Living Mindfully: Connecting with Nature, Emotions, and Breath for a Stress-Free Life with Amy Stein [Ep. 44]

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This is the eat well think.Well,liftwell podcast,episode44,Living mindfully connecting with nature,emotions and breath.for a stress free life with Amy Stein.Amy is an herbalist energy medicine,educator,and trauma informed.Breathwork facilitator and she is going to walk us through a lot of what her passions are and how we can implement some of these things that have truly changed her life within ourselves.Some of these things are going to be a little bit more.Um,maybe woo-woo,if you will.Then you typically hear on my podcast,But I think it's so great to learn from all different kinds of people and different kinds of work that's out there.I do a lot of the same emotion work that Amy does.And so we really connected on that and stay tuned for the end.We get into some breath work talk,and I have a little surprise for my email subscribers.At the end that Amy.Did for us a little bonus clip.So be sure to stay to the end and learn about that.All right,here we go.

Lisa: 1:10

Welcome to Eat Well,Think Well,Live Well;the podcast for women who want to lose weight,but are tired of counting and calculating all the food.I'm your host,Lisa Salsbury.I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach,and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter.I'll teach you to figure out why you are eating when you aren't hungry,instead of worrying so much about what you are eating.I have Amy Stein with me here today,and I'm excited for our conversation.I'm gonna let her introduce herself and tell us a little bit about what she does,and then we'll jump right.

Amy: 1:46

Hey,Lisa.I'm happy to be.So I live in New York and what I do is I take the power of the plants along with energy medicine techniques and trauma-informed breathwork training to connect people back to the wisdom of their body.

Lisa: 2:00

All right.Tell me more.Keep going.

Amy: 2:03

So basically for me,I was brought up like the majority of people that you know when you're sick,you go to the doctor,they fix you,right?So ever since I was a kid,I had symptoms.My body was giving me messages,but I didn't know what they meant.So I always had headaches and stomach aches,and I always felt like really different from everybody else because I could feel things.That we couldn't see.I could understand when I didn't want to eat a certain food,or I didn't wanna wear a certain piece of clothing or be around a certain person,and I would express this to the caregivers in my life.And they were like,you're just being difficult.You're too sensitive.And so I didn't understand what this meant.Until my body forced me to understand.And at that point,I was a medical researcher.I was working at a big university here in New York with chronic pain patients,and they were geriatrics.And I was in my mid to late twenties and I began to resemble them.And I thought,what's going on here?Yeah,this is not,this is not working out so well for me.And at that point,I did not understand that the body's designed to heal.I didn't understand that the body's designed to keep us safe.We didn't understand.It's difficult to go against what the body deems as safe behavior,right?So we have this idea that we're brought up with of what it's right or wrong,of a certain way to do things,a certain way to be.However,a lot of times this goes against the intelligence of the body.It goes against the wisdom,the body.And so all of this I had to discover in the process of unlearning,which I'm still on,it's been about13years of unlearning,and that's where I joined you from.

Lisa: 3:38

Great.Okay.Fascinating.So we're talking a little bit today about habits and making healthy decisions and gonna relate this into some of this,what our bodies are telling us.And we're just gonna start out talking about why it's such a struggle to make healthy decisions.And I think,I just see this so often with my clients because lack of information I don't really find to be the problem.They wanna tell me that they wanna say,well,I don't know what to do.I don't know,you know,I don't know what to eat.But when I really push'em,when I really question'em,the truth is they do know what foods feel best in their bodies.Most of my clients have been.Several,if not dozens of diets.They know that they feel best on,say,higher carbs or higher protein,or,you know,whatever.I,I feel best to eat this many times a day.They know what they feel best on because they've tried all the things.And saying,I don't know,is a way to keep us from change.It's a way,I think it's one of the ways that our body keeps us safe,because any kind of change and difference is deemed dangerous.And so,um,once we get past the,I don't know,like,and,and here's the thing too.If you've never been on a diet in your life,like Google's not hard to.Right.So I'm always like,lack of information is not the reason people don't make a healthy decision.It's something else.And I work a lot with the thoughts and the feelings.Tell us why you think it's such a struggle for people to make the decisions that they know make their bodies feel best.And that's kind of,maybe you can also tell us,I'm asking you a ton of questions here,but maybe you can also tell us,like,for me,when I talk about make a healthy decision,I'm talking about.I know what works best in my body and sometimes I don't do it.And I think a lot of us do know,I,I know that I,if I overeat this thing,I'm gonna feel gross.I'm gonna feel bad in my body.My pants are gonna be too tight.I'm gonna be bloated if I eat that dairy,like I know and I do it anyway.You know,this is like what my clients tell me.Right.

