Interview with Ms. Amanda Kemp (black text), soul-centered life coach. Conducted by Sophia Peng (pink text), Public Relations Director.

Hi. Welcome to the first episode of our informal podcast for the Institute of Integrative Health Specialists. My name is Sophia and I'm your host and also the Public Relations Director at IoIHS. And today I'm here with Miss Amanda Kemp, who is a soul-centered life coach, and she's been with IoIHS for, oh, how many months now?

It's almost upon a year or so.

Yeah, almost a year. And she's super, super awesome. And today she's going to be talking to us about her coaching program, GREATER, and also why coaching is a super helpful and exciting part of her practice. So I did introduce you a little bit, but I'm going to give you the opportunity to say a little bit more. Tell us a little bit more about yourself, Amanda.

Oh, well, I am Amanda, of course. I'm a life coach. I deal with NLP, which is neurologic logistics programming and hypnosis. I'm an astrologer, a Reiki practitioner and sound healer as well. I've been doing all these practices, I want to say intentionally, over the past four years. But I've naturally done everything all my life. And I've decided to go ahead and take a step and really serving and helping other people. So I decided to go full tilt in this direction. I worked for another company prior to this for about 15 years. And I did move around, but it was always like, what is it? And I naturally did it with the people that I work with. So it was only natural for me to go ahead and decide to go and be intentional with my moves.

That's so cool. What is coaching?

Coaching will go in the lines of therapy and counseling, except coaching has the tilt of helping you with a task and allowing for you to be held accountable, coming up with an actual strategic plan and how to get that done. So it's not necessarily like your therapy where you may go back in the past. It's more like, how do we move forward? And these are the steps to move forward. So anybody that's really trying to make a change, it is an area that you can go into that will allow for you to say, these are my goals. And this is kind of where I'm trying to go. And yes, some of the past sometimes come up. Yes, because those are some things that may hinder you. But your coach is always like, all right, let's go. And I always like to put it in the mind of being an athlete. Athletes, naturally, already have the talent that they need. They're in the sport, they're doing something, and they're being great, but they can't necessarily see on the outside what could be causing something else and not letting them go forward, or what allows them to be great.

And I always like to talk about Phil Jackson, when you think of like Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan, they had their coaches. Not to say that they were struggling athletes. They were great athletes, naturally, on their own, but their coach allowed for them to be even better because they had that outside view that someone that they can talk to and see additional things that they could do to be better, but they put the work in themselves. So it's kind of like coaching, that's what it really is. When you deal with it just on an everyday basis. It's like, I want to be even greater. And so it's like, I'm going to call on my advisor, hey, this is kind of what I'm thinking about. And then you can kind of have that soundboard. You can talk about the things that you want to do, as well as being able to actually create the steps to move forward, because sometimes you can't fully see it or you may not be looking at every area. So it's always good to have somebody that you can talk to to kind of help you move forward in those areas.

When should people come to you for coaching?

I think you should always have a coach on hand. I don't think there's a moment because I think especially when you're getting ready to gear up for a new stage in your life, say something as simple as a kid, a student, graduated from high school. This is a good time to probably talk to a coach, to make your decisions on where you want to go. No knock on counselors, no knock on them. But a coach is actually building. So it's like, you know, they ask when you want to do with your life. We're going to filter through that, but we're going to come up with some steps. I've helped plenty of high school students or even college students, and they're like, I kind of want to do this, but I'm not for sure. I'm all like, we got to come up with a plan. We got to make some moves. I help them remove those excuses because it is going to a new level. You're going from being in a state of almost a child to being an adult, and there's some processes that needs to happen. And then even as an adult, there's people that want to change their jobs, but they don't know how to go about doing it or stepping into a new field or deciding, I want to go ahead and, you know, do this additional thing in my life, create this hobby or do these things.

