Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Bergen County
Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Ep # 145 Inside Amplify Holistic Healing With Cheri-Ann Santini
What if you could stop piecing your wellness together and finally feel held from start to finish? We sit with Cheri-Ann Santini, founder of Amplify Holistic Healing in Closter, NJ, to explore a one-stop approach that blends yoga, sound healing, Reiki, hypnotherapy, and coaching into a single, coherent session. Instead of retelling your story to five practitioners, you set an intention once and move through a tailored arc that helps your body downshift, process what is stuck, and integrate real change.
Cheri-Ann shares how a love for yoga grew into a broader toolkit as students asked for deeper support. She explains Reiki in grounded terms—as a channel that amplifies the client’s own healing intent—and recalls a knee pain experience that made the practice visceral and clear. We dig into breathwork for anxiety, movement for resetting the nervous system, and sound healing for accessing parasympathetic calm when meditation feels slippery. The throughline is safety: when people feel seen and held, the mind softens its grip and the body finally exhales.
We also get candid about entrepreneurship in the wellness space. Passion opens the door, but discipline keeps the practice alive. From marketing to boundaries to showing up on the days you do not feel like it, we unpack the grit behind the glow. There is a lively detour into cultural attitudes toward risk, why American trial-and-error can accelerate growth, and how to pair boldness with a simple plan you can execute. If you are a stressed professional, an anxious teen, a burned‑out parent, or a founder wrestling the roller coaster, this conversation offers practical steps and a reminder that resistance can be a compass.
Ready to feel lighter and more present? Listen now, then subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a quick review to help more neighbors discover the show.
Amplify Holistic Healing
Cheri-Ann Santini
84 Herbert Ave bldg a suite 108, Closter, NJ 07624, USA
hello@amplifyholistichealing.com
amplifyholistichealing.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Doug Drohan:Hey everyone, how are how are you? This is Doug from Bergen Neighbors Media Group, and I am the host of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today we are joined by Cheri-Ann the owner of Amplify Holistic Cheri-Ann, welcome to the show.
Cheri-Ann Santini:Hi, Doug. Thanks for having me.
Doug Drohan:So before we we uh went on air, so to speak, we learned that you were down the street from me. You're in close to New Jersey, and that's also where your studio is. And uh we grew up near each other because I grew up in Long Island and you grew up in um actually, no, we didn't grow up near each other because you grew up in South Africa, but uh not not quite the same.
Cheri-Ann Santini:So uh so we can see the beach, so yeah, that's there you go.
Doug Drohan:There you go. I grew up near the water, so did you just different types of uh ocean. Yeah, so Amplify Holistic Healing. So tell us a little bit about what that experience is all about.
Cheri-Ann Santini:So Amplify Holistic Healing um was born out of something that I was really searching for for a really long time. I have been looking for a place uh where I could get multiple alternative healing modalities in one place. Um, you know, in the past, people had this idea that healing is really linear, and I don't agree with that at all. I see it every single day where healing within the body happens through movement, through sound, through Reiki. It's all these various disciplines coming together that help you on your journey of healing. So in the past, when I was looking and on my own healing journey, I would find one person doing Reiki, another one doing yoga, and I would have to go see three to four, five different people. Not only was it extremely um time consuming, it was expensive, and it was in this need for myself, really, that I was just like, this is unsustainable. I I've been collecting and doing all these modalities for years. I'm gonna open up this space. Naturally, as a yoga teacher, people open up and speak to me, and this happened many, many years ago. So I decided to um get my life coaching certification. Then I did Reiki, hypnotherapy, sound healing. Sound healing has been with me the longest. Um, before sound healing was a thing out here, and I now incorporate all of those things in one session. Now, we uh if you were to visit me, Doug, at my studio and you say to me, we'll sit down, we'll have a little uh bit of talk therapy, and then because everyone comes with something obviously that they'd love to work through. We'd have some talk therapy, and then together you and I would decide what course of action is best. Uh, you know, you could be like, Sherry, I really feel like I need a hypnotherapy session to work through these things and um to close up with some Reiki for integration. Whatever, it could be Sherry. Today I want movement and then sound healing and Reiki to close off the experience. So within one hour to an hour 30 with me, we would do up to three different modalities, you know. So it's a really full, well-packaged um offering without having to go see three, four, five different people and just having to retell your story over and over again. Yeah, people ask me what I do, and I immediately, without thinking, I always answer and I say, I hold space for people. Okay. You come see me, you are safe. I hold that space for you. And whatever we need to work through, we work through it together in a very robust, full manner.
