Lyme Disease, Family, and Holistic Healing With Practitioner Amanda Dahl

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Amanda Dahl

Have you ever heard about a type of therapy for the first time that maybe you had never heard about, but other people are raving saying it's really helped them, like maybe a type of massage that you've never had or a new way of meditating. And you've thought to yourself, what the hell? All right, I'll give it a go. I'll see what happens. It can't hurt.
It might help. Let's see what people are talking about. That was me. When I went to my first acupuncture appointment years ago. I admit, I didn't find total relief from it, like other people had, but I tried other therapies that this particular clinic had like craniosacral massage. And I found a few therapies that really, really worked. Even if I couldn't really explain what exactly was happening. Where they all had in common was it was energy work.
And I would not have believed in it if I hadn't tried it myself. There's quite a few therapies that work with energy and this previous skeptic finds them all pretty fascinating. And some of them. Really really effective. Which is why I'm really excited about this week's guest. Amanda Dahl. Amanda has had a long journey with Lyme disease and it wasn't just her. It was her entire family that was affected and she's also had other diagnoses.
And illnesses in her life. and she found energy work along the way, looking for different therapies and things that could help and now she and her husband have their own practice, offering many energy work therapies. And coaching for people with Lyme. So in this week's episode, Amanda gives us an introduction into holistic healing.
Exactly what energy work really is and how it can help. So please enjoy this week's episode and visit Andrea Hanson, coaching.com for more on Amanda Dahl resources. We talk about in the show. And transcripts from today's episode. You can find the link. In the episode description. Welcome to the live your life, not your diagnosis podcast. I'm Andrea Hanson, author, motivational speaker. And master certified coach. When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I was told. I would never reach my goals. But I did. And I'm on a mission to prove that life with a chronic illness can still be expansive and quite remarkable.
Everyone has their own unique path. I'm talking to people, living with a chronic illness that come from different backgrounds, have different points of view and are achieving amazing life goals of all kinds. To you inspire you To achieve what you thought was impossible. These stories are raw. Uncensored and judgment free. Listener discretion is advised
[00:02:45] Andrea: I'm here with Amanda Dahl. Amanda entered the holistic health scene after her own intense journey with chronic illness and eventual remission from Lyme disease. With her gentle guidance and fresh approach, clients who have quote unquote tried everything, enjoy accelerated healing and renewed hope. Physical, emotional, and spiritual needs are considered as Amanda leads clients to a life of health and new possibilities. Amanda and her husband, Christopher Co-own Dahl Holistic Health, where they use energy healing, health and soul coaching, muscle testing, energy sensing.
Somatic exercises and mindset work to activate people's vitality so they can thrive. Welcome, Amanda. How are you?
[00:03:29] Amanda: Thank you. Thanks for having me, Andrea. I'm great. How are you?
[00:03:32] Andrea: I am great. I am so excited to talk to you about all things energy healing. I was really excited cause I don't talk about that a whole lot and I know some people love it. And want to hear more about what you do. Some people are completely skeptical and they're thinking like, Andrea, why are you talking about this?
[00:03:49] Amanda: Right.
[00:03:51] Andrea: And I want to talk about it a little bit more cuz I think it's something that people know, but they don't necessarily know the specifics of it and like really what it is. We're going to talk all things energy healing, but I first want to hear a little bit more about your health journey because you said it was intense, and I think what makes it a little bit different is that it's not just your journey.
You weren't the only person that was having this illness. It was your whole family.
[00:04:18] Amanda: Yeah. Yep. It was wild. My health journey started literally at birth. I was born with a hole in my heart. Had my first open heart surgery at four years old. All kinds of health issues. I'm just one of those people. I had all kinds of health issues and then in my late teen years, I started having just a lot more.
Unusual symptoms that typically people with Lyme disease experience. I was having a lot of vertigo, a lot of digestive issues migrating arthritis kind of feelings headaches, oh my gosh, such headaches. Night sweats, rashes, you name it. All sorts of strange And and my husband and I, we met when we were 15, so we've been together for a long time and he was starting to not do so well.
And by now, like fast forward a couple of years, we're in our early twenties, we're now married. And, he was falling apart in different ways. He was having a lot of issues with his kidneys. He was also having migraines, neck pain, like neck pain all the time for him. A lot of gastrointestinal issues.
this went on for us, for, we went back as far as we could remember, the more Lyme kind of symptoms. And we attracted back to from the time that we were diagnos. , and it was just, it was wild, a lot of tests and, I had a hysterectomy. It was just the symptoms were so bad and of course it didn't alleviate any of the pain and it was just, , a really long road.
And in, in the middle of all of this, had a child not
[00:05:56] Andrea: Hmm.
[00:05:56] Amanda: That we had Lyme disease. It was just, there was a lot. It, those. Have an illness that's difficult to diagnose, oftentimes experience this, where you see, 20 some odd doctors, you're being recommended, oh, why don't you see this specialist and why don't you see this specialist?
And at one point in everybody's journey, it's inevitable that well, have you seen a therapist?
You go on some anxiety medication? Cause this is a lot of anxiety that you're experiencing and it. I'm having anxiety because I'm sick and nobody seems to know what's wrong. So that went on for 18 years.
And then my son was actually diagnosed first because he was diagnosed with autism
And in the diagnostic report they had done a lot of blood work on him, unbeknownst to us some of the blood work that they just ran a quick panel on he actually tested positive. On one of the tests for Lyme disease that typically people, only about a 40% chance of getting a positive on and this particular test, miss misses a lot of um, and he actually did test positive.
And when we to work with a doctor for him more of the autism stuff, the doctor happened to be Lyme literate and she said, Tell me about your health. And she looked at my husband and I, and at this point we still weren't diagnosed.
