Burnout doesn't always come from working too hard. Sometimes it comes from being misaligned with how your mind, body, and energy are meant to function. In this conversation, I explore a fascinating intersection between neuroscience, intuition, and human potential with Dr. Amy Albright. If you've ever wonder whether true healing requires both brain science and deeper energetic awareness, you're going to find this discussion illuminating. Welcome to Break Free from the Burnout. I'm your host, Dr. Anastasia Chopelas, physicist turned energy healer. I'm here to help you make the quantum shifts to release the hidden blocks to your success. Your next breakthrough starts now. Have you ever wondered what becomes possible when science, consciousness, and true alignment come together to support human potential? Today I'm joined by Dr. Amy Albright, a visionary leader who bridges neuroscience, spirituality, and performance to help individuals and organizations move beyond burnout into clarity, resilience, and meaningful success. I am really excited for this interview because this connects exactly with what I do. Dr. Amy, everyone has a deeply personal story beyond the work they do. What led you into this path of blending neuroscience, spirituality, and human potential to help people break free from their burnout? Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I would say that it's a really unusual and unexpected path that I have walked from maybe just really early on. So when I was 18, I was studying at the university, and I was really engaged understanding the brain and neurotransmitters. And I felt like if we understood the brain that we could understand our reality. And I was essentially a devout atheist. I had touched in with religion very briefly and decided that wasn't for me and never experienced the, framing of spirituality at that point. So I had a massive spiritual awakening experience at age 18, completely unplanned, obviously, because an atheist doesn't think to themselves, I'd like to have that happen. Then essentially I ended changing my scope of study. So I still went on, I, I completed my undergraduate as though I was to be a PhD researching professor in cognitive science, which is understanding the brain and and how it affects our perception. But what I ended up doing is also studying a huge amount about the, the sacred and spirituality and indigenous rites of passage and, ways of healing around the world that were, pre-modern history by quite a lot. And really understanding from an anthropological point of view, the spiritual. and it just made so much more sense to me, essentially in that spiritual awakening experience. To go back to that for a moment, I thought. Wow. Science will never explain all of this. And then the next thing that I thought was, and there definitely is a God, and I didn't know what that meant. but I feel like I've been living into it and it's about 32 years of, of adventure, of weaving science and spirituality and, bringing the sacred into my life and, and the lives of those that I, that I touch through. My teaching or, the different work that I do. So it's an exciting thing to be in a conversation, with you. I know that your background probably supports so much of, of what people, might think isn't grounded in science, but it's actually a misunderstanding around science. And I was just engaged in a conversation with a colleague about that earlier today. a lot of what physics can help us to do is to understand, how much we don't understand in modern pop culture. So you went from the opposite direction. You had the intention to study science, but had this spiritual awakening that caused you to look at spirituality as actually basically from the beginning of humankind, we had this deep. Deep spiritual thing in us that we tried to make meaning out of life using a spiritual connection. I started from the science point of view, from the age of seven, I decided I was gonna study science and my whole life was just in that one direction. I had blinders on and I just went for it straight through. And, But I always had this spiritual connection. It's like I could hear things and I was connected to other people. I could feel their feelings. So I just thought that was the normal way that people behaved. And then I found out later that other people don't do those kinds of things. Yeah. So there's some similarities here. I, I've told the story of, I used to sit and listen to the wind when I was little. and I had a telepathic communication with my cat, for instance. and I didn't know that that wasn't normal and I thought I had a really overactive imagination 'cause I could sit when I was in junior high and, sitting at the mall with my orange Julius, which definitely dates for those that know about this era of time. Um, you know, I'd be sitting, just hanging out, you know, they didn't have Frappuccino back then to, to enjoy. So it was an orange Julius and I would, and I would be watching people walk by and I thought I was making up stories. Just with my creative imagination about who they were and what their lives were like. And then when I got into private practice, as a primary care provider and, out of medical school, I