Ep. 12: Amy B Scher – A Shortcut to Emotional Release and Better Healing

0:00 – excerpt from the episode
1:01 – intro (listen to discover a little more about your host. Martin will tell you a new lesser-known fact about Dr. Maya)

01:37
Dr. Maya Novak:
Our bodies are constantly talking to us – they have this incredible language that is sometimes a bit hard to understand. But with the help of these mindful talks I do hope that bit by bit you’re becoming very good at it. Today I am joined by Amy B. Scher who is an energy therapist and the bestselling and award-winning author of four books, which have been translated into 16 languages. She writes and teaches on the topics of healing, human-ing, writing, and creativity. Her groundbreaking work in mind-body healing is internationally recognized and endorsed by prominent physicians and used in medical organizations and programs nationwide. Through her books, classes, and programs, she’s helped thousands of people become their happiest, healthiest, and most expressive selves. Amy, it’s so great seeing you again and thank you for being here…

02:37
Amy B Scher:
Of course, it's so great to be here with you.

02:39
Dr. Maya Novak:
Well we've done a couple of interviews before and I always enjoy our conversations, and I always learn something new from you. But for those listeners who don't know you yet, can you share a bit about yourself, about your story, and also when and why did you become interested in energy healing?

03:05
Amy B Scher:
Yes, so my story I like to say was very unexpected and seemed all on accident, which of course they never are right? Any of our stories. I actually went through my own healing journey unexpectedly in my twenties. I started having severe physical symptoms, including trouble walking, pain in my whole body, and was on a journey to find a diagnosis. And as we do, we search far and wide and high and low and all those things to find out what's wrong with us, right? What's wrong with our physical body. For me it was a very long journey of getting a diagnosis - about 7 years - and I was diagnosed with chronic lyme disease. So I was bitten by a tick that ended up with a sort of a bacteria that sort of took over my entire system and caused a lot of damage. And so through that process I was then looking for a cure, because first we look for what's wrong and then we look for that cure, whatever it may be. And I was then on a very long journey to find the cure and did all kinds of things. I did many, many therapies in the US and then ended up going to India for an experimental treatment when nothing else worked and that experimental treatment helped me recover in amazing ways. And I came home and thought now I could go back to my life like I could just pick up where I left off. The universe must have been hysterically laughing at me because about a year later my symptoms started to return and that is when I really had an epiphany that when we're working with the physical body it may be that a physical cure alone isn't exactly what's needed. And I sort of decided through much research and soul searching to turn inward and figure out what I hadn't changed and what could now be contributing to all the symptoms. I could have looked at it and I wanted to look at it in a way where it was like I just relapsed, you know, but there was something inside of me because I'm a very logical person and I just kept thinking. If I've done all of the cures in all of the US and now in India and that didn't permanently and completely heal me, there has to be something else, and that's when I really discovered the mind-body-spirit connection and how it's more than just treatments and. nutrition and all of the physical things we look at for healing. And what I discovered was that our emotions and our thoughts and our feelings and all the things play a very very big part in not only illness and injury, but our recovery as well.

05:46
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, isn't it interesting how we have to be forced into really looking outside the box…

05:51
Amy B Scher:
Always.

05:52
Dr. Maya Novak:
… and not being just focused on the physical aspect of “Oh, I'm going to do this treatment,” or “I'm going to take these supplements,” or “I'm going to do just these exercises and then everything is going to be peachy and perfect and great.” But the universe, like you said, is hysterically laughing, but also putting these big hands on our shoulders and you have to look outside of the box.

06:19
Amy B Scher:
Yes, it's true. I mean I always wanted to be one of those people that got vitamin B12 shots and then was fine. You know you hear those stories and I guess it just wasn't my journey, as I don't think it's most people's journey. Maybe you just get very lucky if that's your cure. But yeah, we don't we actually don't stop and look at our lives or look outside of the box until we absolutely have to. However, I think if we did it before we absolutely had to, we probably wouldn't absolutely have to. But that's just humans. We just do the thing that's right in front of us. Which is fine. We're all so busy and we're all focused on other things, and who wants to stop to think about our feelings and our thoughts if we don't have to. But it's also such a huge part of our being, our existence, that I have learned that ignoring it doesn't work either.

07:11
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, well you know we are so busy with life that we very often just push things aside until we are really forced into looking at the feelings, emotions, thoughts and everything. We're just like “Oh no, but everything is perfect, everything works.” And then all of a sudden nothing works.

