198 Discovering Alignment & Purpose | Why I Decided To Rebrand this Podcast: Solo Episode By Chris McDonald

Chris McDonald: Hey, everyone. This is Chris McDonald from the Holistic Counseling Podcast. I have some thrilling news coming your way. After three amazing years of exploring the world of holistic counseling and holistic modalities together, it's time for an exciting transformation. I'm rebranding and evolving into a more yoga based podcast with a new name, new focus.

New vision and offerings with more opportunities for connecting and more ways to get involved with the podcast. In our upcoming episode, I'll take you through the journey we've had so far, share the reasons behind this change and give you a sneak peek in the incredible new content I have in store for you.

You'll also get a glimpse into the new tagline and description. Trust me, you don't want to miss this episode. Tune in to our special pivot episode. As we embark on this new chapter together 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.

Do you have any ethical or legal concerns about blending holistic modalities with traditional therapy? Is this holding you back from integrating these? You are not alone. There are some things to consider to protect your license in practice. Before diving into holistic counseling strategies. This is why I created my one hour recorded training, the ethical and legal considerations of holistic counseling.

In it, we will explore how to protect yourself against liability as a holistic therapist. You will learn more about scope of practice versus scope of competence and informed consent. Also addressed is how you can expand your therapy practice ethically into the holistic realms and where to draw the line.

I also address the ethics of research based interventions and how this works for holistic counseling practices. You get all this plus one continuing education contact hour. To learn more, go to hcpodcast. org forward slash ethics course. That's hcpodcast. org forward slash ethics course. Welcome to today's episode of the Holistic Counseling Podcast.

This is a very special episode and I have some exciting news. This will be the last one for the holistic counseling podcast. I was very anxious to start this podcast today. It's been a journey. So many amazing things and I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. Had to do some breath work before I started today.

Just a lot of emotion. So some grief, I've really had to sit with a grief of this because whenever we have a transition, there's always a loss. So just the sadness letting go, but a mix of excitement. So guess what? The holistic counseling podcast is not going away. It is rebranding. I'm rebranding this podcast into a more niche direction.

So this is what today's episode is all about. It's about change. It's about transformation and moving forward, moving towards passion, moving forward to offer you more as a listener. So this podcast has been about for over three years. We've had some incredible discussions. With other guests, I've had some pretty good solo episodes.

I must say so myself, uh, many holistic topics. We've had things from bringing Tara into sessions, essential oils, angels, past life regression. So many, they can't all be named here. And I'm so grateful for all the guests that have been here with the journey and you as well as the listener. I wouldn't be here today without you.

And of course. trauma informed yoga. So that has been my journey through all of these wonderful learnings. For me, I learned so much from this episode, from each and every guest, from listeners, but I want to bring to you today the whole scoop on all of this. So my journey with the creation of this podcast, the good, the bad, the good, And the ugly.

Yes, there can be ugly parts. Not too many, but I'll keep it real. I want to be totally transparent for you. Give you a peek behind the curtain where I want the new branded podcast to go to give you the content you crave and offer more value than you've never had before from this podcast and from me and my whole business.

So I want to share. My tagline for the new podcast, the description and reveal some upcoming topics I think you'll be excited about, as well as some reasons for the current name change. So let's get to it. So there's a lot here. If you could see me now in my office, I have. So many pieces of paper up. I really tried to sit down and think about what would be the best way to bring this for you so you can understand this whole process for me.

I have papers all for me and notes and going to take a breath, take a breath in with me, letting it go. So I am moving in a more yoga focused direction. So I first started this podcast just to rewind for a moment. I was originally had a different podcast. You may not know, some of you know, it was called Nothing Left to Give.

So it was geared towards mental health and healthcare professionals who are dealing with burnout. And I would have guests on to talk about it, take deep dives into it, talk about strategies. I did that for about a year, but then I just got kind of, it felt bland. It was missing something. And there was a small part of me wanting to bring more holistic strategies, modalities, but I wasn't sure how.

