My 13-year-old son, John, was diagnosed with PANDAS after several months of feeling really sick and, while antibiotic treatments were likely helpful, it was very obvious that some serious issues weren’t getting any better.  The scariest of these was PANDAS-related ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder).  John felt nauseated all the time, and developed an overwhelming fear of vomiting and swallowing, to the point where he was losing weight at an alarming rate.  He was constantly tired, had obsessive thoughts, and my normally easygoing kid developed a crippling anxiety that kept him away from friends and the activities he loved.

I cannot say enough about how my life changed while working with Amanda and completing the Lightning Process. 

 The LP fundamentally changed the way that I live my life, and the complete cessation of symptoms was a bi-product of this experience. I consider myself 100% recovered from ME/CFS. 

 The LP made clear to me how my condition developed, how to maintain my newly found recovery, and provided me with the necessary skills to ensure it won't happen again.

Life before the Lightning Process with Amanda…ahhh (big sigh). A time I often reflect on, but do not stay long. What seems so distant and far behind. It was a time I have now left in the past, and I do not plan on going back.

I have always thought of myself as an overall positive person. Overall hopeful, overall joyful. But as life happened and you add a traumatic experience or two, I found myself feeling a little less than positive. I may have shown up with a smile on my face to all my family and friends, but inside I was lost, anxious, and did NOT want to be smiling. But the funny thing about the LP, and talking with Amanda, I figured out a smile isn’t really a smile if my whole body and mind isn’t smiling as well.

After 3 years of treatment for Lyme Disease and toxic mold poisoning (including IV antibiotics, prescription binders, chelation therapy, herbal antimicrobials, infrared saunas, and a whole host of supplements) I couldn’t seem to cross the finish line. I was still struggling with brain fog and an over-reactive nervous system, feeling like I was walking through life surrounded by scary tigers without the brain clarity to find an escape. I had lost my menstrual cycle two years prior and was feeling discouraged about having kids of my own. I consulted with several fertility specialists who were stumped as to how to reinstate my cycle and, instead, offered IVF as my only probable course of conception. My gut told me there had to be another way and I looked within for any sign or message that might show me the way.

Prior to taking the Lightning Process, I felt hopeless. I had been diagnosed with CRPS, a rare neurological disorder, that I had somehow developed in early 2017, and which was made much worse after a needless surgery on my foot in the summer of 2018. The pain had spread from my left foot all the way up my leg, eventually reaching all of my limbs.  Everyday was an immense physical and emotional challenge. I was on the maximum dose of Gabapentin, Low Dose Naltrexone, had undergone an expensive experimental treatment in Italy, ketamine infusions, and many other self-prescribed medications. I couldn’t walk unless I wore a very cushioned, special brand of running sneakers, and I thought it would be that way for the rest of my life –– if I was so lucky.  In short, nothing was helping, and everything seemed bleak. 

When I first heard about the Lightning Process I was healing from a neurological disease, CRPS. I was also suffering from PTSD after a serious car accident  and this was inhibiting my life enormously. I was in great need of help.

In my mind I would see intrusive scenes of the car accident where I suffered a fracture and arterial bleed. This response would happen innately, and cortisol and adrenaline would flow from my subconscious. The list of triggers was getting longer and longer. Light and sound had become my enemies. Seeing the color red would summon an intense emergency stress response, just like when I had self rescued from the vehicle and stopped profuse bleeding. I had so much brain fog that normal activities were a struggle.

My tale of healing begins about a year ago, when I was in an Acting Program in New York. Last time this year, I was in good health and strong, and was doing quite well in a physically and mentally intensive curriculum. I had the energy to stay up late working on scenes and memorizing lines. And then the next day get up early and participate in dance and lecture classes and then proceed to five hours of acting classes. To the world, I was enjoying all of it. Ah, or so it seemed. There was something lurking in the shadows, something that would tap my shoulder when I was completely alone. A single yet horrific thought. I wasn't happy. And moreover, all of the achievements racking up under my belt just seemed to perturb me even more.

In the year following my graduation from college I went from being a college athlete to barely being able to walk around the block, sleep, or concentrate at work. Along with crippling anxiety and depression was a series of unexplained health issues that prevented me from doing basic activities with any joy. The medicines that I was taking were not helping and all of the doctor's tests did not give any results illuminating what was wrong. I was losing hope every day and was feeling stuck.

Hi, my name is Aileen, I’m 14 years old, I’m a Capricorn, I have an adorable puppy dog named Speedy, two amazing siblings, two incredible parents, I love to eat good food, I adore sunrises, I love to ride horses, sing, dance, and I had CRPS that started when I was 12 years old.

When it first manifested I had so many symptoms, I was in a wheelchair, I couldn’t see any light without a big reaction, and I had an immense amount of pain with no release. I felt so broken as I watched everything I loved to do fade away as pain took its place. For a while I just faded away and lost all hope. I tried a lot of treatments that didn’t help me, and I just felt like there would never be a way out for me.

Doing the Lightning Process with Amanda Ashley has completely changed my life. It is absolutely PRICELESS.

Life before the Lightning Process was riddled with anxiety, depression, chronic pain, you name it. And that’s putting it lightly.