[00:07:23] Andrea: Hmm.
[00:07:24] Amanda: um, And that was, you know, 18 years into this. And we started telling her and she's your son tested positive for Lyme.
I think you all have Lyme. And
[00:07:32] Andrea: Hmm.
[00:07:32] Amanda: you know, Here we go. That was the beginning of our journey.
[00:07:36] Andrea: Okay, so I'm curious because lime comes from a tick bite, is that correct? Is that the only way you can get it?
[00:07:44] Amanda: He, that's one of the ways that you can get it. You can get Lyme disease from any vector insect, so mosquitos, fleas, chiggers, you can get certain infections that come along with Lyme disease.
Get them from if you've ever heard the song Cat Scratch Fever,
[00:08:02] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:08:03] Amanda: actually a co-infection that a lot of people with Lyme disease have.
It's called Bartinella,
[00:08:07] Andrea: Oh, interesting.
[00:08:08] Amanda: because you don't just get Lyme typically, which is, it's the bacteria is called Borrelia. You typically don't get just Borrelia. You also typically will get, you know, Bebisia, Bartonella, Rocky Mountain, spotted Fever, tick Lauren, relapsing fever, there's all these. Mixes of things, and some people get a lot of them, other people only get a couple of them.
Like it's a total it's a total,
[00:08:34] Andrea: Wow.
[00:08:35] Amanda: as to what you get. But yeah,
[00:08:37] Andrea: So much bigger than
I thought.
[00:08:39] Amanda: It absolutely is. They're also finding that there is some sexual transmission. It, they're finding evidence now that it can be passed from mother to baby and we have consulted with three different doctors that feel that is what happened in my son's case.
They also feel that he has lyme induced autism. So there was a lot of, things that kind of cascaded with this diagnosis for us.
[00:09:07] Andrea: Okay, cuz I was going to ask if it was that you passed Lyme down to your son, or if it was just coincidentally he happened to get it himself, but it sounds like he had it.
[00:09:17] Amanda: He had it. And what we think, Andrea, we think that he was bitten by a tick and it was reactivated because when
[00:09:24] Andrea: Oh.
[00:09:25] Amanda: test he was, there's ways that they can tell is this an older infection or a newer infection? And he actually lit up on, on both parts. they were like, this was something that was already in his system.
And we did know that he had a tick bite when he was almost eight. So we knew that there was a tick bite there and we think that reactivated things. But he had characteristics of Lyme since birth. It was very interesting.
[00:09:52] Andrea: Wow,
[00:09:53] Amanda: Yeah.
[00:09:53] Andrea: That's quite a journey. And I want to specify that it's not just any tick bite. It's not just if you find a tick, you're going to freak out because you have lime. It's if the ticks are infected with lime. Is that right?
[00:10:05] Amanda: Yes.
[00:10:05] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:10:06] Amanda: and there are places that people, I tell people if you find a tick on you, it's very easy to just want to get rid of the tick and flush it down the toilet
[00:10:14] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:10:15] Amanda: It out the car window or, whatever. But I tell people, save the tick. Because there are organizations that you can send the tick to and they can test.
To see what does the tick have, because that can be helpful for the person who's been bitten by the tick because most people don't get that, that bullseye rash that they talk about. Most people don't actually get that rash. They estimate only about 30 to 40% of people get any kind of rash on their skin.
I tell people save the tick. The other thing about the rash that I just want to say is if you have that bullseye rash, that is indicative that you have Lyme disease. So it is imperative that you treat the sooner that you can treat, which is. U usually antibiotics. You would go to your primary care, tell them that you were bitten by a tick, that you have the bullseye rash and ask them for antibiotics to try to treat as quickly as possible because we don't want it to go deep into the tissues and then have it become a chronic issue.
[00:11:22] Andrea: Because it is, it's a bacteria, right? It's a bacteria infection,
[00:11:26] Amanda: yeah. the, the Borrelia is a bacteria,
[00:11:29] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:11:30] Amanda: Are some other things that you can get that are, viral and all sorts of other things. But usually that rash is indicative of the Borrelia bacteria.
[00:11:39] Andrea: So the earlier that you get it and the earlier you treat it, the better.
[00:11:42] Amanda: The better your chances are of it not going chronic. 85% of the people if they.
A tick bite that they know about and they see that rash and they have antibiotics right away. 85% of people will, they'll be okay,
[00:11:59] Andrea: Mm.
[00:12:00] Amanda: 15% Of those people that. It will continue, the disease process will continue and it will develop into something deeper. So that's why I tell people like it's really important and if, if the doctor says, oh, we don't have Lyme around here, or those sorts of things, cuz that's very popular worldwide for patients to be gaslit on that.
I tell people, find another doctor.
[00:12:21] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:12:22] Amanda: is imperative that you treat as fast as.
[00:12:25] Andrea: Yeah, I know I. Different now, but I know for a very long time in my state they didn't have lime . And so even if you said Hey, I think I have this, they literally wouldn't, they would refuse cuz they're like, we don't have it. And it doesn't matter if you were like maybe vacationing in another state and got, didn't matter.
And so you literally would have to go to another state to get the test or send it away somewhere because the doctors were just dug in that Nope, we don't have that. It's not, that's not it.
[00:12:55] Amanda: Yeah. And there's a lot of people in our medical community, again worldwide that still feel that way. Oh, we don't have, we don't have Lyme disease here. it's important for people to know that Lyme is in all 50 states in the
[00:13:09] Andrea: Hmm.
[00:13:10] Amanda: States, and it has been found in every country with the except exception of Antarctica.