Doug Drohan:So, can you explain what Reiki is?
Cheri-Ann Santini:Oh, absolutely, yes. So, Reiki is the energy that we work with of everything around us, right? Now, I like to preface this by saying that you are your own healer, in that if you believe that you cannot be healed, then you won't be.
Doug Drohan:Right, right.
Cheri-Ann Santini:Right. So I've actually um turned on working with some people because they they walk into it with this mindset of, well, prove to me, I don't have to prove anything to you. If you're really coming in with this skeptical mindset, you know, come see me when you're ready, you know, but maybe not today. Um, I basically just act as a conduit of this energy. And this is why I name my business Amplify, because I take the energy that you're seeking and that you need for healing, and I become a channel and help amplify that energy and direct it to where it needs to go. I'm not healing you, I'm simply calling in the energy that you are yourself trying to pull in to heal your own body. I just come in and I amplify it. Before session, I don't eat some days. I don't eat at all. I just love to be a very clear, open channel for whomever I'm working with. Yeah, and um, Reiki is a lot more in-depth in that we um open up energy spaces and feels through symbols and healing symbols, and it's just very, very beautiful. It's a very beautiful practice. I my very first Reiki experience, I um was sitting with my mentor and um my Reiki master teacher, and um just before going to see her earlier that day, I injured myself, my knee, and I could could barely walk on it. And I went to sit down with her, and she had no idea that I had this much pain. And she did Reiki on me, and she came down to my knee, and I felt this heat, this intense heat of my knee. And at the end of it, I said to her, I felt this, and she just smiled and she was like, Well, it means it's working, okay, good, you know, blah, whatever, moving on. Okay, I leave and I live 10 minutes from her. On the way home, I start like my knees start feeling better already. And I get home and I say to my husband, I don't have any pain in my knee. This is crazy. It's like 10 minutes later. Not only did I not have any more pain, I've always had problematic knees because I ran my whole life. It felt like she reset that knee to factory settings. Wow, I know. And I was just like, if if I needed to like really be a believer in Reiki, like that was my own personal moment and experience with it. And I was just like, Whew, what is this? I need to know everything, I need to learn everything, and I did.
Doug Drohan:So let's let's go back there then. So your um your journey to where you are now, right? I mean, we started off just talking about your business, but how did you and you grew up in South Africa and you had this burning desire to live in New Jersey? Um but yeah, so like what like uh your experience, like how did you get in? Was yoga the first kind of modality? Uh, or were you a life coach first? Like, why why do you do what you do? Like, how did you get to here?
Cheri-Ann Santini:Yoga, uh yes, um, very good question. Yoga was definitely the first um of everything that came along. I never intended to be a yoga teacher. My first yoga class I took, oh my goodness, like uh 16 years ago. And uh from the very first time, I fell hopelessly in love with the practice. Didn't know what I was doing. I couldn't touch my toes. I was a runner, I was gonna slide and then I um wanted to know everything. I'm I'm just this way inclined. I need to know everything that the I could possibly know about a thing that I'm in love with. Guitar is uh is that for me right now. And um I then went and I took a teacher training, and I progressed really fast in yoga before the teacher training because I was just obsessed with it. And then I did my teacher training because I wanted to know everything there was to know about the philosophy of yoga, okay, and then um the opportunity opened up for me to teach, and someone said, You'd be the dream on my dream team if you could teach for me. And I was like, sure, I'll give it a shot. And it's not a knack for it. So it started there, but then people started. Um, and through the yoga teacher teacher training, I learned sound, I heard learned all these things. Then um, as time progressed, people naturally open up to you out of yoga after yoga. I started doing one-on-one yoga with people, private yoga, and um the natural next step was for me to you know become a life coach so that I could come and help people from um a deeper, better understanding, you know, give them some proper guidance per se, you know, rather than me just freewheeling it, I could really help people. I have that responsibility, I felt like so I did. I became a life coach. And as time passed, I then um added Reiki to it as well and hypnotherapy, and um, it was during this time that Amplify was starting to uh form inside of my head, and it was just time, yes.
