Amanda Mitchell
You want to know more about me?
I’m flattered. Let’s start with my “official”
and long-winded third-person bio…
Amanda’s motto around yoga is, at its essence, “take it off the mat.” She firmly believes in yoga as an opportunity to look yourself in the eyes, see who and where you are, and perhaps learn something that you can take out into your life. This applies both to your physical body and your spiritual or mental experience.
Tuning into the body is a powerful tool, and can be invaluable in navigating life’s mind-focused culture. Physical practice (asana) provides amazing whole-body support, especially when it creates a foundation for movement outside of your practice–i.e., out in your life. Amanda’s classes have a strong alignment focus, while incorporating breath and introspection, and are designed to deepen your understanding of and ability to work with your unique, individual variances. Her style is slow and deliberate, but with a rich attention to detail that will deepen the experience of any student, no matter how long they’ve been practicing.
But yoga is not just an exercise program – it’s a powerful and potent philosophy as well. Amanda believes that exploring the mental and spiritual side of yoga is essential, and incorporates those aspects into every class. Through meditation, brief philosophy explanations, and a large dose of humor, she weaves the mental techniques into the asana practice. Ultimately, she supports you in examining the mind through the lens of the body, and creating more strength and balance in both arenas.
Amanda first came to yoga in 2012, and used her practice to work through an intense mental and emotional life transition. After discovering how strong and flexible yoga made her body, and noticing a distinct shift towards calming her mental chatter, she enrolled in a teacher training program in Arizona, and became a certified RYT-200 in 2013, completing her RYT-500 hour program in 2014. (She recently passed the milestone of 1,000 teaching hours to become an E-RYT-200 in 2018.) After moving to Seattle and teaching for a couple of years, Amanda connected with Richelle of The Yoga Engineer for an anatomy class. Learning in-depth about how to incorporate science, individual anatomy, and the ancient practice of yoga in a clear way sparked a new passion and strongly influenced how and what she teaches today.
Amanda believes in using yoga to nourish yourself and support your growth, starting exactly where you are and taking all of your uniqueness into account. She brings a sense of grace, joy, and authenticity to her teaching, and delights in getting to know her students and in helping them discover and meet their needs. Despite her great love of yoga philosophy and anatomy, and her many years of study in both, she strives to keep her teachings accessible and somewhat irreverent. At the end of the day, if you learn something about yourself and remember to chuckle at the absurdity of it all, she counts it a day well spent.
And for those of you who love credentials, never fear – I’m a perpetual student, too.
I’ve studied closely with Richelle Ricard since 2014, and my style of teaching – deep awareness with minute adjustments – is deeply influenced by her. I’m one of the first generations of Yoga Engineers, essentially given permission to teach her anatomy-focused alignment perspective.
If you don’t know, Yoga Alliance is the closest thing our profession has to regulatory overview. I’ve been registered with them since 2013.
But let’s get to the juicy stuff – why I’m so passionate about teaching all aspects of Yoga: Body, Mind, and Spirit.
Yoga is not – let me repeat, NOT – just about moving your body.
If that’s what got you into it, fantastic. If you love how you feel when moving, great. Moving your body through yoga poses is a favorite pastime of mine, too; keep it up. Please be safe and strong.
However. If you only use Yoga to exercise; if you show up to classes expecting to increase your flexibility and nothing more; if you haven’t taken Yoga off your mat and into your life, well, you are missing out. You have been handed an ancient and beautiful vessel, and you’re using it as a doorstop.
The Yoga that I love – the Yoga that I teach – goes way beyond movement. It asks you to grapple with what it means to be human. It grants a perspective of how insignificant you are, and how indescribably powerful. Yoga defies your identity and calls you to step beyond your limits. It seduces you to grow, and shift, and change – not only yourself, but the world. And it reminds you of the inevitability of death, and invites gracious acceptance of this fact.
I don’t know what brought you here. Humble beginnings can be beautiful. (Heck, I first went to yoga to make my mother happy. We all start somewhere.) But if you’re interested in growing beyond yourself? In learning to speak your truth, and hear your thoughts, and know when your mouth or mind need to shut it? You’ve come to the right place.
Let’s be a starting point to pivot the world. Let’s go inward to explore, and take our findings into every hour of our lives. Yoga can be used to develop critical thinking, increase tolerance, build awareness, and get comfortable with constant growth. Step onto your mat with an open mind, and go a little deeper with me. Let’s see what we can create.