Learning to Manage Stress with Amy Mercree – Episode

Empowering you Organically – Season 9 – Episode 72  

Title: Learning to Manage Stress with Amy Mercree

Hosts: Jonathan Hunsaker, TeriAnn Trevenen

Guest: Amy Leigh Mercree

Description:  Did you know individuals under constant stress have a 50% higher mortality rate? Stress proves to be one of the most significant issues among the population. In the case of stress in America, the statistics show frightening results. Stress-related illnesses include depression, anxiety, acne, high blood pressure, constipation, insomnia, and so on. Tune in today as we hear from Amy Leigh Mercree. She offers us great tips to help keep our stress levels manageable. To better health and less stress!

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About Amy

Amy is a bestselling author, holistic health expert, and medical intuitive. Amy teaches internationally, sharing Next-Level Healing, Meet Your Guides, Mindfulness Meditation, and bestseller Boot Camp Classes.

Amy is the author of The Spiritual Girls Guide To Dating, A Little Bit of Chakras, Joyful Living, 101 Ways To Transform Your Spirit And Revitalize Your Life, The Chakras And Crystals Cookbook, The Compassion Revolution: 30 Days Of Living From The Heart, A Little Bit Of Meditation, Essential Oils Handbook, Apple Cider Vinegar Handbook, A Little Bit Of Mindfulness, The Mood Book, Crystals, Oils, And Rituals To Elevate Your Spirit, and her latest book, A Little Bit of Goddess: An Introduction To The Divine Feminine.

Amy has been featured in Glamour Magazine, Women’s Health Inc. Magazine, Shape, The Huffington Post, Thrive Global, Your Tango, Soul And Spirit Magazine, Mind, Body, Green, CVS, NBS, Hello Giggles, Reader’s Digest, The Oprah Magazine, Forbes, CBS, First For Women, Country Living, Fox, Bustle, and many more.

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Amy’s History

“I have been a medical intuitive since I was 23, so it’s been 19 years. So, that’s how it all started was working with clients on their holistic health questions. So, as a holistic health expert and medical intuitive, I started to write books based upon the questions my clients had. So, it started with dating, because everyone wanted to know about their love lives, but then it really progressed to all these meditation topics, and health topics, because those are the things that I am passionate about, and I teach meditation and things like that. So, it was really fun to just keep bringing everything together, and now, here we are much later, with all those books for you to read.”

Amy’s Favorite Things to Talk About

• I love talking about the divine feminine, because I think it’s really timely and helpful as far as social change.
• I do love talking about health in general, and essential oils and plants, and the ways that we can create recipes and combine those.

Amy’s Best Tips for Turning Worry into Peace and Improving Our Overall Mood

• Having a news fast every week – spending at least a few days just staying off of anything that’s going to give you news, and as an extension of that, really limiting screen time, because I think that’s one of the chief things that does eat away at people’s sense of peace and makes people really anxious.
  • How often are we on social media? Be mindful of what you consume!

Rituals for More Restful Sleep

1. Getting off screens at least an hour, if not more, before bed. The hour before sleep is the time for minimal to no electronics. It’s a time to read a book or draw or something relaxing.
2. You can make some really easy essential oil sprays, linen sprays. You can use spring water and essential oils that are clean and pure. You can throw some essential oils in a bottle with some spring water, spritz your bed, spritz your linens, lightly spritz your lampshade, not on the bulb.
   1. Lavender
   2. Vetiver
   3. Roman chamomile
3. You can do the legs up the wall yoga pose.
   1. You can do that right in bed if your bed’s like up against a wall or you have a headboard. here’s the wall, and then you’re sitting next to the wall.
   2. And then, you stretch your legs out. You’re sitting straight up in a V.
   3. You turn your body and flip your legs up, so your legs are up the wall. You can push your backside as close in as you can to the headboard. If you can get it all the way, that’s great. Some people feel more comfortable if they have a couple inches.
   4. And then, you just put your arms out in whatever position’s comfortable, palms up.
   5. Perhaps you’ve had your spray. You can spritz your linen spray, since it’s therapeutic grade oils, over your own head, or kind of over your body.
   6. And just take a few minutes and close your eyes and relax.
   7. So then, after you’ve done that for 5-20 minutes, whatever’s comfortable, even if you fall asleep like that it’s fine, you bend your knees, bring them down the wall.
   8. If you want, you can sit in a butterfly pose, open your knees for a bit, then roll to your right side, stretch out your legs and come out of it.
   9. Then, you can go to sleep.