It's Just something that isn't talked about enough. But it is the fastest growing vector illness in the United States,
[00:13:26] Andrea: And I just find it so fascinating that nobody was talking about it for so long. Like it's just, to me, it just doesn't make sense. It's if it's something that majority of people can be treated with antibiotics, which you know, are prescribed for everything anyway, why? Why is it still so hard?
[00:13:45] Amanda: I think it's hard because in the medical community they're they didn't know a lot when people were first getting sick with Lyme disease. And Lyme disease has been around for thousands of years. Like they found it in the iceman that they found, like they, that the iceman had Lyme disease,
[00:14:03] Andrea: Wow.
[00:14:03] Amanda: know, Infections, just like Covid, right?
Covid morphed into all these different strains. Lyme disease does the same thing and it's very strong and and it's very hard to treat. I think that there was just such a lack of information in the beginning. People didn't understand and then, people really thought that it was isolated to more of the New England.
That's why it's called Lyme disease. Because originally it was a group of children in Lyme, Connecticut that they all came down with these arthritic symptoms at the same time and they realized it was caused by a, tick.
So it. They thought it was isolated to New England for many years.
And of course it's not, and there's different strains depending on what country you live in and what part of the United States you live in.
So much information out there. And also, the Inve Infectious Disease Society of America, you know, they kind of, that group of.
Feels, you know, oh, some antibiotics and you're done.
There's another group of doctors out there that they're called ilads. It's a Lyme disease organization, but doctors that are under ilads feel. That we, there's still a large population of people that need more than 30 days of antibiotics.
They need long-term therapies and a lot of times it involves alternative treatments. So you're talking antibiotics, but maybe you're also talking, IV therapy. People do things like oxygen, deep dive therapy. Sometimes people do hyperthermia. So there's, and that group of doctors believes.
This is like a crisis in the medical community. So there's a little bit of controversy there. So I tell people, cut through the controversy. At the end of the day, we want you to get better.
We're thankful for our doctors If they can help us get a diagnosis, which in some cases that's difficult, but if they're having a hard time, I tell people, let's find you an ILADS doctor.
You know, Somebody that can give you the testing and that can do some long-term treatment with you. several doctors have lost their licenses for treating people for long-term Lyme disease. So that's another reason why there's some controversy in the medical community about it. So I
[00:16:19] Andrea: Wow.
[00:16:19] Amanda: I tell people, let's cut through that and let's just get you the help that you need.
Cuz
[00:16:22] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:16:23] Amanda: here,
[00:16:23] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:16:24] Amanda: I know both sides of the coin. I don't want people to spend their time getting upset about the controversy. It's let's just get you the help that you need. And I know the resources to do that. So now that you're with me let's, let's
[00:16:37] Andrea: Right,
[00:16:37] Amanda: Need.
[00:16:38] Andrea: Which one helped you when you finally got that diagnosis? Was it the antibiotics? Antibiotics that worked, or did you have to do a lot of other therapy as well since you had been living with it for so long?
[00:16:49] Amanda: And that's a great question. For me, Andrea, I'm allergic to so many antibiotics that wasn't a treatment option for me.
[00:16:57] Andrea: Hmm.
[00:16:57] Amanda: By the time they figured it out I was in a, I was, they call it chronic Lyme disease, so I, I'm in a chronic state, so I had to really look beyond conventional medicine because I couldn't go that route.
at
all So I started working with a naturopath who was very well versed in herbs which really piqued my interest in herbal medicine because I learned all of the herbs that treat. The Lyme and the different co-infections and went on, I went on to school to become an herbalist so that I can make recommendations to people for their own herbal protocols.
I also used essential oils and I know that there's, a lot of people uh, you know, essential oils but um, you know, it is a type of herbal medicine. And I used oils as, some of my antimicrobial treatment because, they're very potent. So that was a route for me.
And then eventually I did get into energy medicine and I can dive into that a little deeper as we talk. But that was really the thing that kind of brought me across the finish line was doing multifaceted approach. To healing from this cuz it, I had been sick for so long
Wasn't a matter of 30 days of antibiotics and we're done.
I couldn't do that.
Yeah,
[00:18:12] Andrea: I mean, by the way, 30 days of antibiotics is no joke. That's a lot.
[00:18:16] Amanda: It is a lot. And there, even that guideline out there um, even a lot of doctors won't even prescribe that long.
[00:18:24] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:18:24] Amanda: but you really need a little bit of a longer term because you've gotta get into the life cycle of the
[00:18:31] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:18:32] Amanda: Itself, the bacteria itself. So you need to take it for a little bit of time
You can wipe out that infection.
But
[00:18:37] Andrea: yeah.
[00:18:38] Amanda: Yeah.
[00:18:39] Andrea: Talk a little bit about your mindset while you were going through this because you were seriously affected.
For a very long time and you were going from specialist to specialist trying to figure out what's going on. What helped you throughout that period or, or was there anything that helped you while you were going through that?
[00:19:02] Amanda: Yeah, such a good question. Um, What helped me was that, I loved my husband.
[00:19:10] Andrea: Hmm.
[00:19:11] Amanda: I wanted to get better for him, and I know that he wanted the same for me. then when our child had all these health challenges, was like, okay, now we have, we all have to get better for each other. And that helped me to hold on.
Just having, just people in my life that I love so fiercely that it's like, okay, I've, we've gotta find the answers to this because it's. Lyme disease is very hard to find the answers, even when anybody that's been through it. When you are diagnosed with Lyme and I make this as a joke with my clients to lighten things up a little bit, but it's really the truth.
You go into a research rabbit hole because the blessing and the curse of Lyme disease is what I call it. The blessing is that there's so many different ways to. But the curse is that there's so many different ways to treat it. And the hard thing is finding the right combination of treatments for each individual person.
