Episode 86: Pursuing Mother Nature for Health with Amy Stein

0:24

Amy hurt.She didn't feel well.And she was barely functioning.But the more doctors she saw and the more tests she had run the worse,she felt.It was only after finding her own path through her own journey with mother nature and the healing,herbs and plants that mother nature provides was she able to feel better.Join us,as she tells about her journey to recover her health and vitality.

Melissa: 0:55

Amy,welcome to the Pursuing Uncomfortable Podcast.How are you today?

Amy: 0:59

Thanks,Melissa.I'm excited to be here.I'm good.How are

Melissa: 1:02

you?I'm doing well.So far,so good.Anyway,Amy,tell us a little bit about where you're from and

Amy: 1:11

what you do.I live in New York.And I use the power of Mother Nature to connect back to ourselves and also to connect back to something bigger than us because I find a lot of people are disconnected from themselves and from Mother Nature,and so I use her intelligence to connect back to the intelligence that lives within us.We all have it.We just have to be open to That.Sounds pretty cool.Thank you.

Melissa: 1:36

Yeah,I love it.The more connected we are in our bodies to the creation that is all around us,only good things can come from that,

Amy: 1:44

right?Mm-hmm.Exactly.We just have to be open to it.

Melissa: 1:48

So how did you get to this point?What was your life like before this journey began?

Amy: 1:54

It was a very long journey to get to this point.So this is like15years in the making where I am right now versus where I was so.I battled with health issues basically my whole life,but I didn't have a name for it.And so as a child I could sense things that were around me that,you know,you couldn't see.So when I would tell my parents or teachers or caregivers about it,it was always making things up to get attention.Like,this isn't real.You can't feel that.You can't see that,right?Because we're taught in our society,Then if you can't see it,it's not real.It doesn't exist.But I could sense all these things because everything is energy.But I didn't understand that as a little kid.I didn't understand that I didn't wanna be around certain people.I didn't wanna go certain places.I didn't wanna wear certain foods or,you know,eat certain foods or wear certain clothing.So it was a very confusing experience for me as a child to,because no one else was saying that they were experiencing these things.So I was labeled as being difficult.I was too sensitive.I was different.And nobody wants to be that.As a little kid,you wanna fit in,you wanna have friends when I'm ready to like you.So I learned from a very young age to ignore that part of myself,to push it down and just pretend that it wasn't there.And that was really hard because my body was trying to help me,but I thought it was trying to hurt me.And so I found that I was struggling a bit.And so in order for me to survive,I would just.Do things to fit in that everybody else was doing,but it actually caused a lot of disconnection between my physical body,my mental body,and my emotional body.And it caused a lot of physical symptoms to manifest.So I had headaches,I had stomach aches,I had body pains.I had.You know,I just didn't feel well as a kid.I was always really tired.I,I wanted to go to bed at eight30.I mean,as a40year old woman,I feel good at bed at eight30because that's what my body needs.And so I didn't understand why that was,and I just wanted to be like everybody else.And it really came to a pinnacle when I was working as a medical research with chronic pain patients.They were geriatrics and I was in my midterm.So late twenties and I'm began to resemble them and I couldn't understand what was going on.It was really scary and I felt like I had no control over my body,no control over my life.And it was,again,a lot of these invisible energies were at play.I had purchased a house that was a stick home.It was filled with mold.I lived sensitive to mold in the workplace that I was in.And I always knew that I had this issue,but I didn't realize it was,it was actually making me really,really sick and it was causing a lot of issues along with other things that we can't see these invisible toxins.And because I am highly sensitive,I'm the type of person who picks up these things before the general population.So ems,5g,radiation,radio frequencies,all of that,you know,working in the hospital,you're bombarded with that247.And so it began to really destroy me where I couldn't get out of bed.My symptoms all exasperated as far as stomach geeks and migraines.They were daily.I had vertigo.I was blacking out again,which had happened when I was in high school.And so it was really something that I didn't understand what it meant.I was raised that if there's something wrong,you go to the doctor,they fix you.And I had been going to the doctor since I was a kid,and they weren't fixing me and they weren't believing what I was saying.And so this was a theme that was then coming up again when I was seeing the same doctors that I had been working with for years with the other patient.And they were not listening to what I was saying.They were not believing what I was saying,and it felt really disempowering,really frustrating.I felt very alone.