So coaching is kind of good for that. And even a person that goes to therapy, even if they want to go ahead and change what they're doing. So for me in particular, I have a big thing with innate energy. So for my coaching, I incorporate a lot of energy work to make sure that we're clearing some stuff to build new things within your life. So that's why I incorporate all the things that I do into my coaching. There's not probably other things. I can do it all a la carte, but I love the fact that I can incorporate it because it helped me. I was my first person, my first client, and I'm like, what? What do I need? And getting to coaching programs and dealing with other coaches. I have my own coach to make sure that I can talk to and get those things that I need to kind of move forward, because sometimes I do hit my own walls. I'm human. And I'm all like, I don't see you. I did everything that I was supposed to, and they're like, well, wait a second, let's reevaluate the things that you did, and let's kind of restructure the steps that you're doing to go forward. So I think anybody at any stage of wanting to get into something new or change something in their lives should always have a coach.

I feel like maybe you kind of answered this, that coaching is for everything and at all points and for anyone, of course. But I'm kind of curious because you draw this contrast between coaching and therapy. And obviously, of course, there's a lot of different overlaps and there's different types of coaching and different types of therapy. But in your practice, just because I know that you also have all of these sound healing or energy healing backgrounds as well, do you find yourself working with people in more of an emotional and mental capacity, or is it very action oriented? Like, here are the practices you should change in your life.

For me, I think I have a balance of both because I understand that you there are blockages that prevent you from going forward. So I'm like, let's address it. Let's get past that so we can move forward. Because I can't push you to move forward because it still will be lingering. But what I will say is I don't allow for it to last long. Like, let's not stay in this state, because the more we stay in this state, the more we accept it. So it can be here. We have to move forward. So let's talk about it. Let's do, you know, maybe a sound bath, to help. And then that allows for them to kind of go in because you know your best answers for yourself. You're just probably having a hard time of accepting what those answers are or the clarity to get to that answer. So usually when you get a chance to talk about it and then you go into a meditative state, you get some of those answers. But the great thing about coaching with me is when you get out of that state, I'm all like, okay, so let's talk about what came up. And then that usually points us in a very particular direction that we need to go in order to get past that. And then we can build steps on how do we deal with that, or how do we use the situations that we've been in to use it as a building block to go where we're going? Because I feel like everything that we've gone through is always molding us to get to where we're asking for. So even people that get triggered, or they find stuff that's obstacles or challenges, I give them the tools to be able to use those as building blocks to get to where they have to go.

Wow, that is so cool. And yeah, I've never I've never heard. Not that I mean, I know you, but I've never like, really heard kind of that whole process and I, wow, that's so cool. What is GREATER?

GREATER is a lifestyle program. Granted, I'm a coach, but it's a lifestyle program and we get programmed all the time. So like, NLP is neurological logistics programming, which you learn how you have programmed yourself. We watch TV and that's programming, right? As they call it.

Everything is a program that programs you to be a particular type of way, right? So I said, this is a lifestyle program because you're deciding to take the red pill or blue pill, right? And so with GREATER it gives people the tools to cultivate their genuine selves and build upon their personal beliefs. It's allowing for you to be okay with who you are and how you believe and actually go off of that. I believe that we are here having a spirit, having a human experience, and I always say we are here to experiment the experience and try certain things. So with GREATER, GREATER stands for Guide, Reflect, Energy, Awareness, Truth, Evolve and Remembering you. So you go through each step. So the Guide part allows for you to say, what do I believe in? What do I honestly believe? What is my inner self tells me that we believe in? And do I act on it? If you don't act on it, we need to make that align so it can give you more power to move forward. The Reflection part is, let's look at—because I also believe that people are a reflection of you. So when you start getting in certain areas and you start seeing like, oh man, I'm around these people, they do some really great stuff. Well guess what, you're probably on your way doing some great stuff too, because you're calling those things in and allowing for it to be attracted.