We end up with an honorary doctorate how to treat Lyme disease. If you ask any Lyme patient, that's been in it for a while, they can probably tell you 15 different treatments that they've done right off the top of their. So it's a matter of finding those right combinations and that's, that's what it became for me.
It almost became a puzzle. How can we solve this? What's the next thing? I think the thing that was really helpful was that I understood because I was a patient from moment I came out, I had health things that were going on and I understood. it comes to healthcare, there is no quick, easy fix.
is no magical pill that you're going to take. There's no magical treatment that's just going to take it all away. And I think my understanding of that kept me going because I knew, okay, if I do this treatment and it gets me 20% of the way there, that's 20% better than I felt before, and that's going to gi just give me that fuel to keep on going.
I had a child to take care of in the middle of all of this, right? So I think that whole combination of things was really what fueled me to keep going and to keep learning and to keep trying different things,
[00:21:34] Andrea: I think that's a really good perspective to have because I think if we're looking for that one thing or that one doctor, or even sometimes that one diagnosis,
[00:21:45] Amanda: right?
[00:21:46] Andrea: And put all of our hope into that one thing. It can be devastating when it doesn't work or it doesn't come, or it's the wrong diagnosis and it can be so hard to bounce back often.
The many times that's going to happen while you're looking for, especially if it's a hard to diagnose. Issue. And so looking at it from the sense of okay, let's just get the whole idea of one pill, one treatment, one diagnosis. Let's just take that whole thing off the table and just start with that understanding that it's going to be maybe multiple things.
And if one works a little bit, that doesn't mean that it's failed. It means that it worked a little bit. And let's go from.
[00:22:30] Amanda: And I think the other thing to, to address when it comes to Lyme treatment is that aside from that little bit of antibiotic that. Be able to take if you're lucky and caught in the beginning. none of this is covered by insurance.
[00:22:45] Andrea: Wow.
[00:22:47] Amanda: Lyme disease is on top of being physically and emotionally devastating to the body.
It is devistating to the pocketbook. And I speak from a place, like it's not lost on me that I had privilege in this because I, I had money saved, I had credit cards that I could use. I had resources. And a lot of the clients that I work with, they don't have that same kind.
Pool of resources like that. Some of them don't even have a family support system because it's, another thing that happens is that a lot of people just, it's a drag being around sick people, So people will just walk outta your life or fall out of your life. Not only because they, you know, they're not trying to be rotten people, but it's just it's hard to watch somebody that you care about going through that.
But I think a lot of times people don't know what to.
Then you know, you're sick, you're broke, you're alone. You're trying to go through all of this. What I did while I was treating, because it, we, it was three of us. documented everything. I documented what worked, what didn't work, why I felt that maybe something didn't work.
Um, you know, And then as I've gone back and looked at all of that through the years, I'm like, oh, wow. If I knew then what I know now, I would've known Nev never to try that particular treatment,
[00:24:07] Andrea: Oh wow. Yeah.
[00:24:08] Amanda: But I'm able to help steer people, take some shortcuts. You know what, the return on this is typically very small for people.
So if you just move to this instead,
[00:24:20] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:24:21] Amanda: Thing that happens is, there's so many supplements that people end up taking in this journey cuz there's multiple phases of treatment that you have to do. And sometimes what happens is people are diagnosed and then immediately, whoever the treating practitioner is, they'll just put them on antimicrobials right away.
Whether that's herbs antibiotics or whatever the case might. gets even sicker and it's you know what? If there's anything that I've learned in this journey, you have to pay attention to draining your lymph and being able to detox your body before you start taking things to kill all this off.
Because otherwise all those toxins are floating around and they're reabsorbing. So those are the things that I've learned in this journey that I can save people a boatload of
[00:25:05] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:25:06] Amanda: And trouble,
[00:25:08] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:25:08] Amanda: By saying, let's do it in this.
And it helps people a lot because financially people very oftentimes will run out of money and then they're doing bare minimums.
They're not taking maybe the doses that would be therapeutic for them, and they're just hoping and praying that those minimal doses of just a couple of things that they're taking are going to get them over the finish line. And unfortunately, that's usually not the case.
It's just, there's just facets to all of it.
[00:25:39] Andrea: There really are. And it sounds like, It sounds like there, since there are so many facets of um, treatment, there's also a lot of facets of how it affects each person. Am my right. It sounds like everybody's going to be different. How did you know that you and your husband and your son all had the same thing, or did you not until you got tested?
[00:26:00] Amanda: We well, my husband and I suspected, we didn't realize that maybe my son Lyme,
But we suspected that we did because we had done tests for everything under the sun. You know, That the MRIs for MS and, and you know,
[00:26:16] Andrea: Yep.
[00:26:17] Amanda: All the blood testing and everything. There's this one particular test, it's considered one of the gold standard tests for Lyme disease.
And even then it's, probably around 90% accurate.
This test is just a basic Borrelia, just the Lyme bacteria panel. It's about between two 50 and $300. And then if you want to test for all the other infections, it's about a $1,200. We were willing to pay for this test and we were begging our primary care physician.
All we need is your signature and a blood draw right here in your office that we can get this test. And the doctor said to my husband, if I sign for you to have this test, when it comes back negative, will you finally admit that there's nothing wrong with you?
[00:27:05] Andrea: Jaw wrap.
[00:27:07] Amanda: yeah. Again, devastating.
There's a lot of gaslighting when
[00:27:11] Andrea: Mm.
[00:27:11] Amanda: Have, and it's not just Lyme. There's a lot of different complex chronic illnesses that people get very gas lit.