07:31
Amy B Scher:
Yes. Yes, it does really go from 0 to a hundred like that doesn't it? But that's what gets our attention. That's what helps us to stop and do something differently.

07:40
Dr. Maya Novak:
So during those years, what was the hardest thing for you, mentally and emotionally? I mean, physically of course you had symptoms and it was difficult and you were looking for solutions, any kind of solution. But what was the hardest thing in regards to the other part, which we very often try to push aside?

08:04
Amy B Scher:
I don't think anyone's ever asked me that question before, it's a really good one. I think the hardest part was being patient. It was really hard that things didn't happen immediately because I am a kind of person who likes to see a problem then fix it, and once you have a problem that's as big as a health issue or an injury or whatever it may be - anxiety, depression…. It's not instantly fixable. Because it took so long to manifest kind of under the radar, probably without us noticing, that it just can't be undone instantly. So it was really hard for me, even though once I started doing the emotional and spiritual and mindset work I did start to see tiny little shifts fairly quickly. But it wasn't enough. It wasn't fast enough. I was super impatient. I was like, "Why am I not better?" I was mad at myself a little bit for this. So I think that was the hardest part - just surrendering to the actual journey and experience. To fully embrace it so I could use it to get better, because I think when we rush through it, we don't get full use from it, and then maybe we don't heal completely, and maybe we end up having to do it again, which nobody wants to do. So I always tell people, it's your shot to uncover all this stuff and deal with it so that you really truly move past it, not that you brush it away and have to deal with it again later.

09:39
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes, exactly. Now I know that this follow-up question is a big one and we could have a whole episode about this, but in regard to practicing patience. How do you start? If you are a very impatient person and you know I was impatient as well. I completely understand what you're talking about because yesterday is too late, right? So it has to be now. I don’t have time for 3 months, 5 years, 10 years. How do you start practicing patience?

10:15
Amy B Scher:
Well I think that I can tell people something that will make them be more patient that I didn't know at the time, which is that the less patient you are, the longer it takes because you're rushing it. You're stressing yourself out. You just end up slowing everything down. That's not something I realized until I slowed everything down, but hopefully just knowing that will help people, because it is true that all the extra stuff and pressure we put on healing slows us down. It stresses our body, it reverses our ability to heal as quickly as possible. I guess I could say I warn everybody that the faster you rush through, the slower you get. So I think just what I wish I could have done immediately was just surrender fully to the experience and I talk about that in my books. Just know that this is where you are right now and just be okay with it. There's nothing better than being okay with where you are. There's nothing more healing than being okay with where you are until you get to where you're going. I mean I think that's kind of the gist of it.

11:32
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes. And it's a journey. It's not just one goal that we have, but really, it's a journey. And for me how I see it is, it doesn't matter how long it's going to take me or take you, because it's a journey. On this journey we are discovering so many things about ourselves and we are growing and blooming and developing. So it's really a gift. It's not like a punishment, like something bad happened to you because you were bad in fifth grade and now you have to go through your punishment, but really, it's a gift. Because otherwise we wouldn't do what we are doing right now.

12:14
Amy B Scher:
Yes, absolutely. It is a gift and it's also required. We can't get around it so you might as well find a way to be okay in it because it just doesn't change. It's not like the more frustrated you get or the more impatient you get, the faster it goes, or the quicker you get over it. None of that is true. So I feel like in order to on a day-to-day basis survive the experience of physical or emotional imbalance we have to learn to be okay with it. It just makes your day to day better while you're waiting for your healing.

12:49
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes, that's true. Now let's talk about energy healing. What is energy healing, actually, and how does it work?

12:57
Amy B Scher:
So energy healing is dealing with the body's energy system. We're addressing the body's energy system versus just the physical. So our bodies are made of energy and our energy system is intricately integrated into basically all of our organs, muscles, glands, our physical body. And energy runs through our physical self, our organs, our muscles and our glands. So when we work with the energy body we are balancing sort of a different aspect of ourselves that feeds our physical selves. It's basically based on ancient healing cultures principles. All the stuff that's been around for longer than Western Medicine but we forgot it somehow. We forgot how important and how useful it is and so when there are blockages in the energy system, those blockages actually prevent full energy and healing to our physical selves. We're kind of working with a sort of root cause or a root energy of some of our physical and emotional challenges.

14:06
Dr. Maya Novak:
But how do we know that we have some blocks? Because it can be just the physical nature and “My body struggles because XYZ.” So how do we know that we have these blocks and that we have to deal with them?

