If you’ve ever had a therapy session that went well but you just sort of wished there was more – something to keep the ball rolling between those 60-minute weekly appointments – welcome to the club. That is exactly how many therapists feel as well. The traditional modalities of mental health care, such as psychotherapy and medication management, are the gold standard in effective treatment, but an increasing number of clinicians are recommending adjunct wellness practices as a valuable ally in healing.
These are not substitutes for professional care. They are augmentations evidence-informed adjuncts when implemented with your current treatment plan. This is what the research shows, and for some of you, what your therapist might already have suggested.
What Are Complementary Wellness Practices?
According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health(NCCIH), complementary health approaches – sometimes called alternative medicine – are products or practices that originated outside of mainstream medicine and are used together with conventional medicine. These approaches in mental health care include: therapy, mindfulness-based therapies, expressive arts and sensory therapies, as well as ancient healing traditions that are being evaluated through empirical research.
The distinction matters. Integrative mental health care does not mean throwing out evidence-based treatment; Rather, it means extending that reach. Further, therapists are recommending comorbid practices to enhance their clients’ resilience, to support the regulation of the nervous system and autonomic balance using somatic engagement with therapy, reduce symptom burden, to build a self-sustaining lifestyle & whole-person practice.
1. Mindfulness and Meditation
Mindfulness may be the most clinically studied of all complementary practices. 100 Mindfulness-Techniques-based Stress reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT): 2 fabulously elaborated, manually biosocials with moderate high data bases which are a lot studied, plus in clinical arbitrators chronic pain dilemma for depression disorder, and anxiety disorders.
This tells us that there is an apparently quantifiable benefit of mindfulness-based interventions and that certain neuro-biological changes associated with their application are beneficial, such as quantified increases in intra-network or inter-network connectivity between brain regions associated with self-reference and emotional control. If you are a person recovering from depression, research in mindfulness shows that these skills prevent relapse; by noticing early warning signs, clients can react before an episode has fully developed.
Even with the formality of programs, a daily meditation practice whether it be focused buzzing in and out through breathing, body scanning, or being led by someone through a guided meditation for five to ten minutes meaningfully lowers stress hormones over time, Eckert says, and helps us better regulate our emotions. A common practice is to encourage clients to do a simple home-based practice in between sessions, in order to root the therapeutic work into the body.
2. Physical Movement and Exercise
The mind-body connection is literally physiology, not metaphor. When you exercise, endorphins and serotonin (as well as the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) – a protein associated with neuroplasticity and mood regulation). An increasing number of studies confirm what many clinicians have known for a long time: routine exercise is among the most powerful weapons to fight mental health disasters.
Combining physical activity with mindfulness practice is most effective at lifting mood and improving general well-being but the two approaches appear to complement each other’s benefits, according to a University of Bath study published recently in Mental Health and Physical Activity. Indeed, therapists often prescribe movement as an in-between-session tool not a cure, rather a regulator.
What counts? Almost anything done consistently. The type of exercise that is highest for mental health, you will stick with it walking, swimming, yoga, cycling, dancing. If clients have low energy or depression, the next step is often starting small: ten-minute walks or gentle stretching or movement-based apps whatever helps create some momentum.
3. Yoga
Yoga is a hybrid mode that lies at the intersection of movement, breathwork, and mindfulness. As per the NCCIH, yoga may contribute to individual wellbeing as a result of stress alleviation, promoting wholesome habits and enhancing mental wellbeing and emotional wellness. Research has also shown it to be effective in alleviating the anxiety and depressive symptoms related to adverse life events.
A meta-analysis from 2018 of mindfulness yoga for the treatment of people with major depressive disorder (MDD) showed clinically significant changes in depressive symptoms, where yoga provides a psychosomatic benefit that supplements what occurs within the therapy room. For clients who struggle to verbalize or those who hold trauma in the body yoga can be a means of entry into the healing process that words simply cannot convey.
And, for this reason, mental health professionals might recommend trauma-sensitive yoga classes to clients because the focus is on choice, breath, and bodily autonomy instead of performance.
4. Sound Healing and Singing Bowl Therapy
An interesting category of emerging complementary research has to do with sound especially, the use for therapeutic purposes of Tibetan or Himalayan singing bowls. While the classic origin of singing bowl therapy is found in ancient Buddhist and Tibetan healing practices, only recent scientific interest has started to investigate its psychological and physiological effects more seriously with a growing number of clinical studies.