But when the test came back, sad thing was when you test for Lyme, they call it bands. They basically take your blood and they test it against a bunch of different reactants.
They call 'em reactants and they do 10 of them. And each one is called a band. So at the time you had to have five bands with these reactants in order to be considered positive. My test came back with four, technically was negative. So when that, so then when we ended up with that naturopath that was working with my son and she started asking us about our health um, shared with.
That we had, the doctor did sign for that test and I shared the results with her because I carry around like the big three ring binder with every test in it,
[00:28:12] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:28:13] Amanda: and she said, yeah, where there's smoke, there's fire. She said, I've never been a believer in it has to be X amount of bands. She said, if something is showing up, then it's in your body.
[00:28:26] Andrea: Right, Because if you didn't have anything, there would be zero bands, like it wouldn't show
up, Right,
[00:28:34] Amanda: So again, you know, one of those crazy things, I'm sure if anybody is in Lyme world that is listening to this, they're like, oh my gosh. They get it.
But the thing too, with Lyme disease, That a lot of people don't realize is that Lyme does not necessarily have to be a diagnosis through testing.
Actually be diagnosed with Lyme based off symptoms. You just have to work with a doctor who. Understands what the symptoms are and can put that diagnosis on your chart. And in many states, people end up working with naturopaths because they understand that they'll, they'll still, they'll sign for you to get the tests.
And most states, sometimes New York's a little tricky. But you get that testing done. And a lot of them, a lot of naturopaths especially believe in the, where there's smoke, there's fire, and. Will treat for Lyme disease when they're seeing results like that.
[00:29:31] Andrea: So you find out that yes, you have Lyme and you start looking at the treatments and you know that the traditional western treatment of antibiotics is just not an option for you.
[00:29:41] Amanda: Mm-hmm.
[00:29:42] Andrea: And you start looking at different things. Where did energy work fall in line? Is this something that you were into beforehand?
Cuz you worked at a hospital before this right?
[00:29:54] Amanda: I did. So I worked at a hospital. I was the office manager for two programs. I worked for the diabetes program and I worked for the cholesterol management program. So not exactly like hearing about Lyme disease in these avenues, but I learned a. You know about patient care, the medical system, the inner workings of the medical system.
And before I worked at the hospital, I had actually worked in health insurance. I mean, Whew, that was a, that was a rough job, but I learned a lot about, how to navigate the insurance company and appeals and all of that stuff. So I came at it with all of that experience. I was a very, conventional.
Medicine brain, you know, when you're sick, you go to your doctor. I think that's how most of us in this country are raised. When you're sick, you go to your doctor and they give you a diagnosis, and you take a treatment and you get better and you're done and you move on with your life.
And when we were diagnosed with Lyme, that was our foray into natural medicine and it opened us up to natural medicine Then what happened was, you know, we were, I would say we were like 80% better, the herbs and the oils and, the treatments that we were doing with the naturopath, they were really making a good impact.
And, you know, and we kind of just, we were naturally positive about it cuz honestly we were so happy to have a diagnosis
When we started taking things, we were starting to feel better. That it was, life was getting a lot better at that point. So I had a. I was, I'm a homeschooling mom.
My, my son actually just graduated last May, but at the time, we were still in the throes of homeschooling. And another homeschooling mom said, Hey, my kids have both graduated. I'm a massage therapist by trade, posted on one of the mom boards. And I work with people that have like complex issues with their health, with cancer and, people that need a lot of sensitivity when they're having.
So I connected with her and I said, Hey, would you come over and do massages? Because I'm in Southern California and for those of us that live here, we know like mobile massage is a big thing. Like people come to your house, you don't necessarily have to go to a clinic. So she came to our house and she got all set up and she gave me a massage.
like I had no idea what reiki was, what energy work was like, not even in my brain at all, but I knew what a massage felt like, right? I think most of us know what a massage feels like. I, that was the most amazing massage of my life. I was seeing colors and I was feeling like all these ripples of warmth going through my body, and I'm like, this is some kind of magical massage.
I don't know what's going on here. And I, going into the massage had such bad brain fog I ha, I. Ever do a conversation like we're doing now. And when I, and she, was working on my neck and, she held my head in her hands and it was just amazing. And when I got off that table, first of all, brain fog was gone.
It was like magic. That was probably the most miraculous thing that happened in, in our entire healing journey, was that particular massage. I said That was a wonderful massage. But what else was happening? Because I, and I told her, I'm like, I was seeing color at one point I was seeing like birds, you know, and I'm like that that was just different than anything I had ever experienced.
And she said, you're the first person that's ever said that to me. I was doing a little bit of reiki while I did your massage. And I said, okay, here's the deal. From now on, can you just come and do that. I don't care so much about the massage, but can you do the reiki? Cuz it, it felt amazing. So then it was a couple of times a month she would come and do reiki and it just, it know, now I understand what it is.
It's helping to remove some of the blockages that we have in our body and, relieves tension and everything else. I didn't know that at the time. And that was my first kind of foray into energy healing. And then once we crossed that line into remission, I was like, you know what?
That was just so impactful. I need to go and learn how to do that myself. So I took a class and then I kept taking classes and my husband was taking classes and we became, we call them reiki masters, which is just when you've gone through the full training. I also went on to become a medical reiki master so that I can I have certification to do reiki for people that are in hospitals and in operating rooms.
so it really became a passion, but it helps all of us. And to this day, we still do reiki on each other every week. It's just cuz it just feels so good.
[00:34:49] Andrea: So for people who don't know what Reiki is, what is a good explanation for people who have not experienced it? And let's be honest, might be sitting here thinking, okay, this just took a turn.