So I do got to thank. Joe Sanok of the Practice of the Practice podcast, shout out to him. He was my coach and he helped me actually birth this current podcast, the Holistic Counseling podcast. He's amazing. And he came up with the idea for the name. So we wanted something simple to the point so people could understand what it was.

And I was like, yes, let's do this. Let's move on to the holistic journey. And I wanted to build more community. So I ended the other podcast, which was sad too, but not as sad as this one. Cause this one has my whole heart into it. My whole connected self. So this one's a little bit more emotional for me because I really feel like I've integrated my full self with you here on this journey, but here's where I'm at.

So after three and a half years, I have not missed a week. I don't know if you look back and see all the weeks for the past three years, there's been an episode. And sometimes twice a week, I was even doing some twice a week. I really started to feel burned out by the summer of 2024. Was not feeling myself, kind of dreaded reaching out to guests to get more people on the show.

And I realized in June, I'm like, something's got to give, I gotta do something different. I just wasn't feeling it as much. Wasn't as excited anymore, which is not like me. Because, uh, you know, if you listen to this show that I just love holistic modalities and sharing this with you, but something was missing and I wasn't sure what it was or what to do about it.

But as I've grown with this podcast, I've had some, some different focus groups individually or in groups. One of the number one things that people want to learn is how to integrate yoga into sessions. That was one reason that I started that course. And I have a pilot course that will soon be launching the regular course.

So be on the lookout for that yoga basics. I'm excited about that. How to integrate yoga. Ethically and safely as well. That was another thing as far as holistic modalities. Can we do these holistic modalities? How do we do these ethically and safely? Which brought me to creating my one hour course, how to do this ethically and safely ethical and legal considerations of holistic counseling.

I'll have that in the show notes as well. But here's the deal. Here's where I'm going to keep it real with you. It did not grow as much as I thought it would. It grew for a while, but then it started to level off. I think this was of fall 2023. And then it declined and then it declined, which is fine. I still have a good base of listeners and I love all of you that are still here, but this was very disappointing.

So this really made me think, are people just feeling like this is too broad? And I felt like as much as I love all these new holistic modalities and so many things that I haven't heard of and you haven't heard of, I felt like I need to niche down, I wasn't sure where to go or do I just end this podcast?

Which brought a lot of sadness. And I wasn't sure if that's what I really wanted to do. So I actually talked to a different coach. I feel like getting consultation and coaching from other people, other perspectives that can be more objective, right? Cause we have emotion with something we're tied into when we birth something.

So I talked to Christie Hausler and she's host podcast monetization secrets. So check that out. Shout out to her. She has some amazing episodes in there, but she's the one that said, Why not rebrand this? As a yoga podcast. At first, I was like, Oh, I'm just gonna be honest with you. It's a lot of work, a lot of back work to try to rebrand.

But the more and more I thought about it, the more my passion grew with the more that my excitement, because this is what many of you have been wanting more yoga and yoga practices. We'll get into more of what that means soon for this episode. What does that mean? So this was what brought me to where I am right now to rebrand this, especially as my two pilot courses for therapists went so well.

And people were so excited and many just starting to integrate these practices, which makes me smile. If you're not on video, can't see me smiling. It just does my heart so good to know that I can help people to be brave, to bring these practices in session, but do it safely and ethically, how do we do that?

Right. And to help people understand the ethics of this and to really move forward, especially if you feel that calling. And I think. The counseling field is moving more in this direction, moving more into body based somatic practices. To me, yoga is somatic practice, 100 percent bringing the body into therapy.

But for me also body, mind, and spirit. So let me bring some truths to you. I have three truths I want to share. So number one, I feel like teaching therapists how to integrate yoga into session is the direction I want to go for my business. This is my calling. When I think about it, if I just close my eyes, Dig deep into my soul and my heart.

I just feel like it lights me up for me. And I talked to clients about this too. If something lights you up, you just know it. There's not a question. There's no doubts. It's 150%. Yes. Let's go. Let's do this. And it's of course. What takes me away from that is self doubt, imposter syndrome I've talked about, burnout, can kind of take me off that road of what I want, right?