Melissa: 5:34

Yeah.I can't imagine that you know what you're experiencing and it's like you're being punked or something when people just don't acknowledge your experience.

Amy: 5:46

Yeah,it's very hard and unfortunately my story is not unique.A lot of people who have these invisible illnesses,autoimmune disease,chronic pain,chronic disease conditions get lost.Their western medicine does not actually help them.They fall between the cracks,they get lost,and a lot of the people who experience these things from a young age have the treat like I do,of being a highly sensitive person where they are the canaries and the cool minds.And so it's not talked about.It's being discussed now,but it wasn't really discussed.You know,I'm a child of the eighties.This is not discussed in the eighties.It's certainly not discussed in the nineties.Dr.Erin,Elaine,Erin is the one who coined the term in the late nineties,but she,her research really didn't come mainstream probably until the last five to10years where people have really been talking about being a highly sensitive person.And at that point,no one was talking about trauma.No one was talking about the connection of childhood disease and trauma.No one was talking about.These different frequencies that you can't see and causing illness like mold,electromagnetic frequencies,radiations.You know,when you get sick at first,they just test the crap outta you.So you're just going from massive amounts of MRIs,massive amounts of x-rays.And I didn't realize,because you know,the doctors tell you it's safe,right?Oh,it's safe.But when you're getting x-rayed and MRIs monthly,it's not safe and your body is actually suffering because of it.And we live in an increasingly toxic world.That is just getting more toxic.And the body was not designed to handle all these toxins.So the body is designed to heal,but it's not designed to heal in the the environment that we live in.And so it's always giving you out messages to let you know that something is not right.But we just are so used to our bodies falling apart.We're used to having aches and pains.We're used to not feeling well in our bodies to reac accept it as normal,but it's actually not.So what was the

Melissa: 7:35

turning point for you?What was that moment or.What was the situation like when it clicked for you that there was something different and there was a different path available?