Doug Drohan:Wow, wow. So when did you uh come to the states?
Cheri-Ann Santini:I came to the states in 2006, okay, yes.
Doug Drohan:And uh well, so I mean, what has the um what's that a long time ago, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Uh what has the like experience been of owning your own business? You know, like you go out on your own, and obviously you're driven by this passion to help people. Um but you know, I always say, like when I went off on my own, that um there's a lot of attractive things about being your own boss. Um, but with great power comes great responsibilities.
Cheri-Ann Santini:Hey there, Spider-Man.
Doug Drohan:Spider-Man, yeah. And uh, you know, there's a lot you have to earn to enjoy the fruits of being a business owner, and there's a lot of things that go along with it that could be a roller coaster. So um, what has your experience been like? And if you don't mind, is there any advice you could give to anyone, whether they're in the um, you know, say the health and wellness space that you're in or any kind of job, any kind of vertical?
Cheri-Ann Santini:I feel like you're absolutely right in saying that, you know, um, in quoting Spider-Man there, um, you know, it does take a lot of responsibility in opening up your own business, obviously. I feel that it was just number one, I as much as I love working, helping other people out, I was never satisfied in just being that part of the puzzle for somebody else. Yeah, you understand? I needed, I always knew that I would do my own thing and um build my own thing. It takes a lot of discipline. And you know, I am very free-spirited and I don't like necessarily enjoy conforming. So this is my daily struggle, but my daily struggle always turns out to be my biggest blessing when I sit down and I pull focus and I um show that discipline, right? Yeah, um, practice that discipline. For those looking to get into the wellness space, um I often say this to people, you know, you if your heart's calling is really there and you really have an appetite for it, for to trust that things are going to work out in your favor no matter what. It's a little you're gonna be a little bit delusional, you know. It's like, yeah, everyone wants what I have to offer, right? Right, and um, believe it. Yeah, um, if you have the stomach with that to not know what's going to happen next, yeah, freaking go for it. Go for it. What were you waiting for? Yeah, you know, it's like what's the worst that's gonna happen? It's not gonna work out. Yeah, too, too bad.
Doug Drohan:Yeah, I mean, listen, there's a bit of a you know, you have to be a bit of a risk taker, maybe in in some some ways to be, you know, some people don't like to fly without a net. They need that security, that that steady paycheck, even though there's not no guarantees with that either. Yeah, so many of us have been through that. But um, no, it's interesting. I um, you know, as you were saying that, I I just thought of um, you know, there's just there's a lot of unknowns. And um, but when I was uh I think I was talking before we came on air, I was in Europe this weekend and uh I was sitting with friends from from different countries in Europe and they were asking me, what's going on in America, man, you know? And uh so there was a lot of concern about things that are going on here, um, and you know, whatever, uh, you know, how Europeans view us now as they might have viewed us a generation ago. And I said, But the one thing that's it's good about America, not the one thing, but one thing that I did highlight, and using my experience as a as an example, is that in America, you're encouraged in a lot of ways to take risks. I mean, there's so much opportunity to be creative and reinvent yourself. And if you fail, it's okay. And I think you know, the reason why Silicon Valley and a lot of things that are have come out of America, it's because of our culture of creativity and and being able to try and fail and try again. And maybe some other countries they don't, it's not as encouraged. And you might be able to speak of this from I don't know what South Africa is like, but certainly in Germany and some other countries, it might be a little bit more conservative, where you don't take those risks because it's it's just not in their DNA. Whereas in America, it's more in our DNA, and a lot of generations of families grow up with that.
Cheri-Ann Santini:Africa's pretty conservative in that way too. It's like you have to find your profession and stick with it for the rest of your life, regardless of your passions, you know. And I I think that you know, if you're really truly passionate about something and your resilience and you know false falling over, you're stabbing your toe, falling over doesn't scare you, yeah. And you're just gonna roll in the dirt. Um I mean, pick yourself up. If you have that inside of you, then um go for it. You know, I can't think of um anything more tragic, Doug, than to see the line and just like watch it from a distance without actually trying to cross that line. You know, like I'm really speaking from a heart. Yeah, I just I if this resonates with anybody hearing it, hearing what I have to say right now, we have this one life. This one life. I believe that if you are dreaming about a certain something in your head, there's it's been put in your mind for a reason.