Amy: 5:50

Yeah,I can so relate to that.So there's a a lot of knowledge,right?So they call it Dr.Google.But it's not always the right knowledge for you.So it goes back to the,the idea of understanding how the body was designed.Yes,it's designed to keep us safe,but it's also designed to heal.The issue in our society is that there's only one right way to do it,right?So like everyone does this protocol,and if you didn't lose weight,that's on you.There's something,you didn't do something right?Right.So there's a stigma,this idea that you didn't follow the directions properly,you didn't follow the rules,you're different.We don't know how to help you and people don't wanna be different.Cuz again,it goes back to back in the day when if you were different it was bad because you could be left behind by the tribe.

Lisa: 6:33

you get kicked out for if you disagree.Yeah,it is dangerous not to fit in to our brains.

Amy: 6:39

Yeah.And that's the thing is,so in our society,we live solely in the brains.We don't live in the body.And so I invite people to remind them that the brain,the mind is just part of the body and actually the real intelligence,the real intelligence is in the heart,which is where your intuition lies.So if you can come back,And listen to that small whisper that you've not been listening to your whole life,right?Because it's not real.You can't see it.So it doesn't exist,but it does exist,and it is real,and it is valid.If you can reconnect back to that intuition,it will guide you on the best way for you.So the,the mantra I always have for everybody is you get to choose what's best for you.I'm not gonna sit here and tell you do X,Y,and Z.I'm never gonna do that because we are all different.We all have past live experiences.We've all have past pain and trauma and experiences that have made us the people that we are today.Right?So this idea of understanding.That these belief systems,these programmings were inherited before age seven.So Bruce Lipton speaks about this in his book.And so understanding that these beliefs of what is right and wrong,of how you're supposed to look,of how you're supposed to be is are not yours.They were passed down to you by your society,by your culture,by your caregivers,right?So that's the first step,is understanding that this was not something that you chose,right?You did not choose this.You didn't choose For you to think of things in this way.It's a dynamic that was just in,is introduced to you by your society.So that's the first step of the unlearning process,right?Is questioning do these beliefs,these systems of living still serve me.So it's also a process of awareness,of being aware of how I am behaving,how I'm interacting,and is this still serve me?Because what also happens in childhood is,again,we were all raised by humans who.Not perfect,right?We were not raised by robots.So we had needs that were not always met,right?So we expressed a need.It wasn't always met in the way that the body needed it to be met.And so a wound forms.So when that wound.Formed the protector forms within the body to keep you safe.Right?Again,the body's designed for survival,for safety.So that lizard brain,that reptilian brain that they speak about,that's what that is.It's just for survival.It doesn't have logical thought processes.It's just like,oh my God,are we gonna die?Don't do that.Right?So we all have these protectors and they,they're varied.There's about25of them.I'm gonna just list a few so the listener can.So that's somebody who's gonna be the victim.That's somebody who's gonna be the control freak.We have the codependent,we have the person who is going to shame other people.We have the person who's gonna numb out.We have the addict.Like these are all personality aspects of us that we all have.There are ones that may be more predominant in others.Right?So I identify as the person who's that control freak,right?Like,if I can control every aspect around me,then,then I can prevent things from happening,right?But that's not realistic.I'm also that person that comic relief.So if I can put people's attention on what I'm saying rather.Chicho around me,then it's better,right?Because,oh,I look like I have my stuff together and I'm making everybody laugh.But it's an idea,again,of keeping us safe,a part of the tribe,but it actually keeps us safe in childhood,but it does not keep us safe as adults.It actually keeps us stuck.So it keeps us stuck

Lisa: 10:06

Stuck.

Amy: 10:07

right.Creating new habits from creating more positive behaviors because the body does not understand the difference in time.So when these protectors formed,you know,age three,age four,age five,age six,age seven,it just thinks like,oh my God,this happened at age seven.It doesn't understand.I'm age40now.And that the same,it might not have the same direct effect.It just thinks,oh my God,we're at age five again.And it puts me right back there again.And this is why we react when we're triggered,we can't respond,right?Because we just go back into that reptilian brain of it's gotta be survival.We have to survive,we have to get through this event.And even if it's something that logically we may know after the fact,like how come I freaked out about that?The body doesn't understand that it's that trauma response,right?So trauma is a response to a stressor.So you and I could have the exact same stressor happen,right?So I form a trauma pattern in my body.You don't because you allow your body to process the event.The problem is most people in our society do not do that.They don't allow the body,they don't trust the body to process.Through the event.We don't take the time to feel our feelings.We don't take the time to stop and feel our sensations.So we create all this suck energy in the body,which leads to disease and illness and pain and,and feeling down on ourselves,right?Like,we're not enough,we're not good enough.Oh,it must be something wrong with me cuz this protocol didn't work.This diet didn't work,but it worked for30other people.I know what's wrong with me.So we become like this self-deprecating attitude.And we think that there's something wrong with us,but there isn't.It's just the way that your body is designed and we work against our body and our society rather than working with it because we don't understand how it works.