How do you recommend people use oils to soothe anxiety?

• If you’re doing a yoga pose like that, or just throughout your day, you can use specific oils that are great for relaxation.
  • Lavender
  • Vetiver
  • Chamomile
  • Jasmine
  • Ylang-ylang
• You can make a blend, or just to take some vetiver, some lavender, some ylang-ylang, put it on your fingertips, you can put it on your temples, you can put it on your wrists, you can put it on your earlobes, just to give yourself that aromatherapy all day.

Worry Less Bath – Creating a Ritual

• It’s a whole ritual in the book, but you do an activity where you’re writing some intentions down.
• You can use crystals in your bath if you choose. You can use moonstone, you can use clear quartz, you can use rose quartz, if you’re into crystals.
• You use lavender essential oil, preferably organic, valerian essential oil, and then you use a candle that’s pastel-colored.
• You brew yourself chamomile tea and you put dried lavender in your bath.

You make a ritual out of it. You prepare your tea, you run your bath, you go through the exercise and you write down your intentions, and you do a little bit of journaling. You light your candle, and then you step in and you’ve sat an intention for your bath. You’ve invigorated, invoked your sense of smell, your tea, the kinesthetic sense of being in the warm water and having the dried lavender in there. It gives you a chance to go into a meditative state.

Crystals and The Sense of Calm and Boosting Tranquility

• Everybody loves crystals, because they’re so pretty, and in this age of social media, where we’ve become so visual, they really lend themselves to that. But they’re also lovely tools.
• Crystals are people too.
  • Crystals are alive, just like a plant is alive, an animal is alive. And so, we want to treat our crystals with care, so when we do bring them into our environment, they’re going to raise this vibration.
  • I prefer it in a raw state, that the crystal wasn’t busted up and pushed around.
  • The crystal should live outside, or on your patio, or on your windowsill if you live in an urban environment, so it gets sunlight, so it gets moonlight, so perhaps it gets rainwater as long as it’s not a crystal that can’t get wet, so it’s happy, so its vibration is high.
  • You may bring the crystal in, put it in your bath, put it next to your bed. Perhaps, keep it on a sunlit windowsill where it gets plenty of sunlight and moonlight and is away from electronics.
• Rose quartz crystal are great for this idea of bringing calm.
• You can use crystals by bringing them in the environment.
• Some people like to put a crystal in their pocket if it’s little.
• I’m a fan of gentle crystals, rose quartz, moonstone, larimar.
• Some people are more like let’s power it out, and they just bring in a ton of really powerful crystals.
• Crystals are incredibly healing.
  • For healing, for example, moving energy, labradorite is a very, very helpful crystal.

How Herbs and Plants Can Impact Your Life

• That’s probably my most effective tool in our toolbox is the power of plants, whether you’re using them through herbal infusions, which people call tea, or we’re using them in tinctures, or we’re wildcrafting, or they’re dried, they’re fresh, whatever they are. Plants are medicine.
• We have so many options for plants that can calm us. Chamomile, everybody’s heard of chamomile tea. An organic, really pure chamomile tea without natural flavors, there are studies that talk about it can serve as a sedative.
• If you’d like to go deeper, passionflower is a deeply relaxing tea.
• Kava-kava is an extra-sedative tea. If you’re sensitive, you really only want to drink kava-kava right before bed, and really be aware, it’s powerful stuff.

If you could leave one statement with the world, one message with the world, what would you say?

You matter, that you’re a critical piece of the puzzle here on earth here on earth, and what you do and the impact you make, no matter how large or small, matters.

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Jonathan Hunsaker: Welcome, everyone, to another episode of Empowering You Organically. I’m you host, Jonathan Hunsaker, joined by my cohost, TeriAnn Trevenen.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Hey, everyone.

Jonathan Hunsaker: We have a very special guest today, Amy Leigh Mercree. Amy, thank you so much for joining us.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Thank you guys so much for having me. I’m so glad I get to talk with you today.

