Episode 137: Acupuncture for Holistic Health

Discover how holistic care can transform your health and life in this inspiring conversation with Ryan Diener, acupuncturist, herbalist, and owner of Holistic Health Associates. Ryan shares his journey from sports injuries and a pre-med path to building a thriving wellness practice that blends spa-like comfort with medical-level results. We explore the philosophy behind holistic health, from understanding how the body’s systems work together to the benefits of treatments like acupuncture, cupping, massage, and red light therapy.

Ryan breaks down the difference between acupuncture and acupressure, explains why quality supplements matter, and reveals how his team customizes herbal formulas to fit individual needs. You’ll also hear how seasonal nutrition resets can boost energy, reduce inflammation, and support whole-body wellness—without extreme fasting or deprivation. Beyond the treatments, Ryan talks about the culture he’s created where healing begins the moment you walk in the door, with a team who genuinely cares and a space designed to put you at ease.

Holistic Health Associates has locations in Frederick and Boonsboro, Maryland, and many insurance plans now cover acupuncture. Ryan’s team offers a complimentary insurance benefits check and welcomes questions to help you find the right starting point.

Connect with Holistic Health Associates:
 Website: https://HHAmd.com | Email: contactus@hhamd.com | Ryan’s Email: ryan.diener@hhamd.com
Phone: 301-639-5566 | Instagram & Facebook: @hhafrederick @hhaboonsboro | LinkedIn: HHAFrederick

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Transcript

Episode 137: Acupuncture for Holistic Wellness

[00:00:00] Autumn Carter: This is episode 137 

[00:00:04] Welcome to Wellness In Every Season, the podcast where we explore the rich tapestry of wellness in all of its forms. I'm your host, autumn Carter, a certified life coach, turn wellness coach, as well as a certified parenting coach dedicated to empowering others to rediscover their identity in their current season of life.

[00:00:24] My goal is to help you thrive, both as an individual and as a parent.

[00:00:28] I'm really excited for this one because I have Ryan with me and he is the owner of one of my favorite places. It's Holistic Health Associates, and I started with acupuncture there. I do cupping there.

[00:00:43] I've tried the red light therapy. That was a little unnerving, trying to close the thing on myself. Just in close spaces, and I've also done massages there. This place is amazing. So I personally asked him to be [00:01:00] on with me to talk about his journey, about how this puts in with wellness. And in my outline I had it set up where he could check off which things does this hit.

[00:01:12] And he checked off all eight dimensions of wellness. So this, taking care of yourself in this way really helps you. So can you tell us a little bit more about your, first of all, holistic health associates, and then tell us about your journey. 

[00:01:31] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Oh my gosh. Great. I'm so excited to be on with you and I appreciate the invite onto the podcast and, am excited to just talk shop.

[00:01:39] You know, I love. Talking about wellness. I love, living wellness. I love all aspects of it. So, everything is on the table, open book, whatever we can talk about. So I'll be happy to share my story. First off, as far as your first question about holistic health in general and how we operate and the philosophy behind what we do.

[00:01:59] At the [00:02:00] moment, what we offer right now is, as you said, acupuncture, massage, nutrition, red light therapy, cupping, those are kind of the main components of what we do here at Holistic Health. And we're constantly looking for new ways to bring an annual.

[00:02:18] Health mentality to people. So one of the values of a holistic perspective is we look at it not just as the relationship between your body and your mind, which is part of what makes holistic health holistic, right? It's kind of like, how do we heal? The body naturally. What is the relationship between the different systems that are happening between the body and the mind?

[00:02:41] Between the digestive system and the respiratory system. A lot of it is about functional relationships that are happening within the body, as opposed to the way that we typically do medical care, which is very specialized. It must be one thing, it must be a virus or it must be a digestive problem.[00:03:00] 

[00:03:00] It couldn't be that there's a problem in the communication between those two systems. So holistically, we tend to look at how these things kind of work together, right? That's one of the, the separating factors. And so a lot of the philosophy is just around how do we. Help you heal naturally so that your health never limits your life.

[00:03:23] That's really what it comes down to is what do we, what can we do annually? How do we set up an annual plan for you that, you're not committed to or anything like that, but it's more philosophically, how do you think about health over the course of a year? What are the things that you need to do annually in order to help you maintain a high level of function throughout your life?

[00:03:46] Why? Simply so that you can do more, so that you can contribute more to your friends, to your family, so that you can, you know, enjoy your life more so that you can have more freedom to do the things that you feel drawn to [00:04:00] without limitation, 

[00:04:00] I don't know if I should, do that. It might be a little too hard, and obviously there's. Different ages where different things are appropriate, right? When it comes to activity and things of that nature. But more and more often we're seeing people who, at their current age, they could be doing so much more and they want to be doing so much more, but they're limited by some kind of something in their health.

[00:04:23] And that's what we want to help them resolve, you know, as best we can. So that's holistic health in a nutshell. I really wanted to make. Holistic health, more mainstream. And so I started in, in, um, well let me, I'll, I'll back up to the beginning.

[00:04:34] I, I was a, um, I was, I played a lot of sports when I was younger. Got injured a lot, did a lot of physical therapy and got interested in science and medicine at a pretty, early age. Was pre-med major at the University of Maryland, and as I was getting to the end of that major, every doctor that I spoke to.

[00:04:52] To be honest with you, it was just unhappy. Just felt like they were not in the right place. They just felt like they weren't in, [00:05:00] um, they just felt like handcuffed by the system and what they could do. And, uh, it just felt like they were pushing medicine. That was the only thing that they really could do.

