time to go deeper with some therapy or brain spotting. Brain spotting is a great modality to use, but I digress.

So, I wanted to get to these 7 practices and take what helps you give it a try. Let the rest go. If something doesn't resonate, just keep listening. There'll be more. So if you have your self care for the counselor workbook that I created, grab that, you can put some notes in there to add to your whole toolkit of self care, but if you don't, it's okay.

Tune in at the end of the episode for the link to my workbook. And I want to start with why start? Adding some unusual self care practices. Why not just keep doing the same old table? Number one, we get bored. Let's try to shake things up. If we can change the modalities or change variety of what we're doing, do things in a different way.

Maybe some of the same stuff, like I love yoga, but I get bored sometimes. I want to learn from different teachers. I might have to take a different kind of class. Maybe I'll go to an in person, maybe I'll go to a special event yoga. And maybe next time a yoga special practice that might be offered by my place down the street for me, or maybe I'll go to another town room to practice yoga.

So we never know. So that keeps it interesting when we mix it up, it may keep us more engaged so that we don't just start something, do it for a month and then let it go. And the brain loves novelty. You will keep your attention more with new things. And the more new things we can add, the better, of course, keeping some consistency routines is great, but maybe having some kind of space and time in your schedule to mix it up with self care practices.

The other thing to think about is you never know if any of these practices really resonate with you to your core, to the center of your being. Then it might lead you in a direction to want to get trained in that, to want to offer that, maybe to create a whole other business, who knows? With yoga, I honestly never thought, I never had an intention to be a yoga teacher.

I just was a therapist and let's call it. Well, the yoga bug bit me, as they say. Here I am now, a yoga teacher and teaching therapists how to integrate yoga into sessions. So you just never know the impact of what you might learn, how you might use it. Maybe it'll help change your practice. Some of these modalities could be used with clients, or maybe you're going to turn and use it in a coaching program, or maybe you want to offer retreat.

So we just never know where these can lead us. Keeps our minds open. So as I go through these today, keep your mind open and just try to listen without judgment. If you notice the judgmental side, be like, Oh, that sounds like really stupid. Like, I don't get it. Why is she telling me this? Just think that part of you, but then just try to connect to the part that's more inquisitive.

Be curious. Cause you never know, you never know if this could be something that could be so helpful for you and or your clients, right? So let's do it. So the first one, I have not done this myself, it's called forest bathing. So this originated in Japan and it is immersing yourself in nature, taking what's called a forest bath, really mindfully taking in the forest around you, noticing the trees, noticing Smells, the sights, the sounds, really being present, engaging yourself, connecting at a much deeper level because we can go for a walk in the woods, but we're usually just focused on that activity of walking.

So this is about staying connected. It's not focused on the movement piece. So it's being present. Now, that's all I know about forest bathing, but I know some therapists who offer this. I think it's a wonderful thing. And, um, maybe that could be something to try personally or professionally to look at. How can I lead forest baths?

What would be the benefit of that? Because there is so much. Much benefit to connecting with nature. It can really help relieve our stress, help us feel more grounded center. So that could be something to think about for us bathing and baby, just trying it in an outing in a class and see if you like it.

And by the way, with all of these practices I'm talking about today, let me know how you think about those. What, if you like some of these. If you want to incorporate more, if you want to learn more on this podcast, because that's the other option, right? Maybe there's some of these that I haven't done an episode on that could be super help.

So you can always email me at chris at holistic counseling podcast. com. If you want to let me know how you like this. And if there are certain ones that are resonating, I would love to hear from you, or if you have your unusual ones. That could be an episode two. We could have people call in. That's for, I'll talk about that later.

So forest bathing, number one, number two, sound healing. Now this is becoming more popular. I get it. You've probably heard of this, but have you experienced it? That is the question. So we have what are called sound baths. Which involves usually just laying down on like a yoga mat, getting comfortable. I like to lay in like a yoga position, like even just stretched out with a twist for part of it.

Not the whole time because they're, they can be 45 minutes, but just to even just do gentle movement during it for me is helpful. So that's another alternative with sound bath. Can you add some movement to it? And maybe doing this at home. I know there's some sound baths you can listen to some Tibetan monks too.