So you can see your reflection. If you see people around you that kind of irritate you or you get all these situations where it's trying to teach you something so you can build upon it, but how you tend to reflect, donate and receive. It allows for you to go ahead and use it or not. And then you have your Energy. Like I said, I'm an energy person, so sometimes some stuff is not said and you may write off something that happened when you were a child, but it affects you as an adult, but you keep writing it off, although you're like, why does it keep happening? And in that moment from when you was a kid crossing the street and this dog barked at you, and then life changed, but you think it's insignificant, but it still plays a role. And with energy, healing allows for you not to always have to say stuff, but still be able to clear those things out, to kind of get past those things. And even with hypnosis and stuff, that's an energy type of thing, because that's a meditative state that you get in and then you can make stuff stop, especially if it's a movie that keeps playing in your mind.

I can be like, can you stop that movie? Can you make it smaller? Can you make it bigger? So those are some things with hypnosis. And then Awareness. Once you are aware of something, you can actually make a change. If you're unaware of it. You can't do anything about it because you have no idea what's causing it. So that's why the awareness part and then the truth. So you have gained your guidance. You know how you're being guided in this world regardless of what it is. It could be a combination of different backgrounds, of different cultures, of their beliefs. But you have found this. What works for you to put in practice? You've got your reflection now. You have your energy work because you're working on your energetic health, because what you suppress tends to come out physically in some way. So if I work on that energy, then I can kind of get more of what I'm wanting. Um, now I'm aware. So now I can stand on my Truth. Now I know what this is. And then it gives me the E, the next E, right? Evolve. I can evolve because now I know my truth, my awareness, my guidance. I got all this. Which leads me to my ah! I can remember who I am and I can actually stand on that and work with that.

Wow. That is. I love it because it's so comprehensive and that like these are clear steps, but they're also not steps that are necessarily focused on being so clear or that you know through it that you're supposed to have this perfect narrative or something. I was going to ask a little bit more, actually, about the first letter E that you brought up energy and what you said about how, with energy healing, you can get through some of these emotional baggages without needing words. Can you talk a bit more about that? Because I feel like in therapy it's all about words.

Yeah, because some stuff you don't want to talk about or hurt so much that you really can't say anything about. And I feel like the more that you allow for yourself to be in energetic moments, and even stuff like yoga to move, to stretch, to allow for the energy to find its way out. So, emotion is energy in motion. So anytime you stop the emotion, then you won't allow for the energy to proceed. So it has to find a way out. So when you are doing energy work, it's finding its way out. So what was held on to something that was bothering you? It started to find its way out. And I remember I was in, I heard this story one time and they was talking about how ducks release energy, and they talked about how these two ducks got into a fight and they were real big. They got, you know, blah, blah, blah at each other. And then they swam away from each other. But as they swam away from each other, they got really big and shook and almost as if they took that energy or that moment and shook it off them. And then they went back to just the ducks swimming like it never happened. So when you take that and you think about your energy period, it's like, how much have you let go. Are you still holding on to it that it's bothering you and you don't even know why it's bothering you.

That's why I was like it shows up. That dog that when he was a kid, when he was crossing the street and it barked at you, there's something your mom yelled at you and you were really trying to figure something out, and you think it's insignificant, but a part of you never got a chance to release that. So when you do energy work and you're in a meditative state, you may even go back to being a child. I've been with people and I've done Reiki, and I've picked up them being a child, lonely somewhere. That came up for me. Can you tell me more about it? And they're like, yes, this happened and da da da da da. And now they rambled it off. And then by the end of the session, they're like, I feel so good. I'm glad I got that out. And I'm like, well, good. Do you feel the same way about it? I was like, well, no, not really, because the energy found its way out. The emotion escaped, the emotion was released, it let go. So then now it's like, okay, well, what can you do with it? Now that you know that that's happening, you no longer feel that way? Well, you know what? Now I know why I have issue with dogs.