[00:05:09] And it really, I mean, it really turned me off of going to medical school. I just felt like, God, what am I doing? You know, this is, and I went through a little bit of a kind of, you know, existential crisis at that point, didn't really know what to do because I was here, I was in my last year of undergrad, was planning to go to medical school, 

[00:05:28] you know, with some, so I did an internship with a physical therapist. I did an internship with a podiatrist, I did an internship with, I mean, I just tried all these different things to try to get comfortable with something in the medical field. And I had an aunt that was very into mysticism and new age philosophy and, you know, uh.

[00:05:47] Astrology and she was the first person that taught me meditation. And she used to read tarot cards. I mean, she was into all kinds of crazy stuff, you know, but I had a great relationship with her and loved [00:06:00] hearing about all these things. So she gave me a book on acupuncture, my senior year of undergrad, and she said, read this.

[00:06:07] Lemme know what you think. I've been going to one of these for 20 years. I'd never heard of it. I didn't know what it was. Had never been to one, never. You know, and I fell in love with a philosophy. I just felt like this is what I was missing in the kind of medical conversation that was going on otherwise.

[00:06:27] I read the book cover to cover in two days. I signed up to go to graduate school for acupuncture before I had ever received an acupuncture session, and I just knew that philosophically, this was the thing for me. When I was at graduate school, I had been dealing with a skin condition for about six years.

[00:06:45] I had been to dermatologists, I had tried all these different, you know, creams and they would go away for a while and then it would come back and it would go away for a while and come back. No one could get rid of it. I started seeing, one of the teachers at the school was [00:07:00] treating patients outta the school and.

[00:07:03] He became a great mentor of mine and I saw him for acupuncture twice a week for about eight weeks. And then we switched to once a week for, for another month or two, and I remember just brewing this terrible smelling, terrible tasting herbal supplement on my stove top and drinking it every day. But I will tell you that after six weeks, it was like I had never.

[00:07:27] Had the skin condition and I was already there. I had already signed up. I was already a student. It just kind of solidified I was in the right place at that point, you know, and that kind of serendipitous thing happens and you just go, oh my gosh, this couldn't have worked out better.

[00:07:43] Now I really have a life experience to tell behind the, philosophy story. So it was just great when I came outta school, what they don't tell you when you go to school for acupuncture or, massage therapy or some of these, holistic medicine, modalities is [00:08:00] that there aren't a lot of jobs.

[00:08:01] You don't go to acupuncture, graduate school, get a master's degree, go to, you know, it was a four year master's program at that point. Now you've been the undergrad for four years. Then you go to, you know, we did it in three. 'cause we would work, we would go to school through the summer, but, you know, seven years of school and then there's no, there's no jobs in the field.

[00:08:21] Now. This was 2004. It's changed a lot since then, but there's still very few jobs. Most people that go to graduate school for acupuncture. Are forced to become a small business owner afterwards and most people that go to school for acupuncture are not interested in being business people. They're interested in being healers.

[00:08:39] That's why we go to school for what we do. So it really got me, it really made me, kind of frustrated that this was the case. It wasn't really laid out very well that this was what was gonna happen, but that was really what had to happen, is you have to start on your own.

[00:08:54] I ended up taking, I had an office in Bethesda and I had an office [00:09:00] in Frederick and within a year I closed the Bethesda office. I just kept working in Frederick and I started, I was working with a fantastic massage therapist here. We just had rooms next to each other in a little place on third Street, and we decided to open a practice together.

[00:09:15] And one of the things that we had said initially when we decided to open this thing together was that the vision for why we were doing this was really. It was twofold. One was that we wanted to mainstream what we do so that it's not weird. You know, this is a weird thing. You lay on a table and someone sticks, needles in you and things are supposed to get better.

[00:09:37] It's just weird. We wanted it to be warm and cozy. But we wanted to be professional. We wanted there to be someone at the desk greeting you, not like you walk into a space and there's an empty desk and you're just waiting and kind of looking at your watch going like, is there anybody in here?

[00:09:52] And then the practitioner comes out of the room and it's like, what was going on there? We needed to upgrade. Our [00:10:00] professionalism in, this holistic field that we're in. So that was one part of it. And for the purpose of mainstreaming it so that people were more comfortable going to the things that we were and, benefiting from them.

[00:10:11] But if you're uncomfortable going to, a modality because it's, number one, it's weird to begin with, and number two, it doesn't really have that feeling like you're walking into a medical professional office, then it's very easy to just. Not do it. You know what I mean? So we wanted it to have that feel.

[00:10:29] So that was one piece of it. And the second piece was we wanted to create jobs that were good quality jobs that people could come to in our field. And to this day, 20 years later, I'm still getting people. Who are saying, I don't want to do all this business stuff. I want to be able to just come in, treat patients, do good work, help people get better.

[00:10:54] That's what I'm really interested int. 20 years later, we're still dealing with the same problems, in the [00:11:00] field. And so we just wanted to be a small part of the, um. The resolution of that, I guess, so to speak. Whether that's just kind of figuring out a model that works or just creating, a few jobs so that there's, there's something for people locally that wanted to work together and collaborate and be a part of a team.

[00:11:20] That was really what it was all about. And you know, 20 years later we're still doing that. We're still trying to figure out better ways to continue to improve and better ways to grow and better ways to serve more people. I know that people enjoy working for you enough that they've left 'cause they moved away and they've come back.