Life after the Lightning Process became manageable and even JOYful. I started to experience real, authentic joy, which came from the peace and empowerment I was able to access through doing this program with Amanda.

I suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury at the age of 10 that led to a myriad of health problems, Gastropareisis, PANDAS, Fibromyalgia, Severe Chronic Pain Syndrome, and lots of Anxiety and Depression to name some of diagnoses. I went from a student, and athlete at whatever sport was around in the season, to someone who had to spend all of his teenage years at home in pain. 

After lots of attempts at lots of clinics, neurologists, and psychiatrists, I found success in my physical well being at the Spero Clinic.  But I still needed to regain my mental clarity which I had been searching for this entire journey, and which many doctors told me would never return.  I used to be at the top of my class, and I loved learning!  After my injury the drastic change to my ability to think clearly was maddening.

Down and out??? That was me for 15+ years. In my early 20’s, I contracted the Epstein-Barr Virus and was hit hard. Fatigue, fever and a sore throat you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.  It was a brutal and difficult recovery. Months later I was able to return to school and work. While I wasn’t back to my old self, I felt like I was heading in that direction. Never could I have imagined what would come next...a series of events that were big. And by big, I mean huge.  Over the next three years, I endured the stress of grad school, divorce, moving across the country, starting a new job (one that I ended up hating), learned the house I was renting (and had lived in for over a year at that point) had black mold.

I tried many things and spent lots of money on trying to deal with my sleep issue. I was a real skeptic to the LP, mostly because of the cost and the lack of guarantee of results. I could easily fall asleep but I had problems staying asleep, I would wake up 4-6 times a night.

Well, I am here to report that I sleep really well now. I have more energy, I can do things in the evenings that require an awake brain, that I was not able to do before. I used to have to take a daily nap, I rarely take a nap now! It did not happen all at once for me, I slowly started to get better sleep. Now after about 6 months after taking the LP class and doing the LP daily before going to bed, I have significantly improved sleep.

Ten years with CRPS can change your life completely. It did so with me. The pain had destroyed me inside and out and I was just a shadow of the person I was before. I was still young and I wanted to live my life so badly, but I couldn’t handle the thought of living a long life with CRPS.  That seemed like an endless torture in my eyes.

I was told that the disease was incurable and that my pain would never disappear. Still, I kept trying new treatment options because I knew if I stopped, the little flame of hope inside of me would go out - and so would my reason to keep on living.

I’m penning my Lightning Process story so that what I share may become an inspiration to anyone traveling a similar path. My name is Susan H. and I dodged an opioid addiction, a life full of drugged nothingness and life robbing chronic pain. The Lightning Process played an integral part in my path to drug free wellness.

For seven years I suffered from CRPS, the worst pain known to man. My beliefs, thoughts, and actions all revolved around this crippling disease. I was barely functional, had lost my job, and was just barely surviving. I was on narcotics and nerve pain medications, had a spinal cord stimulator, and was doing numerous things to help cope with the pain and avoid any flares.

I signed up for the Lightning Process with Amanda, not knowing what it really was, only knowing that it had helped people with similar conditions. The workshop is three days long. After the first day I was fully off my medications and my pain was gone during the daytime. Unbelievable! After a month I was sleeping well and feeling great...all the time! By simply changing my beliefs, thoughts, and actions I was able to control my physiology and reverse an incurable disease. The Lightning Process has been a miracle in my life, opening my eyes to the mind-body connection and giving me the tools to control what I once believed to be beyond my control.

My name is Gabriel King, I am a chronic pain veteran of five years and a writer. For those five years of hell, I was in a state of limbo, falling aimlessly into a pit of despair. It was a very hopeless place to be and I soon found myself longing for a way out, a lighthouse to guide me out of the darkness. For me, the Lightning Process was that lighthouse. It was an incredible discovery to learn that I had more control over my body than I realized. This tool is a necessity for those seeking to find victory over chronic pain.

I had the opportunity to learn the Lightning Process with Amanda Ashley a year ago, and it is still something I use daily, sometimes several times a day.  I was treated for CRPS, a rare chronic pain syndrome, and the LP is a technique that I use to 'rewire' the brain, or to create new neuro-pathways.  I left treatment with several 'tools in my bag' to manage pain, but it is the Lightning Process that is my 'go-to'!  Any time I start to feel the slightest hint of CRPS showing it's face, I immediately practice the Lightning Process!

My name is Skylar I’m nineteen years old.  I used to live with Gastroparesis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, CRPS and much more and I took the Lightning Process class several months back.

Before LP I was a genius at unhelpful self talk and being anxious.

My first day of class I was very excited to see that, for one, it’s not my fault that I have become a genius at these things. It was unintentional. That alone was a huge relief for me! It made learning new habits seem easier and more fun.

My brother died suddenly and traumatically in 2016.  The “normal” shock and grief of his death halted my life and months later progressed into a deep depression.  I avoided work. I avoided people.  My self-care routines evaporated.  My business was struggling.  Every aspect of my life was suffering and I was paralyzed.  After a year of watching my finances drain and my physical and emotional health wither, I sought the Lightning Process.