Testimonials
Dani Shipley
It was a long and winding road which brought me to working with Priya. I had been sick on and off my whole life.
I had found ways of eating, and caring for myself that kept me at times feeling stable and at times didn't seem to help at all. But even in the stable times I always felt so fragile and limited, like I was balancing on the head of a pin.
If I slipped up in any direction I would fall off and feel terrible again. I had even become trained in doing shadow work as I felt instinctively that was where I would find true healing. I was convinced that my life trauma was directly connected to my experience of illness.
When I first came across this work of The Reconnected Self, I was drawn to the structure of Compassionate Self-Healing for doing that which I had been calling shadow work. Upon meeting Priya I immediately felt safe and held by her kindness and ability.
Over our weeks of working together my life changed. There is a calm in my body, in my nervous system now I am so grateful for.
Priya was an amazing guide through this process, she is so bright and caring and capable."
Jane Chignoli
When I began my journey with Amy I did not know what to expect but something had called me to her and I trusted; I was excited by the testimonials coming from clients Amy had worked with and I felt sure that she could help me.
I have been amazed by how quickly Amy saw what I had buried deep inside over many years. She helped me to bring these emotions back to the surface, where I could see and feel them in the context of exactly where I was when I experienced them and buried them.
For many years I had carried them inside me as a narrative and in a safe space Amy helped me to see them as my direct emotional responses and not a story.
It was a lightbulb moment for me to see the emotions again and understand the effect they had made on my life, and in truly seeing and understanding I was able to let them go and it felt amazing every time.
I have shared with my family and want to shout from the rooftops so everyone can experience liberation from deep-rooted emotional imbalance. Trust in ourselves as we have the power to heal our bodies with the right guidance. Thank you Amy, I couldn’t have done it without you.
Juliana Ferreira
Approximately 7 years ago, I discovered functional medicine and all the latest trends in supplements and antiflamatory diets.
I successfully got myself into remission after one year and managed to maintain it. For a while this gave me a huge sense of empowerment, but the price I was paying was very high. Not only financially, but mostly of what it had done for my lifestyle and mental health. I had trapped myself into a rigidity of infinite protocols that would drive my anxiety through the roof if I couldn’t meet the daily tasks and routines.
I saw myself creating an identity out of this lifestyle and firming believes that there was no other way of living. I was growing tired and felt I was living a ‘protected’ limited life, and there was an abundant world of experiences I was shutting myself from.
When I started seeing Amy’s posts about her work, I got very curious as it all resonated so much with me. During our first meeting, I said to her: I feel like a hostage of my own protocols! And I couldn’t wait to be set free.
Since our first session, I was in complete awe when we together unravelled my first emotional thread, a sequence of events in different ages that somehow were related to a common trauma that I was storing in my body. It was like a lightbulb moment! Following that, I was increasingly curious and excited for our next sessions. As we revealed each thread or sometimes blocks, I felt like an onion being pealed and revealing the true self hidden behind all of those old painful beliefs.
What took me completely was this feeling of freedom, that I didn’t need any of these things to feel well, and did not depended in any of my numerous protocols and devices to tell me that I was ok. It was like I was holding on to all of that as much as I was holding on to my old stored emotions and beliefs, as if I couldn’t survive without them before.
I am enjoying so many things in life that I would not feel I could before. But the biggest transformation I feel happened is how I see myself in the world and how I deal with my emotions and events.
Now I am learning how to be this new Juliana, and it feels exciting as I leap in, head diving into the unknown.
Thank you Amy, for helping me find the true me.
Emma
I heard about Amy through a friend. The primary appeal in working with Amy was that it would be completely non invasive to my young daughter - even the mildest herbal remedies felt risky with a child.
I always enjoyed my sessions and was often taken aback by the clarity I had in understanding how certain experiences and behaviours (of my own and inter-generationally) were connected. There is something very validating about having your own words read back to you without much external interpretation or imposed doctrine.
If I look back to when I started I can say with certainty I feel calmer and more content.I feel more patient and more able to put distance between myself and situations that upset or anger me.
I am far from perfect but I am so grateful, particularly in relation to motherhood, to be able to shed any baggage I can.
Maggie Federico
I am so grateful for the skill and assurance with which Amy guided me through an exciting and emotional journey of self-discovery.
I had no idea that I was unknowingly keeping myself in a negative mind set, preventing recovery. Amy has given me the tools to avoid ever falling down that deep and dangerous rabbit hole again. I have so many plans. The joy of being “normal” again. So match to catch up on. I’m 78 now. Every minute is precious. I have my life back.
Marisa Bouman
I had been collecting "morning practices" and "hacks" until I would have needed to get up at 4am each day just to fit them all in.
I had spent a lot of money trying different 'protocols' and 'regimes' punishing my body for not being reliable. And still I never really believed that I could trust my body, or that I could have an impact on my own health.