[00:11:37] Autumn Carter: Yeah, there's several that have done that that I know of. Which I think is awesome. And anyone who talks about you, they start smiling. Your employees. It's super fun. When I told them that I was interviewing, they're like, oh great, you're gonna love him. They're saying all these great things about you.

[00:11:53] Oh. And so it's super fun and. I think you kind of failed in it feeling like a medical [00:12:00] office. 'cause it feels more like a spa. Yeah. In a good way. So whoever I, I hear that you had a really big hand in it. If not, you did it all yourself. But the way the plants and the colors and the textures of things is very welcoming.

[00:12:14] And I'm somebody who's afraid of needles. So my husband, we did it on a date and he came and watched me have it done. So he was my moral support because I was very nervous. 

[00:12:25] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): That's interesting. That's amazing. 

[00:12:26] Autumn Carter: I had Caitlin the first time. She was great. 

[00:12:29] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. 

[00:12:30] Autumn Carter: Yeah. 

[00:12:31] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): She is great. She is great.

[00:12:32] And I love that you guys were creative enough to create a date night around this. So cool. 

[00:12:37] Autumn Carter: And he was the one who found you. You have a lot of glowing reviews. Mm-hmm. I told him, this is what I want, because physical therapy wasn't working, chiropractor wasn't working. I made the mistake of carrying all four of my kids on this side, so it still flares up.

[00:12:52] I've come through a lot of it, and then I was almost all the way healed, doing really well, and I got into a car accident an [00:13:00] hour after seeing Kaitlyn. So had to start all over again in a lot of ways and. It was so much easier to do and I made so much more progress. Seeing everyone at your place compared to seeing the chiropractor.

[00:13:17] Yeah, getting the massages, getting the acupuncture and the cupping. I love the way Priscilla cups. Yeah. Where she cups and she slides it. Oh, it's heaven, and now that we're talking about it, I need to schedule again, but it's so great. 

[00:13:31] A friend of mine was looking for work, so I was helping her and looking on, I think indeed and I found a job posting for you guys and seeing that you offer once a month for your employees to experience something that you guys offer has been amazing. And I mentioned that to someone at the front staff, the front desk.

[00:13:53] Who I actually, she lives right around me, so I see her at our elementary school, and I [00:14:00] was chatting with her after hours and she was saying how much she loves that and how it's given her an idea of this works because of this and that type of thing, and how you've created your own family with the way you treat your employees and allowing things like that.

[00:14:17] They naturally are saying, you know, you might wanna try this, this will help. And I've even had some of your employees say, I know you were looking into this, it's ending today, like sending me a text. And it was perfect. And it was one of those things like, oh yes, I want this. And it was for the 10, massage sessions.

[00:14:36] You get the red light therapy table. Yeah. So you have people that love working for you enough that they want to. Help other people and that are onboard enough with knowing that this is something that really benefits the clients who are coming in. And I have seen all walks of life [00:15:00] in your office and it's really fun seeing them rave about the different things that they're getting.

[00:15:05] There was one lady who was telling somebody at the front desk. You need to try red light therapy. This is my jam. Like this is my thing that I do and it's so helpful. And that was when I'm like, okay, I'm gonna try my red light therapy session we got. And I was like, that was a little more scary than I expected.

[00:15:22] Just closing the hood. But I love that you even were thoughtful enough to have a video explaining how to get in and get out and do all these things and before. I ever walked into your business when my husband had said, this is the place that I'm thinking for you, I was able to see your videos and you walk through all of these different things I don't remember what you talked about in the videos, but I remember your passion.

[00:15:48] Yeah. And I remember seeing how much you care about these things. I know when I sit in the waiting room of the older building that if I look by the table, there's a lot of [00:16:00] different books that are more aligned with everything they're talking about. Holistic wellness, one is on acupuncture, one's on different modalities within the wellness field.

[00:16:10] So I think that's amazing and it shows that you really care about the people who come. They're not just dollar signs. You actually want them to become better. You're constantly rolling out a new, nutrition reset or, for a while you did Tai Chi. I can't say that word right? 

[00:16:29] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Yeah. Tai Chi. Yeah. 

[00:16:30] Autumn Carter: Thank you.

[00:16:31] Mm-hmm. And you've tried different things because different clients are saying they need these things, or you're seeing that and that says a lot. That's the main reason I wanted to have you on, because. You really care about this community here in Frederick, and you care beyond that to where you are trying to show that you should not be graduating from acupuncture school after all these years, and then not having any business experience and being [00:17:00] expecting to do this.

[00:17:01] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Yeah. Yeah. Look, I, I, you are two kind. I mean, this is really sweet. You know, and that the fact that you notice all of these things is pretty amazing. So kudos to you for just being, so observant and, aware of some of these things. We are really passionate about our team, you know, I think there's so much.

[00:17:22] It's so important when you're trying to do something, beyond yourself. To be able to bring people into that vision and have them care about it, you know, for one reason or another. We have it a little bit easier than I think a lot of other businesses because there's so much heart in the holistic business.

[00:17:46] I mean, you don't get into this business to begin with if you don't care about people, you know, but. That doesn't mean that a front desk associate needs to have that, mentality. They have to see how it really works [00:18:00] firsthand whether that's monthly acupuncture or, weekly red light.

[00:18:04] Sessions or, you know, a massage or what they need to have an experience of that. And sometimes people who, most people who come to work for us have never experienced a session before. It's just, you know, either they, they don't, you know, and it's just not, it's just not something that, and, and then they start getting it and they realize, oh my gosh, this is so beneficial that, you see how that happens.