realized that those stories were real. That I knew what these complete strangers walking in, they're coming in, you know, they, they're, they've got x, y, z health complaints typically that they're, that they're struggling with. And, I knew what they were going to ask for help with, and I also knew what the underlying thing underneath that was. What was the stressor? What was the emotional or spiritual block that was causing that physical condition? So it's been woven all the way through, but I think that the atheist in me, the skeptic in me, it, it didn't know how to make space for all of that. until it became blatantly obvious that I had to make space for all of it in my life. Yeah. Yeah. My husband and I got married when we were 60. but we met when we were 16 basically. the story is that he was a devout atheist all his life until he met me, and then he. and then the first thing he said, it was meant to be an fate, and God brought us together and all of that, and his family went, whoa. What? Yeah. So, yeah. But yeah, we, we just go together like peas and carrots. Just really a great match and great friends and great support for one another. And I never had that before. But yeah. Mm-hmm. It, it, we, and we even dated back when we were 16. We met in high school. Yeah. It's amazing how life teaches us. It's an unusual path. it really is. So now, what drives your mission today? Why do you feel this work is so important right now in our world? I mean, there's so many ways that I could answer that. I, I think that it's been important. I've been engaged in this work for 23 years, so I've been watching. and learning and growing the whole way through as I've, as I've been helping other people. But I could say that right now there's a massive amount of divisiveness that's, you know, things are divided. Um, there's a massive amount of change. There's a massive amount of people feeling out of control. there are a lot of people who are in positions of authority who aren't stepping into the full. Possibility, their expression in that authority, right? They're not using their voice or, making different decisions or standing for something different. And, I really believe that each of us, regardless of our post is a leader as long as we act like one, and that it's basically time to call for a different version of leadership, not one where we are divided and. Myopic and zoomed in and inside of a separatist model, where everybody is fending for themselves and it's every person for themselves. And a lot of this kind of thing that, you know, maybe got set up by those Newtonian, or Darwinian ideas a long time ago. But, I think that instead it's time for us to learn to collaborate at a different level, because we are united. I think humans like to like, be united again, with something. I think what we're uniting, to combat right now is massive global upheaval, whether it's environmental or, you know, sociological or geopolitical and just being able to really make a difference. So that's on the big broad scale. And then I think on another, on a individual scale, what I see is. All the more burnout than I've ever seen before. Mm-hmm. we've become so efficient and inside of our efficiency we have driven harder and pushed to go faster and, ended up with more illness, more chronic senses of disconnection and dis-ease. And I think it's time to really shift that at a deep level and, not just by thinking different thoughts and hoping that it changes, but by actually changing how our neurology is working. How our thought patterns are, you know, what are we doing with our thought patterns, and then also how we interact with each other. So the, the scope of my work and my, and my message really goes across health, including neurosciences that we work with here in the laboratory. It works with businesses because I also work with leaders as an executive coach and strategic advisor. It works with individuals who might be, you know, super tapped in and extremely gifted and needing maybe some guidance or structure or support in how to hold that inside of a world that doesn't fully accept those that are intuitive. It is a broad reaching societal call. It's not just a certain segment that I feel like that this message applies to. There's a, a wide range of ways that I get to be able to address, kind of everything that I'm seeing, which is awesome. Yeah. So as you were speaking, it just reminded me how a lot of people that don't experience like those of us that are sensitive or empath or intuitive, and those that are not, they don't as we were talking right when we first started, uh, about. What we experienced at children, and we thought everybody was that way. Mm-hmm. So we didn't realize that people didn't experience it. And I can't imagine what that's like because I've never been that way. Mm-hmm. And so I'm sure that there are those that have never experienced, like I had a student who couldn't imagine anything in their mind as three dimensional They mm-hmm. Only. understood the words, but they couldn't put pictures to the words, and I can't even imagine what that's like. So, this bridging the gap, understanding each other is going to be really important. And I think that your work is, is helping do that. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I really do believe that there are, very, very few people who are not deeply intuitive. It's just that they haven't exercised that. So it's kind of like when you, imagine if you've never exercised a limb, let's say it's been a cast for a really long time. It looks quite atrophied when you take that cast off. Looks ridiculous. One arm does not match the other. But you know, and you might think to yourself, oh, I could never have my arm look okay again and, and be like that other, But the thing is, is that it doesn't take much time and it comes right back. Right? Yeah. And so it took a couple, couple weeks. It took probably a couple weeks for my leg to look normal again. Amazing. Right? And, and isn't that a marvel? And that's, that's our bodies and, and the miracle that we are embodied into, really taking shape in that way. And I think with the intuition, there are so many people that think that they're either a part of the in club or they're the out club and they either have it or they don't. And I think that what we wanna come back to is, again, from that anthropological view, our epigenetics, and therefore our genetics are wired to be intuitive because that's how we got here. Our ancestors were better than some, at being able. I love that. Right? At our ancestors, were better than some at being able to identify where is the snake. And whereas not if this bush has some weird feeling coming out of it, maybe I should walk around it instead of finding that snake the wrong way or what food is safe or where will that, herd of, of animals migrate to? Right? So we had to be intuitive. We had to live close to the land. We had to listen to the wind. That's not an unusual thing at all in human history. And in fact, it was completely what we needed to do to survive. And so with modern society, we've been able to shortcut a lot of that and then live in isolated little single family homes in many cases, or apartment buildings and away from nature. And we don't have to keep in contact with the herd 'cause we just go to the, you know, grocery store and pick up some, food or whatever it is. so, but that doesn't mean that it's not all right there because our genetics and our epigenetics are still quite deeply impressed in our bodies and in our beings. Well, we all have the same equipment. we all have the same neur system. We all have an energy field that expands out to about your arm span and even a little beyond. So we all have the same equipment, so we all have the capability of being intuitive and being empathic and all of that. It's just some people, like you said, don't actually pay attention to it. And it's a, it's a skill that can be honed. Just like, if I don't feel like I'm great at math, which is not my strong suit by the way, then I can get better at it if I practice. Right. Just like with anything. Yes. And so it's just really breaking it down into that and. You know, I think that when people realize that we are a timeless soul on an endless journey, that we are connected to the all that is, and that we can receive information and nourishment and support from that interconnectedness at all times. Not just as like the thought construct about it though, but the actual feeling of it in our body. That's when things really take shape and you know, things that look quite magical can drop into our lives. So that, and is on a very simple level, it's something that we can teach to a three-year-old. it doesn't take a higher order reasoning or any particular amount of power or expression out into the world to be empowered internally and to remember these things. and it can change how we view the world ourselves, how we're, how our body is feeling, you know, everything in a moment just to remember to shift out into that bigger frame of truth. So your work with technology assisted brain learning and neurofeedback is fascinating. So how does this kind of brain optimization help someone move from exhaustion and overwhelm into clarity, resilience, and then aligned performance? It essentially helps to teach the brain in milliseconds faster than the mind could even perceive. So it's a learning that gets set up between the brain and a computer. There are sensors placed on the scalp that are sensing what's happening inside of the brain. There's no signal going in neurofeedback therapy, and that information is. Being measured and then brought over to a computer and then put back into the brain, just really fast, like maybe at 40 milliseconds. There's a response back into the awareness of the brain. And the signal doesn't go through the scalp. The signal comes through sites or sounds that the person hears. So somebody can be absolutely convinced of who they are or absolutely burnt out or absolutely having a very difficult, thing that they might have been working with their whole lives. That could be, you know, deep depression or it can be, A DHD or it can be a feeling of not being intuitive or whatever it is that they are deciding to address. And inside of the space of our laboratory, we can bring somebody neurologically into a different function. And change how the EEG, their