14:21
Amy B Scher:
I think anybody who's not getting better has some kind of energetic emotional block. If something is just physical like a vitamin B12 deficiency or whatever it may be, then when you take vitamin B12 you should be better right? Theoretically. So anybody who is struggling on a healing journey in any way I would say it's very useful to look at your journey through the lens of possibly having some energy blocks which to me equate to emotional blocks. I believe that our emotions, our thoughts, our beliefs - those are the things that are keeping us stuck. Those are the things that are putting our body in stress mode. Those are the things that are blocking our full healthy and vibrant energy flow, and so I think if you know the physical fix doesn't fix the physical issue, you can be pretty darn sure there's something else going on.

15:15
Dr. Maya Novak:
And hopefully the person doesn't need 7, 8 or 10 years to figure out that “Oh, it's not physical. I really have to look into any kind of area of life,” right?

15:32
Amy B Scher:
Yes.

15:32
Dr. Maya Novak:
Because I think that we both agree that it's not just “Oh, this is connected to this physical trauma and I have some unresolved emotional trauma in regards to this.” It can be any department of life.

15:43
Amy B Scher:
Yes, because I think any old emotions, traumas, stuff that you've experienced that you haven't let go that in a way suppresses the immune system or the full healing capability of the body. It's not that the trauma, thoughts, and emotions are linked to the injury or the illness, although they can be as well. It's more overall that the stuff that's stuck in your body just makes your body not work as well. And this process, by the way, is not denying there's a physical problem. We can see our MRI results or our X-rays or our blood tests. It's not to deny that there's an actual physical issue. It's just asking the question of, is there more we could be addressing to support the physical body and supporting our emotional and spiritual selves? That is a great way to support the physical body because you can't separate the physical body from those other parts of us.

16:44
Dr. Maya Novak:
Absolutely. And you said that we have images, MRIs and so on, and it can be shown on those that something is wrong with our physical bodies. But sometimes it doesn't show anything and all the tests are coming back negative.

17:03
Amy B Scher:
Yeah.

17:04
Dr. Maya Novak:
So we have to understand that it's not just in our minds, in our head that we are making something up.
Sometimes symptoms, whatever we are experiencing physically, we cannot show it, because in this time we don't have appropriate machines to show some of the things that are actually energetical blocks, emotional blocks. You know, we can see physical blockages or injuries, but we cannot see those things yet.

17:41
Amy B Scher:
Yeah and we can always ask the question too. I mean I've worked with people all over the world with, all kinds of things. They'll come to me with gallstones or back pain, and we can always ask the question, could there be any emotional contributors to that, even though it's physical and it's showing up. We can still ask what's beneath that. What caused your gallbladder to be so imbalanced. What's causing your back to be imbalanced. We can always go deeper, which I think is the emotional or energetic aspect, even though the physical problem is very real, and you should always make sure you check with the doctor. But a lot of times we don't get anywhere with that. We don't get there as fast as we want in terms of healing. And we can ask what else we can be doing. What else could be contributing. And each part of our body does correlate with certain emotions and so just make sure we're looking at everything, basically.

18:39
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, can we talk a bit more about this? What you just said that each body part correlates to certain emotions. Because the big question here is, how do we start decoding the body's language, what the body is telling us? Because it is this constant communication. But where do we start? How do we start actually looking into “Okay, so I have problems with my shoulder or back.”

19:08
Amy B Scher:
Yes.

19:09
Dr. Maya Novak:
“Where do I look? How do I start?”

19:13
Amy B Scher:
Yes, so in all of my books, I have an encyclopedia basically of what parts of your body could be talking to you about what. I call it decoding the body symptoms, because that's what it is. It is figuring out what is a symptom saying to me. That is the only language the body has, really. Symptoms and feelings right? So feelings are easier to figure out because we know what we have identified what feelings mean, usually, but symptoms are really tough. So I have an encyclopedia, after all my years of experience with myself and thousands of clients, of what things typically mean. But the other thing you can do is ask yourself when this problem occurred and what might you not have been paying attention to in your life, and is that body part talking to you about that. And so that's a good way to do it. To look maybe a year to eighteen months before the symptoms came up and just try to see if you can figure out what was going on in your life that you might have been ignoring or suppressing. That's a good way to figure out what your body might be telling you.

20:14
Dr. Maya Novak:
It's really about connecting the dots and really zooming out - not just being inside of the physical trauma but really looking… “Oh, so that was happening in that part of my life. And that was happening in that part of a life.”

20:27
Amy B Scher:
Yes.