[00:18:26] We want people that are passionate about what they're receiving so that they can share it with other people. It's so important that we, um, that we just. We pour a lot of time and energy into our team, because I just think that that's who you talk to first.

[00:18:41] You don't talk to me first. You talk to them first. You know? So I need them to really understand what it is that we do. And like I said, what we do is very weird. I don't blame people when they ask me like, does that really work? I'm like, well, I've been doing this for 20 years. What, what do you think my answer is gonna be to that question?

[00:18:58] Of course it works, but [00:19:00] I don't blame them because. It is so strange. It's something that none of us are raised with in this field. Now, of course, you know, like, you know, kids today who are coming into preteen, they may get experience with it. Oh yeah. 

[00:19:14] Autumn Carter: They've seen Michael Phelps with the Cups and Mars.

[00:19:16] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): That's right. You see the Olympics and things that you know. It's super important that the staff is really connected to it and that they can share firsthand. What it's all about. And really help us spread this out as far as we can. We want people that love what they do.

[00:19:32] We want people that love working here. I tell everybody that works here. When you talk to a patient, their treatment has already started. That's the first part of the treatment 

[00:19:40] you know, a biting, kind of like uncomfort discomfort when they're talking to the f, or a very warm, kind of inviting, sharing, giving kind of mentality it starts there. We want your nervous system to be in a really good place when you come here and you're naturally gonna be a little nervous [00:20:00] when you first come in.

[00:20:01] If you never had needles in you, you know, but we want that to be, I. Quickly resolved. That's the idea. And so that it can do the work, it can do the things that you need it to do so that you can enjoy your life more and more and more. So, so yeah, I think it's super important and, out of all the things that you just kind of described.

[00:20:21] That was the one that I just kinda like smiled internally about the, the most, so thank you for that. 

[00:20:26] Autumn Carter: Yeah. Let's take this a little bit deeper. Sure. Just in explaining what these things are. Yeah. So a lot of these people that are listening already have somewhat of an idea of wellness. That's why they even clicked on this podcast.

[00:20:39] Yeah. But not everybody fully understands like, what's the difference between acupuncture and acupressure? 

[00:20:47] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Yeah. Okay, great. So acupressure is so that we're using the same points, the same points throughout the body. Acupressure is using your hands or your fingers to press into that [00:21:00] point and create a, sensation, like a massage sensation, you know, just, you know, finger pressure in a point, or, some sort of, 

[00:21:10] movement through a series of points. So there can be like with. Kids when they have a little bit of an elevated temperature, one of the things you do is you take their forearm and you brush down their forearm, but there are certain things that have been shown to, to reduce temperature, without having to give them Tylenol, there's some natural things that you can do that help bring the body temperature down.

[00:21:32] So it could be that, or it could be just pressing on point and then letting go. And then pressing on it again, and then letting go and then pressing on another point that might be working the same area or the same condition and then letting it go. Okay, so that is a little bit more hands-on, of course, whereas acupuncture is taking a needle and putting it into a point and then letting go and leaving it there.

[00:21:54] Autumn Carter: And is this deep? Is it painful? Explain this for the needle phobia of people. 

[00:21:59] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Yeah, for sure. [00:22:00] So the number one reason why people don't try acupuncture is because they are afraid of that, that word, I, I don't even use that word. I shouldn't even be using it right now, but it is an acupuncture needle, but it's actually really a pin, meaning that when you have a needle, it has a, it has an opening.

[00:22:17] Because when you have a needle stick, it's either to inject something into your body or to extract something from your body. The acupuncture needles that we use are straight tipped. There is no opening, so you're making a very, a tiny, the tiniest of, of holes, if you will. So tiny that rarely does a point bleed.

[00:22:39] We take, we might put, unless 

[00:22:40] Autumn Carter: you do it like here on my face, 

[00:22:42] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): right? Yes. Right by 

[00:22:43] Autumn Carter: the veins. 

[00:22:44] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Yes. Certain points, you know, that, that are really close to, that are superficial. There's certain parts of the body that definitely will bleed more than others. 

[00:22:52] Autumn Carter: And for like a second, not even. Yeah, 

[00:22:55] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): that's right.

[00:22:55] And when it bleeds, it doesn't hurt. It doesn't, it's not like you're cutting [00:23:00] yourself. It's like a very superficial, you know, capillary under the skin. You know what I mean? So, so it's very, it's very rare that you get bleeding when it does bleed. People don't, usually, don't even notice that there's, I mean, we've had situations where people are like, I'm like, well, no, no, don't move yet.

[00:23:16] You know, there's a, yeah, I've had that. Yes, there are a, an occasional point that does the sensation is stronger than, than, than another point. 

[00:23:27] Autumn Carter: For me, 

[00:23:27] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): it's like a zing. That's right. After that little zing and that zing is just nerve conduction.

[00:23:32] It's just, it's just creating, firing through your nervous system. And then after that initial zing when the needle first goes in it, most people find that they just feel incredibly relaxed. So much so that we leave people on the table with 15, 20 points in. Most people fall asleep during a treatment.

[00:23:55] Autumn Carter: I've like woken up drooling. 

[00:23:56] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): That's right, that's right. And they don't even, you don't even [00:24:00] realize it. It just calms your nervous system so much. And I know this is hard to believe for people who are listening who maybe have not had this before, but it is universally. This kind of feeling of surprise that people say, oh my gosh, I feel so relaxed.

[00:24:14] I can't believe it. And you know, we leave you on the table, we leave the room, you have a call bell. So of course if you need us, you can get us back in the room at any point. If you have to run, go to the bathroom. If you get cold, if you get hot, you name it. We'll make sure that you're taken care of.