I know there's some online and YouTube Tibetan flute, I think it's called. I had heard about, so it could be any kind of instrument with sound bass. They traditionally use singing bowls, crystal ones. There's lots of different kinds of singing bowls. I know I have one in my office. Um, they can clear.

Negative energy, the sound vibrations can also clear chakras, balancing your chakras is another thing. So I like to use sound and a singing bowl in my office to clear energy that I don't want, that might be residual from other people. And it helps me to feel more centered and present. Now, again, sound can be used for meditation to start and end as a signal.

We hit a bell to start and end a meditation. But the healing side of this I think is important for self care. Can you make your own sound bath at home? Maybe you haven't considered that. Maybe you went to a group one. You know about this, but you haven't done it. So putting on the headphones and laying on your yoga mat, even if you can just do it for a short time.

Some is better than none. Remembering that. Tuning forks. I hadn't really understood what a tuning fork was. I had gone to someone local, Ronan Devine, I'll give a shout out to him. He is truly amazing. So he would, I'd go to him for Reiki. He used a tuning fork around my head and I have migraines. And I do have to tell you that it would help prevent migraines as well for a couple of months.

Now, I wish I could go back all the time, but he's 30 minutes from here, but it really did something for the migraines. I don't know. I can't explain it. Maybe it cleared my crown chakra on top of my head. Maybe it balanced a bunch of my chakras, but there was something about what he put that I would hear the sounds of it vibrating makes a particular sound near my ear.

Really interesting. So again, this could be just the sound vibrations, right? That could be helpful. Sound bath I know locally, Ellie Atkins, uh, shout out to her. Uh, she offers sound baths frequently in this triangle area, but I know they're all over that you can access different sound baths. So, so give it a try.

See if you like it. They do use different instruments sometimes too. So just keep that in mind. Another way to use sound Is with brain spining bilateral music. Now, what is that? So that is music that goes from one ear to the other. So it fades in and fades out between the ears. And what that does is that helps with integrating both sides of the brain to the two hemispheres because it crosses that corpus calypso and that connects.

both sides of the brain. And through that integrating can help bring a sense of calmer. It can help lead to emotional regulation. And this is all research based too. So that's the cool part. Now here is how you can up level that. So listening on headphones, you have to have headphones on in order for it to work, but listening, just chilling out is fantastic.

Great to do as long as you're not driving, but just hearing it on your headphones at home, if you want to take a minute, just to even close your eyes with it can be really beneficial. You can also use it. Here's the up level with movement. I have a client who I learned from her. She tried this. I didn't tell her to do this, but I'm telling you, she made tremendous gains in therapy.

For overcoming trauma and resetting her nervous system. It is just profound. And let me see how many months was that four or five months. Amazing. So that could be something to try. Could you put on some brain spinning music and dance around the room or do some gentle Tai Chi, Qigong, yoga, you name it. See what happens, right?

This could be some good self care for you. So first forest bathing and then sound healing. Or maybe you can combine them, do some sound healing in a forest. So some of these could be connected to each other. Now, the next one is called flotation therapy. What is that? I had heard of this and I wanted to try it.

So I'll get to my experience in a second, but I wanted to explain what it is. So sensory deprivation, where you float in a tank of saltwater and the water's at body temperature. What that does, it lifts you up and you feel that weightlessness. It's that sensory kind of isolation. It really calms things down, helps relaxation, decreases muscle tension, increases mental clarity.

Now, my experience with this, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. And I went to this place and what it was like is you walk in and there's like a shower. So you got to shower before you go in and there's a small tank that's individual. So nobody else is there. So you could just do it naked or you can wear a bathing suit.

Now, the thing is, you don't. Try to float like you do in other bodies of water, the pool, you just float. It's really, it's so much salt in there that really makes you float. And what they have is you can play music. You can have different lightings to see how that feels for sensory experience. You can close your eyes.

Or leave them open, you can also turn lights out for the sensory deprivation, but it truly wasn't for this place because the light from under the door came in a little bit. So it wasn't totally, but it was pretty dark. So that was a totally different experience. I did it for an hour. You can go with these places for 30 minutes or an hour.