20:28
Dr. Maya Novak:
And would you also suggest that people take a big piece of paper and just write down the timeline of what was happening before that?

20:38
Amy B Scher:
The timeline's good, but it can be a little tricky. I like to go a little more intuitive because sometimes the thing we connect if we're being too cerebral isn't really the thing. If we're just doing it a little more intuitively, something will pop up. The important things will pop up, versus when we're when we're trying to be too logical because that's part of the problem, right? Sometimes we're so logical that we don't feel things, and so I think with an injury that probably makes sense, because with an injury you know when it happened, right? But with an illness or a chronic symptom that can be a little bit harder because it's, like, "Well, when did it really start? Ehen did it get bad?c You know, all of those different things.

21:38
Dr. Maya Novak:
Of course, because it can be… It started, but then it kind of went away and reemerged six months later. Or it's constantly coming and going.

21:38
Amy B Scher:
Yes.

21:38
Dr. Maya Novak:
So yes, it is a bit like, how you said it, it's a bit tricky to look…

21:44
Amy B Scher:
Yeah, so you can look at patterns, too, like for people who get migraines or headaches. Those are almost always connected to being really hard on yourself, being perfectionist type A personalities. So I always tell people to look at the patterns. What was happening the night before you got a migraine? What was happening right before? Even if it happens off and on, try to pay attention to what was going on. Or even for people with back pain. It can wax and wane. What is going on when it's feeling worse? Just try to pay attention to what things are happening to see if those have any pattern.

22:22
Dr. Maya Novak:
Mhm. And what you said in regards to doing this work a bit more intuitively. I so agree with you, and my personal experience is that when I got the intuitive answer about my chronic hip pain, that is now completely healed, but when I got the answer I was like, “Oh this couldn't be it. This is too simple,” right?

22:49
Amy B Scher:
Yes!

22:50
Dr. Maya Novak:
So I needed to do the whole circle around. Like a year, whole circle to get back to the same answer, and the I was like “Okay! Okay, now I'm listening.”

23:00
Amy B Scher:
Yes, I think that's true. I think we feel like if it's too simple of an answer, it can't be it. I also think we feel like that in terms of a fix or healing. "Wait it's too simple that sadness from three years ago is causing that. It can't be that so 'll just keep looking for other things." And we don't believe that something simple, that a simple epiphany or a simple new realization could actually make a difference. But honestly, I think those things are the things that we come to last, because we're complicated human beings and we overcomplicate everything, but those simple things can sometimes make so much more of a difference than the complex crazy chases we end up on.

23:42
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, it's funny how our brain works - whenever it's something simple it’s just not enough. It needs to be super complicated, like a 20-step plan.

23:54
Amy B Scher:
Yes, yes, it's so true.

23:58
Dr. Maya Novak:
And also when it comes to different kind of healing techniques if it's really simple “Oh, that's probably not enough. So I really have to find something...”

24:05
Amy B Scher:
Exactly! Oh, I have that all the time with new clients who have read my book. They start to question me: "Well, don't you think if I did x y and z in addition, you know, if I changed your technique to do it…" Some of them don't require tapping on the body, but some do, so they'll take one. That's just my technique called the sweep which is just reading a script. They'll go, "But maybe if I tap while I do it…" I'm like, "You don't need to tap while you do it." And they go, "Can I tap while I do it?" And I say, "You can, but it won't do anything." I mean they'll take the most simple technique and start asking me about all the ways they can complicate it and I always want to say, "It's my technique and I know how to do it, and you don't need to do any more than I'm telling you. If you do it will do nothing and also you'll be overcomplicatingitt." It's so funny. Or I'lll say, "You don't have to say anything while you do that technique," and then they come up with a hundred questions of, "Well, could I say this?" I said, "You could say anything you want, but it would be a complete waste of time." So it's kind of funny how we do that. But I also think that energy, that meaning to overcomplicate and add stuff that doesn't need to be, that's part of what prevents us from healing. That's almost like an anxiety or a compulsiveness to overdo things. You know what I mean? I think those are clients that also take longer to heal because they're just making it harder than it has to be, which is an emotional pattern as well.

23:28
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, it's never enough. But there is also the question “If something is never enough, am I enough?” So it might be also a question what is happening internally with me.

25:42
Amy B Scher:
Yes, I agree. It's a perfectionistic personality, which is definitely stressful for the body. So it's like somebody who wants to do something perfectly is requiring perfection of themselves. Which never goes well because it's just a stressful pattern that is stressful for your body, which is counterintuitive to healing So you're absolutely right.