Of what lights me up. So that's the truth number one. That is what lights me up is being able to help you to learn how to integrate. Somatic practices. We don't have to call it yoga. We can redefine it as somatic practices as well. And I've been doing that since, let's see, 2017, 2018, 2019. I was doing lots of workshops for therapists locally and teaching some of these practices and they loved it.

So much positive feedback. That's the place I've always wanted to go is more hands on things with trainings. I feel like people crave that. It's just such a way to help with our own self care. Truth number two, the current podcast, the Holistic Counseling Podcast is not taking me in the direction I want to go to within my business.

As I've rechanged my goals and honest to God, I never thought I would have a course for therapists on how to integrate yoga. That's not the original part of this journey, but that's cool, man. Sometimes we got to be flexible, see where life takes us and our learning take us. So my business, the way I want to go once I really sat down and really thought about a business plan, I want to offer more courses to therapists.

And it's not all just yoga based, you know, there could be some other learnings in there that are related. It's not always asana, which people think of yoga, they think of movement. It's not always movement. There could be other. Other ideas for courses in the future. Another thing that has come up over the years through this podcast, I've had many, many people reaching out and I've offered some consultation, individual consultation to therapists on how do I start a holistic business or how do I integrate yoga into sessions?

Because that is a scary journey I've learned for me and for everyone, especially as licensed professionals. If we're not licensed, then it's not as big of a deal. It is a big deal, but it's not, we can lose with our licensure. We can lose our license. And many people have that if we're not within our ethical codes and if we're not doing things the right, correct way.

So I've offered some of these individual consultations, but I thought I would love in the future to expand to not just do individual consultation for therapists to help them in their holistic journey, but also maybe offer some group coaching or consultation. just to provide that additional support. And that's one thing that a lot of the therapists in my yoga basics group have said that they really need more of that support.

And that leads me to the next thing I want to offer is individual consultation for cases. So to have a safe space where therapists can come to say, Hey, I'm feeling stuck. I don't know where to go with this client. I want to integrate some yoga practices. How do I do that? What do I do that? What can I offer them so that we can come together as a.

community to put our minds together, our hearts together to figure out what would be best. And I don't know if that's offered anywhere. I've never seen that before, but I'm pretty stoked to think that this could be an amazing offering for people. And maybe offering some of this as part of a membership in the future, where maybe there could be some trainings.

Some of the consultation as well as just yoga practices that therapists can learn for themselves personally and professionally. And I'm still thinking on the membership what that could look like. But so far I've had really good feedback from the focus groups I've had where I've discussed this as a possible future.

So lining up the podcast with my offerings to a more niched audience, I think. would be truly, truly amazing. Truth number three, to really build a community of listeners who are most connected to each other, we need more of a clear direction and purpose. So I think the more defined interests we have, the more we can feel connected and understand each other more.

Not that we can't understand each other now, but I don't know about you, but if you have a holistic or other modality, doesn't even have to be holistic, that you are passionate about, that you love so much, whether that's EMDR, EFT, brain spotting, whatever it is. There's something different when you come into the room with other providers, other therapists who offer the same thing.

I don't know about you, but when I meet somebody who does brainspotting or trauma informed yoga, we are just, can't stop talking and we connect immediately. There's just this understanding and connection that's so deep. Now, on the opposite end, if we have a group that's just quote unquote holistic, that's nice, but for me, it doesn't go as deep.

So I think just moving, pivoting to more of a niched audience, I think it's going to bring more of you together that are also interested in these. It's going to make such a difference, I think. And I'm going to get some of the more of those offerings in a moment. So to find the like minded people, right?

Other therapists who want to integrate yoga practices, who are just as motivated, just as passionate, who are non traditional, and that's a word that I have in my tagline coming up I'm going to announce. Therapists who love somatic practices as well, even if they don't want to call it yoga, they're still doing mindfulness or somatic practices.

