Simply Self-Healing with Amy B. Scher
No therapist can do it for you. No shaman. No supplement. No amount of journaling or affirmations. There is a layer of healing that lives so deep inside you that the only person with access to it — is you.
That's the conversation I had with Amy B. Scher. And it changed the way I think about everything.
Who Is Amy B. Scher
Amy is an energy therapist, mind-body healing expert, and bestselling author of the wildly popular How to Heal Yourself series — translated into over 20 languages. She's been featured in Oprah Daily, CNN, the Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, and Good Morning America. She lives on the Upper West Side with her wife and her bad cat Stanley — named after the Golden Girls, obviously.
I first picked up Amy's book in 2016 at Quest Bookshop on 53rd Street. Someone had left it propped up like they wanted it to be found. I listened to the audiobook — bad Canadian narration and all — and I was like: this is it. This is what's been missing.
I reached out. We worked together. And years later when we reconnected in 2023 — she told me I had done a lot of work. I walked out of that session, opened the conference room door, went straight into my next meeting — and got laid off.
My first thought: this cannot be happening. My second thought: congratulations. You graduated.
Why Talking About It Isn't Enough
Amy healed herself from debilitating chronic illness — Lyme disease, parasites, a wheelchair — after years of every medical treatment available. None of it fully worked. Until she addressed the emotional piece.
And here's what she says that stops people cold:
Talking about your trauma doesn't heal trauma.
She journaled. She went to therapy. She knew everything that had ever happened to her and everything that was wrong. And nothing got better.
Because knowing isn't the same as healing. Intellectualizing your emotions — analyzing them, discussing them, being fluent in your own story — is not the same as actually feeling and releasing them.
I say this on the podcast all the time. You can't go to the doctor and have them cry for you. You have to cry yourself. You have to feel the thing. Not think about the thing. Feel it.
The Question That Changes Everything
When Amy works with people — privately or in her Fearless Living Collective — she doesn't start with what traumatized you? She starts with:
What have you been ignoring?
That's where the healing is. Not in the stuff you've already processed and told your friends about a hundred times. In the thing you keep dancing around. The truth you keep burying because if you admit it — you might have to do something about it.
But here's what Amy wants you to know: knowing is different from having to act.
You can ask the question. You can sit with the answer. You don't have to burn your life down immediately. Most people don't need to blow everything up to heal. They just need to see clearly — and then let the inside shift first.
When the inside shifts? The outside follows.
Depression Is More Than a Biological Glitch
Amy published a book on healing from depression — and the core message is this: modern medicine is advancing, but depression is increasing. Why?
Because we're only seeing part of the problem.
Low serotonin is real. Blood work is real. But if you apply the solution and the problem doesn't go away — that wasn't the only problem.
The missing piece is always the soul piece. What is literally depressed inside of this person? What are they suppressing? What are they pushing down that no medication can reach?
Doctors now send patients to Amy — because they give the medication, they do the blood work, they run the MRI — and it's not enough. After Amy does the emotional work with someone? Their blood work improves. Their MRI shows changes. Their doctors call her and say: I don't know what you did.
She gets to the root. And the root is always emotional.
The Tools — Simple, Accessible, Powerful
Amy's whole philosophy is simplicity. When she was sick — everything felt heavy, complex, serious. She couldn't do it. So she created tools that anyone can use, anywhere, without overwhelm.
Alternate Temple Tapping Amy created this specifically to pull people out of fight, flight, or freeze. Place your left fingertips on your left temple and your right fingertips on your right temple. Tap right, left, right, left while thinking about or talking through whatever is stressing you. That's it. It integrates the left and right brain, calms the nervous system, and brings you back into balance. Do it anytime — even if you can't identify exactly what you're feeling.
Thymus Tapping The thymus gland is about an inch below the notch of your throat — right where your chest rises and there's a slight bump. Tap it with your fingertips while saying let go, let go, let go. The thymus is the master gland of the immune system and deeply connected to your energy body. Tapping it is said to increase white blood cells, release stuck emotions, and balance your system. It sounds simple because it is. Simple is the point.
Amy's Oracle Deck When you don't know what you're feeling — pull a card. Amy's deck is full of emotions she's identified over years as the ones most commonly stuck in the body. Each card walks you through tapping on your thymus to release that emotion — and then installing a positive one to rebalance. Because emotions aren't logical. Sometimes what you think you need to release isn't actually what needs to go. The cards help you tune in to what your body actually needs — not just what your mind thinks it needs.
All Roads Lead to the Same Place
There is no formula for healing. No checklist. No order.
Amy had three offices in California when she first started her private practice — completely booked from day one — and within weeks she realized: this is not formulaic. Every single person needed to start somewhere different. Nervous system for one. A core belief for another. A trauma from age two for someone else.
Your healing path is yours alone. And that's not frustrating — that's actually the gift. You can't go wrong. You just follow the breadcrumbs. Do the thing in front of you. Ask yourself what's next. Trust that even on the windiest path — you will end up exactly where you're supposed to be.
The Power Is in the Now
Amy is writing her next book about this — and I want to leave you with it because it's everything:
The most power we have is in the now.
Not looking back. Not analyzing the past. Not staying stuck in the story of what happened.
The power to pivot is here. Right now. From this moment — moving forward.
You can address the past in the present by finally feeling what needed to be felt. And then you move. You move forward. You stop being held by the version of yourself that was just trying to survive — and you start becoming the version that gets to actually live.
The Work
Ask yourself honestly: what have I been ignoring?
Try alternate temple tapping the next time you feel overwhelmed or anxious
Tap your thymus daily — even without a specific emotion in mind. Just let go, let go, let go.
Check out Amy's Fearless Living Collective — it's affordable, accessible, and deeply effective
Find Amy at amybscher.com
Healing doesn't have to be heavy. It doesn't have to be scary. It just has to be honest.
That's all. That's the whole thing.
Lindsay Trimarchi Richter is a life coach, speaker, and host of the How to Heal Podcast. She works with high-achieving women ready to stop performing and start living. Find her on Instagram @howtoheal