Amanda Huffman, LCSW, MDiv, SEP

Important Update: I am migrating this page over to a new one. You can follow me at The Functional Psychotherapist. As my practice has evolved it felt like the right time to update the socials to reflect more of what is becoming. I look forward to seeing everyone on the new page!

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089064879477&mibextid=9R9pXO

Welcome to REAL Creating stories that transform lives

Sunday reading 🙌🏻. Stay tuned, I’m one week in to red light therapy with my EMR-tek Inferno. I’ll post my thoughts and experience after a few more weeks. Here’s a excerpt from the book:

“A 2009 study took 10 patients with a history of major depression and anxiety (including PTSD and drug abuse) and gave them 4 weeks of treatments to the forehead with red/NIR light. Remarkably, by the end of the four-week study, 6 of 10 patients experienced a remission of their depression, and 7 of 10 patients experienced a remission of their anxiety”

Exciting weekend learning more about the gut-brain axis and how to improve outcomes in my integrative psychotherapy practice with targeted probiotics and supplements.

Wanna learn more about Somatic Experiencing? It was highlighted recently in The NY Times. SE is one reason I love my career.

Want to Fix Your Mind? Let Your Body Talk. Somatic therapy is surging, with the promise that true healing may reside in focusing on the physical rather than the mental.

It’s such a sad time in the bluegrass state after a gunman opened fire in a Louisville bank. I want to drive home the fact that the shooter was known as “Mr Concussion” from repeated head traumas from sports. It’s imperative that mental health practitioners know how to treat these issues. THIS is why Dave Berger’s training on concussions and PTSD is so important. It’s also the only training I’m aware of that address concussions and mental health directly.

Gut health and it’s impact on our physical and mental well-being has become a passion of mine. I hope this information helps someone out there 💛

"In general, we have to stop compartmentalizing our body and our brain…we're one system. And we really need a whole-body approach to our mental health." - Amanda Huffman, LCSW

Amanda Huffman, a psychotherapist, NARM Therapist, and nutrition health coach, shares her research on the microbiome and how she believes that this evolving field can help support the treatment of developmental trauma. Her passion includes integrating nutrition and gut health into her practice to broaden our view of physical and mental well-being. Amanda also owns Sugar Creek Farm, a new organic farm and somatic healing retreat, where she hopes people can experience whole-body support to reclaim their mental and physical health.

We invite you to listen to the full episode and follow Transforming Trauma in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. https://narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma/episode-098

For anyone dealing with chronic pain and near Indiana… I highly recommend Allie and her work 💛

Is it okay to be angry? Is it okay to be sad? Is it okay to be really excited?

Do you allow yourself to feel your feelings? Maybe some but not others? If so, do you know why? I'm sure there's a good reason... Perhaps there's a voice that says you shouldn't, that it means you're immature. Or maybe you don't feel like you have time to feel feelings, that there are more productive things that need done. Or, (this is often true of grief/sadness) maybe you are afraid that once you start crying that you'll never be able to stop...that the pain is just so deep that all you can do to get through life is stuff it down and keep moving. All of these things are legit reasons to not feel... We do what we do (such as not feel our feelings) for very good reasons...

And yet, maybe you are at the point where you're ready for things to be different, as far as how you handle or process things. Did you know that it is not uncommon for those with suppressed or avoided emotions to experience chronic tension and/or chronic pain? This is not random; there is an explanation for how and why our unfelt feelings get stored and stuck in the body. This has been my line of study, my "research project" if you will, for years. I am a Licensed Massage Therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and what I do is work with people on uncovering how their unprocessed emotional experiences are showing up in the form of long-held tension in the body or chronic pain, either in one place or all over. Ongoing issues such as stomach aches, tense neck and shoulders that won't let go, back pain, muscle spasms, TMJ pain, heaviness in the chest, etc. are common symptoms of not allowing ourselves to feel "big" feelings. So while there are good reasons why we sometimes don't let ourselves feel our feelings, occasionally we reach a tipping point where our suffering becomes too intense, and something has to change.

If you find yourself in such a position, I want you to know that there are options! There are really useful things we can do to help. The mission of Studio A Body Therapy is to provide a safe space for exploring what's standing in the way of you moving forward, out of chronic pain, including thwarted emotional processes or self-protective impulses that arose out of a fight/flight situation. We aim to make this important work accessible to all, with group programs and individual appointments that are available in the evenings and weekends, and a sliding scale to accommodate those without enough income to pay full price.

While our calendar for individual appointments is full right now and we're not able to take on new one-on-one clients at the moment, we do offer a small group program that opens up a new round on March 31 called Feel to Heal Program for Chronic Pain. If you resonate with what I wrote above, or with what you see on our website, I encourage you to sign up for this 8-week group program that meets on Friday nights from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. In it, we get to deep dive into the neuroscience of emotions and of pain, learn gentle myofascial release techniques to release tension and pain, gain tools to reduce stress and deal with emotions in real-time instead of storing or stuffing them, understand the mechanisms of fight/flight and freeze survival states and how those interplay with our emotions and with muscular tension, and also glean strategies for reducing overwhelm.