[00:35:03] Amanda: Yeah. They're like, oh, we're going into cuckoo land.
[00:35:05] Andrea: We just took a left. What is happening?
[00:35:08] Amanda: Yeah. Reiki is it's a Japanese energy healing technique. It can be done hands-on or remotely. And how it works is that you're really relying on the quantum energy, right? When, When you're moving. You're moving it basically with your thought. And I know like science fiction movies, they sometimes show that person, like if you concentrate really hard, they can move an object.
They are ongoing experiments, honestly, by our government that they are doing experimentation for things like that because they have found that. When you're using quantum energy, you can move things. Now on a lighter scale, when we're doing energy work, what I'm doing, like when I'm connected with a client, of course I always ask permission, can I connect so that I can look at your energy field and do some work?
But what I'm doing is I'm getting a sense of I'm, I'm, I'm moving the energy through, not my energy, energy that is intended for that person and I'm moving it through their energy field. I'm basically looking. Where is it getting hung up? Where might there be a blockage? So an example that most people have felt in their lives of an energetic blockage is a A headache is a major energetic blockage. When you've got so much. Energy, so much information moving around your brain that sometimes it causes us to, especially like a tension headache when we're getting it in the front. We'll get a headache from that. That is a type of energetic blockage. If you get nervous and let's say you have to speak.
And all of a sudden your throat, you have to keep clearing your throat because you're getting nervous. That's an example of an energetic blockage. It's your body saying, oh boy, this part of the body is going to be affected and get it. It's getting nervous. So your body will try to go into protection mode and make it, oh well, they're nervous to talk, so let's make it so they don't have to talk.
Let's block up the throat. Or another example is if you start to get really. And your stomach starts to get queasy. are all, that's biology mixing with the energy system of your body to create some kind of protection. So when I'm looking at your energy, I'm actually helping your energy to relax and come out of that heightened state.
you ca the energy can keep on flowing. Another example that I like to share with people of how this kind of works between two people, because people are like how are you connecting to somebody else? I understand how those feelings are within me, but how does that work with somebody else?
the example I like to share is you've ever had a time where all of a sudden you haven't seen or talked to in a really long time, they keep popping into your brain and then all of a. They call you or you bump into each other and you're like, oh my gosh, I was just thinking about you.
Well, What that is, is it's, your energies are kind of talking to each other and energy attracts energy, so it will try to bring you together, and it's like, oh wow, that's amazing. I was just, let's get together and catch up because you've bumped into each other. Those are the kinds of ways that energy is at work in our.
All the time. so when we're doing energy work, I'm connecting with a person. W you know, when I have their permission, it's yes, I, I'm going to allow you to connect with my energy, then we can do that that correction, that energetic correction in their body. And it can be very and the way to the most basic of descriptions is it's like saying we're we each are wifi and we're connecting,
Like through wifi, like that.
[00:39:04] Andrea: I think it's interesting because everybody has, I think, their own idea of energy and what it is, and some people maybe pay more attention than others. But on just a basic level, feeling things like energy, like you, you can tell when some people like walk into a room.
[00:39:24] Amanda: Yes.
[00:39:24] Andrea: You can just feel that energy and there's no, you know what I mean? i, you may not be able to describe it or to say what it is. You just, it's like this force that you can feel like if you've ever seen, like if you've ever had the chance to meet somebody who is a. Maybe a really powerful public speaker or a really, like a celebrity or someone that is, that kind of feels larger than life.
They have that energy and so
[00:39:51] Amanda: Yes.
[00:39:52] Andrea: can definitely feel other people's energy. That was, you know, when I first heard about this stuff, I was like, what? Come on. But then I started thinking it's like, wait a second. You can feel other people's energy and it's, even if you don't even aren't even looking at them walking into the room.
You can tell when they're in the room or you can feel somebody looking at you or you can feel somebody when they're really focused on you. And that's really was the very basic level of where I stepped into like, oh yeah, there is this thing.
[00:40:22] Amanda: Mm-hmm.
[00:40:22] Andrea: And if there's this thing with one person, there's probably something for every single person.
And why would it be that, you can't connect? Like of course you can.
[00:40:30] Amanda: Right, right. And you know, and there are some people that are like, I'm not into that, and that's totally okay.
[00:40:37] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:40:38] Amanda: I have people that I work with every day that we never talk about the energy aspect of healing. my whole thing is I feel when somebody is healing. a complex health condition, we always start with the physical.
We all do because that's how we're brought up. Get sick, go to the doctor.
Start getting some of those physical things under control, it's okay, let's start looking at the energetic. Let's see what else is going on in the body. And then, okay, now let's start going to the emotional side of things, right?
Like I, I'm an emotion code practitioner, so
[00:41:12] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:41:13] Amanda: I'm, I'm tapping into the energy field the same way that I am with reiki. But what I'm doing is I'm asking your body or your subconscious, cuz we're doing that work through the subconscious, but I'm asking it, okay, what, what is the trapped emotion that is in your energy field that's holding you?
That you're now ready to release, and the subconscious will, it will release that information. You know, And I'll be I, I do like a, a chart and I'll read off the emotions and there's, there will be a in the person's energy field. And then I'll know, okay, this is an emotion that is stuck in your system.
We start releasing those and all of a sudden people are sleeping better, they're feeling better. They're like, oh, I feel lighter. Because we're, we're moving that. Through their body where before it was stuck. So I believe that, you know, you have to address the energetic component. And then I also believe that the other thing that I've really learned a lot about in the past year is, balancing the limbic system of the brain.