Amy: 7:48

So unfortunately it,it took a few years because I again thought that I'll go to the doctor,they'll figure it out.I live in New York so I don't,you know,you could throw a rock,you hit a doctor,and I saw the specialists in Manhattan.I saw the top of the top of the fields.We went to Johns Hopkins to the autoimmune.Premier Institute,right?So like we got into all these places,but the issue was that when you're in that seat,you're still giving everything away,right?You're still looking for somebody else to fix you.You're still looking for someone else to be the answers.You walk around with that briefcase of labs and medical notes,right?That either you've taken or from other doctors that you've seen before and hoping that someone's gonna put the puzzle pieces together,so you're still always looking for someone else to fix it.And so I didn't understand because that's what we're taught,right?We're taught like,oh,you have go to the doctor.They have all the answers.They went to medical school.They know better than you.And so it was that merry ground of seeing all the specialists for about three years,and I was on it.It got to the point where I said,I'm not gonna do this anymore.The last doctor had seen,basically wanted to give me chemotherapy,kill my entire immune system,and hope it grows back.That's what he said to me.And I looked at my mother,cuz at that point my mom was taking me to all of my appointments.I could not drive,I could not leave the house.My husband had to work.And I said,I'm not,I'm not doing this anymore.Like this is not,this is not the way that this is gonna go.And if I'm gonna die,like I've resigned myself to that,that does not scare me.The idea of dying does not scare me.Like I've made pizza with that.But this is not a way to live because I have no quality of life.And at that point,my grand had passed and my parents were going through some of her books.And she had this book about plant medicine and my dad had said to me,Hey,do you want this book?And I kind of thought there's something that tell me I should take this book.And that's kind of what started me down a completely different path is I started,you know,I,I say that when you take this step,the higher power will follow if,if whoever you believe in,right?So for me,it's Mother Nature,the universe,source,spirit,God along,Yahk,whatever it is that you.Aspire to,to connect with,they will give you the next steps.So I,I was sent like summits about herbalism.I was sent herbalism trainings.I got books from the library because it was affordable and I could get them for free.And so I just read a lot of books.I,I started to play with the weeds that were growing in my backyard because it was fascinating to me.Every single plant that was dirty in my backyard,whether I had planted it or not,had a medicinal quality to it.And that's the thing that we forget because we live so disconnected from Mother Nature and from ourselves and that this is not taught anymore.It's becoming more mainstream,but it's still not really taught across the board.Like people don't know where their food comes.Or if you ask kids today,they don't understand that you can grow food.Like they're like,it comes from a grocery store.And so when I began to understand that,These plants that I did not put there,that mother nature had put there,that we were poisoning that,you know,we called weeds actually were more medicinally potent than anything I could actually grow.So I began to learn how to forage.I got a bunch of foraging books out for the Northeast again,cause I live in New York and I took a bunch of classes and whatever I could do to learn to empower myself,that's what I began to do because I began to realize that I had the answers.I was the one that was living in my body,not the doctors,my parents,not my husband.If anything was,if anyone was gonna fix it,I had to do it.And so I began to study about plant medicine That led me to study about energy medicine.Again,like everything is energy around us.Whether or not we see it or not,it's still energy and you can change the energy to flow differently in your body.So when we have a lot of childhood trauma,when we have a lot of activating moments and we don't feel our feelings and we don't feel our sensations,because we're taught in our society not to do that,it creates traps energy in the body.This leads to pain,this leads to disease,this leads to chronic illness.And so when you can unfree that and and allow the body to do what it was designed to do,which is to heal,You can begin to release some of that child's energy,you can begin to work with your body to have the energy flow in a healing way.And so Donna Eden was one of the first energy medicine practitioners I studied with,and she has this10minute routine.I began doing that.I was already doing Qigong.It was something started to,with my patients,uh,before to to do it with them,but I wasn't able to do a physical yoga practice.I couldn't get on and off the floor,so I had to do things that were standing or I could sit in a chair.And it had to be feel good in my body.And no one can tell you what that feels like.Only you know if it feels good.But at that point I was still doing a lot of it in my head.I call it manic healing,right?We think we can just do it all in our head.We'll rewire our brain.We'll,you know,we'll change our mindset,we'll change our thoughts,but that doesn't,that doesn't work fully.It will get you so far,but it's not just mindset like you have to be in the physical body to heal.And that was something that I didn't realize.There was a lot of lessons throughout this decade plus journey that I've been on that no one tells you about.You have to kind of realize your own.So I began to write a book about it and I was like,this is something people need to know because no one talks about this.And so I've included it in ebook below for the guests to listen to that has the know the seven discoveries I made that no one talks about on your Healing Journey.Right?And they're not just things if you're sick,it's things overall for anyone.And,and we live in a sick society,whether or not you're taking medication or not,you're not living a healthy lifestyle because we revere technology.We're disconnected from Mother Earth.We don't eat real food.We're surrounded by wifi and5G and all these radio radiation frequencies,and the body is,is screaming,but we're not paying attention to it.We just think it's normal to feel like this and it's not.You can feel so much better.It's just being aware.Of what you're doing right?Being aware of what you're putting in and on your body,being aware of what you're using to clean your house.Being aware if you're spraying chemicals in your backyard,being aware of how clean your water is,how clean the air is that you're breathing,right?So it's,it's a whole multidimensional approach,and if you do it in not the right order,you're gonna actually make yourself stiffer sticker.So a lot of times I was trying to detox mold out of my body.But my lymph system wasn't operating fully.I was just creating more poison in my body where it had nowhere to go.And so a lot of these ideas are not talked about,they're certainly not talked about in western medicine.But even if you see a functional practitioner who looks at the body as a whole and looks for the root cause,they're not all trained in every single different modality.They're not all trained in every step.You know,every single different disease and condition.And again,I was that person that,even with the AL doctor,I didn't respond to the protocols that other people had responded to.That quote unquote had the same conditions that I was dealing with because we are all different.And so again,no one can tell you what to do.Like I can't sit here and say,these are the thousand and one things I did.You should do them in this order and do these thousand and one things.It won't.It won't work because what works for me isn't gonna necessarily work for you.And there's beauty in because that means that you get to uncover.What your body,just like,I'm uncovering what my body needs and it changes all the time.There are suggestions I can make across the board about certain things that I think everyone should do,but I can't do the work for you.You have to choose to show up to do it for yourself.Then it sounds simple,but it's not

