Amanda Blain
Holistic Biopsychosocial Therapist
Stress and Trauma Specialist
Leadership Coach
Cross-Cultural Educator
Witnessing the psyche-body connection in real time
As a Patient Care Consultant working with dialysis clinics in Chicago, I observed the link between mental and physical health. I coordinated patient care programs that combined psychologic support and nutrition education. As a result, the clinics reported reductions in hospitalizations and improved outcomes - quantifiable evidence that addressing the psyche and body as an interconnected whole was an effective approach. ​I was inspired by the success of these holistic programs, but disillusioned by industry norms that prioritized profit over impact. In 2013, I left to join the U.S. Peace Corps. ​
Training with mind-body researchers
and social development pioneers
I was sent to Limpopo, South Africa, where I lived and worked among the Venda tribe and apprenticed with two former United Nations consultants and a mind-body science researchers who forever changed my worldview, David Patient and Neil Orr.
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David was diagnosed with HIV in 1983, when he was told by doctors that he had months to live. At a time when modern medicine had no answers for him, he pioneered his own holistic treatment plans and contained his viral load by prioritizing nutrition, emotional healing, and managing the body's stress responses. He lived 34 years beyond his fatal prognosis (22 of which were without ARV's), and was one of the longest living person with AIDS until 2017 when he died of other causes.
For over 20 years, David collaborated with psycho-neuro-immunologist Neil Orr on international projects for disease prevention and containment and socio-economic development. Together they co-authored the book, The Healer Inside You. Under their tutelage, my understanding of the psyche-body link expanded beyond anything I'd learned in mainstream education. With their support, I helped my host community launch projects in permaculture, youth empowerment, and leadership development.
Healing PTSD with body-centered therapy
After 14 months of Peace Corps service, I developed adult onset asthma, chronic inflammatory disease, and a hormone imbalance. Doctors offered numerous medications, but none were effective.
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This struggle led me to Thotme, a Body-Centered Psychotherapist (trained in The Hakomi Method) and spiritual teacher, who helped me realize that I'd been overworking in an unsustainable manner, causing my body's systems to protest and breakdown. This pattern was stemming from unhealed trauma from my past and a subconscious fear of "not being enough." It was time to heal myself.
Where talk therapy seemed to reinforce my old ways of feeling and operating, body-centered therapy helped me heal from decades of trauma and gradually my symptoms disappeared.
I became inspired to help others achieve similar results, and apprenticed with Thotme for over five years while continuing education through the National Institute for the Clinical Application for Behavioral Medicine. I have since learned from the world's leading trauma experts in Dr. Peter Levine's Trauma Healing program, Dr. Pat Ogden's Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Dissociation and the Body, and Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk's Traumatic Stress Studies Certificate program.
Regenerative New Beginnings in Guatemala
Today my work combines aspects of Chinese Medicine with Regenerative Psychology, Leadership Development, and Trauma Support, in programs that have been successful even for participants who were previously discouraged by decades of mainstream medicine and therapy.
I work remotely with clients while collaborating with our indigenous Mayan neighbors here on Lake Atitlán, Guatemala. We're currently working on regenerative lifestyle and leadership programs to bring cross-cultural learning experiences to you both online and at upcoming retreats.