Because when we have these conditions going on, we're thinking about things a certain way for so long that we actually change the neuroplasticity in our. And it becomes harder to heal because we're thinking in one direction all the time, and it's traumatic illness is traumatic. So when we have traumatic things that happen, our brain is affected.
And, that cascades, it goes through the vestibular system of the body, the nervous system of the body. We, we can't come out of these heightened states. We're in fight or flight all the time. So it's like all of my work goes through all these. Phases of healing.
It's not just physically healing. So there's a lot of ways we approach it.
[00:42:57] Andrea: Yeah, I think a really good example is the, we're good on paper kind of a thing,
[00:43:03] Amanda: Yeah.
[00:43:04] Andrea: yet
[00:43:04] Amanda: Yep.
[00:43:04] Andrea: we're still not feeling quite like something's still off.
[00:43:08] Amanda: Yeah.
[00:43:08] Andrea: And you know, I have a diagnosis. I'm taking the medication, I am doing everything nutrition wise.
I am not eating certain things I'm taking. Like you can list it off and it looks great on paper.
[00:43:20] Amanda: Mm-hmm.
[00:43:21] Andrea: Then we know just in a gut kind of feeling like, ugh, then like, why am I not feeling awesome? Why am I not feeling like everything's fantastic? And often that's when people start saying maybe I should stop eating this.
Maybe I'm allergic to this and I don't know about it. Or maybe I should add supplements. And I feel like there's just this whole. Side of things that is maybe sometimes overlooked because it's something that we've never experienced before. We don't really understand it. We think it's too woo. I'm always of the, of the thought of just trying it like like even if it works because it's a placebo effect, because you think so.
Great.
[00:44:06] Amanda: Right. Well, you know, And it's funny too because, when we've reached a certain point in healing that it's okay, what's next? Because like you said, something is still off.
People are, they're dead set. They do not want to do any kind of energy work or anything. And I'll say what do you think about me?
Just can I just like connect to you for maybe five minutes just so I can go in and just look at what your energy's doing? And and I'll get in there and maybe I'm seeing like, there's like a big spot of blocked energy on their hip. And I'm like, okay, has something happened to your right?
they're like, what? And all of a
[00:44:46] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:44:46] Amanda: on something. They're like, yeah, I fell on that hip. Or ultimately we connect to something that they've never mentioned to me. I had a woman who she kept on, it was like over her left ovary and we had done several sessions and every time we worked on that left ovary, it was like just strong.
I don't want to say a blockage, but there was like a pocket of energy that I just couldn't get it to move. I finally said to her, I said, have you had something traumatic happen? You had a miscarriage? Or, and she was like I did, I had a miscarriage. And, and she said and I said I'm seeing it on your left side.
And she goes, oh my gosh. It was my left side that hurt so much the day that it happened, blah, blah. Acknowledging that for her and her being able to talk about it, it cleared it and I gave her some tools to use to say, you know, let's, let's honor your baby. I feel like there's still some grief there.
We made a whole like little ritual for her to do to honor her baby and, to, to release that energy. it was amazing how her healing accelerated after that. That one thing that was keeping her anchored in her.
[00:45:56] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:45:57] Amanda: What was really going on there was grief.
[00:45:59] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:46:00] Amanda: And grief is one of those things that anchors, anchors us into, or trauma,
[00:46:04] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:46:05] Amanda: very often grief and trauma are tied. But, sometimes it's not a matter of doing like a whole reiki session. Sometimes it's just a matter of, can I just take a peak and see what might be going on?
And we start to unlock, deeper layers. And it doesn't mean that the person has to tell. Their trauma either, like sometimes I'm like, I'm identifying this, I'm seeing this. And I, you know, I'll say to them very often, this is tied to,
[00:46:30] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:46:31] Amanda: On what it is, I'll say, we oftentimes see this when there's trauma.
You don't have to tell me anything, but I'm going to help you clear it if you agree to it,
Usually they'll say yes, but then all of a sudden here comes a new level of healing. And then, they're starting to, to have that. With trying this stuff, I think sometimes people are, are a little bit radical and maybe too far off from the way that the person is used to thinking.
I'm, I, try to really meet people with where they're at the terminology that they use with how their brain might think about things like I, I shared with you earlier, I did, a talk to a room full of 45. Computer engineers about reiki, and I didn't go in there and talk about the more woowoo terminology, I use, let's talk about quantum energy and how it works and why it works in your body and how to move this energy and and I had people with me and at the end it was like, who would like to experience this?
We can give you a few minutes of reiki today. And not one person turned it. All of them wanted to try it. When you're, when you can meet people with where they're at and speak in their language, they're going to be more receptive to trying these things that normally might seem really out there.
[00:47:49] Andrea: Were you scared to get in front of all those engineers and talk to them about reiki?
[00:47:55] Amanda: no. You know, I just, I'm at this, I was, I was already at that point then too, but I'm. point in my life where we need to share things that are helpful because the way things are going in the world right now, if we don't learn to bend how we think a little bit, we're never going to meet in the middle.
I think that the healing comes when we open our minds and we are open to experiencing new things no matter how out there it. So I just really use it as a way to try to bring people together. And it's okay if somebody's this is crap. That's okay. Because at least now they can say they know a little bit about it and maybe down the road they're going to get some other exposure to it that will start to warm them up.
I think there's some statistic like the human being needs seven to 12 exposures to something
[00:48:51] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:48:51] Amanda: comfort.
[00:48:52] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:48:53] Amanda: So it's like, okay, if I'm exposure number one, of course they're going to be like, yeah, no thanks. But the more they hear about it, the more they'll open up to it, and maybe that will be the thing that helps them to heal down the road.
[00:49:05] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:49:05] Amanda: know? I hope.