Lisa: 11:57

Okay,so how do you get to that point of understanding?So you're saying understanding how it works as far as like the uniqueness of how your body say loses weight or how uh,Tell me more about not understanding how your body works.

Amy: 12:14

Right.So it's,it's really in a lot of different ways.We don't understand the way that the body works,right?So,again,like I said,we don't feel our feelings and we don't feel our sensations in our society.So maybe we choose to eat them.Right.So rather than sitting with it and,and being curious about it,we just immediately want to numb out.We don't wanna deal with it.We don't wanna feel it because we've been taught by these programs,these belief systems,that it either,it's not real,it doesn't exist,or we're too sensitive.Or we should not be bothered by that,or we should get over it already,right?Like these are all common themes.It's,oh,you don't have to deal with that.That's not real.That emotion isn't real,but it is because everything is energy.And emotions are just energy and emotion.And so if we had been taught from a young age to feel our feelings,rather than saying,you know,I'll give you something to cry about or don't cry over this,you know,things like that.We've been told all our lives,rather than saying like,what is,what is coming up around this?Right?Where do I feel it in my body?Where is the sensation correlating to the emotion?

Lisa: 13:20

One of the other things too,when you're talking about,you know,as children,I,I know what you mean.Your parents say,well,I'll give you something to cry about.But the other thing I think that is,was really common was,um,well here's a treat.Here's,here's a lollipop.Basically.Here's a cookie to soothe what's happening in whether that hurt was emotional.I'm so sorry that that little boy hurt your feelings.Like,let's go get some ice cream.Not only were we taught or,or rather not taught about our emotions,but we learned that when we have a bad emotion,Food is the solution.And so I just think it is just only natural that we do that as adults.We've been soothing with food literally since we were babies,and of course,because.When we were babies,our only communication available was to cry,and then we were soothed and,and so that was the communication.But then that has just carried on.I mean,I did it too,like,no,no shade.We all do it.We all do it.As parents,I have four kids.They all got food to keep them quiet at church,they all got food to keep them happy in the airplane.They all got food to keep,right?Like,Use food to do that.

Amy: 14:41

Right.

Lisa: 14:42

And

Amy: 14:42

And that's the thing,it's that conscious unawareness,

Lisa: 14:45

so it's only natural that not only do we not know how to feel our feelings,but that the first go-to,to soothe the feeling is food.And I just think,you know,it's in Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes,where she says,here's the rub food works.It does.

Amy: 15:06

Right,

Lisa: 15:07

It does,it works to soothe your feelings.So,um,we,we have to unlearn that part too,I think.

Amy: 15:14

Exactly.Yeah.And it's,it goes back to this idea of dissociation,right?Like we're dissociating from the body,so we're gonna try to numb out.And get the symptoms to go away,right?So whether it's a pill,whether it's food,whether it's social media,you're choosing a way to dissociate.And now there's nothing wrong with that if you're recognizing it's happening,right?Like we all need to do that.

Lisa: 15:34

Yes,

Amy: 15:35

we live in a chaotic world,right?Like I'm never,I'm never gonna sit here and say,I don't ever binge watch Netflix.That would lie.That would be me lying.I'm not gonna say that,right?I'm not gonna say I don't have that chocolate bar.Occasionally when I'm craving it,I do,but I willingly understand like,I'm eating this because I'm craving this and it's not the best choice for me.But I understand consciously that I'm doing it.

Lisa: 15:57

I totally know what you're saying.Where I'm like,I'm going to eat this.Because I'm feeling bad and I,and I just say it straight up in my brain,I know very well this isn't gonna solve the problem,but right now this is what I need.And when I'm like

Amy: 16:11

Right.

Lisa: 16:12

overly aware of my being an emotional eater in that moment,I never eat as much as I would if I was not fully conscious of it.And then I let that food soothe me a little bit and,and I'm able to then move on.And sometimes that does help me deal with it a little.