26:04
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes, this emotional and mental stuff can be tricky

26:10
Amy B Scher:
Yes.

26:10
Dr. Maya Novak:
And when we are talking about healing any kind of physical trauma, whether injuries or diseases or anything that is happening with the physical body a lot of these emotional turmoil comes to the surface. In your book How to Heal Yourself From Depression When No One Else Can you talk about depression and sadness, but let me ask you this. How do we distinguish between what is actually sadness and what is depression? I mean, when something so terrible happens, it's normal that we're going to feel sad, but it's not necessary that we're going to be depressed. Can you talk a bit about this?

26:55
Amy B Scher:
Of course, yes, sure. So I think there are 2 different energies. Sadness is often circumstantial when something happens, right? It's normal to feel sad. Depression, I see energetically as the depression of our true selves when we feel depressed or suppressed, and to me those are two different things. To me, depression is about who we are and how we feel out in the world, and how we experience life, and sadness is an emotion. So I feel that they are two different energies.

27:29
Dr. Maya Novak:
So it's really about how we are feeling about that event that is happening. Is it just around that event, or is it something that spills over into every single area? Am I understanding this correctly?

27:43
Amy B Scher:
Yeah, so I think depression is something very internal and not linked necessarily to events. Depression can be that we've suppressed our own expression of who we are for so long that our lives and our selves feel depressed or held back, whereas sadness is usually more circumstantial and linked to an event. Now, depression can happen after many, many things in our life that just wear us down, but depression is more linked to self and who we are and how we feel and how we experience life, and sadness is more an emotion based on what's happening in our life.

28:26
Dr. Maya Novak:
Mmmm.

28:27
Amy B Scher:
Depression is really feeling like we can't be who we really are. That it's not worth living or experiencing life because we aren't fully expressing who we really are.

28:37
Dr. Maya Novak:
Oh, this is amazing. And my follow-up question here is, because what you said that we’ve been suppressing ourselves for such a long time that we cannot be who we are.

28:48
Amy B Scher:
Yes.

28:48
Dr. Maya Novak:
But how do we actually, if we've been doing something for such a long time, how do we actually figure out who we are? I mean if we've been suppressing it for such a long time, who are we then? What can I express? You know this lost feeling of who am I then?

29:09
Amy B Scher:
Yes, I think that I know. I think depression comes from knowing deep down who we are and what we want to do, but not doing it. So I think that most depressed people, in my own experience with depression, are misaligned with who they really are, and that's where the depression energy comes in. We're living for everybody else, we're people pleasing, we're not living true who we are and what we want for ourselves. You know, a lot of times that happens when life just doesn't go how we want. We can't always be exactly who we are or do what we want to do, right? We have to pay the bills and be caretakers and do all of those things, but to the best of our ability. There is always some opportunity to be true to ourselves and I think that's where we have to focus. We can't always 100 % do what we want all the time. We have kids and families and parents and jobs and all the things. But as true as we can be to ourselves: "How do I really feel about this? What do I really want? Is this a toxic relationship? Am I doing things that feed my soul?" There are all of those questions that I think we can ask ourselves, and I think it's obvious even to people who are feeling lost that in some areas of our life we are suppressing who we really are and what we truly want. We are sacrificing essentially.

30:36
Dr. Maya Novak:
Oh, this is such an important topic, but I don't know if you've ever had a client that had the problem of “Yes, now I understand who I am and I am expressing myself, and yet things are not working in my life. So am I on the right path?” You know, it's almost like “I feel that I'm aligned, but on the outside it seems like it's not aligned.” How do you navigate with a client like that? If you ever had an experience like this.

31:13
Amy B Scher:
Yeah, you mean like the person isn't healing once they've aligned? Is that what you mean?

31:20
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes, it might be in regard to specific healing of physical trauma, or we can look at a more general type of thing where it's like, “I am aligned with my path, but potentially what I'm seeing on the outside seems like I'm not aligned. So I'm a bit confused now. Am I aligned or am I not aligned?”

