Psych Bytes with CCS is a weekly podcast hosted by Student Life Counseling and Consultation Service. This show is dedicated to discussing a wide range of topics pertaining to mental health commonly experienced in the college setting. It is important to note that this podcast is not a substitute for therapy. All of the topics on this show, while discussed by professionals are strictly psycho educational, and meant to inform listeners on available resources, skills and support. Topics on this show can be sensitive in nature. And should you find yourself needing additional support or resources, please visit ccs.osu.edu or call us at 614-292-5766. With that in mind, enjoy the show. What is up everybody and welcome to Psych Bytes. My name is Josh. And today we are joined by Martha Wessel, a licensed independent social worker who is also embedded with housing and residents education here at The Ohio State University. Welcome, Martha.
Martha Wessel:Thanks for having me.
Josh Bailey:Very glad to have you. And I'm glad to have you because today we're going to be talking about an interesting concept. And that is holistic practice. And where I would like to start is maybe just getting the general understanding of what is holistic practice? What do you mean by that?
Martha Wessel:Yeah, that's a great question. When I explain this to anyone that either I work with individually, or if I'm explaining in a practice setting, I usually describe the kind of approach that I use, which is integrative body, mind, spirit, social work. So I think of like, holistically we are these beings that exist in the world. And we have a component to us, that is the environmental world that we live in. We have biological sense that's within us, as well as this spirit/soul, basically the stuff that fills us. So when we look at a holistic practice, it's what are all the different things that we can do to help find balance in a world that we live in, that has so many circles of problem living surrounding us.
Josh Bailey:Probably living, yes. What is that? What do you So problem living could be, you know, we can't control the mean?
Martha Wessel:Oh, problem living is like everything. You know, all the things that we cannot control, you know, one of this verbiage is not going to be exact, but Viktor Frankl talks finances that we kept coming in, or the amount of homework that about you know, we cannot control— we cannot control what happens to us. But we can control how we respond. We use that often as therapists. And we think that oh, we can control our emotional responses. However, we have to learn how to we're assigned or reading assignments, or if we have recognize them, be present with them, not ignore them, and engage in them. family obligations, we can't avoid them, we have to learn how to interface with them in a way that we can find balance.
Josh Bailey:That sounds very tricky, because oftentimes, we are probably more over controlled than we would like to admit, and having so many things outside of our control creates a lot of tension, anxiety, frustration. All kinds of stuff I would presume, and can probably attest to if I really reflect on my own experience on the day to day, anytime I go to the gas station, I have a bit of a moment. And we'll just call it that.
Martha Wessel:But you're not allowed to have that because you're a therapist, right?
Josh Bailey:Yeah,
Martha Wessel:We as therapists don't experience anxiety at all.
Josh Bailey:100%. No, right. Yeah, we are definitely just on the robot side of things. We got it all figured out. Insider tip here, folks, we all feel, we all struggle. Let's talk about the concepts of body, mind, spirit soul. How do we integrate those into a holistic practice or a holistic way of managing our day to day, or problem living, as you were
Martha Wessel:Yeah, so why don't we start with the gas talking about? station example? Because it's perfect. You asked like how do these things around us, we can't avoid them. We have these constant pressures, whether they be things that we bring upon ourselves by having stimuli around us. I know, like, my phones big. I have notifications and alerts and things like that, which is an operant bell that gives me just a pang of anxiety and panic. And it, like it's too much for my brain to maintain. So I stepped back and I learn, and I have to set boundaries as to how much can I take in what's realistic because I cannot just tell the world I'd like to live under a rock and go away from all the problems. I have to learn how to interface in it. And that in its sense, is how we find a mindful balance, whether So in those moments, if I'm at the gas station, and I'm panicked because there's now TVs on gas— like, I don't understand that, like, you start to watch the news. And anyway, I realized I don't have to watch it, I can turn, I can look at my car, I can actually be present with filling my gas, and then be mindful of the air that I'm breathing if I need to move away from that air and go in my car. we call it mindfulness meditation, grounding, re centering, becoming aware of the experiences in our body, as we're feeling them, not ignoring them, and just kind of blundering through the day. But becoming congruent with the sensations as well as the feeling and letting them come together and really realize how they impact our overall happiness.