Amy: 16:29

Mm-hmm.Yeah.It's like a little bandaid,right?Like we and I always talk about this,that we need to take small steps to not overwhelm the system and not overwhelm the body in that.The chaotic world that we live in,it affects all systems in the body.It's just not the nervous system.It literally affects all systems.So it affects your GI system and it affects your,you know,cardiology system.It affects the lungs and the respiratory system.It affects everything.So when we can understand that,it's just not,oh,I'm gonna do something to support my nervous system.It's the idea of I'm gonna support my system as a whole because the body is a whole and it works as a.So we cannot keep cutting it up into pieces and farming it out to different doctors.It doesn't work like that.You need to look at it as a whole.Right?So it's the understanding of.These behaviors are unconscious reactions.Again,going back to that idea that95%of our thoughts are unconscious,they are not conscious,logical associations.They are very much a reaction of this happened then this is gonna happen now.So this is what I need to do.Right?It's a very A,B,and C.And it doesn't change up.It doesn't really deviate because the body doesn't understand that.So when we're trying to change it up,like no A plus B can equal D,the body's like,ah,no,it does not.It does not.And it will look like it's sabotaging you,right?Like you'll hold on to weight.You may not,the protocol you think will work won't work.The food you thought you could eat is now giving your reaction or you're putting on more weight or you're not able to tolerate it.Like it can,it can manifest in so many different ways,but when we can stop looking at it as my body is broken,there's something wrong with me.And rather being curious and having that awareness of what is my body trying to tell me?Right.And you,the spoke about this in the beginning,that a lot of my clients understand what foods agree with them and what.But it's breaking that program of this is a healthy food or this is an unhealthy food,or this is a food I should be eating,right?It's breaking up with that idea.We are all unique.We all have unique experiences.There is no one fit diet or journey for anybody,and it will change because healing is not linear.So things that may have worked for you five years ago are not gonna work.And that's okay.That's how it's supposed to be,right?Cuz you grow,you evolve,and you learn.

Lisa: 18:51

And I think a really good word for that,and a lot of people use it,is bioindividuality.We just have so many individual things that we don't even realize and we think are not important,and they totally are.And it goes beyond just my allergies or food sensitivities or preferences.I wanna remind people that.Your food journal is the most important nutritional study you'll ever read.You can read all the nutrition studies,all of the different studies on this diet or this ingredient or that food or super food or,but.You have to put it in your body and then see what happens.And so keeping track of what you eat without regards for my clients without regards to calories or macro content,you don't,for me,you don't need to keep track of all that.You just need to write down,I ate a banana.How did I feel?Right.That's how I discovered I couldn't eat bananas because of my own food journal.Like,oh,it's not the green smoothies that don't agree with me.It's the banana.

Amy: 19:58

No,and that's true.And.It's so important to understand that,and again,without judgment or expectation,right?Because we get caught in that cycle of.This is a healthy food or this is a food that is,um,supposed to be good for me.And,and I,I see myself falling into this at times too,because I say,I eat real food,right?And people are like,well,what does that mean?I say,well,I eat food that has an,a live energy component to it.You know,it,it's a vegetable,a fruit.It's an animal that was raised properly and,and slaughtered humanely.You know,I have farms around me where I,I buy.To raise meat and poultry from knowing that these animals are cared for and that they do are not suffering.Because anything I consume,you're consuming the energy of.So when I explain that to people,it's a novel concept.But this is how we live for thousands of years,right?Like you,you didn't have supermarkets,you didn't have a drive-through.You had what you could get.and it's a big part of,of my own healing,my own work in that,respecting the intelligence of the body and working with it rather than against it.

Lisa: 21:02

Okay.I think that is kind of my next question was like,okay,we've,kind of established why we struggle,but then how do we break those,break these habits?And I think that's kind of where you're leading into.To with that.So tell us a little bit about how to make that change.

Amy: 21:20

Again,it can look different for everybody,right?So energy medicine is very,very vast in the offerings that it has,right?It can be E F T and tapping.It can be breath work,it can be yoga,it can be Tai chi gig.It can look so different to so many different people.It can just be walking mindfully,walking right,A meditative walk.It doesn't need to look the same for every single person.For me,it's communing with mother nature.Is there's something bigger than me that exists that I don't have control over,right?This idea that we don't respect Mother Nature for her intelligence,we don't revere her.There is no ritual anymore in our society.So again,it's another level of disconnection.We're disconnected from ourselves.We're numb from the neck down,but we're also disconnected from mother nature and all that she has to offer us.And so that was what I started with first because I could see.It wasn't invisible.I could see the birds,I could see the trees,I could see the plants.I could understand that these quote unquote weeds that were growing were actually more nutrient dense than anything I could grow myself.And it was fascinating to me that everything that was growing had medicinal properties,right?And it was working with my body.My body recognized it,did not recognize the pharmaceuticals,it did not recognize the over-the-counter prescriptions,but it recognized the intelligence that was existing in Mother Nature.And then that led me into energy medicine because you can't always see it,but everything is energy.You and I,and everything around us that is in existence is energy.And this is something that goes,you know,has been talked about for thousands of years.But it's not talked about in our society a lot,but it's been around for5,000years.Just like plant medicine,you know,indigenous medicine,Ayurveda,traditional Chinese medicine.The idea of the meridians came about5,000years ago.So this idea is far into people,but it is the real traditional medicine.Our system now in Western medicine is only250years old and it does not look at the body as a whole.

