The holistic approach to occupational therapy is becoming more mainstream. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) supports the use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) as more and more research suggests significant benefits for optimizing the healing process.
People seek help from an occupational therapist because of injury, illness, or limitations brought on by a disability. An occupational therapist can improve a person’s fine motor skills, such as getting dressed in the morning or the ability to prepare a meal. Holistic occupational therapy is a combination of the licensed medical practice of occupational therapy combined with holistic approaches for healing the physical, emotional, and spiritual body. Because of this whole-person approach, people are seeking holistic occupational therapists for solutions when suffering from pain, depression, as well as acute and chronic injuries.
Are you facing obstacles that are impeding on your daily life?
Whether you want to make big changes to your daily routine and lifestyle, or are looking for help in just one area such as pain management, the owner of Boundless Breath, Dr. Heaven A. Marculis, OTD, OTR/L, has made it her passion to help people of all ages rediscover their healing potential. Focusing on your overall wellness, Dr. Marculis integrates many types of therapies into her clinical practice.
The Services of Boundless Breath
Boundless Breath’s mission is to help people rediscover their healing potential, offering an holistic approach to health and wellness through meditation, reiki, yoga, occupational therapy services and therapeutic exercise of the mind and body. Boundless Breath offers a holistic approach to health and wellness. Here are just a few of the services Boundless Breath proudly provides:
1. Reiki
“Energy Healing” or Reiki, is an ancient Japanese healing technique that transfers energy fields around the body, channeling the universal energy to restore one’s energy that may be depleted, imbalanced or restricted by stress, injury or illness. “Rei” meaning universal, and “ki” meaning vital life force energy that flows through all living things, Reiki balances one’s energy, allowing for the body’s own innate healing abilities to restore.
The conditions that can be treated by Reiki are chronic pain, cancer, digestive problems, Parkinson’s disease, stress-related diseases, sleep dysfunction, and many more.
Relieving pain, stimulating healing after injury or surgery, stimulating the body’s own immune systems, detoxifying the body, and a person’s ability to feel a deep state of relaxation and experience the removal of stress are just a few of the benefits one can experience with Reiki.
2. Guided Meditation
Boundless Breath can also guide you through meditation, whether it be mindfulness, guided imagery or mantra.
Being mindful involves paying attention, slowing down and taking note of what is around you at the given moment, accepting yourself and learning to focus on your breathing.
Guided imagery helps one to relax, which can lower blood pressure and reduce stress related illness. Guided imagery is a meditative approach that can not only be used to reduce stress but it can help manage pain and help you reach your goals such as losing weight.
A mantra is a syllable, word, or phrase that is repeated during meditation. Mantras can be spoken, chanted, whispered or repeated in the mind. For many, mantra meditation helps them to relax at a deeper level and serves as a deeper spiritual purpose.
3. Yoga & Breathwork
Yoga & breathwork helps an individual move past any emotional and energetic blockages they may be experiencing to get themselves to a more relaxed and calming state. This reduces stress, anxiety and depression. Breathwork is the conscious control of breathing that influences an individual’s physical, mental and emotional state while yoga can enhance an individual’s use of breath, stamina and energy to assist with resilience to daily stressors.
The combination of yoga & breathwork helps has been shown to decrease pain while relaxing muscles, decrease stress while improving strength, flexibility and balance.
4. Aromatherapy
As a form of alternative medicine, the use of aromatherapy is on the rise. The inhaled aroma from oils extracted from flowers, leaves, roots, bark or other parts of a plant enhances psychological and physical well-being. Essential oils can also be absorbed through the skin and GI tract to promote pain relief, mood enhancement and increase cognitive function. An example is jasmine, an aroma which is commonly used to fight depression.
5. Therapeutic Exercise Programs
Therapeutic exercises differ according to the purpose. Whether your focus is range of motion, muscle performance, postural alignment, or rehabilitation following an injury, Dr. Marculis will work with you through an exercise program that will relieve pain, stimulate blood flow, enhance mood, and activate your body’s own healing processes.
6. Pain Management
Pain management can be both simple or complex depending on the cause. Many live with debilitating pain without realizing that the pain is a subjective experience influenced by moods, emotions, and perceptions. If you change these variables, you can change your experience of pain.
Two types of pain are nociceptive pain and neuropathic pain. Nociceptive pain is typically the result of tissue injury whereas neuropathic pain is caused by damage or disease that affects the nervous system. Inflammatory pain is caused by an abnormal inflammation and functional pain is pain with an obvious origin such as fibromyalgia.
When pain is not addressed properly, it can become chronic. A consultation would be needed to pinpoint the type and source of pain in order to effectively select the type of treatment that would work best to get you back on the road to a pain free life.
We can help
Holistic Occupational Therapy can assist people physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. They can support the body’s innate ability to heal itself. Holistic Occupational Therapists can help people in ways that go beyond what we have originally thought possible. I am seeing some evidence of this, that more health care providers will learn holistic therapies, and that it will be a specialty in all professions. Perhaps, in time the term holistic will be absorbed in to best practices for care.
At Boundless Breath we are here to assess and guide your healing whether it’s post-injury, disease, chronic pain, or emotional trauma. Follow the contact link for further assistance.
Aloha
Common questions
Can any of the services offered be done in my home, or do I have to travel?
Boundless Breath offers both in-person and telehealth services. You can schedule a meeting on-line at www.boundlessbreath.com
What services provided by Boundless Breath are covered with insurance, and what types of insurance does Boundless Breath accept?
Occupational therapy and pain management services are covered by most insurance companies. These services may include complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) if the therapist deems appropriate, otherwise CAM services can be purchased cash, venmo and paypal.
Dr. Heaven Marculis, OTD, OTR/L received her B.A. in Psychology with a concentration in science from the University of South Florida. She went on to receive both her Master of Occupational Therapy and Doctorate of Occupational Therapy from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences. Dr. Marculis specializes in Complementary & Alternative Medicine with a Reiki Master/Teacher certification and is the founder of Boundless Breath LLC.