And it's really helpful. So the result, I was so relaxed. And let me just say, if you decide to go to what's called the called float spa, make sure you don't have much plan the rest of the day, because I was just jelly. My legs were like, I don't want to move. I don't want to walk. And I actually laid down, took a little nap when I got home and just rested and took the evening off because this was late in the afternoon and I just wasn't good for getting anything done, which is good, right?

We need those breaks. So give it a go. These float spouts are all over now. I'm not sure all their countries. I know in the U S it's growing, but they may and different ones, maybe a different experience than the one I just explained to you, but that's kind of what it, what it's like. Um, and I actually was falling asleep.

Darn it. If you can believe it while floating, how crazy is that? When I would fall asleep, you know, when you shake and you just are at that level of just about sleep, I would splash in the water and wake myself up. Too funny. That could be something to try. Flotation therapy. And they actually have packages so you could go monthly.

And I wonder if that is a good practice. If you struggle to make time for yourself and to do extra therapies or things like this. Maybe sign up for a program where you do it once a month. I know I just talked to another therapist who signed up for a massage where she schedules ahead for one month ahead, because if you don't, chances are, you probably will have a longer period in time between those practices.

So, so maybe getting on a rotation will help you stay with it to make sure you're making that decision. That time for self care. So number four, laughter yoga. And a lot of you are probably like scratching your head. Like what is laughter yoga? So laughter yoga is being lighthearted and fun, creating laughter with people.

Sometimes there's different activities they do. I know they did some of this in my yoga training using deep breathing with laughter as like a form of exercise. They call it. Even if you force it, because it sounds weird, like to make yourself laugh, right? Because usually we like to do that spontaneously.

We see a funny movie or see something funny that happens and we laugh and it just comes natural. But to force it feels odd, but guess what? You still get the positive. results. So it triggers endorphins, reduces stress, reduces your heart rate, your blood pressure, your breath rate. So, so amazing. You're boosting your mood.

Cause think about how you feel after a good belly laugh with a friend. You just feel amazing. You could take on the world. Like no, there is no problems. So the more laughter and it says laughter yoga, that's a specific practice, but even just laughter where you can bring into your life, the more that's going to help you.

And maybe even think about, is there a way I could. Look at a joke once a day instead of just doom scrolling. And you look up something funny and just share that with your family and get them to laugh too. Sometimes we got laughing ourselves too. Yesterday I was sitting in my office doing some work and I look out my husband's walking by and I was like, he usually does funny story and all of a sudden I heard, what is that?

And he tripped on our carpet and I was trying not to laugh, but it just was really funny to me that he was just walking calm. And all of a sudden I hear this like chaos and I can't see what happened from where I'm sitting in my office. So. Something about people falling. It just makes me laugh. As long as they're okay.

He was okay. He's just laughter. Bring more. How can you bring more into your life and even bring it into sessions with clients? That could be very soothing too. And fun. I know I like to joke with my clients a lot. Yeah, of course, doing this mindfully that we're not offending people or, you know, bring in crass jokes or something, but.

You know, I'll bring it in certain times or we laugh at something my cat does, or their animal show their butt to me. Oh, and we're in telehealth sessions. So just using those moments to laugh with your client can really help build that relationship as well. And that trust and comfort, it kind of puts a little lightheartedness in the sessions too, that we all need.

So, so much, especially when we're dealing with so many deep, dark issues that can really be heavy. So when things get heavy, you got to laugh, so just remember that. Okay, number five, color therapy, or this is also called promo therapy. So it uses different colors to promote physical and emotional healing.

And they can be used with, the colors can be used with clothing, things that you wear. Think how you feel with different colors. Like I have a bright kind of peachy colors, kind of fun, light, light sleeves and a blue jacket. It's so weird in North Carolina with weather, I have to dress in layers. But anyway, the colors, it just feels like it brings me a little balance.

I feel a little calm from the blue, but a little light and smiley with the color I'm wearing. I think how that influences you and your clients. Encourage clients that are wearing just all black, if they're having mood issues to switch it up, that can make a difference. Also visuals we have, like, as you can see, for those who see me on video, I have a purple office.