We'll get a lot out of this podcast. To really bring us all together in community. is a great goal of mine, which has always been right to build homeless community, deeper connections, richer support. And I think it can also bring more opportunities to collaborate. Maybe we can find more ways to support each other on these journeys.

I hope all this is making sense of my three truths. Moving on, I just wanted to validate, take a moment. I know many of you may be sad if you really love this podcast. And I so appreciate you. And I see you. I hear you. But life has changed, and sometimes we do have to move in a different direction that feels more in alignment.

I feel like this is aligned with my higher self. I feel like it's aligned with the direction of my soul, where I want to go, where I want to be, to reach more people. So if I can really connect with more therapists and teach them these practices, that's going to help more clients, help therapists to get even more effective in their counseling, to add these additional.

amazing holistic practices with yoga, I think is just going to be phenomenal in the result. We can change the world with yoga, in my opinion, one person at a time. But, um, some things I want you to also know is I'm still going to offer the same quality content. That's not going to change. We're going to have our amazing editor, Amanda, who is still going to be working with me.

She's helping me get things set up. I so appreciate her. Shout out to her. One thing that's going to change is I'm want to have more solo episodes so that you can hear more from me and learn from me. As well as still having some guests, because from my focus groups, a lot of you listeners love the guests as well.

The back and forth I heard, um, just having different insights and kind of like two brains working together for the guest interviews. But what stays the same is still a holistic focus. So this is still, in some ways, still a holistic counseling podcast, right? It's just going to be more niched, more yoga focused.

So, and oh, just so you know, any guests that comes on, they are only allowed to come on if they can talk about how their topic ties into yoga somehow. So this is going to narrow down the niche even more because before I would allow other people to come on if they were holistic related in some way, but that is so broad if you think about all the different kinds of topics I've had.

So let's narrow that down, right? And again, you've, you've heard the reasons in this podcast, why, how that can really help us. I still want to offer more opportunities to connect in community, maybe some more opportunities. I think that could be amazing in the future. Allowing some Zoom groups, maybe we could meet sometimes, have a Zoom party, provide a little brief training or discussion and allow Q& A and you as listeners to share with each other as well.

I'm also hoping to continue some holistic happy hours locally if you're in the Triangle area of North Carolina. And who knows, maybe I can broaden that if I travel some places, who knows. So I'm trying to be creative to figure out how to best build community. I still have my Facebook group is going to stay the same.

I have the holistic counseling and self care group. We'll have that in the show notes. So if you're not a part of that, please join. We'd love to have you in our group. Lots of support in there. Trauma free zone as much as we can keep it that way. We try. I have amazing admins in there and moderators. So that will stay the same.

I'm gonna change the name, but it's still gonna be there. Still gonna offer some self-care. And that's the other thing with this podcast, I still wanna have some self-care in there. 'cause I think this all ties in with being the best that we can be as mental health therapists. I want more opportunities for learning for you, even in the Facebook group, so that we can continue to build community through these mini trainings and more support for you.

'cause it's not easy to take this route to step out of our comfort zone to. move into holistic modalities. It takes a lot of courage. It takes a lot of time and practice to shift our thinking. And I'm going to get more into those in some of the early episodes that I will be doing in the podcast as well.

It's taking on a different identity, I think, as a therapist. Other things that will change. So it's going to be more clear focused, which I think is a positive change. Only yoga related content or somatic based. I'm going to talk more about how to integrate. into your practice, some tips for that strategies, what that could look like, what that means more solo episodes, like I said, and I do hope in 2025 to bring in some coaching episodes.

What does that mean? So as a listener, I want to give opportunities for you to come on the show and ask a question that maybe I could help with you on the air. So this could be maybe how do I integrate breath work? Or how do I integrate? One movement practice, a very basic one into session. When do I do this?

So those kinds of questions, or how do I set up my counseling practice to make it more trauma informed yoga integrated. And then that way that can help with finding people who may want to move on to either individual consultation or. small group. I'm looking at my notes and trying to read my notes now.