Lisa: 23:19

Yeah,that does bug.

Amy: 23:20

It looks at the body and pieces.

Lisa: 23:22

Yeah,I can see the value of like having a specialist who's like,no,I'm really,really good at repairing the ligaments of the knee.Like I'm really good at that.I can see the wisdom of specializing when it comes to those kinds of things.But when we're talking about.Yeah.Emergencies are like,um,just my husband works with a lot of sports medicine doctors and just all of those,like the way the shoulder works as opposed to the knee,as opposed to the ankle.Like he does all those.And I,I see the wisdom in,in that,but it's the internal systems because those guys are still like,doing those repairs of the bones with regards to the joints that are next to it,right?you don't line up the hip and disregard the way the knee is lined up.Of course they're doing that,but what,um,What I think we don't connect as much is the internal medicine as all of the internal organs and those SY systems.We have like a doctor for the endocrine system,like why is she separate?Why does she not talk with the doctor for the,you know,the,just so many different internal specialties,which.It,it is very confusing to me.You have a dermatologist and it's like,well,you know,like all of your gut issues are manifesting on your skin,right?Like,why is your dermatologist not a gut specialist?Like that doesn't make any sense to me.

Amy: 24:47

I know and that's what was so frustrating for me is you know,growing up in this paradigm,working in the paradigm of it,seeing it fail people and then it personally failing me.I was beyond frustrated when I started doing what People label Alternative,and I thought,what is so alternative about it?It's been out for5,000years.What we consider,what medicine now has only been around for250years and it's based upon you being sick.It's a sick care system.And so I thought,well,why wouldn't I use these ancient healing systems that look at my body as a whole and understand the complexities that every system as an effect on each other.They're not unique,they're all connected.And so when I began to understand that and begin to understand that I could do things that would bring more healing energy into my body,into my environment,right?So the first thing that I changed up,and this is huge for weight loss,is examining what I use every day on my body and to clean my.

Lisa: 25:45

Yeah,the chemicals.

Amy: 25:46

Because if you are right,if you're exposed to mathematic chemicals and toxins,the water you drink,the air you breathe,I mean,a lot of it you can't control,but a lot of it you can,that will cause the body to be stressed and it will hold on to weight because it's inflammation and it knows it's toxic and it wants to try to wallet off in the cells and so that will be a huge issue for weight loss as well if you're not looking into that.

Lisa: 26:10

Those endocrine disruptors that are in a lot of our personal care products.Like my daughters used to love to go with their friends to Bath and Body and no shade to any particular company.But you know,I'm just like,oh,okay.Well,and I just told them straight up like,Just so you know,like if you have menstrual issues,like that's gonna be the first thing to go.So just so you know,like you can use it now.But now that they're teenagers and fully into that,I'm like,yeah,well you should probably stop using that.And they think I'm crazy and I'm like,and one of'em really has stepped away from it.But the other not so much.

Amy: 26:53

And that's the thing again,is you can't force people.Right.It's pervasive.I mean,all if you're drinking out of classic,if you're eating out of plastic,if you're using a microwave.I mean,it's so,there's so many levels to it.So I did it really down and dirty all at once because I was dying and I had no choice.But when I work with clients,it's a very small steps and like,Hey,what are you running out of?Let's go into the environmental working group site and find a better option,

Lisa: 27:18

right,One at a time.

Amy: 27:20

Yeah.And there's a lot of greenwashing because all of the big companies who we will rename nameless went out and bought all these small companies and changed the ingredients because it was too much money to use the ingredients that were good for you.And so what I did is I made all of my own products and then I begin making my own.Infused oil bombs and my own tinctures and things like that,I can control what I was putting in and on my body,and that made a huge difference.That's always the first step I suggest to anybody is to looking at your toxic load,like what are you putting in and on your body?What are you,you know that Yankee candle is not good for you.You may think it smells good,but it's causing a lot of issues,right?Like the plugins.The air fresheners and all that stuff,like you're just polluting your body.So if your body is stressed out,it's not gonna work with you because it's just trying to put out all the fires that you're living,right?So again,understanding how the body works.The body does not do well with things like that.So if we can decrease the levels of toxins we're exposed to,again,we live in the world.So being aware that you cannot control everything,but there are a lot of things that you can control

Lisa: 28:30

Well think about too,like where you spend the most of your time.Even if you work,I mean,I work from home,but even if you work outside the home,you're still spending.All of that time sleeping in your bed?one of the things I started with was laundry.Like I use a completely free and clear type that's like a brand,but just,you know,free of all of the fragrances and that sort of thing.And then I use wool dryer balls in the dryer.So those sheets and towels that I'm using and sleeping on.Those aren't exposing me to more chemicals and more fragrance and fragrance just gives me a headache anyway.My girls are always like,you never wear perfume?I'm like,yeah,well,it gives me a headache.I,I've tried,I've tried just use like some essential oils,but no,like I just don't deal well with fragrance and so everything I use is fragrance free.