Melissa: 15:42

sure,and that's the the,the deal with most good things in life.They're very simple.Wisdom is usually very simple.But don't confuse Simple with easy i on your website.I love on the very first page,just scrolling down a little bit.There are,there's a list under the heading,what Can Mind,body,spirit Breath Sessions help with?And a couple of my favorites in this list is releasing past trauma without having to name it,so.Mm-hmm.You know,you don't necessarily,I'm.Can,you know,correct me if I'm mistaken here,but I don't have to spend12years in therapy.I can engage my body and engage mother nature and spirit and release it.Is that what you're

Amy: 16:30

saying?

Devon: 16:31

Hi,I wanna take a quick moment and tell you about my mom.She's an amazing mom and an amazing podcast host,isn't she?She's also amazing at helping people to understand and manage anxiety and to build a strong spiritual practice.She has online courses,books,and a lot of free resources and downloads to help you live in amazing life.So please check out Light Life and love ministries.com.Edge your YouTube channel.Lily started the show notes.

Amy: 16:59

Absolutely.We so.I don't wanna offend people,but so I did talk therapy for years and I never felt better.If anything,it re-traumatized me.And there was a lot of things that were hidden that my body knew were not safe for me to talk about.Like my childhood trauma that I never spoke to a therapists about,because my body wasn't letting me remember it because I didn't have the skills to deal with it.And so the body's designed to heal,but it's also designed to keep you safe.So if you're trying to change habits,if you're trying to,you know,go into therapy for five years and you feel like you're just spinning your wheels,It's because again,you're still in the mind,you're not in the body.But with somatic healing,there's no agenda.We don't have to go back to what happened at age five.We don't have to name it.We don't have to go back to,you know,the,the nitty gritty things.If you don't wanna talk about it,you don't have to talk about it.The body will do the work without you talking about it,because the body knows what is safe to be released.It knows what has been healed and can be tr you know,Trent moved on out.And so when people ask to be like,how does this work?I really can't explain it because the body,its intelligence is far more exceeds what modern sciences can say because ancient,traditional healing goes back5,000years plus,right?So traditional Chinese medicine,Ayurveda,energy medicine,indigenous medicine,I chang herbalism,all has been around for5,000years.And modern day science is only just now catching up to it.And so it doesn't all have to be logical.And that's,that's why people think it's woowoo.And it's weird because it doesn't seem logical,but it,it is.It's just it.We think it's so simple that it can't be right cuz we wanna complicate everything.And so it is really simple,but you have to show up to do it.And that's the scary part.One of the

Melissa: 18:52

things you've been highlighting again and again and again as you've spoken,is that we are all different and our bodies have different needs and different experiences.For many,they will find relief going to traditional medicine.For many,they will find,uh,release going to talk therapy,but for those who haven't,and for those who are still getting sicker or have symptoms that no one can bend down or name.There are other options.Mm-hmm.And your website,I would say,is the first place to go to start uncovering your unique body and your unique needs.

