Meet Amelia Kauffman | Owner of Selkskin Nutrition and Food Justice Advocate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amelia Kauffman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amelia, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Food justice is a core value at Selkskin Nutrition. My nutrition work in Colorado is greatly inspired by The GrowHaus in Denver. They say “Healthy food is a right, not a privilege“ This is my philosophy as well.

I am also in support of Ali Duncan of Urban Sanctuary a non-profit in Denver, Colorado. She is a yoga instructor who incorporates social justice into every fiber of her healing work. Healing and social justice cannot be separated.

My approach to Nutrition is Chinese medicine inspired. Bring who you are to the table each day and to each nutrition session with me. I want you to be able to cook the food from where you grew up (if that’s in your heart). We will not take the flavor, your roots, or who you are out of the food. We can use local, healthy ingredients and keep the value of your ancestral knowledge intact.

I believe we help the world by knowing and healing ourselves. My tai chi/yoga/meditation/prayer practice is sacred to me and I do it daily. I invite my clients to develop a daily solo practice as well. I look to my solo practice as an honest, daily mirror. Below is my approach to yoga/tai chi/movement.
“…The practice of yoga that leaves no dimension of the self behind.”

My clinic is open to all. “If somebody comes into my clinic and talks about any ethnic group in a disparaging way, I cannot NOT see it as a disease. Any treatment I give is going to necessarily be political.” ~ Lonny Jarrett
Healing and discrimination contradict each other. We need to heal injustice to heal any disease. That gives me chills. I think that’s exceptional.

Taking care of ourselves is direct social action. This is how my business helps the community and the world.

Another incredible support and inspiration in my life is the Immunity Boosting Cycling Club (IBCC). This amazing group is open to anyone who want to see health that is accessible to all. We encourage health to be at the center of cycling with a focus on diversity, inclusivity, and small business growth.
Text me at 720-722-0094 to learn more or to come to one of our events!

I am also part of The Living Needle program with Perfect Pair 4 Balance. Check out the links below to learn more.

https://www.perfectpair4balance.com

https://foodboxes.thegrowhaus.org/summary.php?go=products&cat=67&12

https://usdenver.com/

http://www.selkskin.com

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Selkskin nutrition has health and social justice at the core. I am most excited about integrating Chinese medicine, social justice, and health for all. I am proud to be a part of a community that also works for this daily. The practitioners and community I work with make my clinic so special. When I don’t have the answers, I have a referral network I trust implicitly. And by working together, people heal.
I got to where I am today with the support of a community, my family, and the resources I am privileged to have. I went to Naropa University and my health journey started young with my parents growing their own food, building their own home, and taking care of the land.
To be honest, what’s helped me to overcome the challenges has been my own healing work with the practitioners I mentioned above. I would never ask a client to do something that I wouldn’t do myself. This means that I work to release negative and physical blockages, I have a self-care routine that is consistent, I enjoy cold-pressed vegetable juice daily as well as eat well for my constitution and body. I “do the work“. I am committed and willing to engage with my spiritual practice daily which encourages me to face myself and where I need to grow. I have a community that supports me when I need help. I have learned to ask for help. I have learned I’m not expected to know everything. I am a specialist in my field and the best thing I can do for a client to say, “I don’t know, let’s ask this practitioner in my network.“ Playing in nature and having adventures frees and brings peace to the soul. Without Mother Nature, all of this would be for not. So I play! I remember my joy. I sing and make music. I go on adventures.

I have learned the work ethic of my family is an incredible gift and it’s also important as a working-class woman who has built a company to learn when to stop and have fun. Work-life balance for an entrepreneur is a constant practice. We only have one body and one life. If we burn ourselves out, that’s it. I am committed to my health so that health and social justice for all can continue to grow and get stronger. As I continue to grow and get stronger.

I want the world to know I am committed to this 100%. I will continue to do the work. I will stay the course! And if you show up and commit to yourself, you can manifest all of the goals you have in your heart right now.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
What a fun question! We would take a long weekend camping trip to Valley View Hot Springs in the San Juan Valley, Colorado. We go to Estes Park, see the elk, hike, and be in nature. We would go out to eat on Pearl Street in Boulder and enjoy healthy food at Shine restaurant. We would eat a charcuterie plate at Cured and drink Boxcar coffee or tea as we stroll. These mountains are so life-giving!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to give a huge shout-out to Soha and Sentwali of Perfect Pair 4 Balance in Boulder Colorado. Soha is leading facilitating The Living Needle program that I am a part of. They constantly encourage the work of social justice and health, together. That they’re inseparable. I am so grateful for them! Please check out more information on the free, virtual retreat starting Monday, 6/7/21 in the link below. https://www.perfectpair4balance.com/meridian-activation-protocol

Website: http://www.selkskin.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/selkskin/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amelia-kauffman-74b59333/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/selkskin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/selkskin/services/?ref=page_internal

Image Credits
Shannon Milling