Amy: 29:21

Mm-hmm.Yeah.And it's pervasive.We don't even realize,like the mattress you sleep on,the pillows you sleep on,they're all sprayed with flame retardants,right?So you're spending eight hours a night hopefully in bed cuz sleep is so important.So again,that's another touchstone.If you're not sleeping eight hours,you need to have,be sleeping between10:00PM and2:00AM to get that restorative healing sleep where your body's cleaning up all the crap that you were exposed to throughout the day.So you know your pajamas are sprayed with Flament ret.The towels,the sheets,all that.So if you can,you know,in invest in some organic sheets and a and a laundry detergent that does not have chemicals in it,you can easily make something like that.Right.So for me,I was on a budget cuz I was not working.So I made a lot of stuff because it was cheaper and I could control what was in it.I knew exactly what was going into it.I knew I was using high quality essential oils Or I just,like you said,I don't use it.Right?Like,it's also an awareness of what do you really need?So we're so consumed with having all this stuff,but do you really need it?Right?So wifi is another big toxin E exposure.So if you have a router that's on247that is radiating in your home constantly,247,so you can put it on a Christmas timer and have it at least be off while you're sleeping because no one needs to use the wifi,right?Having a smart meter,again,that's something that247is radi.Exposure into your home.All of these outside toxic exposures that you can't quote unquote see are causing destruction and imbalance to your body and it's causing stress to your body.Even if you are not aware and feel it.It's still having that effect.Right?

Lisa: 30:59

Okay,so I'm gonna play devil's advocate for a second with all of these.Uh,you know,new,basically toxins that are happening because a lot of these chemicals in are cosmetics and body care products and cleaning products.A lot of them are new,relatively to the human rice,you know,they're within the last50years or so,as well as,you know,the wifi and these si sorts of things.A lot of the farming practices.So we see this and yet we.Good lifespans,like people are living.And I know there's some people that are like,our lifespan is going down,but that has somewhat to do with,you know,statistics of covid and those sorts of things.But generally speaking,the human lifespan is increasing.so,like I said,I'm playing devil's advocate.How are we living longer and yet we are being exposed to these things?

Amy: 31:50

But are we.Well,so most people after age55,how many medications are they on?How much pain do they have?How many diseases have they been diagnosed with?Right?Are you living well?That's my question to you.Do you feel good every single day?I guarantee not.I guarantee that you have something to complain about,right?That's just part of being human.But it's this idea of.Again,practicing awareness,but with curiosity,not not shaming yourself.I'm not shaming anybody on here,right?Everyone gets to choose what's best for them.I'm very rigid because I can feel it.I'm highly sensitive,so I can feel the electromagnetic frequencies.I can feel the wifi.I can feel the smart meter,so I'm not gonna put myself in situations where I'm gonna feel worse,right?Who wants to do that?But unwillingly,we do that all of the time.We unwilling.Food that is not good for us.We unwillingly do habits that are not good for us,right?Unwillingly,dissociate,and disconnect from ourselves and not trust the messages from the body because we've been taught that it's broken and we need to beat it into submission rather than learning how to work with it,respecting the messages from it.So one of the free gifts that I've included.If you feel disconnected from the neck down,try these five daily tips,right?To reconnect back to your body.The other one I was speaking of before is when you were asking me,how do you understand what the body's trying to tell you?How do you connect back to the body?Is I,I've included a healing journal with a feeling wheel.Because a lot of times if you ask somebody,what do you feel like today?They'll say,overwhelmed,anxious,dressed.But there could be15different emotions that could fall under.Categories,right?

Lisa: 33:32

Increasing your emotional language is so valuable to knowing what is happening,because anxious and nervous are actually kind of different and overwhelmed and busy different.

Amy: 33:44

Right.And it,

Lisa: 33:45

You have to identify exactly what's happening in order to f,you know,really feel that vibration.

Amy: 33:50

further.So when you identify the emotion,right,we also identify where is it coming up in the body?Maybe you feel it in your belly,maybe you feel it in your chest,right?It's chest tightening.Maybe you feel it in your head.You get like a ringing in your ears,right?It just,it's important to understand how your body expresses that to you because it,it's different for everybody,right?So if when I feel stressed,I get a stomach ache and a migraine,it's instantaneous and I'm,you know.But before that,if I really pay attention,I feel a tightness in my shoulders.I might feel.Something along the lines in,you know,in another part of my body.So again,it's this practice of understanding how your body is designed and understanding how you can support it rather than stress it out more.