Amy: 19:31

Yeah,that's a great page.Thanks Melissa.Also,if they grab the free ebook,you know,there's a lot of information in there that just sheds light on.Again,like I said,ideas that people aren't really talking about and.It was something that I had to figure out for myself,and it was hard,right?So the reason I do these interviews is to save other people from having to struggle as much as I did,right?So if you don't want to read the journal articles,if you don't wanna read all of the books,if you don't want to,you know,make your own medicine,you know,I made my own tinctures.I made my own fermented food and made my infused oils that I turn into medicinal bombs,that now I open an ET shop,right?But it's been10years in the making.You don't have to do all those things,but you can find.Those people that can be part of your team,that you can trust,that provide a safe space for you.Because if you don't feel safe,you can't heal.If you're not supported,you're not gonna heal.So you need to feel supported,you need to feel safe.And so for me,being trauma informed is about safety.It's about putting the client first,but also making sure that I feel safe.So,because if I don't feel safe,I can't open up myself to hold face for the other person.So I continue to have my own somatic healer and I,every three weeks I have sessions with her because if I'm not doing my own work,how can I support myself and do somebody else?Right?And so I think it's really important to understand that this is a lifelong process.That heli is not,Rainier does not go A to Z.It looks like a drawing that a three-year-old did with crayon.There are lines all over the place.And I think it's important to understand that there's a lot of times that things will come up and you won't know what to do,and that's normal.Like I'm15years in and you know,I'm,I'm kind of in a flare right now and I'm doing the things that would normally work and they're really not working.And so typically in our society,we would blame,we would have expectations and judgements and we'd be really hard on ourself,but that's not really helpful.So instead it's about being curious.Right.So rather than assigning blame and judgment and being negative about it,the curiosity allows us to look at it from a different perspective,right?So what could my body be telling me?My body's like,listen,you're doing too much.You need to take more breaks,right?I'm trying to do everything in the garden.I'm trying to do podcast interviews.I'm trying to build my business.I'm trying to do the Etsy shop.My body's like not having it,and so it shuts you down and we try to.Get through that by eating sugar or drinking coffee or you know,numby out dissociating in ways that are not really helpful to the body and not helpful to the body as a whole,mentally,physically,emotionally,spiritually,and energetically.And so when we can come back to the body as a whole and,and not.Unconsciously do those behaviors,but be conscious and aware of like,okay,I'm choosing an amount right now.I'm gonna go read that book that's mindless because I really don't have the brain what to do anything today.And so that's what I'm gonna do.And it's not that I'm quitting or I'm giving up,it's that I'm listening to my body and I'm respecting that it has an intelligence that is smarter than my mind.And science hasn't gotten there yet,and I'm okay with that and I've experienced it.In a different way than most people.So for me,it's not always easy to remember to do that.It's not always easy to trust my body,but nine times outta10when I don't listen to my body and I go with my mind,it does not work out so well.There's lesson learned,but I'm human,don't eat.I have to keep going through it.Right.

Melissa: 23:06

You know,I,I find so much hope in your words.I.Have seen people that have unexplained symptoms that just live with chronic pain and difficulties in their bodies.They go to the doctors all the time and they just live with so much stuff that they shouldn't have to live with.And that's such a hopeful word that you're bringing today that,and I'm gonna,pardon me for getting really technical here,but sometimes it'll get outta whack.I think that's a really precise,specific term.But if you're outta whack and nobody can help you get back in wack,whatever in wack means excuse,then maybe it's time to look inward and to seek a different path.And I love that there is something else out there.Mm-hmm.And I appreciate that you're bringing that to light for us,and you're giving us a place to start on this journey and helping us to shortcut.Some of the difficult work that you've already done.So thank you for the work that you do and the hope that you're bringing to people.

Amy: 24:14

Thanks,Melissa.Yeah.Different Doesn't need to be bad.It's just different.It's all,

Melissa: 24:21

there's that.Absolutely.So,Amy,as we close out today,what last words would you like to share with folks that are

Amy: 24:29

listening?So if something isn't working,Have the courage to make the change,right?In small steps.Just take the next small step and it can be a really tiny step and you celebrate that tiny step.It's not about the big leaps,it's not about the big jumps,right?When you can achieve a lot of things just with small steps,adda.So just have the courage to take that small step.And one other

Melissa: 24:53

question.Um,For those who ha are parents that have highly sensitive kids mm-hmm.Or to a highly sensitive teenager that might be listening to this podcast.Mm-hmm.What would you,what wisdom would you leave with them?

Amy: 25:10

There's nothing wrong with you.You're not broken.For thousands of years,you were revered.You were the medicine woman,the shaman,the,the trait.That we exhibit now in modern day society,people look at them as,there's something wrong with you,but if you can be curious and change that around and be open to the perspective that they,these are gifts,these are things that can actually enhance my empathy,enhance my compassion,enhance my generosity for other people without taxing yourselves,then you're already ahead of the curves.

Melissa: 25:51

Beautiful.Thank you,Amy.Thanks,Melissa.