This week in our At Home With series, holistic practitioner Thea Munch talks about growing up with alternative therapies, challenging the clichés of holistic living and the importance of creative expression.
Tell us about you, and what you do.
Hi! My name is Thea. I’m 32, mother to Pablo, married to Oscar. We live in central Copenhagen where I grew up. I’m a trained nurse in psychiatry with years of experience in this specialised field. Five years ago, I enrolled in a holistic education focused on body therapy, where I learned several different techniques within body work, mentoring, embodiment, nervous system healing, Chinese medicine & healing. This changed my path in many ways, because it opened up an entirely different way of approaching illness and imbalance — seeing symptoms as little messengers pointing toward the root cause. It was mind-blowing in many ways, because it’s very far from how I was trained in conventional medicine.
Have you always leaned towards a more holistic way of life? What is it about holistic living that you feel especially drawn to?
Yes, I believe so. As a child, I was very drawn to the spiritual world — horoscopes, otherworldly creatures, ghosts, angels. To this day, I can’t say whether I simply had a vivid imagination, or whether I was genuinely sensitive to the world around me. But I loved spending time alone, playing by myself, and I often struggled to fit in with my peers. I still carry some of that with me — just in a more grounded way now.
My mother turned to alternative therapies when both of my brothers struggled with severe eczema, and I think that shaped the rest of our childhood. It opened the door to a different way of living, including limiting artificial food dyes, for example. Today, that feels obvious, but in the 80s it was uncommon — the market was just opening up to colorful candy and processed foods. In doing this, my mother really set a different tone for our home, and to this day I can seek her advice and bounce ideas back and forth with her on all things health and holistic living.
Holistic living is many things — hence the word “holistic.” It’s not about yin yoga and green juice; I’m tired of that assumption. For me, holistic living is about finding balance in everything you do: having drinks on a Friday and eating clean on a Saturday, taking your supplements but also knowing when to skip them, working out but still happily taking the elevator. And ultimately, reaching a point where your mental health is valued just as highly as your physical health. The two are like yin and yang — always present, deeply interconnected, and constantly needing attention depending on the day you’re having and what life is throwing at you. That awareness gives me a sense of power, because it means I can always shift something and change my day for the better.
What’s one practice you believe everyone could benefit from, even if they’re new to holistic work?
Go to therapy! I mean it: Find a therapist whom you connect with and who feels safe. Let your guard down and work through the hard stuff; it’s an inevitable part of life. Finding true connection to yourself is difficult if there’s something you’re running away from. Once we face what feels difficult within, we can open up to new practices & routines that can fully integrate in our lives.
Tell us about your online self-care programmes.
I have tailored my online self-care programmes for those living abroad. They’re tiny pockets of self-care practices that can help you tune in during especially busy times. My current self-care program is dedicated to a two-week period where pillars like cooking, meditating, at-home reflexology, and journaling are woven together to create a simple, steady rhythm you can return to every day — no matter where you are in the world.
Outside of your healing work, where do you express your creativity? What are the things you do just for the love of them?
I love being creative, and I always have — it’s the way I relax best. Drawing, painting, sewing, crocheting, embroidery, renovating dollhouses — you name it, I love it. Creative expression is deeply soothing to me because it pulls you into the moment. You’re immersed, focused, and unable to do anything but follow what your hands are asking you to do.
Focusing on one thing at a time isn’t my natural strength; I usually have several things going on at once. So committing to a single creative task is a meaningful challenge that gives me a kind of focus I don’t find anywhere else.
What’s coming next for you?
I’m a dreamer and an optimist, so my hopes for the future are endless. But right now, I’m trying to stay anchored in the present, because honestly, I feel very fortunate in this phase of my life. It didn’t all unfold exactly the way I imagined, but that’s life — and I’ve found a lot of acceptance in letting life take its own shape.
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