Often when we refer to wellness, we assume that we are
talking about physical wellbeing. But one can be physically very healthy but
still be unwell, emotionally or mentally. What are the steps we can take to
cultivate optimal wellness in all areas of our life; to develop Mental,
Physical, Emotional, & Spiritual Wellbeing?
As a part of our series about “How We Can Cultivate Our Mental, Physical, Emotional, & Spiritual Wellbeing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Amanda Hainline.
Amanda Hainline is an emotional freedom mentor, intuitive healer, and author of the upcoming book “Feel Better in Five Minutes — An Empowering Guide to Gain Control Over Your Emotions.” For 15 years, Amanda has been exploring the world of energy healing through gifts that came to her in a spontaneous kundalini awakening. A clairvoyant, audiovoyant, clairsentient, and medium, she uses her gifts to help others on their own journeys of health and healing. “I love energy work because there are no bounds,” she says. “I have had clients tell me that a single session helped them more than years of therapy. That’s because it works differently and circumvents the blocks we put up in our mind.” In “Feel Better in Five Minutes,” she shares 79 emotional freedom methods to help others gain freedom from the anxiety, depression, and stress that are rampant today, to help themselves and others. Amanda previously worked as a business manager and consultant. A mom of two sons, Amanda says her family fueled her passion for all things healthy, from food and supplements to functional medicine. She lives in Austin, Texas. Learn more at https://www.amandahainline.com/
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
Amanda Hainline: I grew up in West Texas and am the second youngest of five. I was pretty active, playing soccer and raising orphaned animals. I spent a lot of time making crafts with my mom and selling them at craft fairs and at school, so I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit.
I was a bit of an odd ball and often found myself on the outside of things, but I kind of preferred it that way. It gave me room to observe others and spend a lot of time by myself. I was pretty sensitive and could always pick up on what other people were feeling. I thought everyone was this way, which left me really confused when people didn’t understand others like I did.
What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.
Amanda Hainline: I like to say my career chose me. As a child I had premonitions — dreams that often came true, like earthquakes and car crashes. I didn’t understand why I was shown these things, and it was a huge burden to bear because I couldn’t do anything about it. When I was 12, I dreamed about the Loma Prieta earthquake two weeks before it happened. In my dream I saw images of a stadium shaking, a collapsed bridge, and people running and screaming in the streets as buildings collapsed. The afternoon the earthquake occurred I was home by myself. As the news broke on TV, I was in a complete panic. I saw the exact images on the screen that I had seen in my dream. I blamed myself for not telling someone, for not warning them. I begged for that ability to go away, and it did for a long time — until I was 30 and I had a spontaneous kundalini awakening on a massage table during an energy work session.
This experience threw me into utter chaos. Being raised in the church, I had no exposure to even the idea of the human energy system. I didn’t know what a chakra was, and I didn’t understand what was happening to me. After the awakening, I started hearing voices and seeing things. I would wake up being choked in my sleep by unseen forces. I had waves of uncontrollable rage and crying fits that came and went as they pleased. I really felt like I was going crazy and feared being committed to a mental institution. As a mom with two young kids, it was terrifying to think I would have to go away like that and leave them.
To fight it, I continued to go to healers to help me understand what was going on and I learned how to clear emotions and energy from my body to gain control. During this time I also started to interact with my spirit guides and angels.
After about six months of working with healers, I had started to get a handle on my life. That’s when three angels showed up in my living room one day and told me they were going to teach me how to heal people. I told them they were crazy and that no one would believe that angels taught me anything.
After arguing with them for a while, I gave in and they started to teach me how to work with energy.
That was 15 years ago and I have been helping people through readings and energy work ever since.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?
Amanda Hainline: The one that stands out the most is my husband. He has always encouraged me to go further and think bigger. He’s my biggest cheerleader, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.
I have watched him tackle so many different businesses in different fields, everything from a rail car cleaning business to an international mortgage company, just diving in and making them work. Working by his side, his confidence rubbed off on me and now I’m not afraid to try, because trying something is half the battle — moving past the fear of failure and just saying, “I’m going to do this.” No matter how it turns out, you learned something. Knowledge and experience translate to areas that you don’t expect. This is what makes you more equipped to do something than someone else: your unique experience.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?