Josh Bailey:But what if like, my way of distracting myself, or managing all these external stressors is by deep diving into tiktok, Snapchat, Instagram, things like that all the things that we're learning can actually be counterproductive and making myself more anxious because Google is always listening. So my algorithm turns into, "The world is on fire. Everything is bad, everything is awful." What are some other ways that maybe I could consider taking care of myself or stepping away from that, like you were talking about?
Martha Wessel:When we think of that, I don't think it's completely like running away and changing everything. So it's like, okay, look at the world and circumstances of problem living. Like, I used to think Tiktok was the bane of all evil. And now I realized that, okay, there are actually some really great trends that are out there. When I've worked with people that, you know, I might talk about this academic theory or approach to mindfulness and someone shares with me, "Oh, well, I learned about this meditation, or mindfulness thing." And I'm like, okay, that works. Like, let's do it. But if we think about the things that we might, I use the word often like, whether it's binging or Doom scrolling, you know, there can be a healthy response, because we're going to these things, because we're overstimulated, and our bodies and our brains naturally need to come to a homeostasis. So if we recognize that, okay, everything in moderation, moderation is the key, where if I have enough and then can put a realistic boundary on it, and recognize when I hit a satiation point, or I'm full, like, "Okay, I'm balanced," versus wanting to watch an entire season of— I'm a Marvel person, so I go down this scrolling tube of whatever's new and shiny in the relationship to comics. But I recognize that that's happening, maybe I didn't tend to something during my week, maybe things are out of balance. And that is an alert for me to go back and relook at and shift things around. Whether that be talking to another professional, or a peer or a friend, just be like, "Hey, does this does this make sense?" Because in our worlds of immersion, and technology, which is not just a bad thing, it's not a bad thing. There's not black and white, you know, if we think about the theory of Yin and Yan, you know? Everything's interchanging and working towards a balance, it's not the static circle with like a little squiggly and a dot on either side, that's always moving and working towards finding a balance, there's not a balance to achieve. It's always balancing. You know, looking at what's, what is a good balance right now. So giving labels of like, all Tiktok is bad, or all video gaming is bad, or, you know, whatever, the thing, no, let's go back and see what is what is a good balance for us in a moment. And if we're out of balance, then we got to go backward and be like, are we balance here? Makes sense?
Josh Bailey:It does. And it really spoke to me kind of talking about, we're not just trying to find a balance, something that's going to be static, and just forever, once I figure this out, it's just going to be perfect and fine. And I'm going to feel great all the time, but instead balancing. So there may be certain days where I do need to maybe just veg out a little bit, take a break, play video game, watch a show. But then there's other days where maybe I need to table that a little bit. So I can focus more on my academics, I can focus more on my social life, I can focus more on my dietary practices or whatever. It's just figuring out where the gaps are filling them. Being aware of new gaps will obviously form because life is going to do what life does and that's be unpredictable and drop stuff in our lap all the time. So balancing, a persistent state of balancing versus just finding that one ideal balance that will never have to shift never have to adjust again.
Martha Wessel:Right. And the two— like a couple of things that you mentioned there and I think one when you didn't mention that made me think of because we talked about like nutrition. Like oftentimes, like when we go through, you know being the school of us or the product of us, whether it be in life as an employee or a parent. If we think about the things that are, at the end of the day that are due, like, oh, I have these assignments that are due, I have this deadline that's due. Like, yeah, I don't need a snack right now, I can put off sleeping a little bit. But it's like, if we come back to looking at that, it's like, Oh, I didn't prioritize that thing. And our bodies are these incredible, like, computers that need restoration and sleep, like our brain has to have it, it does not function properly if it does not have it. We need to have the fuel, we need to have the appropriate amount of fuel. And sometimes we get so stuck in the psyche part of us that we forget about those body needs. So coming back to this full circle of like, holistic balance is, let's look at like what is our body needs. It's just as important because we only get one body, we have to treat it
Josh Bailey:Okay, so be nice to yourself. well. And especially if we're in the place of learning, if I could go back and talk to myself as a younger person, I don't think I'd share any pearls of wisdom other than like, treat yourself well now to create a healthy habit. So that can just be easy peasy, later on in life, and I can learn how to prioritize my own needs, set boundaries and find an ability to have that balance without it being work.