I can also say, you know, I can forgive my mom for that moment. And you know what? Granted, I was outside maybe singing and dancing. And now, now, as an adult, I don't do it because that moment happened once I released that energy, maybe I found my voice again. I feel like singing and dancing again, because now it's not such a burden. Because it was trapped, hidden energy in me this whole time. But I probably would have never gotten there had I not had this moment to be in a meditative state of any kind, to be able to view it along with having somebody to talk to. That's the part that I have to also say, because people we get into these situations and meditative states, but sometimes they come up and then you be like, okay, it was there and it's important. That's why when I do my coaching, it's important. I'm all like, let's talk about it. Let's get on it right now so we can continue to allow for it to flow out, because it may have not came up had you not gotten the chance to be there, and then given the space to talk about it without judgment, in a very safe environment of just let it out, I just no judgment here. I want you to get it out. Not much shocks me when people tells me certain things. I'm all like, okay.

Yeah I was gonna mention if you hadn't brought up and emphasized as well, the importance of having that debrief afterwards because, not to throwshade on all of these other ways of practicing or, you know, because, mindfulness and self-care now are really big buzzwords, and people obviously have the right to practice them however they choose to. But I think part of it is I feel like if I come out of doing pilates for an hour or trying to meditate or something, like, maybe I did reach a lot of conclusions or think about a lot of things. But it's hard to know what to do with that information. And so I really like that. In your practice, you have the capacity to work with people in more nonverbal forms, such as through a sound bath or through an energy healing session. But at the same time, that coaching element is also a really strong throughline. Can you also tell people who aren't familiar with it what sound baths are?

Okay, so sound baths are an ancient practice. And they did it way back in the day. Pyramids, healing chambers. Because we are vibrating people, we vibrate. I know we look solid, but all of us are atoms. Our molecules are constantly vibrating to create this structure. And so you take sound healing and you use either Tibetan bowls, which are metal form bowls that create different sounds. And then you take or you have clear quartz crystal balls or they have glass bowls, but they all produce a particular sound usually geared towards the chakras. You have about a hundred or so chakras, but there's seven main ones which you have is your crown, your third eye, your throat chakra, your heart chakra, sacral. Sorry, I skipped solar plexus, then sacral, then root chakra. So those are your major chakras, and then the rest of them are kind of like minor. But you have the sound bowls that correlate with those sounds. And to help clear them out, you get them played in different things and allow for them to release what needs to be released that could be blocking. Again, that energy, emotion, the emotions that may have come up and suppressed it.

And so you have those. And for me, not everyone, but most soundbaths consist of just the bowls. The metal bowls definitely can be placed on you. And played, and then like I said, they have a bunch of different versions of it. But other people like myself not only use the sound bowls because I use the clear quartz. But not only the sound bowls, but I have chimes, rainsticks, ocean drums. So there's a bunch of different sounds and your body correlates and listen to certain different sounds. I know, like when I first get my first sound bath, I could not stop moving. It was weird, but it was like almost like I can feel the music kind of go through me. And I think that's why music is so important too, because depending on what kind of music you are listening to, it actually aids into how you end up feeling. So that's why you kind of got to be careful on the type of music, especially when words are put with the music. That's—those sounds create something and your body records it and creates something. So when you have a sound bath, it records or it allows for you to release and relate, relax.

It makes so much sense because that's why people, if you're going to go to the gym, you listen to pump up music or if you're, going through heartbreak, you listen to songs you can scream to and all of that. Yeah.

That's why you can't listen to those too often. Because in that state, if you want to get over it, you have to start gradually changing your music to something more upbeat. [00:20:51] Sophia You know. That's so true.

You stay in the heartbreak and don't even be like, it's been two years. But I still listen to my song. No.

Yeah, I should be better about that. But that is so true. I know astrology is also part of your practice. Could you talk more about that?

Oh, yes. That shows up in both Guide and both in Energy. Because energy is never created or destroyed, right? So technically, our bodies are energetic. Cells have been here for billions and billions and years. But when you go to astrology, it says at this moment, though, when you decided to enter to that vessel, this is the energy that was put into this vessel at this particular time, which is the human body. So we are all the signs and all of the planets. It just shows up differently depending on where it shows up in our houses when it comes to astrology. And I love to use it because it allows for people to kind of see themselves clearly. And again, it gives this awareness or clarity and a sense of. I can look at someone's chart, I'm going to take myself, for instance. I looked at it and me, what I'm doing now fits what I have in my third house. And the third house has to do with communication. That's one of many things that it represents. But in my third house I have Libra which is my Sun there. That means I'm going a Libra Sun. I also have my Mercury and my Pluto there. So Mercury has to do with also communication and connecting with people. Pluto has something to do with uncovering and transformation. So they are all conjunct, meaning they are close together in planets. And that tells me that I'm a deep thinker.