Amanda Hainline: I had a friend whose husband had a cold. One of the things I do is channel healing concoctions for people, and I offered to make him something. I had only been doing it a short time when I made him this tea to help him feel better. My friend made the tea recipe for him while I was at their house. She poured him a whole cup and he took a few sips and started sweating profusely. She was yelling at him to just drink it and I saw the poor guy basically crying because it was so strong. After a few minutes of this, I told him to stop drinking it because I heard, “Dilute that.” The recipe was for a 4 to 1 dilution so he was drinking it at 4 times the strength it should have been. It was basically straight ginger and cinnamon with a few other things mixed in. I learned after that to always make sure the recipe was correct as-is.
The good news is, after sweating that much, he was all better the next day. So, I guess it was perfect in its own way.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
Amanda Hainline: That would be “Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field” by Barbara Ann Brennan. One of the healers that I went to see right after my awakening told me about it, but I was in the middle of so much turmoil, I forgot to get it. Months later, I ordered a copy and it described what I was going through. If I had that book in the beginning, I would have probably had an easier time with it all, but I am grateful for the trials I had. It forced me to commit to working on myself full-out.
I still use that book today for reference and refer it to clients often.
Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?
Amanda Hainline: “What other people think of you is none of your business.” That may seem like a strange one, but it’s really freeing. Everyone can only see you through the lens of their own perspective and experiences. In the toughest times when I felt judged by others for the decisions I made or what I was going through, I remembered this quote and it helped me to remember that my journey is mine and theirs is theirs. Only I know what’s right for me and they for them. It allowed me to accept myself on the deepest level and move forward.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
Amanda Hainline: So many things going on! I kind of have project ADD at the moment. For the last year, though, I have been working on my first book that is due out this summer, called “Feel Better in Five Minutes: An Empowering Guide to Gain Control Over Your Emotions.” It focuses on clearing emotional states from an energetic perspective to shift your life. I will also be coming out with accompanying courses and a membership.
After the past year, people have had a chance to really sit with their emotions. This awareness has brought to light the need to address deep wounds and work on healing them. This book is a great introduction to doing this in a new way that people can do at their own pace. The techniques in the book are easy to follow and can be done quickly for fast results. Hence, the book title.
OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the core focus of our interview. In this interview series we’d like to discuss cultivating wellness habits in four areas of our lives, Mental wellness, Physical wellness, Emotional wellness, & Spiritual wellness. Let’s dive deeper into these together. Based on your research or experience, can you share with our readers three good habits that can lead to optimum mental wellness? Please share a story or example for each.
Amanda Hainline: It may sound simple, but surrounding yourself with good, quality people that are supportive of you and the lifestyle you want to live. If this is tough for you, keep working on yourself. Keep reading positive things, keep eating well, keep doing energy work and yoga. The people who are not supportive will start to fall away and new supportive ones will show up. It takes time, but it is worth the shift. Just don’t try to hold on to ones that need to fall by the wayside. Love them and let them go. The new ones will catapult you forward into where you want to go. Another thing to note is that the energy people have is contagious. Positive people give off positive vibes and being around it will rub off on you.
Eat good fats! While that’s a physical health thing, it’s mental too. Our brain is 60 percent dry weight of fat and any fat we intake gets gobbled up by our brain. Good fats like avocados and coconut oil actually improve how the neurons fire in our brain and give our brain the nutrients it needs to make the correct neurotransmitters, which improves our mood overall. Bad fats that are found in fast food and fried foods interfere with our brain function, and actually slow it down. They can increase depression, anxiety, and lead to poor memory and focus.
Keeping your energy system in good shape. This can be done a myriad of ways, such as through meditation, yoga, reiki, or many other energy work modalities. When energy stagnates in the body, it eventually trickles down and affects our emotional states. It can lead to depression, anxiety, and a host of other low-vibration emotions. This affects our life overall and eventually will show up as a physical illness if there is a severe energetic blockage. Keeping your energy system clear and clean increases circulation in your energy system and in the physical body as well. You feel lighter, happier and things don’t bother you because you don’t have heavy, dense energy weighing you down.
Do you have a specific type of meditation practice or Yoga practice that you have found helpful? We’d love to hear about it.