I met Amy about 8 years ago, in a private yoga session, you might think "oh, of course..." But no!! those sessions were punishing and only served to disconnect me more from myself. Luckily for me, it wasn't long before we bonded over cinnamon tea and a restorative yoga class, and so when I read about her own self healing and brave new career pivot I needed to know more.
Working with Amy was transformational from the beginning. We got to work straight away and I always felt safe and excited for the next session. The sessions were full of surprises, joy and grief, releasing deep, long forgotten memories and pain, everything connecting to everything else.
Being a chronic over-thinker and a collector of "things to do to fix myself" it took a few sessions for me to really believe I could process the painful memory or stored emotion and then it was done. Working with Amy I learnt that I wasn't, and am not broken and here was a way to see the bigger picture of myself.
No magic wand here, just a gentle sloughing away of what didn't serve me, giving me back space and time to slow down and listen and learn and let go. Slowly, (but in the scheme of things rather swiftly) my mindset shifted, we worked together to release some old, stuck emotions and beliefs and now I have a repertoire of resources that I use to support me physically, emotionally and spiritually, to process whatever arises.
One benefit I had not expected was, with a new way to listen to myself. I am more present to my emotions and what needs attention. I have strong boundaries, and I can be clear about the things I need to take responsibility for. I have a way of listening to myself and understanding my body and I've developed a trusting relationship with myself.
Working with Amy has changed my life.
Julia Rebaudo - 9 sessions
I’ve known Amy for quite a few years meeting up occasionally to discuss life, love, family and health. Seeing her pop up online last year so radiant and full of the joys I was intrigued to find out more..
My first session with Amy was a revelation. We dived straight into the big stuff, starting the cathartic work of releasing a range of stored emotions I’d been carrying relating to certain experiences and times in my life.
Afterwards I felt so liberated emotionally and experienced a huge rush of exciting new energy - I couldn’t wait for the next session.
In the following sessions we continued with our detective work, zeroing in on the experiences and emotions that were holding me back, releasing fresh energy.
It is completely liberating, thankyou Amy!
Jimi Lee
I started seeing Amy as I was going through a major life change and felt it would be beneficial to work with a different type of therapist. I have done my share of psychological work through talking therapies, as well as other forms of therapy such as acupuncture and massage. I didn’t fully understand the process and the details of Amy’s healing practice, but upon meeting her, I felt assured and instinctively trusted her.
It is now commonly discussed, especially through the writings of Bessel van der Kolk and Gabor Maté, that there is a connection between illnesses and our stored, neglected emotions.
The process with Amy was like peeling layers of an onion. There was a good amount of talking involved, though it wasn’t akin to talking therapy. Amy guided me to different times of my life which had not been previously explored, and each session was a discovery of forgotten events and beliefs I had unknowingly carried. The new revelations were then linked to the familiar ‘themes', allowing me to realise the longer threads which had become tangled as unprocessed emotions.
Once the release work started, I felt immediate emotional lightness, like the dark clouds had been uplifted. I began to have emotional clarity.
To feel settled within my own body was a feeling I had not had before! And because I am feeling more secure, I am now able to accept new feelings as they are.
As the name ‘The Reconnected Self’ suggests, Amy’s unique therapeutic process has allowed me to find my somatic self and to find a connection between the mind and the body. It was like undergoing an overdue MOT.
Chiara Williams
I loved Amy’s central messages: that healing needn’t take a long time; that she wanted to efficiently teach others so that they could in turn help and heal themselves; that there are tools and methods we can all learn.
All of this appealed to me because it was an approach that seemed relatable and realistic, holistic and intuitive, generous and efficient. And indeed that is what it has proved to be!
When I began working with Amy, I was in such a frazzled, tired and impatient state, consequently there was quite a lot to unpick and quite a few preconceptions to put aside in our first session, especially around accepting help and understanding the stored emotions that were blocking my progress.
It’s tricky to accurately describe the process of working with Amy, as it will look completely different for each individual, but what I can say is that I now have clear tools and efficient techniques I can confidently and reliably use to identify and clear things as they come up – because the work continues!
What Amy does is find out the right way for you, with you, in a way that resonates with you.
There were quite a few epiphanies along the way, for example pinpointing exactly when, how and why certain habits and beliefs originated was oddly satisfying. Filling in some of these blanks and pulling together some loose threads was a complex, layered but ultimately compassionate re-membering of my formative years and has given me a better and kinder understanding of myself.
And it’s not just a temporary fix; I have the means to keep myself in balance now: I have learnt how to ‘check in’ with myself when emotional problems arise and how to recalibrate as needed.
photo credit Jay Rechsteiner
Jill Pearson, Minnesota
Amy taught me how to ask myself what I need, and taught me how to help my child. I told her from the beginning I have a learning disability and didn't think I could learn this stuff. I couldn't believe how quickly I caught on and learned. Very life-changing.