Jonathan Hunsaker: So, TeriAnn, do you want to read a quick bio of Amy and everybody will get just as excited as I am for this podcast.

TeriAnn Trevenen: I’m excited as well. Amy is a bestselling author, holistic health expert, and medical intuitive. Amy teaches internationally, sharing Next-Level Healing, Meet Your Guides, Mindfulness Meditation, and bestseller Boot Camp Classes.

Amy is the author of The Spiritual Girls Guide To Dating, A Little Bit of Chakras, Joyful Living, 101 Ways To Transform Your Spirit And Revitalize Your Life, The Chakras And Crystals Cookbook, The Compassion Revolution: 30 Days Of Living From The Heart, A Little Bit Of Meditation, Essential Oils Handbook, Apple Cider Vinegar Handbook, which by the way, I can’t wait to talk about that, A Little Bit Of Mindfulness, The Mood Book, Crystals, Oils, And Rituals To Elevate Your Spirit, and her latest book, A Little Bit of Goddess: An Introduction To The Divine Feminine, which I’m also equally excited to talk about.

Amy has been featured in Glamour Magazine, Women’s Health Inc. Magazine, Shape, The Huffington Post, Thrive Global, Your Tango, Soul And Spirit Magazine, Mind, Body, Green, CVS, NBS, Hello Giggles, Reader’s Digest, The Oprah Magazine, Forbes, CBS, First For Women, Country Living, Fox, Bustle, and many more.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Take a break, take a break. That was the longest list of anybody on the show so far.

TeriAnn Trevenen: And you know what? That is a beautiful thing, because it means what you’re doing is impacting people. She is fast becoming one of the most quoted women on the web. So, Amy, tell us how you got into everything that you share with the world. What’s your journey and your experience to bring you to where you are today?

Amy Leigh Mercree: Great question to start with. So, I have been a medical intuitive since I was 23, so it’s been 19 years. So, that’s how it all started was working with clients on their holistic health questions. So, as a holistic health expert and medical intuitive, I started to write books based upon the questions my clients had.

So, it started with dating, because everyone wanted to know about their love lives, but then it really progressed to all these meditation topics, and health topics, because those are the things that I am passionate about, and I teach meditation and things like that. So, it was really fun to just keep bringing everything together, and now, here we are much later, with all those books for you to read.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Awesome. I love it. What would you say, out of all the things that you do and all the things that you specialize in, what’s your number one favorite thing to talk about? I’m just curious.

Amy Leigh Mercree: What a good question. You know? I think I have two. So, I love talking about the divine feminine, because I think it’s really timely and helpful as far as social change. And then, that’s just really and interesting and kind of different—not different, but kind of a different bent on feminism, of just equality of the sexes, not to, in any way, negate the divine masculine, because we love that, but just to really bring awareness to that. And then, I do love talking about health in general, and essential oils and plants, and the ways that we can create recipes and combine those. So, those are my two favorites.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Love it. Awesome. I love it. So today, we’re going to talk a little bit about our moods, specifically talking about turning worry into peace. And I’m really excited to talk about this because I think that we have a lot of stressors in our lives. We have a lot going on. And we worry way more than we need to, and it impacts so many aspects of our lives.

And so, I think that some of the tips that we’re going to be sharing today are going to be really helpful for people to have a more peaceful center, centered and grounded life. Let’s talk a little bit about some of your best tips for turning worry into peace and improving our overall mood. What’s your—what’s the number one thing you would share with people when it comes to this in their lives?

Amy Leigh Mercree: That’s a great question, too. I think the number one thing I would share is having a news fast every week. So, spending at least a few days just staying off of anything that’s going to give you news, and as an extension of that, really limiting screen time, because I think that’s one of the chief things that does eat away at people’s sense of peace and makes people really anxious.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Absolutely. [0:09:30]

Amy Leigh Mercree: You guys are an amazing example of positive media, and so, that does exist, but there’s not a ton of that, you know? Everything’s very in your face and extra amped up to give you adrenaline because that’s what is meant to get people to keep coming back, but it’s not very good for our bodies.