I had so much stuff I wanted to get out when I was creating the outline for this. So what I do just behind the scenes, as I create solo episodes, I really try to come up with an outline to keep me on track, because I don't want to just waste your time or mine. Just, you know, Not being clear what I'm bringing to you.

So what's going to change? So less guest interviews, more solo. What I want to do once a month is have an episode release called a yoga snack. So what is a yoga snack? For some reason, when I say that, it just makes me giggle. I don't know why, but it just sounds funny to me. So yoga snack is going to be a shorter episode.

This whole episode, 15 minutes or? or shorter, and it's going to include a yoga practice, a yoga philosophy, some takeaway that you can take with you to bring with you. And just remember one thing I wanted to just back up on when I say yoga, it's not just asana. So yoga means there's eight limbs, right? With yoga.

So it could be meditation practice, especially the yoga snacks can be just a meditation practice. It could be a very simple somatic practice or gentle movement, or it could be a yoga philosophy. A yoga lifestyle. So there's so many different things that we can bring in to yoga. So it is broad, but it is niched if that makes sense, but including all those eight limbs, right?

Yoga sutras, all of the, all of it. So what else is going to change? Again, I want to offer more courses, more ways to help support you. And again, this may change in the future of how I bring this to you. This is where I am right now today. So just, just stay tuned because I'm hoping that this can, we can build this together.

And thrive together. Cause I always like your input on these on how to best do this. I do hope to even do some role plays. Maybe I haven't figured out how to do just yet, but what could a session sound like that integrates yoga? So that might be a possibility, more opportunities for you to get involved with the podcast.

Like I said, maybe some of these zoom parties I might have to. get you involved in some ways, because of course, I always want your feedback to hear about what is best with moving forward with the podcast. And are you happy with the way things are? And what else would you like to hear? I always want to get listener involvement as much as possible.

So what is the name of the new podcast? This took a long time to decide on this. So what I decided for the name, since it is going to be more yoga based. It's going to be about yoga. And I had a poll out in my Facebook group in my email list to help me decide on this. So what I decided was it's going to be called yoga in the therapy room.

And what I've learned through trainings I've had coaches I've had for podcasting is you want the name to reflect what people want to get out of the podcast and for them to know what it's about immediately. Cause if you have a cutesy, funny name, inside joke that nobody gets. It's not going to help you get listeners.

Nobody's going to know what it's about. But I think yoga in the therapy room, it's pretty clear. It tells you what's in it. The goal is to help each and every one of you listening to bring some yoga practices. And if you don't want to do movement, breath, meditation, that's cool. Maybe you could bring in some yoga philosophy.

Maybe you could bring in a somatic practice. Maybe some grounding that's also yoga. Mindfulness. That could be all part of this podcast. So the tagline, drumroll please. Yoga in the therapy room. The non traditional therapist's guide to integrating yoga into your therapy practice. What do you think? That took a while, too.

I really wanted to make this connected to where everyone is that's listening and where they want to go. And let me read the description for you as well. Welcome to Yoga in the Therapy Room, the non traditional therapist guide to integrating yoga into their therapy practice. This podcast is designed to empower mental health therapists with the knowledge and confidence to integrate yoga into their sessions safely and ethically.

Whether you're new at yoga or looking to enhance your therapeutic toolkit, our trauma informed approach ensures that you can incorporate simple, easy to use yoga practices tailored to your client's needs. Just as we explore practical techniques, discuss the latest Yoga philosophies and share expert insights to help you seamlessly blend yoga with traditional therapy methods, discover how yoga can support trauma recovery, reduce anxiety and depression, and foster a deeper connection with your clients.

And in that therapeutic relationship, additionally, learn how these practices can serve as a powerful form of self care for therapists. Enhancing your overall wellbeing and resilience. Deepen your knowledge of different yoga traditions and practices and learn how to keep these practices accessible for all clients, regardless of their physical abilities or experience with yoga.

Experience the added benefit of personal and professional transformation. Enriching both your therapy practice and your own life. Tune in to Yoga in the Therapy Room. Start your journey towards a more holistic and effective therapy practice today. I'm going to pause there. So what do you think? I'd love to hear from you.