Doug Drohan:Right.
Cheri-Ann Santini:Have the ability to see that dream through, it wouldn't be with you otherwise. You know, we just need to find the courage within to be able to step forth and make those moves, make those moves, yeah.
Doug Drohan:Yeah, uh, you know, it's funny. I was in the airport yesterday, and when you um come into the airport, there is uh uh this New Jersey Hall of Fame kind of list of all these famous New Jersey people.
Speaker 4:Are you on it?
Doug Drohan:Are you on that Hall of Fame? Yeah, you know, Jack Nicholson Jack Nicholson, uh Susan Sarandon, but Susan Sarandon, you know, Albert Einstein, even though he wasn't born here, but famous guy from Jersey and Christopher Reeves and so many others. And there was a quote, and I'm trying to find it, but it was kind of like along the lines of what you're saying, um about you know having a dream and following it. But yeah, there's also you know, the risk, like, and this is something that I heard somebody say the the worst advice you can give a graduate, whether it's high school or it's a college graduate, is you know, when they ask you, what's the one key to your success? And they say, follow your passion. And you know, a lot of people, uh, you could say, was that tax attorney passionate, or that was that accountant, you know, who's really successful, passionate about accounting. Yeah, and maybe they didn't wake up one day and say, I love it, but you know, you you work at something, and if you dedicate yourself to it, then you might find that that's your niche, and then you do develop a passion. Yes, but having a passion is not enough if you don't have grit. Yeah, I think that's what I'm getting at is like a lot of people like we were saying, Oh, yeah, I want to own my own business, I want to own a yoga studio, I want to do that, but how many of them fail? And I meet so many business owners and so many new businesses, and when I walk out of our meeting, I realize why so many people fail in business. And um, they might have a passion, but they don't have a plan. Yeah, or you know, in the words I I quote a lot of people, but like Tyson, uh, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Yeah, and when you start your own business, you get punched in the mouth a lot.
Cheri-Ann Santini:There's a lot of it's very unsexy behind the scenes, yeah.
Doug Drohan:Yeah, exactly.
Cheri-Ann Santini:Everybody sees the the glory, but they don't see how you rolled up your sleeves every day and they don't see the tears, the things in between, you know, what it took to get there. Um yeah, and you know, I for me that is like when I look back on it, it's it's like it plays like a beautiful little you see. I'm gonna make everything beautiful. Like I'll look back on it, it's like I look back at this beautiful reel that plays on my struggle, my journey to get where I'm at, and it's got beautiful music over it, you know. I look back on it fondly, even though I think a lot of people would be like, um, oh hell no, like that's not for me. She went through too much to get there. Like, I would want to have someone pay a steady paycheck every month, take care of my health insurance, you know. Yeah, no, I um I guess uh I didn't choose this life, it chose me.
Doug Drohan:So um, so who's who's a good um I'll call client or patient? Like who is coming to you? Like if I'm uh you know, somebody's in pain, like you, obviously, your first experience was knee pain, but yeah, you know, you do things like mindfulness, like here we are, we're in Bergen County. Yes, we deal with a lot of people that are in high stress careers or just raising a family, yes, going to all these sporting events with your kids and spending all the money on club sports and all these other things. Um is your, if I could say, typical or ideal client, the person that's gonna come to you for uh in a number of different modalities. So maybe they like I've taken mindfulness classes, right? And a friend of mine is is dealing with uh cancer right now, and she said that meditation really works for her. And then her friend, our friend, these are my friends that I was with in Munich this weekend. She teaches yoga, and I said, Yeah, you know, I've tried um meditation, but she's like, What do you mean tried? And and I said, No, you're right, because I I hate that word. Oh, I tried, no, you either do it or you don't. Yeah, and the point is, I did try it, but I my mind goes off in different directions, and I've taken mindfulness classes before. So getting back to my question because I'm like blabbering on. I know I like learning. I want to get to the point of like, who you who do you help? Like, who if I'm listening to this, yes. Uh who's an ideal client for you if if there could be such a person?