There is one systematic review, completed in 2025 and published in a peer-reviewed journal (based on the results of 19 clinical studies), evaluating the influence of singing bowl therapy on different types of people or physiological processes. The results showed that singing bowls may help people with anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and cognitive function. Researchers call it vibroacoustic healing or where gentle sound frequencies and physical vibrations communicate with the body to interact with its own rhythms. Other studies have shown decreased negative affect, increased mood measures, reduced blood-pressure responses and reduced tension/anxiety immediately after singing bowl treatments.
An observational study published in PMC found that participants who underwent singing bowl sound meditation reported feelings of deep relaxation, restoration and a meaningful sense of peace with no adverse effects recorded across the studies reviewed. Its mode of low cost and easy accessibility make it especially attractive as a home-based adjunct to clinical care.
Healing Singing Bowls specializes in providing quality instruments for therapeutic sound practice, and for those who want to add it into their wellness routine even pre- or post-yoga or meditation practice or just as an unwind wind-down ritual before bed.
That said, although this research does show potential for the use of sound as therapy, do be mindful that any delivery of sound should supplement not replace a professional mental health treatment route. Those with trauma histories in particular and who would do best to work with seasoned professionals who can provide better support.
5. Creative and Expressive Arts Therapies
Art therapy, music therapy, and dance/movement therapy are established clinical fields, each with their respective formal professional training and licensure paths. But in fact, many mental health practitioners are in support of creativity as a form of adjunct informal practice, and this occurs not only during formal sessions with a formally trained arts therapist.
Journaling, drawing, curating playlists, or even just dancing alone in your living room has the potential to facilitate processing emotions that we may not have immediate verbal translations for. Music therapy specifically – which can encompass both listening to and creating music – has been shown to facilitate the release of emotions, promote relaxation, and assist in therapeutic work among a wider group of patients that includes those suffering from depression, anxiety, or trauma.
Many clients who find themselves at a standstill or tired after hours and hours of verbal therapy discover new avenues around self-discovery when introduced to a creative outlet.
6. Nature and Outdoor Exposure
Ecotherapy the deliberate use of time in natural environments is a growing field in integrative mental health. Thousands of studies over the decades substantiate the concept that time spent inside green spaces creates lower cortisol, less rumination, and a statistically significant uptick in mood and attention. That is why some therapists lead their sessions outside, in a “walk and talk” manner.
This is a low-barriers-to-entry high-yield recommendation with or without ecotherapy, get your clients outside, amongst parks and gardens and forests and bodies of water. Japanese have studied a practice called shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing: They showed it lowered blood pressure, stress hormones, and increased subjective well-being over tens of years.
7. Sleep Hygiene and Nutritional Support
Sleep and nutrition are two often neglected pillars of mental health. Therapists increasingly know that you can have the best psychotherapy in the world but without enough sleep and sufficient nutrients, it is an uphill battle. Chronic under-resourcing of the brain compromises emotional learning consolidation, mood regulation, and access to higher-order thinking.
Many therapists today explicitly talk with clients about sleep hygiene regular schedules, screen limits before bed, soothing bedtime routines. Nutritional counseling, sometimes in collaboration with a registered dietitian, is another increasingly popular component of integrative mental health care especially among clients with mood disorders related to inflammation, gastrointestinal health problems, or nutrient deficiencies.
A Word About Integration and Safety
What is new about integrative mental health care reflects a deep shift: the awareness that healing happens on many levels. All is one; the mind, body, and spirit are not three separate systems; what happens in one affects all.
That said, complementary practices work best when they are:
- Discussed openly with your therapist or psychiatrist, so your full care team has a clear picture of what you’re doing
- Selected thoughtfully, based on your individual needs, history, and goals not adopted wholesale from a wellness trend
- Used alongside, not instead of, evidence-based treatment especially for serious mental health conditions
Some of these practices, such as sound therapy, energy work, and some herbal supplements, can interfere with medication or be contraindicated for certain conditions. You may read your prescription to make sure moving elements before beginning anything new, as always.
Talking to Your Therapist
If you have an interest in complementary wellness practices, the best first step is to just mention it in session. So ask what your therapist thinks is best for you. A respectful clinician will encourage the dialogue and many will have resources, referrals, or structured programs to direct you to.
You deserve a plan of care that meets you where you are: in the therapy room, but also in your daily life, in your body, your breath, and those still moments outside of session. Complementary wellness is not about doing more; it is about healing more completely.