Amanda Hainline: When I am feeling particularly bogged down, I do a simple exercise where I close my eyes and say, “I choose to release the emotions I am feeling and whatever they are attached to.” Then I envision those emotions leaving my body. Sometimes I name separate emotions and sometimes I am general about it, depending on how I am feeling. I take a few deep breaths to help move the energy out of my body and make sure that I set the intention for the emotions to move out of my space, preferably out a window. Energy can be reabsorbed if you don’t send it out of your space, so it’s an important step. You can also use a cedar or sage smudge stick for this purpose.
Thank you for that. Can you share three good habits that can lead to optimum physical wellness? Please share a story or example for each.
Amanda Hainline: Move every day. It doesn’t matter what type of exercise you do, but do something. Stretching at the very least increases blood circulation and energy flow. Doing some type of resistance training a few times a week keeps muscle tone and bones strong for the long haul. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy. Just move.
Eating right for your body. Everyone is different and has nutritional needs. Our needs vary even day to day. The cleaner you eat, the easier it is to be in tune with your body as to what it needs. Organic meats, seafood, vegetables, and healthy fats are an easy way to start. Keeping meals simple without a lot of complicated sauces and ingredients makes it easier for your body to digest the foods you eat, too. Eating clean allows you to be more in tune with what your body is telling you. Eating a lot of junk food makes it difficult for you to get clear signals as to your nutritional needs because your body is in a constant state of detox overdrive. It’s trying to put out fires all the time. You may always feel tired, so you fuel with coffee, for example, when what your body actually needs are good fats to level out your blood sugar. Eating clean lets you get the messages you need loud and clear.
Simply drinking plenty of clean water every day. Our bodies are about 60 percent water and we need to drink a lot of it daily to stay hydrated and keep our detoxification system working properly. Dehydration can be a cause of headaches, fatigue, and myriad other issues. At least eight cups of water a day is recommended, but your needs can vary depending on your physical makeup and lifestyle. Keeping a water bottle with you and just sipping on it all day is an easy way to get your water intake.
Do you have any particular thoughts about healthy eating? We all know that it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, etc. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?
Amanda Hainline: When I was doing work in nutrition, I had a woman come to me that needed to change her diet. She knew she needed to change and was ashamed she was struggling with it. As I spoke with her, I realized that for her, changing her diet felt like abandoning her culture and her family. Food was a cornerstone of her life and community, especially in her family. She started naming foods that certain people in her family made that she would have to say no to, and it devastated her.
So, before we worked on changing her diet, we worked on healing her unsettled feelings about the food and reframing what they meant to her. She also spent time talking with her family to help them understand what she was going through so that they could support her. All of this had to come before changing her diet. It was extremely emotional, but she managed to make the shift and slowly introduce healthier things.
Food for many people is a communal activity or a comfort. It’s not as simple as changing your diet in these cases. In other cases, foods can be addictive. Not just sugary or trans-fat foods, but foods that one is allergic to.
I had an 11-year-old client who routinely ate 10 apples at one sitting. It turns out he was allergic to them. Removing them from his diet calmed his tantrums and allowed him to be introduced back into a regular classroom at school again.
So if you are struggling with changing your diet, look deeper. Reflect on why you are not changing and start there, instead of just stopping everything cold turkey and falling back into old patterns. Addressing the root of why you have the habits and healing them allows you to stick to a plan long term.
Can you share three good habits that can lead to optimum emotional wellness? Please share a story or example for each.
Amanda Hainline: Doing things you love. You have to do things you are passionate about in order to really thrive emotionally. If you are doing this, you feel like you have purpose, you are happier and energy can move through your body better. It doesn’t matter what it is. Maybe you love collecting matchbooks, riding your bike, or painting. It doesn’t even matter if you are good at it! Whatever it is, do it.
Clearing out old, stuck emotions can propel you, big time. In my book I talk about a client who had a severe trauma as a teen and as a result she had turned to drugs at one point, gained weight, and had difficult relationships. Clearing out the energy from this trauma caused her life to completely turn around. She lost weight, shed the toxic relationships, and she got a higher paying job — all within two weeks of shedding this old emotional baggage. I have seen this happen over and over again. People have pasts that weight them down, but you can truly let things go and move on. It’s essential for optimal emotional health and can greatly propel your life.
