who am i?

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hey, you beautiful thing. thanks for coming to say hi.

i'm amanda. i'm a santa monica-based yoga teacher, hailing from the good ol' garden state of new jersey - hence the extra dose of feisty.

 

i found yoga the same way most people do: i wanted a workout, preferably one i wouldn't get bored of and eventually abandon. i started practicing during a really toxic time in my life - a time when i was scattered and a little bit broken. while confident on the exterior, i was battling mountains of self-doubt, low self-esteem, and poor body image. to put it more simply, i was being really, really mean to myself.
i'll be honest: i first came to yoga to get what the media tells us is a "yoga body". i wasn't happy with how i looked, so i identified a look i did want, and expected some sort of total body transformation.
so i practiced, and practiced, and practiced more...but only ever in the physical sense. i was cautious of dipping too deep into the pool of those hippy, crunchy, granola yogis. i resisted pranayama, i resisted meditation, i resisted taking an honest look at myself in totality. in that resistance, i struggled.
somewhere along the way (thanks to a few incredible teachers) i started to connect with the practice. i gave myself permission to go inward and began to very slowly explore beyond physical asana...and somehow, i started to feel more like myself than i ever had before.
 i started to shed my anxieties. i let go of the expectations i placed on myself to be or look a certain way. i started to settle into who i am at my core. for the first time in my life, i actually began to connect with my body - and started to really, really love myself - from the inside out.
the lightbulb went on: yoga isn't just physical. it's a mind-body journey that requires patience, awareness, and a whole lot of self-love. i started to get it.
does that mean i suddenly became this fully realized, all-knowing being? does it mean i'm happy and blissful 24/7? hell no. it just means that i've become more comfortable exploring the light and dark that lives within me. i'm getting more comfortable sitting in struggle, i'm learning to love myself, and i'm definitely going to crack a joke or two on the way.
i want to help you experience all of this, too. the good and the bad. the light and the dark. the crazy-beautiful growth, and all of the self-love that comes along with it.
-A