31:40
Amy B Scher:
Right. I think we always know when we're aligned internally, but it takes a little while for the body to catch up. I always tell people that an injury or a chronic illness of any sort is sort of like if you get a sunburn. You get stay out in the sun too long, you get a sunburn. That's the injury - you can put salve on it, which is doing all the emotional and spiritual and mindset work which is applying the techniques, but you aren't instantly going to see that the burn goes away, because it takes time now for the body to heal the burn that you just applied the salve to. It's the same thing as that when you do the emotional work and the spiritual work and the alignment work. All of that time, your body, your Immune system was suppressed, your nervous system was imbalanced, your organs weren't getting the full energy. Once you restore your alignment or your flow, it takes time for all of those organs, muscles, glands and parts of your body to actually do the healing work. So there's often a huge lag - more of a lag than I wish there was, in between the time you do the work and the time you start to feel better. What usually happens, though, is that pretty quickly you feel some kind of emotional relief. So people get so focused on the physical symptoms and if they're getting better, that we forget that we often see little or smaller signs of shifts first, which is feeling a little more hopeful or feeling calmer. Feeling more patient. Those are all signs that healing is coming, but they often come before we see the physical symptoms change, because the physical body is dense. By the time you have physical symptoms, the emotional stuff has been there so long that it's affected your physical body, and so we have to remember that it may take some time of working with the emotional stuff for the physical body to really have time to heal. That's where the patience… to come full circle in our conversation. That's where the patience comes back, yes. [laughs]

33:50
Dr. Maya Novak:
[laughs] Exactly. We started with patience and we continued with the journey and here we are again talking about it.

33:58
Amy B Scher:
Yes, that's our theme - patience, patience, patience. So annoying, right?

34:01
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes, it's true. Because then we can get caught up in thinking “But I've done this, so if my body is not okay yet this actually doesn't work.” But it's exactly what you said, we have to wait just a bit. Because often we don't think that this has been in the making for 10, 20, 30 years.

34:29
Amy B Scher:
Yes, and healing often comes the same way. I have clients that are frustrated and they say to me, "You know, I feel like today I feel worse than I ever have," and I remember that the month before I turned a major corner, I felt worse than I ever had, and I was like, "Am I ever going to get better?" But healing happens the same way that getting sick happens, or getting injured happens, which is, it feels like nothing's happening, nothing's happening, nothing's happening, and then - boom! Something shows up and you're like, "Where did this come from?" But that's very true for healing, too. You know, a lot of people say, "I woke up one day and I didn't feel good, and then I was sick." That's not always how it works, but that's often what happens with healing, too. It's like, "Why isn't it working? Why isn't it working?" And then one day you're like, "I think I feel better." So it's that things happen quietly over time and then show up all at once, and that can feel really confusing, but that can also be really good to remember - that it doesn't matter that you're not feeling anything better today, because that doesn't mean tomorrow you won't.

35:31
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yeah, and it's really not about this linear line that goes all the time just up, up, up. It's more like steps and those steps sometimes are like hills, because it's going up, and then it's going a bit down, and then it's going up again.

35:44
Amy B Scher:
Yes, absolutely.

35:46
Dr. Maya Novak:
So can we put this theory into practice now? You talked about that you're going to guide us through a technique and I would love if we can do this now. So it's a shortcut I think you described to me...

36:05
Amy B Scher:
Yes. Yes, I love shortcuts.

36:07
Dr. Maya Novak:
Can you please share a bit about this and why are we doing this so that we understand what and how this is going to help us?

36:17
Amy B Scher:
Sure! So I'm going to show you a shortcut of my thymus test and tap technique which is in all of my books. In my books I teach readers how to find exactly what stuck emotions are in their body and release them by tapping on their thymus gland. Your thymus gland is about an inch below where a bow tie would be and it's actually behind your chest. You won't feel it, but you might feel a raised area in your chest. And the thymus gland or that area is directly related or connected to your entire energy system, so tapping on it while you hold the intention of releasing an emotion helps by creating a percussive effect. Kind of sends a swoosh of energy through the thymus gland area and through your entire body to release the stuck emotion that might be anywhere in your energy system. So again, in my books, the way I teach people to do this is by using a list with lots of different emotions for finding which ones are stuck. I teach you how to do that in the book so you can be very specific, and then using thymus tapping to release the emotion. What we're going to do here is, I'm going to show you that when you are aware of a specific emotion how to tap in the moment to help you release it, so that your energy flows instead of staying stuck, so that you can further your healing journey instead of holding that energy inside. Which we now know can prevent healing, lead to depression and all kinds of problems we don't want to have. So let's imagine… let's actually all close our eyes and tune into how we're feeling right now. And just see if you can identify one specific emotion, one primary emotion you're feeling. Whether it's anxious, or sad, or uncertain, whatever it may be. And just hold your intention that as we tap in just a second you're gonna help release or move that specific emotion through your body and help to process it out. And that's all this is doing. We're helping your body take a stuck energy or emotion and process it out and release it or neutralize it so that it's not affecting you in a negative way. So go ahead and hold your intention on that emotion and start tapping on your thymus gland. And something that I like to do often is just say, "Let go. Let go. Let go." So I'm almost giving the body a command to let go of that old energy or emotion that's swirling around affecting me. Do you can go ahead and repeat. “Let go, let go, let go… Let go, let go, let go.” And you can sit there for a minute or two and just go ahead and do this technique, and that will actually help the energy move through your system and out, so it's not stuck anymore. And you can do that 100 times a day if you want, but it's just a really good way to take something that's a constant feeling, or kind of overtaking your body, and give it an actual movement or process to move. And that's what we want for the energy to move instead of being stuck. Because feelings or emotions don't hurt you. It's the constant presence of that sadness or anxiousness or whatever that can suppress your immune system and affect your nervous system. So as long as stuff is moving, it's okay. But what happens is, when we don't know what to do with it, we ruminate on it. We think about it. We feel it. We justify it and we don't do enough work to just help it gently move through the system. So that's the shortcut.