Jonathan Hunsaker: It’s a big shift I made. I news fast probably 98 percent of the time. I just don’t—it’s just not—

TeriAnn Trevenen: Is that even a fast?

Jonathan Hunsaker: No, no, that’s just a—

TeriAnn Trevenen: That’s like—that’s like cut it out of your life pretty much.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Yeah, you know? And it’s interesting, not to throw people under the bus, but I have relatives that watch the news all the time. And most of the text messages I get are “Did you see this?” and about that. And it’s like it stresses me out just reading their texts. I’ve got to put that on silent, right? Let’s make that not even get a notification.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Yes.

Jonathan Hunsaker: It’s interesting how much of that—and I mean the news makes their money by you staying tuned in. And so, they have to sensationalize everything, and they have to—they have to get—make everything this bigger thing than it is, even if it’s a cat stuck in a tree, right? Before you know it, it’s this big old ordeal, and 24/7 coverage. And it just causes you to have more stress and anxiety, in my opinion. Like I just—I just don’t need it, you know?

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Agreed.

TeriAnn Trevenen: You know one of the big topics in the news right now is Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, but I will—and I’m not going to talk about that, but what I will say is they just shared on their social media, they share organizations that are doing good, one every month. And the one that they shared this month was an Instagram platform that’s sharing good news with people and sharing good stories where people help people.

So, I love that you bring that up, because I think there’s so much negative in the world, you really have to seek out the good and find people who are sharing the good, because it’s out there. It’s harder to find, but it’s absolutely out there.

Amy Leigh Mercree: I agree, and I’d love to follow that platform. And that kind of takes us into the extension of that topic, is how often are we on social media? Because what—especially look at Facebook, right? And it’s like all kinds of, I don’t know, depressing stuff.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah, it’s so depressing. A lot of really worrisome things, for sure. I think this conversation around screen time, too, is really important when it comes to sleep. You talk about a lot of rituals for more restful sleep. Let’s talk a little bit more about that.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Absolutely. So, I have a whole chapter in the mood book about all of this, and a lot of rituals for restful sleep, starting with getting off screens at least an hour, if not more, before bed. Secondly, a lot of people like a TV in the bedroom. Is that good for sleep? No, it’s not. It’s flashing light right before bed, before—the hour before sleep is the time for minimal to no electronics.

It’s a time to read a book or draw or something. How often do we do that? I mean I try to do it before bed. But it’s kind of a challenge. And then, moving into restful sleep rituals. You can make some really easy essential oil sprays, lemon sprays. You can use spring water and essential oils that are therapeutic grade.

Lavender, everybody loves the scent of. Vetiver is great for sleep. There’s Roman chamomile. There’s blue chamomile, but that will stain your linens, so better to use Roman chamomile that’s clear. You can throw some essential oils in a bottle with some spring water, spritz your bed, spritz your linens, lightly spritz your lampshade, not on the bulb. And then, you can do the legs up the wall yoga pose. I don’t know if you guys are familiar with that.

TeriAnn Trevenen: I’m not.

Amy Leigh Mercree: No? Okay. So, you can do that right in bed if your bed’s like up against a wall or you have a headboard, that’s great. You scoot up to the top and you sit. So, here’s the wall, and then you’re sitting next to the wall. I guess there’s the wall. And then, you stretch your legs out. You’re sitting straight up in a V.

You turn your body and flip your legs up, so your legs are up the wall. You can push your backside as close in as you can to the headboard. If you can get it all the way, that’s great. Some people feel more comfortable if they have a couple inches. And so, your legs are up and your body’s laying flat. And then, you just put your arms out in whatever position’s comfortable, palms up.

Perhaps you’ve had your spray. You can spritz your linen spray, since it’s therapeutic grade oils, over your own head, or kind of over your body. Have your legs up the wall. And just take a few minutes and close your eyes and relax. And that’s a restorative yoga pose that lets lymphatic fluid and just any fluid buildup drain down out of the feet, and also, washes and regenerates, or revitalizes all the internal organs with extra blood supply, too.