electroencephalogram looks. So an EEG is the same study that you would get at a research institute or from a, a neurologist mm-hmm. that's looking for pathology. Mm-hmm. and what we do is we use that as a baseline and we're changing so that people are seeing. Oh wow. My brain before had that big red spot right there, and that red is not a good color on that. You know, you don't want it to be red there. and that red meant I was wasting 30% of my energy on that particular function, which was in this case maybe over worrying. And now after doing some of this neurofeedback therapy to help the brain to shape how it's behaving differently. That red spot isn't there and it's either gone or it's now at a yellow or whatever it is. And wow, that correlates with when I came in, when I first started this, I felt stressed. I felt hopeless. I felt like I couldn't get out of a trap. And now I feel really peaceful or I feel clear. You know, so we see people go through massive changes. I, I forget the exact progression that you just, that you were asking, but from, in pain, disconnected, not knowing how to make real change in their lives to having a sense of freedom and perspective and relaxation and ease, less reactivity, more connection. These are just typical things that we start to witness and experience around here. Not to mention if they had something in particular they wanted help with. They would also see relief with that. So it's amazing in miraculous work to be able to work so deeply and with extreme precision. some neurofeedback therapy is, is less precise, but we have the most precise, hardware and software and methodology in the world in our laboratory. So we get incredible results. Yeah, my, my brother went through some neurofeedback because of the way his brain operates, it operates a lot different than the average person. And he could not focus unless he was distracted. Oh, yeah. So when he would listen to a professor, he would doodle in his book. And he would hear everything that was being said. He's a brilliant guy. Yeah. But he, and he said that if he tried to focus on something, he would fall asleep. Mm-hmm. And so he needed that distraction to keep him alert. And so he went through a lot of neurofeedback.'cause it was affecting his life, it was affecting his relationship. He's been married to the same woman forever, Mm-hmm. So he went through. Stuff where he had to follow, he had to follow visually something, and it really helped him. But then I did some energy healing on him and got him centered and aligned and my, even both of my children said, oh, you can talk to Uncle Peter now and. And he, he doesn't just keep talking, he listens. So it got him a, so those, the combination helped him. So I am very fascinated by what it is you're doing that that neural feedback and how it can help people.'cause I've seen how it helped my brother really get a lot more grounded and focused. That's awesome. Yeah. That's awesome. yeah, a a lot of places that neurofeedback is available, they go, maybe somebody goes once or twice a week and that's a perfectly. Um mm-hmm. Great system. That's a great way to do it. The way that we do it is slightly different. And we'll take somebody in and we'll work from a Thursday to a Monday. They'll come through a 40 hour program, 40 plus hours of program here. Wow. And it's a weave of a ton of neurofeedback therapy, but also together with the spiritual with the energetic alignment. You know, I might do acupuncture or a healing session in some regard with them, and also just help them to see their blind spots and to step into a deeper strategy, a deeper capacity so that the wiring is there, you know, it's being provided, so to speak, on a neurological level, but also they have a different opportunity for choice because they have a bigger perspective. And because their energy is more settled. So the interplay of what I do with my colleague, you know, we, we just, we absolutely delight in it. Because what we see is very similar to what you're saying. So your, your brother had more availability to him. Like would he have been able to hold still for an energetic alignment from you before this? Would he have cared to participate in that? Would he have, would it have been as effective? I know that for myself, for some folks, um, I'm definitely really grateful that my colleague can kind of get in there and start to help their brains organize and be more efficient in certain ways. And then I can definitely get so much more of my work to be of benefit 'cause they can really receive it, really hear it really, be present enough to be able to receive it in all those ways. So it's, so do you work with it's people with dyslexia and things like that? Sometimes, you know, we, um, it's definitely that's something that is treated by neurofeedback therapy. in our, laboratory here, we focus on about 30 people a year, and we bring them through intensives. And so we are focused on whoever are the biggest leverage change makers. The ones that we really believe in are here to be able to support all of humanity, right? Because we all know that there are people behind closed doors making decisions. that impact all of us. And so some of those folks are dyslexic, honestly. Some of them have a DHD, some of them have a little bit of depression or a little bit of sleep problems. But what we're focused on is people who are really, very, very high functioning overall, regardless of whether they have stuff like that going on. and that they're really aligned to making positive change for all of humanity, for all of the world. Well, yeah. top level people. In corporations, it's top down. So if you have somebody top level, if you help that person, you help everybody in that organization. So this is massive. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. We're looking for the biggest levers that we can pull to help everybody. You know, and just quietly mostly doing our work over here, off to the side is kind of how it's been going for the last 23 years. I've been, partnered with my colleague, in working with brain and and energetics for about 14 years now. we've done a lot of amazing, amazing things together in that way. And, we decided early on in that, that we really needed to focus as far as people that we're working with in person. I love showing up on podcasts like this. I love, there's a tool that we can talk about in a moment that's on the, the website that's a free download. I wanna help as many people as I can. Mm-hmm. Um, I just know that I have to be as strategic as I can be in order to help as many as I can. Mm-hmm. And so. I agree. A lot of that is a lot of the work we're doing. Yeah. So yeah, I know a lot of, because I was in the science field for so long and I met, hundreds and hundreds of brilliant scientists, and many of 'em do, they're either, they either are somewhere on the spectrum or they have a DHD, or they're dyslexic and you can tell by. Just how they move. Like I had a, a really good colleague, good friend of mine, and you, she could never stand still when you talk to her. She'd be weaving like this back and forth. Mm. And you could also tell by her handwriting that she was severely dyslexic. Like my daughter is also severely dyslexic, or she was, before she went through, she went through the Waldorf School in Germany, which kind of Oh, good. Yeah, works the dyslexia out, but she had all the behavior and she was brilliant. So. Mm-hmm. And a lot of them are also on the spectrum because they're mono, a lot of them are mono focused, so they just focus on that one thing rather than being a Renaissance person where they're doing all kinds of things, but they just are mono focused on that one science thing. And so they get to make advances that way. So I wonder what would happen if we dealt with people like that. Yeah, I mean we, we have a lot of folks that have been quite focused, whether it's uh, scientists or we have a good number of MDs that come through our program. Mm-hmm. And they're in an awakening process that says, oh wow. I was trained inside of a very intense mono focus that has a lot to do with pharmaceuticals and things. I don't actually love to be a part of. How do I change that? You know, so we do a lot of helping people to come out of one phase of their career, and one identity into a new one. Because they really do need the kind of like the retooling energetically and neurologically and a strategy because, you know, one of the things that I've seen again and again with it, it could be, a top academic or it could be anybody in the world. They've worked hard to get to where they're at and they don't wanna lose everything. Yeah. So, right. The, so let, let's just focus on one person. What were they before they came into work with you, and then what was the result? How did they change? Yeah. so we, we had a, a woman who exited from a career in tech. She was extremely successful putting together deals that were worth, tens or hundreds of millions of dollars with big name tech companies. And she had stepped aside from all of that, but didn't feel like she was quite done, but she couldn't figure out her what's next. Mm-hmm. And that can be a really comfortable moment. And then she also had quite a lot of, unresolved things from her childhood and adulthood. Traumatic things, difficult relationships with family, and even with some of her friends. And she felt kind of isolated. She felt kind of uncertain. She was doubting how much value she had because she couldn't figure out what to do next, even though she had, you know, done all of this had been quite successful, right? Mm-hmm. And so it was an uncomfortable place and she felt very spiritual, but she didn't feel like she could fully tap into all of that was there. And so it was a frustrating in between. And so, she came through one of our onsite intensive programs and fast forward, we just talked with her a couple of weeks ago. She said, I've changed more in the last six months, 'cause that's how long it's been since she came through, than I had in my entire life up until now. And I feel a deep sense of calm and ease. I have released all of those toxic relationships or reframed them so that they're healthy. Yeah. That's fast in six months. Right. That's a big, it's, that's a big shift. That's really fast. Yeah. Yeah. I went through rapid change and it just took me right off my feet, Right. That's, that's