It's a very soothing, periwinkle color. And I have my yoga props and all this behind me. So just think about the colors and how that impacts. Even my yoga mat is a purplish color. How can you bring more color into your office? Even with furniture pictures, you have visuals, you have, if you have crystals, sometimes they can be nice visuals as well.

And also guess what? We can use color with breath work. So that's kind of my up level for that too. You've probably heard of color therapy, but so I was just going to read for you some colors for mental health. And this handout also talks about. Drinking or eating color. So just think about that, right? You want energy.

Maybe think of orange eating an orange or red, maybe eating something red and apple red apple. So let me read through a couple of these. So what you can do is visualize this color or surround yourself with it, even outside, like going outside for green, green promotes harmony, balance, personal development, acceptance.

Compassion for self and others, as well as renewal. And it's good for stress, anxiety, self pity, and confusion. And I can, by the way, I can link this handout in the show notes if you want to access it. So that's green. Blue brings calm, peace, relaxation, slowing down, steadying, self expression, intuition. And it's really good for insomnia, stress, anxiety, over excitement.

Let me go to purple, violet, purple promotes inspiration, imagination, empathy, sense of belonging, helping others self respect as good for stress, anxiety, obsessions, lack of confidence, low self esteem, as well as severe depression. And let's go to yellow, uplifting. Cleansing, self respect, self confidence, good for depression, despair, fatigue, negativity, sensitivity to criticism of confidence.

So that might be something to think about. If you're presenting something you're not feeling confident about to wear some yellow, think about the color that you're using. And one last one I'll say is red that promotes energy, strength, motivation, confidence, willpower, good for depression, negativity, shyness.

So, and with this handout too, it also talks about color breathing. So you can see about that, but what you can do is on the most simplistic level with color is have your clients pick one of these colors. What color resonates with them? Where do they want to be? Do they want to be calmer? And let's say they pick blue so they can go ahead and inhale the blue.

Imagine that filling up your entire body from head to toe, and then exhale something you want to let go of. What color is that? So maybe it's brown, black, just have them practice. Bringing in the color and exhaling what they don't, or if you want to spread kindness to the world, loving kindness, you could inhale the color of love like red and then exhale love color red out to the world emanating to all living beings.

So you can really use some visualization with this and get creative and find ways to incorporate it with other practices that you're using. Next one I wanted to share is something I just mentioned a moment ago, and that is loving kindness or meta practices. I learned about this when I used to go to. a Buddhist group for meditation.

Loving kindness was something that they talked a lot about, and then we've read about and learned about. So what is it? It's wishing goodwill for others on its most basic level. This can actually be a challenging practice to do. Many people struggle to wish well for themselves. They always want to wish for others, which that makes me think of listeners who are therapists.

or helpers in some capacity may give, give, give, and not give to themselves, which is why you're listening to this episode. So giving to yourself can be tough. And then this practice also, you give loving kindness to someone you have a conflict with or don't like, someone you don't like. That's tough. It's really hard to do.

So as an example, you may say, may I be well, may I be safe, may I be filled with peace. And may I be filled with loving kindness. Now there's a lot of different versions of that. That's just one that I've liked to use. So the steps that we do it is say that over and over to ourselves. It's say it out loud, say it to someone we love.

If you have a hard time saying it to yourself, say it to someone you love. First, you can picture that person. You can use visualization. You could even use the color. We can mix that in. Picturing that love, the color love. Whatever that might be for you, imagining that love coming out to all the loved ones, all the beings of the world, wishing them well, wishing them peace and loving kindness.

So after you wish for yourself, someone else, Think of a neutral person. Neutral means that someone you don't have any emotional attachments to. You might wave hello to your neighbor. You don't talk to them. You don't know them that well, or maybe the grocer at the grocery store. So imagine them and do the same practice.

You can just say that in your head or out loud, whatever works and what you do, the neutral person picture someone you don't like, or someone you have a conflict with. This is the hard thing. To think of that person or that person driving that cut you off and you probably curse them out and raised your anger.

Can you wish them well? Can you wish them peace? May they be happy. May they be at peace. Ooh, that doesn't feel normal for us, right? We're used to being so angry. And I know if I get mad about something like that, especially with a tribe, it's tough to kind of dial it back and wish that person well. So once we have done that, then we go to all beings.