So then, after you’ve done that for 5-20 minutes, whatever’s comfortable, even if you fall asleep like that it’s fine, you bend your knees, bring them down the wall. If you want, you can sit in a butterfly pose, open your knees for a bit, then roll to your right side, stretch out your legs and come out of it. Then, you can go to sleep. And think how relaxed you would be after the aromatherapy, after the yoga, after the time off of screens.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Well, and I’ve been studying more on how to get better sleep, and one of the things is hanging upside-down, doing it on a teeter machine or something like that, which I have, but the reality of me actually going and strapping up and hanging upside-down every day before bed doesn’t generally happen. And so, I love the idea of what you’re talking about.

Amy Leigh Mercree: [indiscernible 0:15:17]

Jonathan Hunsaker: Exactly.

Amy Leigh Mercree: You know? For some of us, something like hanging upside-down would be maybe too intense.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Agreed.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Especially—I do a lot of work with traditional Chinese medicine, and people whose liver channel is overheated or compromised, which is a lot of us, women—for women, that’s the channel that, when we’re having anything going on hormonally, whether we’re premenstrual or anything, it gets a little bit jacked up.

So, sometimes, when we flip like that, that’s putting too much heat. The liver’s a very upward organ, so the liver heat comes up the head, and we don’t want it to do that. We want it to go down. That’s why people get hormonal migraines. When we flip the body, we’re sending all this chi into the liver channel and a lot of liver heat.

If it’s not the right time for that for us, it could have a counter-intuitive affect. But when we’re just doing this mini-inversion, then we’re letting the liver channel, the kidney channel, the channels we want to be calm during sleep, we’re letting them be calm, too.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah, and I love that you shared that, too, because I hadn’t heard of that, but when I think about my stress points in my body, I’m on my feet all day, and walking all day. And that actually sounds really relaxing to me to put my feet up on the wall. It makes a lot of sense from an internal physical perspective, but also, just like that relaxing and letting it all flow back down through the body, because all day, we’re walking, our energy’s flowing down, our feet are so tired.

It’s a really interesting concept. I’m going to have that one now, then I’ll let you know how it goes. Because I’m actually going to try that one. That sounds really interesting. Let’s also talk about—we talked about essential oils, one of your favorite things to talk about. How do you use oils to—and how do you recommend people use oils to soothe anxiety?

Amy Leigh Mercree: Great question. So, like we said, if you’re doing a yoga pose like that, or just throughout your day, you can use specific oils that are great for relaxation. Lavender, vetiver, chamomile. What else is good? Jasmine is very relaxing, ylang-ylang is very relaxing, all of those. If you use a therapeutic grade oil, it means you can apply it topically. If it’s an oil that’s okay to apply topically, or you can consume it orally if you choose, which we don’t really need to do in this case.

But so, a really easy way is just to—you can make a blend, or just to take some vetiver, some lavender, some ylang-ylang, put it on your fingertips, you can put it on your temples, you can put it on your wrists, you can put it on your earlobes, just to give yourself that aromatherapy all day. And whether that’s in your leg up the wall post, or your hanging upside-down pose, which is great for so many people to do that big inversion, it’s really super helpful for so many people. You can even be wearing those oils at that time as well.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah, love that.

Jonathan Hunsaker: I’m going to throw a little something out that I know it’s a little off-topic, but since we’re talking about essential oils, I know you mentioned therapeutic grade. All I want to suggest is that people know the company they’re buying their oils from.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Agreed.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Unfortunately, it’s not regulated. And so, there’s cheap oils on Amazon that say therapeutic grade, and it doesn’t mean anything. We highly suggest USDA-certified organic when you can find it as an essential oil. That’s going to guarantee that you’re getting a clean, pure oil. But unfortunately, therapeutic is similar to natural, right?

When it comes to natural food or something like that. And so, and I know that you’re talking about using a really clean oil when you say therapeutic grade, I just want to let you audience know that when you go on Amazon, you type in therapeutic grade, and it’s $5.00 for a big bottle of lavender, that is not therapeutic grade lavender.

Amy Leigh Mercree: I agree. I have favorite brands. I don’t know if you want me to share?

Jonathan Hunsaker: You’re welcome to share your brands or not. Just for me, it’s more about educating them on what to look for so they can go find it.

Amy Leigh Mercree: I know.