Forgive. My husband’s grandmother had this saying, “Always forgive.” She didn’t hold grudges and just viewed everyone with love. She lived to be 106. She was never on medication and rode around in her little red wheelchair up until just days before her death. When she was 102, I had the honor of doing an energy work session on her. I assumed that because she had never had any energy work done, she would be a mess — but to my surprise, she had no damage to her chakras, other than her knee chakras and very little energetic congestion. I usually only see energy systems like that in people who routinely clean their energy and meditate, but she just simply didn’t hold on to things and that made all the difference.
Forgiveness is not for the other person, it’s for you. Holding on to anger, resentment, guilt, or judgment hurts you. It’s toxic and can cause emotional and physical ailments if it goes on long enough. So, let it go, already.
Do you have any particular thoughts about the power of smiling to improve emotional wellness? We’d love to hear it.
Amanda Hainline: Smiling is a great exercise whether you are happy or not. Smiling in the mirror is particularly potent. It allows you to experience yourself smiling from actually doing and watching yourself do it. This activates your mind and energy system in different ways to allow good vibes and positive energy to flow through you. You might even find yourself laughing.
Finally, can you share three good habits that can lead to optimum spiritual wellness? Please share a story or example for each.
Amanda Hainline: Every day, take some quiet time for yourself. Just be still. Many of us have trouble quieting our minds, and while you don’t have to totally do that during your quiet time, the more still you can get the better. This relaxes our body, mind, and energy system so that we can more easily reconnect with Source that funds everything in our lives.
Keeping a gratitude journal is also a great thing to do. Our brains are wired for survival; therefore, we are hyper-aware of negativity and bad things in the world. By shifting into a state of gratitude, you are teaching yourself and your brain that this is the focus you want in your life. Even if you don’t write it down, bringing it to mind or saying out loud three things you are grateful for before bed puts you in a more restful place to go to sleep at night. Then, before your feet hit the floor in the morning, do the exercise again. This sets a positive tone for your day.
Check to see what you are plugged in to. It’s easy for us to view someone or something (like a job) as our “everything.” You hear it in love songs all the time. The problem is that when we do that, we are ultimately let down and blame the other person for disappointing us when things aren’t perfect. We are Sourcing them, or viewing them as our answer to all the solutions in our lives. Parents do this with children all the time. They try to live through them. It’s not fair to the child.
In order to not do that, there’s a simple exercise that keeps you plugged into Source, the Universe, or whatever you want to call it. Envision a cord with a plug on the end of it coming out of the top of your head. This cord is plugged into the person or thing you are Sourcing. Simply unplug it from them and plug it straight into the heavens — however you picture Source for yourself. Doing this takes your expectations away and relieves pressure on the other person to be perfect. Relationships improve, and you are now plugged in and connected to what is actually your everything: Source. This funds all of the inspiration, manifesting power, solace, and happiness you could ever need. This exercise is a discipline though and needs to be repeated often until your pattern has shifted.
Do you have any particular thoughts about how being “in nature” can help us to cultivate spiritual wellness?
Amanda Hainline: Nature exists purely, with no judgment, pretense, or negative energy. It exudes healthy, radiant energy, and being surrounded by it can truly renew the soul. A simple exercise of breathing in the life force energy of nature can help to cleanse your energy field and connect you with Source. This allows a feeling of oneness and a calm that allows you to feel as though you are part of all things. It enables energy and inspiration to flow through you. It can create a sense of belonging and clear a troubled mind.
Ok, we are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Amanda Hainline: I would make everyone aware that they have an energy system — that it isn’t just some Eastern philosophy idea. It’s as real as your nervous system or circulatory system and taking care of it is as important as eating healthy and exercising. Toxic energy and emotions are detrimental to your spiritual, emotional, and physical health. Keeping your energy system clear and clean is vital to your overall health and well-being. It’s pretty easy to do, too.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them.
Amanda Hainline: Sara Blakely. I love her approach to life and business and the inspiration she is to women to just be themselves. Her Instagram is a great example of that showing mom life, business life, and everything between in a real, fun, goofy, and inspiring way. She’s a living, breathing example that success doesn’t have to make you hard or serious, and I love that.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Amanda Hainline: They can find me on my website at http://www.amandahainline.com/, Instagram: @akhainline, YouTube: Amanda Hainline, and on Facebook: Amanda Hainline.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with
this. We wish you continued success and good health!
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