I like to figure out things that are close to me and help transform me. Learning helps me transform, but in return, because in the third house, they have to do with my neighborhood and my immediate community. So that's why it's important for me to help my community. But that's the type of things. But I used to always question, I felt like, what do I do with my life? That's why I didn't intentionally go here right away. Right? I was trying all these other positions, but I was naturally constantly helping people by talking to them. Communication. Third house. Right. Mercury communication. And I was avoiding and thinking like, oh no, you know, I like doing that. But when I looked at when I finally got a chance to look at my natal chart, I'm like, whoa, that is me. That is why I like doing it. And no wonder why I like to think so deep, because that Pluto is there. So it's like that having an astrology reading. And that's why I bring it up in coaching. And that's one of the first things that we go to, because it kind of bring that clarity, the stuff that could have been in the back of your mind. I can be like, oh no, that's why that's there. That's been there the whole time. You could go after it. I remember, and I'm gonna give this last example, but I was a substitute teacher and I was substituting in school detention. And the students at the time, because it was more closer to the end of the year, they didn't have much or anything to do. So I asked them. I said, if no one stopped you in doing anything in life, what would you do? Can you give me? Just write me, even if it's just a paragraph, whole paper, just write me something. And so the kids wrote it down. One young lady, I was like, whoa. Like she told me some things that I was all like, I didn't see that coming. So I asked her. I said, it's okay if I look at your natal chart, I would love to see something. And when we went through it, it paralleled what she had wrote. Oh, and why her? The things that she had went through in life was shaping her to do what she said she wanted to do. And so then all the kids in the class was like, can you do me next? And so I went by one by one and I was like, hold it, Miss Kemp. Like, how do you know? Like, that's crazy. How would you know that? And I'm all like, no, but just go after life sometimes confuses us on what we need to do with our lives. When we had I already knew what we needed to do with our lives.

Now we're second guessing it and putting it on a back burner, because outside of us has told us we need to do something different. When before we got here, we already knew what we kind of wanted to do. I mean, even one of young men who, they was like, the biggest person that had the biggest issue. Come to find out, he was a cancer sun. Cancer moon. Yeah. And it was like, oh, he's super sensitive. So he doesn't know how to deal with his emotions. No wonder why he's in his class because he just acts out. Because people really bother him in ways that he can't describe. And people probably be like instead of being, you know, like a whiny person, you think it's coming out more explosive and disruptive, but he needs someone to teach him that. If so, if, like his parents knew that this is what causes him to be a little bit more sensitive and act the way that he does, he can actually get help. Or you can guide him differently so he can better manage his emotions. So then he can be a better, uh, um, he can add to society a little bit differently than what he was. But that's what astrology does, right? It allows you to kind of see yourself and the energy that is put into you, so you can know how to handle that and deal with yourself a little bit better.

Yeah, that's really cool. Can I ask a question because I'm curious, just because especially like a lot of the social media now, like astrology is getting kind of big on TikTok or things like that, and I think there's a lot of conversations around people being like, oh, is it real? Is it not real? And I think people are entitled to have whatever relationship they want to have with their own astrology charts and everything, but because it means so much to you, I want to know, how do you respond to people, especially in your practice, who don't believe in astrology. What does that mean? What does that look like?

I laugh so hard when you said social media because I was like, yes.

I mean, that's where it is.