Jonathan Hunsaker: I know that we’ve got Young Living that’s out there, we have DoTerra that are a couple good brands. Organixx, we have our own essential oils.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Oh, cool.

Jonathan Hunsaker: We have like 12 oils; we carry the top 12 oils.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Wonderful.

Jonathan Hunsaker: But we don’t do some—there’s so many oils out there. We’re just not a big enough company to carry 200 different oils.

Amy Leigh Mercree: I know. 100 percent organic is our best bet, I agree. [0:19:29]

Jonathan Hunsaker: Agreed.

Amy Leigh Mercree: There’s a brand, Veriditas, that has some of the obscure oils that you can’t always find. I’m sure those Organixx oils are great. The Young Livings and the DoTerra are good, too. Not always 100 percent organic, but very well-sourced, which is a good start. But I agree with you, absolutely. It’s definitely—

Jonathan Hunsaker: Yeah, find the organic. Okay. Sorry about taking us down that kind of track.

TeriAnn Trevenen: I think it’s important to note. So, on this quest for peace and having less stress in our lives, you talk about worry, a worry less bath. Tell what that is.

Amy Leigh Mercree: [indiscernible 0:19:59]. So, in the mood book, I got to write this super fun book about turning worry to peace, sadness to joy, heartbreak to love, lethargy to vitality, fear to freedom. So, it was just like such a fun book to write, and it’s really colorful and everything. And so, I got to create these rituals, and specifically, these bath rituals, which I love to take flower baths and things like that.

So, this particular worry less bath is—it’s a whole ritual in the book, but you do an activity where you’re writing some intentions down, and then you can use crystals in your bath if you choose. You can use moonstone, you can use clear quartz, you can use rose quartz, you can use—if you’re into crystals. And then, you use lavender essential oil, therapeutic grade, preferably organic, valerian essential oil, and then you use a candle that’s pastel-colored. So, you’re creating a whole ritual. You brew yourself chamomile tea and you put dried lavender in your bath. So, you kind of have all these sensory—

TeriAnn Trevenen: Very calming.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Yeah, all these sensory experiences covered. And then, you make a ritual out of it. You prepare your tea, you run your bath, you go through that. The exercise is a little bit long for us to go through, but you go through the exercise and you write down your intentions, and you do a little bit of journaling.

You light your candle, and then you step in and you’ve sat an intention for your bath. You’ve invigorated, invoked your sense of smell, your tea, your—the kinesthetic sense of being in the warm water and having the dried lavender in there. So, you’re really opening your senses. And going back to our original point, stepping away from technology and being present with yourself, too. And it gives you a chance to go into a meditative state.

Jonathan Hunsaker: I think that’s the biggest point here is you’re talking about being intentional with your bath, right? And what are your intentions around it? What are your rituals around it?

Amy Leigh Mercree: Yes.

Jonathan Hunsaker: I hate that technology is waterproof now. I really do, right? I mean how many people—it’s like “I’m going to go take a bath,” and then three minutes in, they’re bored because they’re used to being overstimulated, and they go grab their phone, and now they’re on social media. Now they’re reading crappy news and comparing themselves to other people’s great lives, and it influences things.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Yeah.

Jonathan Hunsaker: And 30 minutes later, you’re like “I took a bath,” but you don’t feel any more relaxed. You didn’t do what you were—what it was intended for, which is just like unplug from everything and just be with you.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Exactly. And to down-regulate your nervous system.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Yes.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Which we don’t get to do very often.

TeriAnn Trevenen: And I like that you include all of the senses there, because it’s like even putting essential oil under your tongue, because I think everyone’s different in what they get sensory overload in. Some people, their body really hurts, or sometimes people just cannot turn their mind off, or sometimes like you see things and it makes you think of things.

You’ve got to close your eyes. Like everybody has different sensory issues that they’re dealing with that overstimulate themselves, not just social media, but if you take the social media and the phones and things out of it, really touching on all of those sensory points and letting the whole body relax is something that most people don’t spend the time doing.

And when you actually take the time to do that, it’s amazing how much your body release when you turn all of the senses off and you tune them all into being intentional. And it’s almost a form of meditation, if you will, and let go of everything. And most people do not take the time to do that. So, I love this idea of a worry less bath, where you’re including all of the senses that we normally don’t just turn off.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Absolutely. Absolutely. And you could even throw on your most relaxing music and bring your sense of sound in as well.

