The Decorah Holistic Health Project – Creating Sustaining Health in Northeast Iowa & Beyond
By: Sonja Ecklund and Tabita Green
We are lucky to live in a small town with such a rich offering of holistic health services. It’s pretty incredible that in a town the size of Decorah, you can find many of the same health and wellness services that are available in a major metropolitan area. From Acupuncture to Zen meditation and everything in between, Decorah has a holistic health service for all your wellness needs. The purpose of the Decorah Holistic Health project is to invite people to experience the multitude of services Decorah has to offer, and to match community members with specific wellness services and practitioners in Northeast Iowa and beyond.
The Decorah Holistic Health project was created by a number of motivated health professionals. It began as a monthly gathering of sorts: a place for holistic health providers to interact with one another, network, and share ideas. As these meetings grew in size and diversity, they became a platform for conversation about the direction of holistic health in Decorah. A few months in, we decided it would be beneficial to form a website to serve as an online index for all things health and wellness in the area. We wanted to create a space where potential clients could peruse the services available to them, browse through information about specific providers, and find contact information for individual practitioners all in one place. We decided on the term “holistic health” because it encompasses the general belief of the practitioners that “health and wellness goes beyond the physical aspect of human beings. In order to be well — to be whole — we must consider all the aspects of who we are: body, mind, and spirit. In working with any client, we want to make sure that these three components — body, mind, and spirit — are in balance and thriving. We respect you as a unique person with individual needs and promise to meet you where you are.”
The Decorah Holistic Health website is broken down into a number of broad-range holistic health categories. Each category is further broken down into services, and each service lists individual practitioners and providers. Individual listings include professional bios, photos, logos, contact information, and links to external webpages. Our hope is to serve as a holistic directory that helps connect individuals to the service and to the individual provider that’s right for them. We are alwayslooking to add additional categories, practitioners, and groups to the website. If you have suggestions for these categories, or if you are interested in being listed, please don’t hesitate to contact us. The current categories on the website are as follows:
Active Body
– Pilates, Tai Chi & Qigong, Yoga, Zumba
Calm Mind
– Meditation, Tai Chi & Qigong, Yoga
Coaching
– Ayurvedic Wellness
Counseling
– Health & Wellness
Coaching
– Life Coaching
Healing Arts
– Acupuncture, Ayurveda, Healing Touch, Massage Therapy, Nutritional Products, Pregnancy & Maternity, Reiki, Vibrational Therapy, Zone Therapy, Healing Arts Schools
Holistic Therapy
– Art Therapy, Counseling, Equine Therapy, Family Constellations, Spiritual Services
Groups
– The Comfort Zone – Cancer Support Group, Community Singing Group
Want to stay in the loop?
We send out a quarterly newsletter with all the latest events from our holistic health calendar, our featured practitioner and wellness tidbits. To get in on the goodness, visit the website and subscribe to our list!
Do you have a holistic health event to submit?
To submit a wellness/holistic health event, please submit the contact form with the following information at www.decorahholistichealth.com/contact-us and we’ll do our best to get it posted within 2 business days.
• Event name and description
• Date and time
• Venue (name, address, phone)
• Contact information (name, phone, email, website)
• Cost (if applicable)
Are you interested in being listed as a practitioner?
If you are a health practitioner in the Decorah area who believes in a holistic approach to health and wellness, we invite you to list your practice on this website. Please fill out the contact form at www.decorahholistichealth.com/contact-us to get started. We look forward to hearing from you.
We also meet quarterly in various locations around town. It’s a great time to introduce yourself to other holistic health professionals, learn about holistic health modalities, connect with peers, and network.