[00:24:29] But it's so relaxing that most people will come back into the room and they go, oh my gosh, is it over already? I can't believe it. You know? So, that is the difference between acupuncture and acupressure. We find that acupuncture is more effective. I. You know, just as a general rule, 

[00:24:45] Autumn Carter: those spots, you're staying in those spots longer and multiple spots 

[00:24:48] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): even longer.

[00:24:49] Makes sense. They're deeper, right? So you might put an, you might put a point in that point might go in half inch to an inch into your body. So it's stimulating your, um, your kind of, you know, it's stimulating [00:25:00] nerve conduction at a deeper point. It's causing an increase in circulation. And it's creating an anti-inflammatory effect.

[00:25:07] So the body, when you get something that punctures your skin, the body naturally sends some anti-inflammatory healing mechanisms. You know, there, we can get in into depth on that if you like, but basically to that area. And so we're creating a pattern, we're creating points in a pattern that we want the body to send this, this healing.

[00:25:30] We will call it just like a, you know, healing mechanism. Two, in order to reduce inflammation, improve circulation and calm the nervous system, those are three of the main things that are happening in, to allow your body. And then all those and those three things, and conduct and regulate the nerve conduction through the area.

[00:25:50] And those three or four things, they really help your body to just heal faster. That's the main thing we're trying to do. We want your body to heal naturally, but we want it to happen faster than it would [00:26:00] naturally. 

[00:26:00] Autumn Carter: And it totally does. So like I said, I started with Caitlyn that I had an interview with her.

[00:26:06] Mm-hmm. And after my car accident, I needed to have another one because things changed in my body, obviously. And like it's thorough. Like she asks a lot of follow up questions and she really, I can tell that she really cares. 

[00:26:21] Casey's the one who does massage. I've had a variety of people and they all do very similar things based off of the way my body is responding that day, which is amazing. Just having that kind of care and me being somebody who's, needles.

[00:26:37] I totally relax and I've had amazing aha moments for my coaching practice while on that table. So it kind of pays for itself just in that, which has been fun. 

[00:26:49] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): You've had these kind of aha moments because there's a relationship between the nervous system and the brain, and one of the things that a lot of the more recent research has been shown when we do brain scans of [00:27:00] people who are getting acupuncture is that.

[00:27:03] The frequency, the brain frequencies go from beta state, which is you and I talking and conversing and, you know, engaging to an alpha state. An alpha state is when you're essentially in a meditative state. You're not necessarily sleeping, but you are in that kind of twilight state between wakefulness and sleep.

[00:27:24] And a lot of people describe this as kind of just like they, I'll come back into the room and they'll say something like. I'm not sure if I was asleep or not, you know, but I definitely went out. It's such an unknown state to most of us that we don't even understand what we're experiencing.

[00:27:40] But that's exactly what's happening, is you're going from a beta state to an alpha state. Normally that process for meditators takes about 40 to 45 minutes, and what brain scans have shown is that with acupuncture needles, it takes 10 to 15 minutes. And the value of that is not only that you enter this meditative state much faster, but that [00:28:00] that state is also a very creative state.

[00:28:02] It unlocks the creative mind. And so when you talk about, you know, kind of these aha moments for your practice or for your coaching clients or something like that. That's what we're doing. We're kind of giving your body a chance to get into that creative state much faster than it would normally do. And so, yeah, we hear this a lot.

[00:28:21] And that's the reason. It's this kind of brain, shift that your body goes through with acupuncture. 

[00:28:26] Autumn Carter: And the great thing is that you turn over and you get acupuncture on the other side. If you had another 20 minutes, that's 

[00:28:32] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): it. 

[00:28:32] Autumn Carter: That's awesome. And then there I had another question.

[00:28:34] What was it going to be? I.

[00:28:34] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Let me ask you a question. When you started your coaching business, did you know that you were gonna do it around wellness or was this something that developed as you got into it? 

[00:28:42] Autumn Carter: Well, it's actually funny. I wanted to get into coaching, however, having never been coached.

[00:28:48] Huh. I had that. This is my life path. So the fact that you had the same thing made me laugh with the lecture road? Yeah. Great. And I signed up for life [00:29:00] coaching, and through getting the certification, I realized that I really wanted to put wellness in there because my undergrad is in Applied Health and I love the eight dimensions of wellness enough.

[00:29:12] It was originally five, but it's grown to eight. I loved it enough that anytime it was in the course description for a class, I was signing up for it, I actually started out with public health and then I switched to Applied Health because it's how Applied Health had more of those classes, 

[00:29:26] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): uhhuh.

[00:29:27] Autumn Carter: So it, it just totally my jam. It just made so much sense the first time I heard about it and heard how it's applicable to your life. And it makes sense because there are so many people that you see that. Like you were saying, they age themselves before their actual chronological age because they're not doing, they don't have wellness practice.

[00:29:49] They're not doing the things to help them to function fully as a full whole person. And one of the biggest ways that it showed in the [00:30:00] video that totally made sense to me, and I could think of different family members was social wellness. They're not having those social connections. Or they're too much in an echo chamber, that they're not allowing themselves to grow and experience different things and have different ideas presented to them that challenges their way of thinking.

[00:30:19] And then because they don't have the social connections, they're not being as physically healthy, and it just kind of becomes this avalanche. So it just totally made sense to me. 

