Amanda Oden
Clinical Games for Inner Peace: One Simple Shift at a Time, creator and author.
Associate Member
Member Since: 2025
Original Join Date: 2025
Professional Bio
Amanda (Corliss) Oden, DVM
Creator of Clinical Games for Inner Peace: One Simple Shift at a Time
After more than 35 years as a veterinarian, I discovered that the exam room was teaching me far more than medicine.
It was teaching me how to remain grounded in the face of difficult clients, uncertainty, unexpected outcomes, mistakes, and stress. It was, in fact, a spiritual curriculum for personal growth—a hidden curriculum that exists alongside the technical practice of medicine.
Like actors who play unseen games to stay present and engaged during a long run of performances, I began experimenting with simple mental and spiritual "games" of my own: small shifts in perspective that transformed my experience of clinical practice.
Entering the tiny stage of the exam room every 15 to 20 minutes, day after day and year after year, these practices opened an entirely new dimension of the work.
Over time, they helped me cultivate greater peace, resilience, connection, and presence—not after work, but during the work itself.
Today, through speaking, writing, coaching, and educational programs, I share what the exam room taught me with clinicians who want to experience more meaning, well-being, and inner peace in the midst of everyday practice.
I believe clinicians don't always need more time, more training, or a different job.
Sometimes, one simple shift changes everything.
Creator of Clinical Games for Inner Peace: One Simple Shift at a Time
After more than 35 years as a veterinarian, I discovered that the exam room was teaching me far more than medicine.
It was teaching me how to remain grounded in the face of difficult clients, uncertainty, unexpected outcomes, mistakes, and stress. It was, in fact, a spiritual curriculum for personal growth—a hidden curriculum that exists alongside the technical practice of medicine.
Like actors who play unseen games to stay present and engaged during a long run of performances, I began experimenting with simple mental and spiritual "games" of my own: small shifts in perspective that transformed my experience of clinical practice.
Entering the tiny stage of the exam room every 15 to 20 minutes, day after day and year after year, these practices opened an entirely new dimension of the work.
Over time, they helped me cultivate greater peace, resilience, connection, and presence—not after work, but during the work itself.
Today, through speaking, writing, coaching, and educational programs, I share what the exam room taught me with clinicians who want to experience more meaning, well-being, and inner peace in the midst of everyday practice.
I believe clinicians don't always need more time, more training, or a different job.
Sometimes, one simple shift changes everything.
Animals Seen
Dog, Feline
Languages Spoken
English, French, German