Martha Wessel:Yeah.
Josh Bailey:Give yourself a little bit of grace. Everything doesn't have to be rigid. Everything doesn't have to be perfect. It's going to be dynamic, it's going to be adjusting, and what is good today may need to shift a little bit to be good tomorrow.
Martha Wessel:Yeah, and if we stuffed those things, usually that's when our body like trips up and is like, Hey, I got a little anxiety hanging out here in my stomach. Like I tell people like I have a joke and say like, I have the stress baby and it's like on the right side of my body. And it's funny, I engage in holistic practices for my own wellness and sought therapy with an acupuncturist. And I'm talking to the acupuncturist, the acupuncturist was like,"Well, you know, that area, your body is called the hypochondria." I was like, "Then you're telling me I'm a hypochondriac." And they're like, "No, but you know, Greek origin." I'm like, I'm thinking about it, then I'm like ancestrally, in our world, people have carried stress, like way back in Greek times. And it's this place, like quite literally where our stomach goes into our intestine. And if you know, that's different from having ulcers in our stomach, you know, this is just easily like, if we are not in balance, our food does not go through our body to absorb what it needs. So it's like, I know, like, that's the first indicator for me that I'm out of balance, because I'm feeling that stress, even if I don't know about it. So when we're younger, we have a better body, oftentimes, So getting to know our bodies, where we hold our stress. I asked people you know, sometimes we minimalize things like, "I have a headache, because I was on a screen too much." Like, do you really? Or are you overthinking this thing? You know, are you tensing your hands around a steering wheel? Or when you're typing like, do you hold stress in your wrist? Have you nurtured yourself? And other ways that you're just ignoring generally speaking, not to label but oftentimes, we don't think those parts. about our bodies and our body experience as much. And if you notice that now in your earlier years, then you have a longer body experience that is balanced.
Josh Bailey:Okay, I'd like to shift a little bit moving away from body and stuff. And we talked about body mind, spirit and soul. So I'm curious about the spirit and soul. Like, is this just tapping into a religious vein? Or is there something more to that?
Martha Wessel:Yeah, no, no— well, yes, well, that's paradoxical, because it can be religious. So in— when I, when I talk about this, usually I see faces that cringe because it's like, do I want to talk about this in front of other people? Like, is that something that's stigmatized? Is that like, okay to talk about in public? Is it not okay? Wait a minute, you're a therapist, I can't talk about my religion because you're not clergy. Like, no, I'm not clergy. But if your religion is a part of you and your experience with your spirit, that's okay. mind and what brings you peace? You know, there in meditative practices, there are some that we talk about with loving kindness, where we talk about being happy feeling at peace or feeling at ease, and it's, you know, some people religion and prayer finds that peace. And some people, it's an experience in nature, and some people it's an experience being connected to community. Sometimes we don't even think about it. We just naturally do it, therefore we become balanced. But when we talk about like really looking at that— so if we think about bringing it into like Ohio State's 10 domains of wellness, we have spirit on there too. And usually that's the last one that students are most apprehensive to talk about, because realistically, when we're in that frontal lobe development and the period of age that we're from, like, you know, 17 to 25, I think is the range. Don't quote me on it, but it's like, we're still developing that part of identity, and who we are and what fills us. So it's natural to be in a state in place of questioning, you know, how do I connect with the larger world? What are my beliefs? Are my beliefs similar to my family? Are they similar to new friends and groups that I'm connecting with? And so like that, overall, finding your soul and finding your sense of self, it can be a very ambiguous and not easy thing to describe. And it's okay for that to just be like a question or discovery, right?
Josh Bailey:So it's one of those ones you're kind of feeling around until you find, or maybe throwing spaghetti at the wall, figuring out what what does fill your cup. Yeah. So as you're talking about that, I often think about going camping, right? Spending time in that country. And it just, I do genuinely feel different when I'm in the woods. When I'm just alone. I've made a fire. It's quiet, and I'm just disconnected from everything. I don't have cell phone service. I am— it's just me. And that's it, or whoever may be tagging along with me on that particular weekend. But that's where I find that sense of peace, or that sense of tranquility that you were alluding to before. And I believe you alluded to this as well, that this is an area that people most often struggle with. This is the hardest thing for people to address.