Lisa: 34:38

Yeah,so helpful.Just really anything you can do,I feel like,to be in touch with how you are feeling,where it is.I do a similar exercise about finding that emotion in the body,really taking a look at it.What does it feel like?I feel like it is somewhat too of a buzzword,kind of a saying.Feel your feelings.One of my clients are like,what?What are you even talking about?What does that really mean?And so taking you through this step-by-step exercise of identifying where it is in the body,if you could look inside,what color is it?Is it moving around fast or slow?is it jumpy?Like as many words as you can to describe it.So,You can compare it to an animal,and I always start with,when you say you have butterflies in your stomach,you know exactly what that means.And if you looked in there like you could see'em,they're all flitting around and that's what it feels like.Did you have a monkey in your brain?Do you have an elephant on your chest?Really being able,it sounds childlike to relate our feelings to animals,and yet it gives you a very clear picture of what that emotion is really doing in the body.It might also just be rocks on your chest.Maybe it's an eminent object that you can compare it to,but as many ways you can describe this feeling and voice what it is,even if you're just voicing it in your own head and your own thoughts.It's great if you can write it down.It's so valuable to let that feeling exist and bring it up.Feelings dissipate in60to90seconds when you are doing this practice.When you say,I shouldn't feel this way,and you push it down,that feeling is not gonna dissipate.It's just gonna come right back up when the weight that you've put on it is released,whether that weight is just mental stop feeling this or physical where you've put some food on it and you're just shoving that feeling down.When you feel it in such a way that you are describing it and allowing it to be present in your body,that's when it dissipates,and that is how we can release some of these feelings out of the body and not keep building on them.And I,I am not what I would consider a trauma specialist or trauma informed in my coaching as far as.Um,I don't work with a lot of trauma,but I will say that I know enough to say that if we consistently push down feelings and push them down and push them down,that does cause microtraumas and it's very difficult to get past that when we have just consistently pushed away our feelings.

Amy: 37:18

Absolutely.Yeah.You took the words right outta my mouth.No,and it's so important to understand.So for me,what I use and what I use with clients is breath work because it's something you've been doing since birth,right?You're,you're breathing.But in our society,we don't breathe with intention.We breathe shallowly because we don't wanna feel the feelings,we don't wanna feel our sensations.But when you can feel safe in that space where you feel support,Because safety is paramount in tr in trauma informed.That's the most,that's the first step,and the most important part of it is that the client feels safe,right?So this idea of feeling safe to be back in your body.Because if we're not in our body,the body cannot process out.The trauma cannot process out what needs to be removed and healed.And everyone has experienced trauma,whether it's Big T trauma,right.Or little T trauma.

Lisa: 38:10

Yeah,I love that

Amy: 38:11

Little T trauma can be traffic.I mean it could be city and traffic.It could be someone flipping you,the bird.It can be your dog ate a bunny rabbit in front of you.

Lisa: 38:20

Okay.Listeners,that just happened to Amy by the way.We talked about it before It was terrible.

Amy: 38:26

just.

Lisa: 38:27

Okay.

Amy: 38:28

Yes,but so,so I actually,like,I,I forced myself knowing ahead to this interview.I'm like,you need to just process this out.So that does not affect your interview.Just process it out.Right?And so I sat with it.I held safe space for myself.So these are things we can do.We're just not taught them,right?It's tools that we have once we learn them.They're part of our toolbox and,and then we can use them and respond rather than react.We can become less triggered.We can become less.Likely to dissociate,or we can be aware when we're dissociating and,and still choose that behavior,but with awareness,right?It goes back to this idea of awareness.And so I think it's really important for people to understand that there's so many different ways for you to do that.So if breath doesn't feel good,you could dance.You could take a yoga class,you could sing.Great.The thing I like about breath is there's no rules,so you don't have to sit on the floor in silence with no thoughts,breath.You can vocalize,you can move,you can dance.You can use the freedom.However your body wants to express the energy.It's all gets to be here.It's all allowed.There are no rules.That's why I like it,because it makes it open for everybody.It doesn't have to look a certain.

Lisa: 39:42

And so is that like sort of like guided breathing,like in pattern breathing?

Amy: 39:48

Yeah

Lisa: 39:49

I have done several different kinds of patterns breathing,and a lot of times I end up feeling like I have to hyperventilate,like I'm feeling like I'm out of breath.So I haven't really found my favorite to be honest,so whether or not it works for me.What is your favorite pattern of breathing to teach?

Amy: 40:07

I can totally relate to that.So to be honest,I be,it's what you're feeling is the activation.It's too much for your body,right?And if you don't have them freedom to express the way that you need,it feels like you're gonna have a panic attack.And so,for me,

Lisa: 40:20

Sorry,I keep interrupting you,but I,I was practicing this one that we learned in my health coaching certification,and it's supposed to be like,super relaxing.The instructor was like,I'm gonna fall asleep up here on stage.And I'm like,I feel like I just was running,I can't seem to relax when I do these patterns.And so I've tried,I've tried several.me.