May all beings be well. May all beings be safe. May all beings be filled with peace and may all beings be filled and even be mindful with this practice to notice how it feels in your body. Notice how it resonates. And by the way, this is all research based too. Loving kindness, giving those kind words can really make a difference in your overall mental health.

Doing it regular basis. Now, loving kindness, what I've learned through the mindfulness movement training, and I took with Annie Hillster from move to meditate podcast, shout out to her. She's amazing, but she taught me about, you can use loving kindness practices and movement. So an example could be, how can you inhale and a way That feels loving and kind towards yourself.

Or if that's difficult for someone, even what is a friendly way? Can you move your arms up in a friendly way and put them on your chest in a friendly, what would that feel like? How can you give yourself the loving kindness? that you so bravely give to anyone else. How can you turn that inward from your hands on your heart?

Things like that. You can really get creative with movement to move in a more loving way. Even just checking with yourself during the day. Am I wishing myself well today? Am I moving with loving kindness towards myself, or am I just rushing and disengaged, disembodied, not noticing what's happening in my body?

Those are just some questions that you could ask yourself. Now here's a mindful practice if you have not heard of loving kindness in public. So this is another way to uplevel you. If you've already heard of loving kindness, You've already heard of this. You're like, yes, Chris, we know about lock guns.

Here's a way that I learned also through that course I just took. Let's say you're out in public and you see someone who looks like they're having a difficult time. You can say to them in your head, just notice them. May they be well. May they be safe. May they be filled with peace, or whatever wish you want to wish upon them.

You could even try it for someone you don't like. Maybe your neighbor's getting on your nerves. But every time you see them, you wish them well. You wish them peace. So imagine the positive impact this could have. On you, on them. Because remember, this is all energy. Words are energy. Now, if we have a grudge towards someone or we're having a difficult conflict with someone, it can be so hard to dig deep to wish them well.

I get it. I was practicing this weekend with someone that really, really Pissed me off about something. It, I was just wishing them well, cheap and peace. And do you know what? I feel like my anger's gone down. It's kind of, it's not gone. Not saying it's like a, sure all, but it's eased up. So that's the important thing.

How can you ease up, right? By using these practices. And I've heard stories now I have not experienced this yet because I haven't done it much in public that people do this practice and it actually changes relationships with people. And that's like, people can sense the energy. It's like, uh, a magic way shuffles, like wishing that well, but then it comes back at you, right?

That maybe they feel that connection to you somehow psychically. Who knows everything is connected. So give it a try. See how can you use it while you're driving? Ooh, that would be a challenge, right? Especially with difficult drivers out there. Or maybe someone you don't know. Could that help strike up a conversation?

Because I've heard people that use this in public, that people reach out to them or talk to them or friendly. That tells you something about energy, doesn't it? Now, when you're having a difficult time, one more thing about loving kindness. You can give it to yourself right to say those words and here's something that you can say.

I'm just going to read this for you when you're having a difficult moment and 1 good thing to do with loving kindness. You can put your hand on your chest or both hands, or you can put them on your belly or 1 on your hand. 1 on your belly on your chest. 1 on your belly. And just kind of notice how that feels.

You pick a location where you want your hand. It is a heavier weight pushing down sensation or lighter or hovering above your body. You decide what feels right for you and your body in this moment. Think of a difficult situation right now and say to yourself in your mind after I read this. May I be held in compassion.

May my distress be eased. Where there's struggle, may there also be caring. May I be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. One more time. May I be held in compassion. Repeat that in your mind, each of these. May my distress be eased. Where there's struggle, may there be caring. And may I be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

And just notice, take that mindful moment for yourself. Notice how do you feel after that? Any shifts or not? If not, that's okay. Just notice that. We accept all that is in the moment. Maybe there's a lightness. Maybe there's a different energy. Maybe your energy is different. Maybe it was heavier before.

Maybe an emotion came up for you. So just try to be curious, stick around for that, noticing it. So can you come out loving kindness? How can you integrate it more? Whether that's in movements or out in public or with clients, this can be a great practice, by the way, with clients, especially for those that struggle to do affirmations about themselves, if they have low self esteem, low self worth, this can be a little bit gentler door in for them.

