We were lucky to catch up with Amrit-Sadhana Boyd recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amrit-Sadhana, appreciate you joining us today. Can you recount a time when the advice you provided to a client was really spot on? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

I am going to give some general advice that I give to most clients when they come to me with this struggle. When we are dealing with acute anxiety, our initial instinct is to run away from it, make it stop, make it go away. It makes sense, that is literally what our bodies are wired for. The uncomfortable truth is that we actually need to lean into it. We need to lean into that discomfort, breathe through it, shake it out, and help move that stress through the body to finish the stress cycle. In those situations, sitting and meditating are not going to help. An anxious body needs action. This often times helps my clients know what they need to do when the acute anxiety hits. They know they need to move somehow!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I fell into this work through my own journey with anxiety and trauma recovery. I am a huge advocate for talk therapy and it also wasn’t enough to help me move through the affect trauma had on my body. I started looking into the things I was raised with, looking to movement and somatic practices that helped me to not only face these things but move them though and metabolize them so that they are a part of me but they don’t define me. I sought out certifications that were evidence-based and trauma informed and integrated them into the work I do with my clients. What I do now and what I did 5 years ago when I started is night and day. I know so much more now and I continue to learn and adjust how I coach my clients. Ultimately I teach people how to recognize when their bodies are talking to them and how to respond depending on what is happening. I spread the message that the antidote to anxiety is not calm, it is safe. When we live in a body that has established safety at its baseline, it will move adaptively, flexibly and with resilience through the states of stress and back to that safety no matter what. We get stuck in the “on” or “off” less and less off and we learn to identify what it feels like for ourselves to be in those modes. I am most proud that I have helped people feel safe in their bodies and know that their bodies are the safest place for them to be. It changes you life when you learn how to metabolize emotions, rather than run or push them down. They no longer have power over you and you know that you are going to make it through because you’ve made it through every other hard thing. What sets me apart from others that do this work is that I have the lived experience. I have done the leg work (I still do). I also have a very unique lived experience that has helped me to understand and have compassion for people from all different backgrounds. There is no right or wrong way to do things. As long as you are not harming others (or their culture) and it supports you, that is the right way. I have a compassionate, warm and loving way of supporting my clients while also calling it as I see it. I’m authentic in my approach and I believe that is what deeply resonates with others.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Practicing hat I preach. The reason I am so good at what I do is because I actually implement the tools that I teach. I know what out is like to live with crippling anxiety and depression and I know that the tools that I teach work.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

Absolutely no doubt I my mind, yes. I love what I do. I love seeing the transformation and growth in people. I love seeing people be so proud of themselves for making it through and doing things they didn’t think they could do. It is incredibly rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theuntamedherbalist.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theuntamedherbalist/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amrit-sadhana-boyd-23763b17/