TeriAnn Trevenen: I love it, I love it. You talked about crystals in your bath. Let’s talk about crystals. And you talk a lot about crystals and the sense of calm and boosting tranquility. So, tell our listeners a little bit more about that.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Sure. You know? Everybody loves crystals, because they’re so pretty, and they really—and in this age of social media, where we’ve become so visual, they really lend themselves to that. But they’re also lovely tools. And part of what I always say to people, which is a little bit silly, but you can kind of think of it as little buzz phrase, crystals are people too.

Crystals are alive, just like a plant is alive, an animal is alive. And so, we want to treat our crystals with care, so when we do bring them into our environment, they’re going to raise this vibration. So, rose quartz crystal are great for this idea of bringing calm. They bring a sense of unconditional love to the space.

So, let’s say you have a crystal. Personally, I prefer it in a raw state, that the crystal wasn’t busted up and pushed around. And then, the crystal should live outside, or on your patio, or on your windowsill if you live in an urban environment, so it gets sunlight, so it gets moonlight, so perhaps it gets rainwater as long as it’s not a crystal that can’t get wet, so it’s happy, so its vibration is high.

Then selectively, you may bring the crystal in, put it in your bath, put it next to your bed. Perhaps, keep it on a sunlit windowsill where it gets plenty of sunlight and moonlight and is away from electronics. For example, I have a nice, sunny windowsill near where my wireless router is. I don’t put crystals there because I feel like that it’s almost rude to the crystal. It’s too may EMFs.

So, you can use crystals by bringing them in the environment. Some people like to put a crystal in their pocket if it’s little. I’m a fan of gentle crystals, rose quartz, moonstone, larimar. Some people are more like let’s power it out, and they just bring in a ton of really powerful crystals.

Amazing, too, because crystals are incredibly healing. For healing, for example, moving energy, labradorite is a very, very helpful crystal. So, that’s kind of my thought on crystals, and I’m kind of a moderation, middle way kind of person. So, I’ll always kind of suggest the gentler way to work with a crystal or an oil or a plant.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah, and just for our listeners, there’s this idea of everything has energy in the world, right? Everything does. There’s an energy from food, from rocks, from water, from the air around us, and everything has energy. And when people are talking about crystal work, and I’m not well-versed in this, but I do understand it to a certain extent, we’re talking about energy that things in the world around us can bring into our lives.

And for a lot of people, that energy that crystals bring is very calming for them, it’s very healing for them, and it’s something that has really impacted their life. And so, it’s just—I wanted to talk about that energy aspect. Energy’s so important in our life, and it is all around us. We’re connected by energy, we feel energy, we bring energy in, energy flows out of our body, and similarly, that’s the whole thinking behind crystals and the belief and the practice behind crystals is that energy in your life and what that energy can bring into your life. So, I think it’s important for people to understand that when it comes to peace and mood and tranquility.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Absolutely, absolutely.

TeriAnn Trevenen: The last thing I want to talk to you about today is plants and herbs, which I love this, because I’ve learned so much in my health journey about how herbs and plants can really impact your life, especially when it comes to your emotions. So, talk a little bit more about that and what you share with people.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Absolutely. That’s probably my most effective tool in our toolbox is the power of plants, whether you’re using them through herbal infusions, which people call tea, or we’re using them in tinctures, or we’re wildcrafting, or they’re dried, they’re fresh, whatever they are. Plants are medicine.

I mean they’re the original medicine. And so, for your worry to peace theme, we have so many options for plants that can calm us. Chamomile, everybody’s heard of chamomile tea. An organic, really pure chamomile tea without natural flavors can—there are—and there are studies that talk about it can serve as a sedative.

If you’d like to go deeper, passionflower is a deeply relaxing tea. And again, these same herbs can be consumed as a tincture or in a capsule if you really needed to go deep with that relaxation. Kava-kava is an extra-sedative tea. If you’re sensitive, you really only want to drink kava-kava right before bed, and really be aware, it’s powerful stuff. I mean that’s the thing. Plants are powerful.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Absolutely. And we’ve had people on the podcast in the past who have actually talked about their health journey, talking about they’ve tried everything, conventional medicine, naturopaths, everything they could think of. And finally, they turned to herbs to heal different aspects of their body.