And I always laugh because it's only a snapshot of one piece of your life. So it depends like if when you look at it you'll see. That's why I started off with like saying we are all the signs and all the planets. There's not one part of astrology that one person is not. And that's what makes us almost gods, because it's like all the energy put in one space in one person and that's us. So when I deal with people, when they first do it, I'm like, just give me your information. Let's look at it real quick and let's see. And then when I start going through it, they're like, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, why do you know that stuff? I'm like, it's right here. It's not fortunetelling at all because there's so many ways that it can play itself out. That's just what I'm seeing, because you can go to a different astrologer and they can pick up other stuff, which I guarantee. I'm like, always get different perspective. That's just what I see. Somebody else can see something different looking at your chart. But I will say, when it comes to even social media is again, we are all the signs and all the planets. That's why some people can feel disconnected to their sun sign. He'd be like, I'm not really that. Well. Certain planets, there's so much that goes into it. That's the best way I can say is have a chart read for you, have your chart read for you so you can better understand. But we are all of it. So it's very one sided on social media, right, when they talk about it.

Because again, most people only know their sun sign, right? When you talk to somebody that deals with astrology, you will hear them say, rising sign, which is how you appear to the world, how you first come off, how people may perceive you in the world and even your physical features is related to your ascendant sign. Um, and that's when the sun started to come over the horizon at the time that you were born. Your sun sign is your soul's purpose, your ego, what you want to do, your vitality in life. And then your moon sign is your subconscious, your feelings. When you're laid back, that's what comes out. It's more connected to your feminine side. And we are both masculine and feminine in one, but nonetheless, it—so you have your ego and then you have your feminine side. But nonetheless, when you look at that combination of things, then you can kind of explain why you feel this way over the other way, and then it goes even deeper of like, is it supported in that house or in that sign? That's why your sun sign may be weak because it's in a position where it is weak. And then that's why the moon sign may come out even stronger because it may be in a position where it's stronger and it is an exalted. So you look at all those different things of astrology, it's so much deeper than what people even know because it comes from ancient times.

And I remember I was in class one time and I was like, well, how did they come up with astrology? For one, let's be real here. They didn't have TVs and different things back then. So of course people would lay back and watch the stars, and then after a while you would record what was going on, right? Like, okay, when the stars is in this position at this time of year, I tend to see these people act like this. So those are thousands of thousands of gathering, of observation of what's happening. So above, so below. They were taking those things and putting it what was happening right now. So when you see astrology, that's why it's so accurate. Because it's literally just observation of what's happening above. And then I'm paying attention to what's happening below. I guarantee you next full moon, pay attention to how people are. I bet you people are very emotional. People do things very erratically. Things just seem like what's happening because the energy is much, much stronger because the moon is full. Pay attention to it. So it's like that. That's what I would tell people like, pay attention to what's happening right now. When Mercury Retrograde is in play, granted people get nervous. It means a lot of different things. Retrograde definitely means introspect. Look inside. But nonetheless, when you have Mercury retrograde, yes, people will be late to work. All of a sudden traffic seems more hectic, communication with other people starts to come into play. All those things. So when you hear these things and all the planets going retrograde, by the way.

People need to know that, yep, it's not just Mercury, everybody.

It's not just Mercury, all of them. How quickly they get there is different. Like you don't want a Pluto going retrograde, because that's going to stay there for some years until it moves out of that sign, which is a whole 'nother thing. And then that affects the world as a whole, not just you as an individual. But again, that's why I said astrology goes so, so much deeper. And when you actually dig through it, you will actually, especially on a personal level, you will start to see how much it plays out really in your life.

I love that answer so so much because I think it's so easy in a day and age where, you know, everything is at our fingertips, right? With all of the technology and the ways that we live life, like through a screen, to forget that the universe is so big and that there is so much that people that came before us and also just places so, so much further away that we don't even know about, influence, the ways that we live our lives. And I think it speaks a lot to you as a practitioner, or like a healer, that you work with people at the face to face, at the very, you know, like "personal" and "what's going on" and "tell me exactly what's happening here and now." But you're also really interested in people's energy and their nonverbal cues and then also their connection to a universe that's so much greater than them. Not to say that there's any sort of perfect combination of how people heal. But it really sounds like if people come to you as a healer, they're in for a really open experience, one that tries to take into account any possible ways that people might be reacting and not just put them in a box. So that sounds really, really beautiful.