40:01
Dr. Maya Novak:
That's the shortcut and a very simple technique and then we are back to simplicity and “Maybe it's not enough. So, Amy, should I say something else during this?” [laughs]

40:12
Amy B Scher:
[laughs] No, no, no. You should just tap and relax and just… that's all. And you don't even have to say the let go, let go, let go part. I just like to. It's sort of, I feel, a nice loving reminder for the body about what we're doing, but you by no means even have to do that if you're really upset, really anxious, really Sad. You can just sit there while you're sitting there and feeling it, or crying or whatever you're doing. You can just tap that point which will help move it through faster.

40:47
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes, and emotions… it’s ‘emovere’. It's the energy that is moving. So by tapping we are helping to move that energy. And emotions are not a part of us, right?

41:03
Amy B Scher:
Yes.

41:03
Dr. Maya Novak:
They are coming and going. But if we don't process them and if we let them become stuck, then this affects the healing process.

41:13
Amy B Scher:
Yes, absolutely. Yes, correct.

41:15
Dr. Maya Novak:
Oh, Amy, this is fantastic. Now, out of everything that we talked about, what is your number one advice that you would give someone who is right now healing any kind of physical trauma and is struggling? It can be something completely different. But if someone stopped you on the street, it's like “Amy, tell me what is your number one.”

41:40
Amy B Scher:
So my number one that I always tell people is to learn to relax, physically relax into the journey. Relax about the journey, relax about the symptoms… any way in which we can relax supports the nervous system. And the nervous system is the foundation of healing, which is why we're working with emotions as they greatly affect the nervous system. It's so easy to be in a rush about everything in healing, to be panicked about everything. To focus on every little symptom and what our body's doing all the time, and the best advice I can give for healing is to relax in every way you can about all of it. And to also physically relax your body, and to find ways to relax emotionally as well. I would say that if you could only do one thing I would say to do that.

42:31
Dr. Maya Novak:
So my follow-up question here is how do we… potentially it’s the same question I asked you in regards to patience… How do we start practicing relaxation?

42:40
Amy B Scher:
Yes.

42:40
Dr. Maya Novak:
The reason why I'm asking is because I do think that a lot of listeners struggle with this. You know our lives are so quick and we have so many deadlines and it's always go, go, go, do, do, do. So when someone says to you, "Just relax," you know, “Relax your body, relax your mind, relax your feelings.” It's a bit like “What are you talking about?” It's almost like this alien thing.

43:11
Amy B Scher:
Yes I agree. Yes, what is that? Yes, and again it seems too easy as well, right? So what I talk about when I talk about relaxing is doing the deeper work to release anxiety, to release beliefs that you have to work hard all the time, or bad things will happen. To release the belief that you're unsafe that keeps us on edge. I have a technique called the sweep in my all of my books you can get it for free on Youtube. That helps us release some of these beliefs. You know, some of us have a belief that it's unsafe to relax. That if we're not on top of everything all the time, something bad will happen. So all of my books teach how to essentially relax at the core. That's the core of my work - relax and become who you really are. Those are the things that help support the body and healing. So it's not just relax and don't worry about it. And thank you for asking that question because that would annoy me, when people would say stuff like, "Just keep it simple, or "Just relax." But what I'm always talking about is the deep work to change the pattern of being in stress mode. To change the pattern of feeling like you're unsafe. To relax. And it's not a simple mind thing. It's changing, it's doing the emotional work to change the environment of your body and how we live that really makes a difference. It's not just laying on the hammock outside. Although that is very nice too. But if you rest and all you're doing while you rest is stressing out, that's going to do nothing. You can be on the beach all day and be as stressed out as you would be in your office. Maybe more because in your office you can at least do some work. So it really is more of the inner work. I would just tell people to do the inner work to figure out why you aren't relaxed. Why you can't rest. Why you feel unsafe. And all of that is available to us. Again, it's in my books but you can see it free on Youtube. You know, there are other techniques as well that people people utilize. I use thymus tapping. Emotional Freedom Technique, which is another tapping. The sweep, which is in my book and on Youtube, but these are simple ways to shift the energy in our body so that we can behave and feel differently. Not just relax on the beach, although that is a nice bonus. But it won't won't shift how you feel at the core.