Cheri-Ann Santini:I um right now I am seeing people across the age spectrum.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Cheri-Ann Santini:From young people dealing with anxiety. Uh I was teaching someone how to breathe breathe again. You know.
Doug Drohan:Okay.
Cheri-Ann Santini:Uh it's so it sounds so silly, but it's so important to know how to connect with your breath and yourself again to help keep anxieties at bay to strengthen the mind as well in that process. I see a lot of um people coming to male and female for hypnotherapy to help heal hypnotherapy and Reiki, to help heal past hurts that may have stopped them on their journey from fulfilling their highest potential or a block happened in their life, and they want to revisit that or release it. So I see a lot of people come in for that. I have others coming in to see me for movement, um, yoga one-on-one. And I offer movement and sound healing. Um that package together is very powerful. Yoga, sound healing, and reiki. That when nobody when I teach a community class, when I'm done in my class, Doug, nobody gets up.
Speaker 4:Really?
Cheri-Ann Santini:Everyone just lays there and I hold space with them until they're feel they're ready to move again.
Speaker 4:Wow.
Cheri-Ann Santini:It's a very, very powerful offering. So I have I have the housewife coming to see me, you know. Um, I have businessmen and businesswomen coming to see me. Okay, I have kids coming to see me. I have it's not just one person. We all have something that we feel we need a little bit of hand holding with. We need someone to love on us, to hold us, to hold space for us, and to be in a place where we're safe, and that in that safety we could begin to bloom again. Yeah, you know. Um, think about it. What places offer you that? Yeah, not a yoga studio. I love my yoga studios locally, each and every one of them, but not one yoga studio, not Yomasus, not any, you know, right. Where I really, and it breaks my heart, like I really I feel the sadness come over me right now. What we're really dealing with that I see a lot is loneliness. There's so much loneliness. People that are surrounded by people every single day, and they are feeling like they're alone, yeah, and that breaks my heart. And I see and work with that daily, and you know, if you just need a space to rest your head for an hour, I wish I wish I had uh background music going right now because we got it is just uh people walk away from me like they always hear this a lot. I feel so much lighter, I can breathe again. I feel like I'm coming back to myself, I'm getting used. I feel like I'm back to myself, and I always just want people to move toward their most authentic self because when you are operating from that space, when you're honest with yourself, you could serve people around you in the best, best way. Whereas previously, if you're operating from a space where you really closed or forget it, like it's not coming through, you're unable to help people.
Doug Drohan:That's great, that's great.
Cheri-Ann Santini:Oh my god, yeah, I could that's amazing.
Doug Drohan:Um, so how would people get in touch with you? Like, what's the best way to reach you?
Cheri-Ann Santini:I feel like Google My Name, uh Cheri-Ann Santini, amplify her list to healing. You'll find me on Instagram. You'd find me through my website. My website and Instagram uh has a lot of information about what it is that I do. I try to keep it current with events, workshops that I'm having, um, new offerings, where I'm doing community classes. Try, try it. If you're unsure, this you like this is not for me, it's for you. It's for me. Give it a shot. You know, there's sometimes what shows up in life, and I speak about a lot, is resistance. If you have that resistance to anything, it means you need to move even quicker toward that point because the ego stops you from growing your true self, it's gonna keep you comfortable and it lies to you. So in the moment you hit resistance, step a little closer and faster toward that one thing that's being resistance your way. Yeah, yeah.
Doug Drohan:Wow, that's amazing. Well, Cheri-Ann, I really appreciate you joining us. Um, this was amazing.
Speaker 4:Exactly, thanks.
Doug Drohan:And uh yeah, so we're gonna um just have Chuck say goodbye, and uh you and I'll be right back.
Cheri-Ann Santini:Sure thing.
Doug Drohan:All right, and and just you know, you said Shari Ann, it's spelt C-H-E-R-I, hyphen an n Santini, Cheri-Ann Santini, based in Cloister, New Jersey.
Cheri-Ann Santini:That's right. Thank you so much, Chuck.
Intro/Close:Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbergen.com. That's gnpbergen.com or call 201 298 8325.