Thank you, thank you. I do want to share.

Yes.

Because I forget I used to—I want to say this about astrology. My two favorite quotes, one quote came from Einstein, who said, if your physician doesn't know astrology, get a new one.Because there is, depending on what's going on in the sky, there may be good times and bad times to do certain things. And then JP Morgan said the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire is that the billionaire uses astrology. Well, I wanted to say those two quotes. Yeah.

I feel like it'd be so cool. And this can be for a later date or another project to dive into. Kind of like the history of astrology. And who used it for what? I feel like that'd be so exciting. So I've gone ahead and done a little bit of this, but how would you describe your healing philosophy?

Oh that's a good one. How would I describe my healing. Um, I would describe it as, I guess I take an energetic approach. Like everything starts with energy and approaching it. I think curiosity does not kill the cat, but it definitely builds steps.

Because like I said when it comes to like even a reflection piece, it's like when you start paying attention to what's happening around you and the people that you're coming across and the things that you're saying about yourself, you start to see how much powerful that you are. So it gives you a chance to heal a little bit better.

Yeah. And it kind of it's informational input that isn't just kind of you in your head and being confused about what's going on with yourself...Exactly what is it and instead of saying, why is this happening to me? It's like, why is it happening for me?

Oh my gosh.

Yeah. Why is it happening for me? I think that's that's it. Because I can attest I mean personally, right. I'm human right along with everybody. And I go through my own stuff. And when I go back and I look at the things that occurred in my life, whether it was, you know, my spouse or my kids, it was like they was always showing me something. And I mean. Think about dating, right? I'm getting into the dating round. I realize. The people that I was attracting. And I was like, why? Why am I getting these people? But then I started paying attention to the conversations that were coming up and the stuff that how I felt. Feeling myself energetically like this makes me uncomfortable while I'm accepting it. Why didn't I say anything? I don't owe anybody anything. So then I cut that off, I stepped back, and I worked on how can I strengthen certain things that I was allowing. So then when I step back into it, I didn't, and I saw a different reflection. But then I noticed there were still things I can tweak, step back out. Worked on that. And then I stepped back in. I was like, ooh, look at the people that I'm attracting. That's a reflection of me. I've been doing the work. So yes, making sure that you feel energetically you paying attention and being curious about your energy. Where is it going and what is it trying to tell you? Because it always works out in your favor. It's never against you. It's always for you.

Can I ask a cheap question? Because you work with energy, are you any good at like reading people's energy? Like, have you seen those—oh this is going to sound just like exactly the type of question that a 21 year old college student would be asking—but, there's like videos on YouTube that it's like how to tell if someone has a crush on you or like all of those things about energy reading or how to read people. Do you believe in any of that stuff or do you have tips for how to read people?

Trust your intuition. Because we are all like if you get into the clairvoyant, it is a very popular one. But if you pay attention to your intuition, it usually tells you. Because if you think about it, and my sister is the one who said it to me, and I love it, and she was like, you've never heard anybody say, I shouldn't have went with my first mind. You never heard anybody say that, but you always hear, I should have went with my first mind, which is typically your intuition. Who told you this is what this is what could come from it. So typically, if you feel like somebody was like, hey, I'm interested. And then all of a sudden something comes to you be like, hey, you should sit next to them. And then most people are like, no, no, I won't, I won't. They're not feeling me like that. Could you imagine if you did? There's been so many moments when I was like, imma just do it. My spirit just seems like, go for it. And even though it seems crazy, I would sit next to the person and then all of a sudden something would come out of it, right? But that was because I trust my intuition. So the best thing I would say is trust your intuition. You actually know you just are having a hard time. You were in a relationship with yourself, an untrusting relationship with yourself. And I think that's too where I try to allow for people to do is to build that self trust back with themselves.