[00:49:06] Andrea: Yeah. I mean, Some people it's, it's the last resort, cuz they're like well, I've tried everything else. I might as well.
And for other people it's a fun Hey, why don't we try it? Because you never know. You just never know.
[00:49:22] Amanda: Yeah, absolutely. I get a lot of, I've tried everything. I've done everything, and it's like, well, done a lot of things, but you haven't worked with me yet, so buckle up because you know,
[00:49:35] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:49:36] Amanda: bound and determined to.
[00:49:38] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:49:39] Amanda: know, Talk about things with them that maybe they hadn't thought about before.
A lot of times with treatment, it's just changing up the order that they did things. Like we were talking about detox and drainage before. If you start out taking a boatload of supplements to kill things off, but you haven't opened up your detox and drainage, of course you're not going to think those supplements work cuz it made you feel sick
[00:50:02] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:50:02] Amanda: you, you know, You're going to be like what is this detox and drainage stuff, so it's like sometimes it's just a matter of let's change up the order, and I'll ask people, give me a list of everything that you have for supplements, because I get that this is financially draining. So let's use what you have, because I'm willing to bet that you have a lot of what we're going to need to make a major impact on your healing.
[00:50:24] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:50:25] Amanda: So, you know, I just really try to help people look at things differently, look at things more creatively than maybe they've been able to do in the past. Let's change it up, let's navigate this whole thing a little bit differently. And I think it's helpful for a lot of people. They need somebody to say, okay, yes, those things are great, and okay, they haven't worked so well, but let's try it like, Most people are willing to try it because they are, they're desperate
[00:50:54] Andrea: Yeah.
[00:50:55] Amanda: and they need help.
[00:50:56] Andrea: Yeah. Or something that I always think about, and I'm always very mindful of. Every time I add a new supplement or something, my question's always like, how do I know this is working?
[00:51:06] Amanda: Right.
[00:51:07] Andrea: there's some supplements that I know like, yes, I know this is working. There's other ones that I've read are good for me, and I'm like, Hey, I could go with that.
And then I'm like, is it. I don't know. I can't even tell. So it's probably a matter of saying Hey, these are your supplements. Maybe we don't need to pay for these three. Maybe that's not helpful for what it is that you need.
[00:51:30] Amanda: I do very targeted supplementation for people
[00:51:34] Andrea: Hmm.
[00:51:35] Amanda: um, And I start people one at a time. Very slow and I always recommend that my clients track, like I have a, like a pretty easy tracking system that I've devised for them so that they don't have to have a big journal where they're writing all their supplements.
Oh God, nobody has time for that. I just have 'em do a really like rate your day on a scale from one to 10. Write it on the corner, write why you rated your day that way. And I tell them like, we don't want to hear every symptom, right? Because we know that you have a myriad of symptoms every day. We want to know the key things, oh I'm rating this day a two which is thumbs down,
This day a two because my arthritis was really bad that day. Or, I had a migraine. Okay. But my goal is to have them see something that's measurable. Okay, so if you start a supplement, you write it on the day, and then we watch what happened for the next week after you started taking that supplement.
And sometimes it takes them, a little bit of time to work, but, if they're not feeling worse, then that's a win. And then, you know, okay, now let's start to carry through and see what's going on. Because ultimately, you know, I want them to be having like between eight and 10
[00:52:48] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:52:49] Amanda: Day.
And in the beginning I'll tell people like, don't worry if you're not rating your days, those high numbers I want you to be honest, you.
[00:52:58] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:52:59] Amanda: Really slow and we watch, because like you said, like how do I know if this is working? Because we're going to monitor it and we're going to see proof.
Sometimes, I always start very low dosing. Sometimes we're not seeing any progress because the dose is slow. But if you've got a sensitive system, I don't want to start, you want a high dose
[00:53:18] Andrea: Mm-hmm.
[00:53:18] Amanda: I want your body to be able to take it in and figure out, okay, how am I going to use. To support the immune system and keep things going and
[00:53:26] Andrea: Mm.
[00:53:26] Amanda: Know how it goes.
[00:53:27] Andrea: Yep.
[00:53:28] Amanda: slow and steady.
[00:53:29] Andrea: Slow and steady. That's exactly right. Well, Amanda, thank you so much for coming and sharing about all of this. I think it's a really great way to help maybe make sense of some really complex issues and complex things that go on. In our bodies, especially when you have some kind of chronic illness or multiple chronic illnesses.
And thank you for just giving us a window into what this is like, what's going on. And hopefully, hopefully demystifying it for some people. Hopefully some people are going to maybe go out and try some kind of energy healing. I hope they do. I would love to hear people's experiences with it.
But I really appreciate, I could talk to you for like another two hours. There's so much that we didn't even get to that I'm like, oh, I wish we could have talked about this.
[00:54:16] Amanda: Part two.
[00:54:17] Andrea: That's exactly right. I'm always up for a part two, but thank you so much for coming on and sharing all of this. I'm going to have all of your information in the show notes that you can link to in the description for this episode.
But really quickly, if someone wants to reach out, how can they get in touch with you?
[00:54:34] Amanda: Sure. My website is Dahl holistic health.com and my last name is spelled d a h l and I'm also on Instagram under the same handle, and my direct messages are always open. So those are probably a couple of really quick, easy ways to get in touch with me.
[00:54:48] Andrea: Fantastic. Thank you so much for coming on today.
[00:54:52] Amanda: Thank you, Andrea. I appreciate it. If you like the show, don't be shy. Please give us a five-star rating and review. Follow us on apple podcast, Amazon music or wherever you're listening right now. To see complete show notes and resources mentioned in this episode
visit AndreaHansonCoaching.com. Thank you for joining me And until next time take care