[00:30:29] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): So interesting. You know, how people kind of end up down this road and it does usually become kind of a compounding road, I mean, where we start and then you, with, holistic medicine, it sounds like you've had this similar experience where you get into it through one avenue and that avenue is amazing and fantastic, and then you realize there's so many things that.

[00:30:51] Would benefit people if we could find easier ways for them to implement it, you know? And if you can [00:31:00] find ways to help coach them into making social engagements easier, then they will do it. It's not like they don't know that it's. Value. It's just getting people over that hump or, you know, helping their bodies to, you know, in, in my case, helping their bodies to take that step that it's been stuck at to break outta that step so that they can start doing more.

[00:31:23] So then, then that could be, you know, compounds into something else and then they go, well, that worked so well. What do you have for this? I've 

[00:31:30] Autumn Carter: been. 

[00:31:30] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): It's a beautiful thing to just. Be in a field where it's constantly evolving.

[00:31:36] You can be a part of helping people in a really natural way, in a way that so many people see a lot of value in. And that also it's very hard to harm people in. You know what I mean? There's so many things that you can get into in the medical world where either there is potential harm or.

[00:31:58] Fear of, [00:32:00] liability. There's so many. Roadblocks to just making it easy to get better. And one of the things that used to be really hard for us was just getting people to say yes. There's this natural opportunity to get better and 

[00:32:12] it was just too weird for people. And so being able to have conversations like these and being able to, meet people that are interested in this and. Can talk to other people about it has taken one of our biggest roadblocks and made it a little bit easier.

[00:32:25] And what we're trying to do is make the roadblocks that you have in your life. A little bit easier to overcome, a little bit more natural to overcome. And you know, I don't ever foresee myself getting tired of talking about this stuff and, working in it and looking for solutions because it is just, every time that we get a great story like yours, it's just more fuel to the fire for me.

[00:32:51] You know, it just gets me more excited to try to bring this out to more people. 

[00:32:55] Autumn Carter: When you were talking about, negative consequences, [00:33:00] I was thinking of pills. You have in your office, for anybody who's not been here, you should, but he has two buildings and they're almost connected.

[00:33:10] He just walk a little walkway. And in the newer building in particular. Right when you are going in and you're checking in, he has all these shelves and there are these seriously magic patches that you put on for pain. They are amazing. They helped a lot after the car accident and then, he has different tinctures and everything is really well thought out and.

[00:33:37] I don't think that there would be any negative consequences, any side effects to any of those things. And the side effects that I have seen with acupuncture have been amazing where I'm like, where else can I apply? This type of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For 

[00:33:50] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): sure. For sure. I think with supplements there are side effects potentially, you know, potentially, well, they're 

[00:33:56] Autumn Carter: smaller, it feels like.

[00:33:58] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Well, they're smaller. The thing with [00:34:00] supplements that most people overlook is that there is an expertise in it, in figuring out what's the right supplement for you or multiple supplements, what dosage is correct. How do I get a better quality? Some of those things that we see when people get, their supplements from Walmart or there supplements from the grocery store, is that there's so much filler in those supplements that they get bloated and digestive.

[00:34:24] They have digestive issues. It's simply because your body's not absorbing the actual sub, the actual vitamins that it says there, there that are on the bottle because the quality of the the, the manufacturing is so poor and being able to know the difference is really important. Being able to know that if in your case you may do better with tinctures and somebody else may do better with capsules and somebody else who has a really chronic.

[00:34:52] Kind of autoimmune condition. I really might want to customize something for you, you know? And so we have a compounding [00:35:00] pharmacy where we customize formulas. Everything's ground up, ground up, cinnamon, ground up, garlic, ground up, you know, and, you know, um, uh, rhubarb root, either there's a hundred, we have 200, about 200 different herbs that we can, then I can choose.

[00:35:13] I can say, okay, you here's the kind of base formula. But in your case, you also have. Seasonal allergies and difficulty sleeping. And so I'm gonna add a little bit of this and a little bit of that and a little bit of this. And we're gonna create a custom formula specifically for you and the, and the kinds of issues that you have.

[00:35:32] Someone else may just be fine with the, what we call the patent formulas, where, the capsules or the tinctures that are pre-made for someone who has sinus congestion, but not just. It's not just everybody gets Flonase, you know, there's 10 different formulas and we want to know, do you have really runny.

[00:35:51] Mucus, do you have very dry mucus and when you try to blow your nose, you can't, but it feels like there's a lot of congestion in there. Do you have a headache that, coincides with your [00:36:00] congestion? Do you have any, do you ever have any, any, uh, bloody noses? Do you ever have kind of ear aches or ear congestion?

[00:36:08] Do you feel like you have reflux or postnasal drip? There's so many combinations of functional differences that will dictate whether we use one formula or another that. It's not just, you know, going to the store and getting a multivitamin. It's like really, how do we, how do we determine what's best for you?

[00:36:27] And then get you on the right thing for a few months so that we can then kind of taper you down and then put you on a kind of good quality multivitamin and. Maybe some vitamin D or you know, some basic things that might, that might help you long term, but how do we get you there? You know, how do we kind of get you transitioned through there and being able to help you through the supplementation process is really valuable.

[00:36:50] Autumn Carter: That's cool. Sign me up. Yeah. 

[00:36:52] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Yeah. 

[00:36:53] Autumn Carter: That's super cool. I know that I probably take too many vitamins. That's probably, and I have [00:37:00] begun, well, I've always been this way because of my mom and stepdad, but I am very careful about which ones I choose and yeah. What are the reviews like? Are they third party tested, that type of thing?