Because it knows it's just sometimes you have a hard time believing it, especially when it's telling you to do weird stuff, as in just randomly sitting next to this or sit here and then I mean, that's why sometimes people like, well, some reason I decided to sit across the room instead of my usual spot, but I'm glad that I did, because the ceiling had failed over there. Trust your intuition, right? But had they been like, no, I ain't go sit over there, because then they would have had the story like, yeah, I should have sat on the other side, like I first started to. Instead I sat back in my normal seat and then this happened. So it's stuff like that. So I would tell you to trust your intuition.

Solid advice. Okay, everyone listening, do that. Trust your intuition. Okay. And I've got one last question for you. This has been so, so lovely. Tell us a bit more about what your practice at the Institute of Integrative Health Specialists look like. Right. Like, how can people find you?

Well, you mean like, on social media or just what I do at the Institute?

Let's start with what you do. And then plug your socials at the end, by all means.

Well, at the Institute, I wear many hats. But when it comes to being a practitioner, I do all my services a la carte and all together. So I do sound baths, I do astrology readings, I do Reiki, and I do the life coaching, which I don't like necessarily like saying life coaching. I like life advisor. Somewhere on those lines, but those are all the services that I offer. When it comes to astrology, it can be one-on-one readings typically about yourself. It could be synergy, which is you looking at your chart with somebody else, whether it's like your child, your mate, you get a chance to see what type of energy that you are putting into each other or what lessons you're there for each other for. And then I do book beyond. So like when you first have your child, just a better understanding again, there's so many possibilities of how energy can go. But at this particular time, I can kind of tell you better how to navigate with your child through that type of natal chart. But it has to be after your child is born, because I need to date in time in order to do it.

Have people come to you before their child has been born?

Yeah, yeah. And I'm all like, I can't do it. Because it's speculation at this moment, right?

And funny thing is, you can actually do that with starting a business. You can do a natal chart for starting a business, because as you're giving birth to something, or an event, you can do an astrology chart and everything for that because it's a date and time that you want to do. And then I go, and my whole mind goes into, there's planetary days, times it can, like I said, it can go deeper when it comes to astrology. But nonetheless, I can do all of those things for you. And then when it comes to sound baths, I do sound baths, whether it's in a group or I can also do it individually. On the second Sunday of every month, I do a Vibrant Vibes. And that's when we get a chance to vibe out, right? Like we do some journaling. We do some breath work, meditation, a sound bath, and then back to some more journaling because I think it's important. So you can kind of do your self check, like how you first started off when we came in and I gave you a topic and be like, write about it. And then by the end of everything, you can see how your intuition spoke to you, because then I give you that chance to go ahead and journal again right after the sound bath. Right. And then after all that, then we follow up, we talk about the things that may have came up, and then we help each other and we talk about different things. And then that is it for the Vibrant Vibes. And then with the coaching, it's with NLP hypnosis. So again, I'm just learning how your brain works and helping you out and figuring out how can we reprogram what's going on to make it benefit you a little bit better.

That's awesome.

I always say go for the program, the GREATER program, because it embodies everything, anything that I do all in one. And it's a three month and a six month program. Um, if you do three months, it's giving you the basis of how to do it. And if you choose to go to the six month, it incorporates the basics, but it also allows for you to make it practical within your life.

Got it. That sounds awesome.

So you can actually make it a part of who you are, right? Right. It's like checking in and then you get to actually put it into practice and then check in again.

That's awesome. Okay. Well, that was our interview with Miss Amanda Kemp, our soul centered life coach at the Institute of Integrative Health Specialists. We love her. And so I'm just going to do a quick outro. So, yeah, if you're interested in any appointments with IoIHS, our office number is (832) 363-5588. And you can find us on our website, integrativespecialist.com or call to schedule an appointment. And Amanda do you want to do a quick plug for your own socials.

Oh sure. The best way I would just say, Facebook, is just my name, Amanda Kemp. And then with Instagram, it's awaken.your.divine.power.

Beautiful. Okay. Thank you so much