45:44
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes, thank you for explaining this, because it does make sense. It's not just about “Oh yeah, now I don't have anything on my to do list, so now I just have to sit back and wait and try to relax.” But it's really about this inner work. And what was coming up for me while you were talking was we really have to have the courage to do this. Because it takes courage to look into those dark parts of us and do the work.

46:15
Amy B Scher:
Yes.

46:15
Dr. Maya Novak:
And yes, it is a relaxation into sometimes - sorry to say this - into ‘shit’, right? It can be dark. It can be heavy, but as a result of all of this, the end result is something beautiful.

46:34
Amy B Scher:
Yes I agree completely. It's worth it in the end, and you have to do it because we all get to this journey because nothing else is working. So we actually don't have a choice. We just need to make the best of it. And the better you make of it, the better it is. The easier it is, the more joyful it is. And the faster we go.

46:55
Dr. Maya Novak:
The slower we go, the faster we go, yes.

46:59
Amy B Scher:
It's so true. It's so true, yes.

47:02
Dr. Maya Novak:
Amy, I have one last fun question. And this one question is, if you were stuck on a desert island with an injury and you could bring only one thing with you that would help you heal amazingly well, what would that be and why would you take that thing?

47:21
Amy B Scher:
So this is really funny, because when my wife and I go away, we always say, 'Do you have the emotion list?" The emotion list which is in my book. That's the one thing we take everywhere in case somebody doesn't feel good. So I'm gonna use if I can, if I'm allowed to use my own book. My own book has a list of emotions that you use with the thymus tapping and that is what I would take with me. Because sometimes it is really hard to figure out what emotions could be contributing, but I can't tell you how many times I've worked with a client or for myself if I've had a headache or a stomach ache or back ache, or something that wasn't healing, and I worked with the emotion chart and thymus test and tap, and been like, "Oh my gosh, that was amazing." I would literally take my own book. We think it's so funny in my house that we have my books all over. And that we take my own book on vacation. We're like, "Don't forget the list. Don't forget the book." So that's what I would take, because I cannot live without that list and I don't have it memorized, even though I've read it a billion times.

48:22
Dr. Maya Novak:
So this list of emotions - is this in every single book of yours, or can you tell us where can we find it?

48:31
Amy B Scher:
Yes, so it's in 3 of my books which are all my How to Heal Yourself When No One Else Can series. So it's in How To Heal Yourself When No One Else Can, How To Heal Yourself From Anxiety When No One Else Can, and How To Heal Yourself From Depression When No One Else Can. And each of those books has all of my techniques. They're just geared a little bit more specifically towards certain challenges but they're in all my healing books. Yes.

48:54
Dr. Maya Novak:
Yes, perfect. So next time when I'm packing “Do we have the list?

49:00
Amy B Scher:
You better take it.

49:02
Dr. Maya Novak:
“Yes, we have the list!”

49:04
Amy B Scher:
Yes, perfect there you go.

49:06
Dr. Maya Novak:
Where can people find more about you?

49:09
Amy B Scher:
Everybody can find me on my website at amybscher.com or on Youtube or social media as well.

49:19
Dr. Maya Novak:
Perfect. Amy, this was so much fun. I really enjoyed it, learned new things, of course. And I feel we’re so aligned in what we are teaching and putting out. So thank you so much for being here.

49:33
Amy B Scher:
Yes, thank you. It was a pleasure to be here.

49:36
Dr. Maya Novak:
This wraps up today’s Mindful Injury Recovery Talk with the amazing guest Amy B Scher. If you haven’t done it yet, subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you’re using to tune in, and… please leave a review so we can reach even more people who should be hearing these lessons. To access show notes, links, transcript, and video of today’s conversation go to mayanovak.com/podcast and click on episode 12. Until next time – keep evolving, blooming, and healing.