Yes, I really feel like this really sums it all up on what I want to bring to you. Let me bring to you some possible topics that I'm going to look to integrate into this podcast. One thing I mentioned in the description is some of the benefits. What are the benefits? The science. What does science say that yoga does that's beneficial?

How does it help with anxiety, depression, trauma? So many different parts of us, right? Physically, how does it help? And as you heard, I want an emphasis on the personal and professional benefits because it does benefit you as well. How can you bring a more personal practice for yourself to help your self care and help you to be a better?

Overall therapist or counselor. Also, I want to have an episode on debunking the myths of integrating yoga into practice, but debunking myths about yoga in general, I hear a lot of myths or misunderstandings of what yoga is and really want to dive into that much deeper. How you can start a personal practice and ways to get yourself motivated.

Stay on track with that. Yoga for special populations. One of my core beliefs is to make this accessible for everyone. Also for neurodiverse populations, chronically ill, those with chronic pain, for diverse populations, and of course, everyone. The ethical guidelines, where this can go as far as yoga and sessions, safety considerations, and more ways on how to integrate with clients in session.

Like I mentioned, restorative yoga practices. I think that can be so amazing for clients in session or as homework, yoga nidra, yoga for sleep. Sleep is just such an important consideration, affects everything that we do. One thing I hear a lot from listeners is, The paperwork portion, which is why I included that in my course.

We could talk some about the liability forms. I want to have a giveaway. One of my first free giveaways is going to be how to create a yoga liability form. It's going to be that. Stay tuned for that. I'm going to be get that going very soon as well as how to create informed consent for yoga. So there's a lot to this.

But so much more. So yoga practices, yoga sutras, the yamas and niyamas, which are things that we should do and shouldn't do in our lives if we want to follow the yogic lifestyle. So there's so much that we can bring into this podcast. So much that we can do. It's just phenomenal where we can go with this.

So let's just take a moment. This has been a lot on this episode. And I feel right now that I'm feeling a little bit more excited. I hope you are too, but I understand if there's some sadness to you, endings can be challenging for everyone, but just know that I'm right here with you. And I hope you'll stay with me, stick with me in this journey.

Cause I think that no matter who you are, what kind of practice you have as a therapist, I think there will be things that you'll find you'll get out of this podcast. Even if it's just self care. Well, not just self care. Self care's pretty phenomenal to work on for yourself. But thanks for being with me today and tuning in.

And of course, all the support. It just, it does my heart so good to, to feel that from you and all the love. I see you. I'm here with you along in this journey. And I hope I can continue to support you. Thanks for being part of this holistic counseling podcast. And I hope Hope, hope that you still listen and be with me through the rebrand as I offer more things to support you and your journey and breathe life into yoga in the therapy room on September 18th is the release date.

Get ready for three episodes to drop that day. And until then, some questions for you. Are you struggling with finding time for self care? Does your self care routine need a reboot? My Self Care for the Companion Workbook was written with you in mind. This workbook provides simple strategies that are not only practical, but easy to integrate into your busy life.

Discover how to boost your energy and how to improve healthy habits for eating, exercise, and sleep. Revitalize your holistic morning and evening self care routines, plus get access to links for soothing meditation, self massage, and grounding yoga. Elevate your well being. and become a more mindful counselor today.

Check it out at hcpodcast. org forward slash workbook. That's hcpodcast. org forward slash workbook. And once again, this is Chris McDonald sending each one of you much light and love until 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 assistance. Transcripts provided by Transcription Outsourcing, LLC.

Aaron Potratz: Hey there, I'm Aaron Potratz. And I'm Nathan Hawkins. If you don't know us yet, we're the hosts of The Shrinkthink Podcast, which bridges the gap between therapists and clients.

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Join us every Wednesday in our engaging, informative conversations and light hearted humor to help you normalize and demystify therapy for those beginning or continuing their mental health journey.

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We seek to run the gamut of topics to pull back the curtain and empower effective

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