[00:37:11] Yeah, huge because, yeah. What is equipment like? Is there actually lead in the vitamins because it's really old equipment there? There's so much there. I follow somebody who's gone through, she's now going through sunscreens, but she just went through toothpaste and we realized well we're, our kids aren't doing toothpaste for a little bit.

[00:37:31] And I found, ingredients and a recipe to make my own for my kids. 

[00:37:37] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Wow. And 

[00:37:38] Autumn Carter: I'm gonna be doing that for myself too, because there's lead in toothpaste. I mean, seriously. Wow. In this day and age, there shouldn't be. And there was, there's several that have too much arsenic in it. And cad, cadmium, cadium.

[00:37:52] I always feel like I'm just starting to say the candy when I say the word. Yeah. Absolutely this stuff is [00:38:00] important and we do so many things thinking that we're taking care of ourselves when we're actually not. Yeah. So it's important to have people who know, this is why we also do do this, this nutrition reset every, you know, three times a year for exactly this reason.

[00:38:17] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): You will be exposed to some. Chemicals that you don't want to be exposed to. None of us can help it. We are exposed to some sort of electromagnetic fields that some people are more sensitive to than others. You are exposed to lead in, potentially lead in your toothpaste or you know, too much fluoride in your water.

[00:38:38] There's certain things that are going to. Enter your system and look, your body does an incredible job of filtering a lot of this stuff out, but we're getting you barrage with more and more and more microplastics and this and that, and there's so, there's so much research on this stuff, but no, nothing's changing in the, the [00:39:00] exposure on the exposure side.

[00:39:02] So what do we do? We believe that in a year. At bare minimum, you should do a cleanse once a year. And when I say cleanse, it doesn't mean you're gonna be in the bathroom all day long or anything like that. 

[00:39:13] Autumn Carter: That's why I haven't done it. When I've seen it on the bathroom, bathroom doors, I'm like, oh, I don't know that I want that.

[00:39:19] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): This is a really important piece, right? So the liver is the main organ that deals with detoxifying your blood and helping your body to clear chemicals outta your system. Obviously bowel movements are one of the ways that that happens, but when we think of a cleanse. We think of intestinal cleanses because that's what came around first.

[00:39:40] That's what most people were doing back in the nineties. And you know, the early two thousands, that was like the more common thing and it was like, oh my gosh, you can't believe what came out and was in my toilet. So that's one of the reasons that, but that being said, so I've tried all kinds of different things 

[00:39:55] for my own personal experience just to see what it did. I don't [00:40:00] actually think that those do that much. You know, personally, and this is just my opinion, but when you cut, things out of your diet for a three week period that are putting pressure on your system and you, but you don't do it as a fast, so we eat the whole time during the whole three weeks.

[00:40:22] We're cutting out all the things that you already know you should be cutting out, right? Gluten, soy, sugar, alcohol, caffeine, dairy. Those are the things that are cut out, 

[00:40:34] Autumn Carter: inflammatory things, 

[00:40:36] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): right? But you still have fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, uh, good quality meats, fish, you know, those are all whole grains.

[00:40:45] Those are all still available to you. Right. So if you can do that for a three week period, it's shocking. People are amazed how they feel at the end of that program, and they're amazed [00:41:00] that they're not drinking coffee. They're not, drinking, you know, red Bull or whatever. You know, the, the, the, the energy drink is of the day and they are more energetic, more clear-minded, sleeping better.

[00:41:14] People will say at the end of this three weeks, like, I don't know how to go back to. Eating normally. Normally meaning, eating sugar, eating a sad 

[00:41:22] Autumn Carter: diet. 

[00:41:23] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Yeah, exactly. So, we know it's not realistic to eat that way all the time. None of us do it, no matter who the holistic practitioner is.

[00:41:31] I can guarantee you that they're not perfect in their diet. They're not perfect in their exercise program. It's very difficult. There's different things that come up in life. You're gonna go to a birthday party, your child is gonna have a birthday party. Are you gonna not have any of those, you know, ever have a cupcake or you're never gonna have a piece of pizza?

[00:41:50] It's just unrealistic. But can you reduce that down to a small portion of what you ingest, and can you then periodically throughout the [00:42:00] year, completely cut these things out. Then see how you feel and try different recipes and bring different quality foods into your diet, and then make that the norm, the higher level norm.

[00:42:11] So we think that it's just really valuable to do, to do a, a reset a few times a year, but I don't believe that being so harsh to your system is actually sustainable. So you're not gonna fast for three weeks. You're not gonna just, I mean, people do intermittent fasting. Um, my wife is doing it right now.

[00:42:31] I think it really helps for sure, but you want the foundation of your diet to be whole Foods based. So how do we train that? How do we get better at that? How do we get more foods in our diet that are in that genre? How do we get more recipes? How do we make them faster?

[00:42:45] How do we make it easier? That's what part of this training is about as well. 

[00:42:50] Autumn Carter: Totally makes sense. 

[00:42:51] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Yeah. 

[00:42:52] Autumn Carter: Well, thank you. I know I, I, this is a longer episode than normal. 'cause this is something that I love talking about. Yeah. So [00:43:00] Holistic Health Associates, they are on Patrick Street in Frederick. 

[00:43:04] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Mm-hmm. 

[00:43:04] Autumn Carter: And.

[00:43:06] Your website. Yeah. HHA MD like maryland.com. Okay. I did know it, but I couldn't rattle that off. Yeah, no problem. And so, yeah, we're on Patrick Street in Frederick and we're on Main Street in Boonsboro as well. 