amazing that she came through calm, centered, and. Mm-hmm. Reframing her whole life. Yeah. And, and able. Exactly. And now really clear and able to step into the what's next. Mm-hmm. Um, and being able to choose this second career or expression or however you wanna describe it, from a place of authenticity and alignment and a sense of. Ease or kind of the beauty and the artistry of letting it come rather than trying to make it happen like her old personality would have done in the, in the prior career. She's also had a tremendous amount of physical healing, and I don't know that I can say that that's exactly related to what we did, or if it's that when we relieve stress, our body heals. However her body healed, it's been miraculous. well that's, that's absolutely true. It's what I experience every day with working with my clients is, is as soon as they start to relax and allow the what's next to come through. It takes me longer than an intensive weekend, but it's not, it doesn't take that long. You know, it's like four or five sessions and they've completely changed, but, but their health all improves. Because Right. you've removed, you know, if I look at people energetically, I just see like these blocks there. the, you store your memories in your body and it blocks the flow. Like if it's a bad memory mm-hmm. A memory of an unpleasant event, it gets stored in your body and it, it changes you. And so once that's released, the health just follows. Mm-hmm. So what you do is also making people healthy and longer living. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, I know that it is, and, and we are focused on the whole being, so it would make sense that that's the case. Yeah. Yes. So for someone listening right now feels exhausted, disconnected, and unsure of their next step, what's one simple action they can take today before moving back into alignment and vitality? Or to begin moving there. This is a great, yeah, this is a great question. It is, every journey is made with a single step. Mm-hmm. Right? Every, it always begins with that single step, and every moment is a moment that we can reset ourselves, even if we've known what to do or not to do, and we've done it the other way, we can always come back to love in this moment. And peace and grace for ourselves. And that's not just a thought concept, but actually something we can shift in our body and being. So something that I love to offer as that small step is there's a, I mentioned this before. There's a, a download available on my website, that download is, a three step process that's very simple. It's a very gentle awareness of your own tailbone, awareness of breath, and you actually see, feel, or imagine that breath being drawn through the skin on the inhalation. And then just the watching of how that then changes your perception of yourself, your body, how it changes your breath, the quality of your mind, the thoughts of your mind, and also how it changes the world around you. It's really amazing. I've seen so many huge miracles come from it. So I'm really happy to share that as a very simple first step. Yeah. I'll have that in the show notes so people will be able to, I, I think I have that already. good. Yeah. Yeah, it's very potent. I, I loved. Being in this conversation with you because it was for me a different perspective. the working from the brain outward and being able to, the neuroscience of. Basically healing is what you're, mm-hmm. What you're talking about. I talk about the physics of healing, but basically, you know, when you were talking about the meridians, I remember somebody, some of the doctors used to say, there's no physical anything that. That defines the meridians in the body, but you're able, we're able electronically to trace the electro electromagnetic lines of energy and how energy travels up and down until somebody identified the receptors. I She found all the endorphin receptors and found they aligned along the meridians and that the memories were stored there. So I, I. I loved every time you talk about alignment in the meridians, that's really exciting. So thank you so much Dr. Amy for being here and sharing your wisdom, which was enormous, and I look forward to people really connecting with what you have to offer. Thank you. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, it was a total delight, so thank you so much for coming. This conversation is a powerful reminder that true transformation happens when the brain, the body, and the energy field begin working together again. If this inspired you, be sure to subscribe to my channel and leave a five star or thumbs up rating so others who are ready to break free from their burnout can find the show. When you're ready to bring more harmony and alignment to your relationships, check out my free five step relationship healing protocol at scientifichealer.com forward slash relationship. Thank you for listening to Break Free From the Burnout. Resources and show notes are available at breakfreefromtheburnout.com. Until next time, I'm Dr. Anastasia Chopelas, sending you golden healing light and success vibes to becoming aligned, confident, and prosperous. Your gifts are so needed in this world.