And so, that’s something I think our listeners can really appreciate is how powerful herbs are. And not only are they powerful for different aspects that we can have when it comes to health and improving our health but thinking about it in relationship to our mood. I know for me, I love to drink tea, and one tea in particular, but that’s a calming thing for me, and it’s a calming thing for my body, and it’s something that makes me feel good. And so, I think your point on herbs and plants is spot on. I think it’s really important when it comes to peace, tranquility, and overall balanced mood.

Jonathan Hunsaker: I mean that’s all supplements are, right? We are in the supplement business, and we do this because plants are medicine, right? And so, some things you can take in a little higher dose, like the turmeric or other things like that that’s good in capsule form. Other things are better as teas. Other things are better, like kava-kava sporadically or at lower doses. I mean there’s many different ways to use plants and herbs and all of that to heal. And yeah, I’m 100 percent in agreement with you on all of that.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah, I think if people are eating the modern American diet today and they’re not looking at plants and herbs as a part of their diet and their nutrition and their overall health, I think they’re really missing out.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Absolutely. What’s your favorite tea, Teri?

TeriAnn Trevenen: I love chai tea, herbal chai tea.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Forever.

TeriAnn Trevenen: That’s my favorite. I love it. I drink it every single day, and it’s my go-to.

Amy Leigh Mercree: With rooibos?

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yes, yes.

Amy Leigh Mercree: I love that.

Jonathan Hunsaker: She turned me onto the same tea by Yogi. I think Yogi is the manufacturer.

Amy Leigh Mercree: I have it. I share—

Jonathan Hunsaker: Chai rooibos, yeah.

Amy Leigh Mercree: I share it with everyone. My family’s into it now, and like everybody needs this tea.

TeriAnn Trevenen: It’s so good for digestion, it’s calming for me.

Amy Leigh Mercree: It is.

TeriAnn Trevenen: There’s so many good things about it, yeah.

Jonathan Hunsaker: No caffeine or anything like that.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah. So, Amy, it’s been so awesome to talk with you today. I have one last question for you. If you could leave one statement with the world when it comes to—really, I’m not even going to say when it comes to anything. If you could leave one statement with the world, one message with the world, what would you say?

Amy Leigh Mercree: Yeah, let’s see. It would be that you matter, that you’re a critical piece of the puzzle here on earth here on earth, and what you do and the impact you make, no matter how large or small, matters.

TeriAnn Trevenen: I love that.

Jonathan Hunsaker: I absolutely love it. Amy, how can people find out more about you?

Amy Leigh Mercree: Great question! They can find me all over social @AmyLeighMercree, and at AmyLeighMercree.com, and Leigh is L-E-I-G-H.

Jonathan Hunsaker: And they can find your many books on Amazon, I would imagine, or maybe on your website?

Amy Leigh Mercree: On Amazon, many of the books are in Barnes & Noble, some of them are in Whole Foods, Francesca’s. You can find them all over the place. But always on Amazon.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Excellent. We have links, by the way, to all of your books on our website. So, go to EmpoweringYouOrganically.com. You’ll get all the show notes, transcripts. You can listen to this episode as many times as you want. We have links to all of Amy’s books, to all of her websites, to her social media. I love what you do, I love what you’re teaching, I love your message, I love your energy. And I think our audience is really going to love you as well, and I hope they go check you out in all of your places, social media, website, books, all of it.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Absolutely.

Amy Leigh Mercree: Yay! Thank you so much and I love everything you guys are sharing, all this amazing knowledge, with the world.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Excellent. Thank you, Amy.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Thank you.

Jonathan Hunsaker: By the way, EmpoweringYouOrganically.com, and if you like these episodes, make sure you like us on iTunes. The more that you like us, and you subscribe, the more that they show us as a recommended resource to other people that you think might enjoy this podcast as well. So, thank you, everyone, for listening. Thank you, Amy. Thank you, TeriAnn. We’ll talk to you next time.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Have a great day, everyone.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Awesome.

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