Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise: It’s an old saying and generally good advice. However, we all know health and wellness involve more than just a good night’s sleep.
Millions of websites, YouTube videos, self-help books, as well as life coaches, personal trainers and doctors, claim to know the best road to wellness. Some say, “Drink water. Walk 10,000 steps a day. Exercise at least 30 minutes daily. Meditate every morning. Wake up early and sit in the sunshine. Take cold showers. Cut out alcohol, caffeine, sugar, carbs” and more.
Many of us already know what works for us and what doesn’t. Still, it’s wise to consider the many avenues to better overall health. It’s good to know where to turn for encouragement and professional help along the way as we embark on a personal wellness journey. A balanced “holistic” view of health and well-being is paramount, considering a person’s physical, intellectual, mental, emotional and spiritual needs.
Throughout Austin County, even in the smaller towns, there are many resources available along the road to “well-ville.” Here’s a guide to just a few places where health and well-being stand at the center of their mission.
MIND
Austin County has many licensed mental health care professionals who can provide in-person and distance counseling and services. Area counselors like Kelly Brast, MA, LPC-S, LSOTP, CART, of “Kelly’s Counseling Services LLC” in Sealy, or Kenneth J. Smothers on Main Street in Sealy, and the Behavioral Health Centers of America and Dr. Carson’s Natural Healing Center, which both also now serve Austin County, may offer help in any number of areas. These include abuse counseling, anger management, anxiety counseling, career development counseling, crisis management, grief counseling, mood management, positive growth counseling, psychological testing, post-traumatic stress counseling, relationship counseling and more.
Of course, individual methods for better mental health, like meditation and focus exercises or even eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), can also be helpful.
BODY
Whether seeking physical therapy, exercise, massage, or special aesthetic treatments, residents of Austin County have many options for body-centric restorative services.
“The team at Sealy Therapy & Wellness serves the community by inspiring change in our clients to help them want to live life well,” says Jennifer Brandes, MPT, an owner and lead physical therapist there.
“Our Mission Statement is to inspire health, promote wellness and nourish the human body in continuous forward motion,” she says. “We’re working to change each person for the better, one day at a time. Wellness is critical in everyone’s life. Being able to heal ourselves with movement is so important each day. Sealy Therapy and Wellness can teach clients how to move in the right ways and improve awareness of their mechanics to make them independent in managing their pain and to get stronger and more mobile with their daily life activities.”
Therapy services include physical therapy, which can consist of pain management, and rehabilitation services like manual stretching, education about one’s physical condition, and exercises to improve range of motion, balance, flexibility and muscle strength. They also offer occupational therapy to aid in patient’s recovery and help restore function in their activities of daily life. They even provide speech therapy to treat infants, children, adolescents and adults who have issues with communication, learning, feeding and swallowing, plus individual sessions to assist with families’ loved one’s development and recovery.
Alongside such therapies are “wellness gym services” with individual, couple and family fitness center memberships available, along with personal training sessions as an additional service. They also offer specialty services, like “manual stretching,” “dry needling’ and “cupping,” along with Kinesio taping (a therapeutic taping technique that alleviates pain and facilitates lymphatic drainage).
Of course, in Austin County, there are other body care areas, including therapeutic body and foot massages at places like Sealy Foot Massage on 4th Street.
SPIRIT
For many, an essential aspect of health and healing gets overlooked or takes a back seat to physical well-being, and that’s a mistake.
Spiritual health and inner peace, or the lack of it, can dramatically impact one’s physical health; a quest for spiritual wholeness and healing can be restorative, healing and life-changing.
Just outside Bellville in Austin County, visit Serenity Retreat. Set on 22 bucolic acres, it is a place with a ministry devoted to spiritual wellness and transforming lives through prayer. Visit to experience a personal healing retreat, a group and sponsored retreat, or a pastoral and ministry retreat, or set up several sessions of guided prayer ministry.
Serenity’s “Personal Healing Retreats” are designed to help people connect with God through Transformation Prayer Ministry, or TPM.
Here spiritual well-being begins with a focus on prayer. Two highly trained prayer ministers guide three formal, 1-hour prayer sessions in a confidential, non-judgmental environment.
Their mission is to facilitate healing and transformation through a prayer journey of healing, self-discovery and spiritual growth.
Another lovely retreat center in the Bellville area is St. John’s Lutheran Retreat Center. In this event rental space, church groups of all faiths can come together to enjoy God’s creation for meetings and worship opportunities. Groups may go there to pray, share, worship, fellowship, walk the trails, or enjoy peaceful surroundings.
It, too, can offer a place for prayer and restorative spiritual rest.
IT’S A JOURNEY
Wellness requires a life-long commitment to caring for one’s mind, body and spirit. Although no one can promise complete health or freedom from illness and the difficulties of aging, there are many professionals in Austin County who are well-trained and eager to act as guides along the road to better health and wellness.
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