Martha Wessel:Yeah, can be. Yeah. What is funny is you're talking about that with like, the camping experience. You know, what, what a holistic practice, and I look at holistic responses to how we can be balanced and who we are as like a holistic well being. There's a practice called Shinrin Yoku. I don't know if we've talked about this before.
Josh Bailey:I don't think we have.
Martha Wessel:So Shinrin Yoku, like directly translated Japanese term. It means "forest bathing." And I share this often with students who are like, Yeah, I love to go outside. Like, Okay, well, there's actually like physiological responses in our body, when we go outside and spend time in nature where it's not just those happy hormones that we fill our brain, but our bodies are better able to build immunities to combat illness. You know, naturally, we're able to balance our blood pressure, at least, I'm not an overly scientific person, but I know I'm like, Oh, I breathe better if I'm outside. Oh, like my blood pressure is a little bit more regulated. It goes beyond that to like, the actual biochemical systems within our bodies, how they are balanced. And so in some societies in our world, you know, that is very much, not only encouraged, but like, rewarded and reinforced in ways where I think it's harder for me, in my experience in society to do that. So I set intentions of doing things like you've mentioned, like spending time in nature, but it doesn't have to be a weekend in the Sierras. It can be just going outside. I don't know a meditative practice that I like to do is "earthing." And going outside taking my shoes off, and my office is in the North Campus corridor, I might look like weird hippie therapist, social worker, but like shoes off, like you feel the earth like you feel connected to. For me, that's something that's bigger than, you know, my little human experience. And, you know, that I don't know where that connects with the bigger world, but it makes me feel more present and my experience in the moment. And like you said, like, if you're camping or with other people that could be with others. That could be by yourself. It just, like, it helps you be present in the moment focusing on what you want to in any given time.
Josh Bailey:Yeah. I think I see that a lot. In the, you know, warmer months in the spring months as we wind up each spring semester. If you walk past Buckeye Grove, any given afternoon, you will see all the hammocks cast up between the trees, it looks like a spider web. Just intertwined, but everybody's just out there lounging, enjoying the warmth, enjoying the air. So even if we aren't intentionally doing it, I think a lot of people may, if they reflect, find that they're doing this very unintentionally, just because of the physiological, the emotional reaction that they get from it, or benefit that they get from it.
Martha Wessel:Yeah, yeah. And don't you notice too at times, like you can see how we build a sense of community that way, too, where we tend to harbor in in colder months, because we don't like to go outside and walk as much, you know. But yeah, it just it builds a different sense of self and whether that's a seasonal depression, something that's a whole different thing, but that we have those natural environments where we're building those for ourselves whether we realize it or not. and putting ourselves in an environmental situation, to have that with one another.
Josh Bailey:I really enjoy this. And quite honestly, I could probably go on about it all day because it's definitely got all the little synapses in my brain firing right now. But I want to land the plane here. And I'm curious if there's anything that you would like to close on or any parting wisdom that you'd like to share?
Martha Wessel:So I think the best thing that I would encourage everyone to think about whether you embrace a concept such as holistic or not, just to consider looking at the bigger picture of our mental health and wellness, and look at the things that you might have already been doing in your life that worked, and how the situations in our lives as they change how things shift around. And so we can go back to what has worked for us in time to feel a balance. And so I think about that, like directly is, you know, we forget about play when we go to college, and we become academics, and we're learning to be professionals. And it's important that we fill ourselves with the stuff that's fun. And have that be a priority. That's usually like the first stop of what fills us as a sense of self and spirit. Easy peasy versus like some of the bigger world concepts of where do I fit in. And so making sure to niche nurture that sense of self, that's our inner child, usually as a great place to start and making sure that we don't become too serious. So that's my thought.
Josh Bailey:Appreciate it. Martha, thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. To our listeners. Thank you all for dropping in and listening. Keep your eyes peeled for our next episode. Take care of yourselves. Get outside a little bit maybe. And until next time. My name is Josh and this has been psych bytes with CCS.