The Feel to Heal Program offers a fresh and unique perspective to the problem of chronic pain and/or chronic discomfort around feeling your feelings. All from a trauma-informed and holistic perspective, in a small group format. I hope you will join us!

Cost is $230, with an early bird rate of $207 until 2/24/23. (See website for coupon code.) That is about $25 per 90-minute class, where you are guaranteed to learn a lot, meet others facing similar situations, and gain new strategies.

Read more and sign up at studioAbody.com/feel-to-heal I hope to see you there. 😊

EARY EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT EBDS TOMORROW!!!! Register by Feb 1st to get $105 off. This is 3 day course on PTSD & Concussions. Learn more about the brain, the impact of concussions on mental health, and how to distinguish between PTSD and Post Concussive Syndrome. This is a hands-on training for anyone looking to refine their touch skills!

If you struggle with IBS or gut issues, depression, anxiety, ADD, brain fog, fatigue, joint pain or catch every cold going around you most likely need to improve your gut health. Preventing gut dysbiosis and maintaining gut health is a proactive way to protect against significant illnesses like dementia, cancer, and Parkinson's...

Here is one way to start:
Supplement with collagen powder, sip on bone broth, and make homemade applesauce with pectin. Visit my website to find links to the products we love and short informational videos on why gut health is paramount.

https://amandajhuffman.com/root-cause-healing/gut-health-the-microbiome/

https://ypsi.de/homemade-high-pectin-apple-sauce-for-a-leaky-gut/

Homemade High Pectin Apple Sauce for a Leaky Gut – YPSI.de 20 Sep 20 Sep Homemade High Pectin Apple Sauce for a Leaky Gut Posted under: English Articles An apple a day, keeps the doctor away. An old saying that everyone heard before. A statement that is often based on the vitamin and micronutrients content of the apple. Yet there is actually much more to an...

Over the last year my practice shifted to a Functional Psychotherapy model, integrating functional med and gut testing with targeting diet and supplementation recommendations. This documentary recently aired and is a great place to begin learning about the microbiome. It’s worth the $5 rental fee! Bacterial therapy will be the new frontier in medicine.

https://www.theinvisibleextinction.com/?fbclid=IwAR1KnxUbYZ1RxrVZQ0MUU44_vQOvqUpmjicGVDn3Clk3EE5bjZemQhJ0oms&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

The Invisible Extinction Two globetrotting microbiologists race to stop the destruction of our microbiome – the tiny “bugs” in our bodies that keep us healthy, while a diverse group of patients experiment with innovative microbe treatments to save their lives.

Friends, Dave Berger's Concussions & PTSD workshop is coming to Lexington, Kentucky in June! If you are a therapist, bodyworker, physical therapist or trauma professional, it’s a really neat training to attend. You do not need to be a SEP or have prior BASE training. Sign up before the end of day February 1st to receive the early, early bird discount of $105. Lexington is in the heart of the bluegrass region and absolutely beautiful this time of year! Message me for more info or visit: https://amandajhuffman.com/concussion-ptsd/

What It Really Means to Be Authentic In the end, there's only one answer.

Such a wise man 💛

The Anatomy of Wholeness “The word health originates in a word for wholeness,” says renowned physician, author, and speaker Dr. Gabor Maté. “Whether one looks at it from a medical or spiritual point of…

Take your curcumin and turmeric!

Curcumin appears to play a role in helping to block every stage of cancer transformation, proliferation, and invasion. It may help before carcinogens even get to our cells! Watch the video “Carcinogen-Blocking Effects of Turmeric” at http://bit.ly/1hjC69k to learn more.

Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen suggests consuming at least 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric per day. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3axjw2x

For those of you thinking about Ketamine...

How Ketamine Acts as ‘Switch’ in the Brain - Neuroscience News Ketamine alters neural activity in the cerebral cortex, silencing normally active neurons and activating neurons that are normally inactive. The ketamine activity-induced "switch" in brain regions associated with depression may help explain its treatment effects.

Gut Microbes Influence Binge-Eating of Sweet Treats - Neuroscience News The absence of certain gut bacteria causes mice to binge eat sweet, palatable foods. When the bacteria is restored, the desire to binge on sweetened foods decreases, and normal feeding patterns are resumed.

A full night's rest isn't a luxury, it's a necessity for optimal health.

In order to get the best sleep possible, when's your optimal bedtime?

Coming to Kentucky!!! Therapist, bodyworker, physical therapist friends- check out this training. plus it’s in a beautiful venue within walking distance to everything you need.

Register at www.amandajhuffman/concussion-ptsd/

Staying with, being with, not doing .. one of the hardest things clients come to in therapy