[00:43:18] That's right. I knew you had another location.

[00:43:20] Sometimes Google Maps asks me and I'm like, no, it's the one I always go to. Stop that. 

[00:43:24] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:43:26] Autumn Carter: So perfect. And. I know that you also have things on your website, so if you are out of the Frederick area and you're still interested in knowing the things that he does, there are offerings that are also on the website, if I'm correct, right?

[00:43:41] There are, and 

[00:43:42] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): there are some, look, we're happy to help if you have a question, about. How to find a good practitioner. Should I try this or should I try that? Just, just email us and we're happy to help. We're not gonna charge you to answer an email question.

[00:43:56] If it's something that you want, you know, kind of a trusted source [00:44:00] to help you with, just feel free to reach out to us. We, you know, we'll let you know if it's too much and we need to do, an actual consult with you. But if it's some basic questions, you know, we're always happy to help.

[00:44:11] Autumn Carter: That's true. We walked in off the street on a different date to even schedule and to ask questions, and everybody there is super helpful. And another benefit out of all of the wellness things that I have offered on my podcast, most, or at least a lot of insurances, cover acupuncture, which is yay. And finally, 

[00:44:34] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): yes, a hundred percent.

[00:44:35] So when I, so again, just quick, real, super quick. 2004. We didn't take any insurance because it was terrible coverage, and it wasn't until about. 2010 that it got good enough that we felt like, okay, yeah, let's start doing this. And one of the main reasons was what you alluded to earlier in the conversation.

[00:44:57] We want there to be a diverse group [00:45:00] of people in our waiting room. We treat teachers and farmers and farriers and policemen and military and v va and, you know, elderly and baby that treated a one and a half year old today. Oh, 

[00:45:14] Autumn Carter: I love that. 

[00:45:15] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): And who's doing great, you know what I mean? And, and, uh, there is this wide range of people that we can help.

[00:45:23] And being able to take your insurance makes it easier. You know, it just makes some of the people that would never try this, try it. You know, it is a real pain to deal with as every med medical professional will tell you. I'm not gonna candy coat that part of it, but it's, it is worth it to me to be able to help.

[00:45:41] More people. That's the bottom line. And so that's it for, but absolutely. And we will do a free benefits check for you, so you don't even have to try and decipher what does it cover, what conditions does it cover? How many sessions does it, do I get. If you just call our office, we will walk you through what we [00:46:00] need to get from you.

[00:46:01] And within 48 hours we should be able to tell you exactly what we can, what your insurance company will help with. And for some people it's a lot, and for some people it's a little, but a little is better than none. 

[00:46:13] Autumn Carter: Mine was more than I expected. Mm-hmm. If you are in a car accident like I was.

[00:46:18] That you can get the massages, you can get the acupuncture, you can get the cup, you can get all the things, and it's covered through the car accident. 

[00:46:26] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Yeah. 

[00:46:27] Autumn Carter: So don't suffer needlessly. 

[00:46:30] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): Yes. Agreed. Agreed. Well, 

[00:46:32] Autumn Carter: thank you for your time. I love this. I am a total fan of your company and everything it does, and just the feeling walking in, you captured it properly.

[00:46:43] It's such a great feeling. It feels. Spa medical like, but spa first in a really good way and. It just is very peaceful. And I also went out and bought plants right after like [00:47:00] extra plants because I love the plants that are going on there. And I love plants anyway, and I just love the vibe that is there and the energy, and you can feel it, and it feels so welcoming and soothing and like I am in the right place.

[00:47:14] Mm-hmm. And it's very obvious that this is about really healing people. So thank you. Thank you so much for everything you do. 

[00:47:23] Ryan Diener (Holistic Health Associates): For the kind words and for everything that you're doing to bring stories like this out, into the community. It is, so valuable to have people like you to have these conversations with and to help explain what does a hybrid model of care look like?

[00:47:37] The hybrid between the spa and the medical world. Right. That's really our lane is this kind of like spa feeling. Medical results. That's what we're going for. So, it's so helpful and it's so enjoyable for me to just have conversations like this with people like you. So, I really appreciate you asking me, and appreciate your time.

[00:47:55] Autumn Carter: Oh, well thank you. 

[00:47:56] Thanks for tuning into this week's episode. I am your host, [00:48:00] autumn Carter, a certified life coach dedicated to empowering individuals to rediscover their identity, find balance, miss chaos, strengthen relationships, and pursue their dreams. My goal is to help people thrive in every aspect of their lives. I hope today's discussion inspired you and offered valuable insights.

[00:48:19] Stay engaged with our wellness community by signing up for my newsletter at wellness and every season.com/free resources. When you join, you'll have the option to receive a five day guide called Awaken and Unwind, five Days to Mastering Your Mornings and Evenings, along with Free Guides, special offers on my programs, practical tips, personal stories.

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[00:49:01] So please spread the word about our podcast and about our newsletter. Thank you for being a part of our podcast community. I look forward to continuing our conversation, sharing stories and exploring wellness in all of this aspects. Take care until our next episode. You can also work with me one-on-one or on demand through one of my programs by visiting wellness in every season.com/programs.

[00:49:28] One last thing to cover the show legally, I'm a certified life coach giving general advice, so think of this, this more as a self-help book. This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a licensed therapist, so this podcast shouldn't be taken as a replacement for professional guidance from a doctor or therapist.

[00:49:49] If you want personal one-on-one coaching from a certified life and parenting coach, go to my website, wellness and every season.com. That's where you can get personalized coaching from [00:50:00] me for you. See you in next week's episode.