Amy: 40:43

Right.And that's the thing.And that was me too.So again,this is completely normal and this is why I want to release the stigma around it,because I was that person as well.So I practiced kini yoga for years,and that's a very rigorous.Type of yoga with a lot of forceful breath,activating breath.And I used it as a weight to escape from my body because all the things were coming up and I was like,Nope,not gonna feel that.So I would use it to escape from my body.And then when I decided to do this training,I didn't actually decide it,the universe just kept sending it to me and it was like,oh,you need to do this other trauma training.And I'm like,I'm not doing anymore.I've done five years.I can't do another training.And the reason was because,It allowed me the freedom to honor and be in my body and listen to what my body needed.The breath that I typically do myself in my own practice,and then I actually hold space for other people is just in through the nose,out through the mouth.There's nothing special about it.I don't there.And if I do something right,if I do something,I get,if I can intuitively feel like someone needs to move something,I'll tell them to make.Vocalize it,you know,move your body.So I sway a lot.You can rock.You can hit the pillow.If you're laying down right,you could stamp your feet.Again,you're on mute.I can't hear you.You can put yourself on mute.I do need to see you because that's part of being trauma formed for safety purposes.But you can do so many different things with.

Lisa: 42:10

Mm-hmm.

Amy: 42:11

Just moving it out with an in,in,through the nose and out through the mouth.You could speed it up,you can make it deeper.You know,there's a lot of ways that you can actually alter it that feels good to your body.But for me,nine times out of10I do in through the nose and out through the mouth.Literally nine times out of10.

Lisa: 42:29

I feel so validated right now because literally just like a few days ago,my,my mom,and not to throw her under the bus,but nobody probably that listens,knows my mom.She sometimes does have,she gets very nervous and she gets right on the verge of panic attacks But when she gets on the verge and I could see what was happening,I was like,okay,mom,bright in my eyes and I like grab her hands.And I was doing in through the nose,out through the mouth pattern,match my breathing,match my breathing,and I'm just like,what you're feeling is anxiety?And I just call out the emotion and I just help her process that feeling.But,Yeah,just in through the nose,out through the mouth,and I was thinking,I don't know a better breathing pattern,but apparently

Amy: 43:15

It

Lisa: 43:15

right one.

Amy: 43:16

listen,you could alter it in so many ways.You could do a top hold,right?Where you take an inhale,you hold the breath of the top that can feel.Exhilarating,but it can also feel really anxiety provoking.But you,you know,so again,it's,and it's different every time.So one tie,that breath may feel good the next day,that hold may not.So it's,again,working with the body because you can also hold the breath out.And I,and it can be grounding on a bottom hold,but it can also feel like,oh my God,I don't have any air in my lungs.And the body starts to panic.So it's,again,it's,it's understanding the mechanisms of the way the body works.And being open to what can come through and being okay with it doesn't have to look a certain way.It gets to look different for everybody.And that's the,the beauty of it in,in that you get to decide what's best for you in all things.

Lisa: 44:07

Yeah.Such a good message.I noticed the time So I am going to wrap this up with Amy.Why don't you tell us how people can connect with you or learn more about what you do?You mentioned a couple free gifts we're gonna offer.I think we'll put those links in the show notes.Where else can people find you?

Amy: 44:24

they can go to mindbodyspiritbreath.com.

Lisa: 44:27

Great.That's it.

Amy: 44:29

well if there,like,there's other links on there,so I'm not gonna bombard people with links.

Lisa: 44:33

I love it.Okay.Perfect.It's been a pleasure having.

44:37

I learned so much from Amy today that I asked her to stay on and record a quick breath work session specially for my email subscribers.So,if you would like to hear that it is a five minute session with her.So you can hear her give you this guided work to breathe and connect with your body was really nice.I did it with her and when I come on back at the end,I sound like a little bit out of it because I literally am so relaxed.So the link to get that mini session with her is in the show notes.

Lisa: 45:14

hey,thanks for listening today.If you're ready to get some personalized coaching from me,I'd encourage you to schedule a free strategy session.Visit www.wellwithlisa.as.me or it's easier just to find that link in the show notes.We'll talk about where you currently are with your weight loss goals.And I'll give you some actionable tools.You can start implementing right away.Before you go,make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you can receive new episodes,right when they're released.And if you're learning something new and enjoying the podcast,I'd love for you to leave me a five star rating and a review.Thanks again for joining me,Lisa Salisbury in this episode of Eat Well,Think Well,Live Well.