Now they may struggle with the wishing themselves as well, but that can be worked upon. Start with wishing someone else first, and then they can change the wording if that feels better. Maybe if it's really difficult to only do part of the loving kindness that I mentioned, but just know that there's lots of ways to do these practices.

And what I mentioned as far as the loving kindness. It's just a couple different ways. So just keep that in mind. If you like these practices, that may be something to explore more. So keep making note of that. All right, so this brings us to the last self care practice you may not have heard of. And this is something that I have experienced.

I have an experience with this. I can share. It's called ecstatic dance. What is that? It's a free form dancing with no choreography. That's what I liked because choreography is hard for me. I never went to dance class as a kid. So going as an adult, I took belly dance class many, many years ago and I would have to practice and practice, practice my ass off because it's so hard for me to learn.

But ecstatic dance doesn't have that. So you just make it up as you go, which totally suits me, may suit you as well, because you don't have to learn anything. And it's with music in a group. Now you can do it at home. I think that it is available over Zoom, but in a group, so they turn the music on. It could be meditation, spa like music, all the way to more ecstatic, high energy vibes.

Usually they start slow. And they come to like a climax and then it goes back down to like calmer music. And that allows just that self expression, stress relief, you bring mindfulness back. As well as movement, you're aware of what's going on in your body as you're moving, maybe you can bring even breath work.

Some people do some breath practices that are a bit heavier, just like we do in yoga. You can feel that connection between people. I know the ecstatic dance class that I went to is really fun and people would. Like vibe off each other, one be on the floor, the other would, sometimes we would imitate each other, both going in one direction.

If you remember like doing the snake in the eighties, not necessarily on the floor, but even standing. So waving your arms, maybe somebody's doing that, but it's just There are no rules, right? As long as you're not hurting yourself or someone else. Just removing any way that feels in the moment. Think about how therapeutic that can be and how fun.

Now, of course, we're going to have our inhibitions that can hold us back from that. Ooh, I don't want to look stupid or I don't want to look weird in front of people. But if you just allow, put that sign. Just allow yourself to get involved. I know you're going to find it so helpful. I had a client that loved and was so therapeutic for her.

That's how she felt community to you. That's another thing. If you engage in these practices and really find something near you, maybe you could make some new connections, new friends. new colleagues who knows maybe this is something you could offer to the community if you love it. And I will say one more thing about that.

It doesn't have to be ecstatic dance. Maybe you just want to put on some music and dance. That is one of my favorite activities is just to make up my own dancing upstairs. I have a loft and I put music on and there's my exercise and just release, let go. It just feels so, it's like you released so much.

Through that. Ooh, that was a lot. So I know a lot of different ideas. I hope it's not overwhelming, but again, save this episode. So you can come back to it and. Listen again, maybe you'll get something different next time. I hope you got at least one thing to try from this episode. And again, I'd love to hear from you if you have some ideas or if you want to share your experience with some of these practices.

Email me at chris at holistic counseling podcast dot com. I'd love to hear from you. And that brings us the end of another episode, but be sure to tune in next Wednesday when another episode drops. And are you struggling with feelings of burnout and emotional exhaustion in your counseling practice? Do you always put others first?

It's time to put yourself first as a therapist or counselor. The Self Care Counselor Companion Workbook is ready to go, and it's written with you in mind. So I have it available as a fillable version, or if you want that you can download. I also have it on Amazon. So this provides simple strategies that are not only practical, but easy to integrate because we know therapists are busy.

Counselors are busy, don't have time. So dive deeper into this world of holistic self care with some supplementary activities, bonus content, and links to video and audio meditation and yoga practices. Check it out today. The link for that is hcpodcast. org for slash workbook. That's H C podcast. Dot org forward slash workbook.

And you can also just go right onto Amazon and search self care for the counselor workbook by Chris McDowell's companion workbook. Thank you for all your support and I look forward to the next episode and sending each one of you much light and love. Till next time, take care. Thanks for listening. The information in this podcast is for general educational purposes only, and it is given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher, or the guests are giving legal, financial counseling, or any other kind of professional advice.

If you need a professional, please find the right one for you. The Holistic Counseling Podcast is proudly part of the Site Craft network.