Amy comes from a family history filled with spirituality, teaching, healing and service. Her father was a Christian Minister and social activist for 40+ years. Most of her early childhood memories are of worshiping and watching her parents serve the needy in the local community to third world countries. Her mother is a teacher of Non-violent Communication, cob house builder, social activist, artist and energy healer. Her grandfather and great-grandfather were also Christian Ministers. She has aunts who are teachers, intuitive healers and even an astrologer. Amy's family valued travel and showed her the world even before she left high-school. It is no wonder that she has a love of spirituality, education, travel, and helping people to heal through yoga.
Amy began her love of the mind-body relationship in college when she studied Health Promotion for her B.A. and M.A. When studying Health Promotion Amy learned about the pathology of illness, the anatomy of the human body, kinesthetic actions of each muscle group and the biomechanics of human movement. It was during this time that she ran competitive track-and field for her university and discovered the potency of the human mind and the ability to focus the mind to achieve goals. She quickly discovered Sport Psychology and began applying the principles to her life. The mental discipline she learned in sport was the foundation for her love of yoga as a mental discipline many years later.
After completing her M.A. Amy went on to work as the Director of a Hospital Wellness Program in Chicago, and at the same time graduated from university with a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in Sport Psychology. In getting her degree as an Educational Psychologist she studied how to create the environment in which students are best able to learn. These educational teaching skills are a key to her success as a Yoga Educator. Amy was also trained in psychological counseling skills during her Ph.D. program. These counseling skills help her to understand how to appropriately deal with the personal problems and the celebrations of her students who seek personal growth and healing.
In the 1990's Amy became a Sport Psychology Consultant for many Olympic level and professional sport teams and individual athletes. She traveled worldwide to provide these services until she discovered that she could do similar work through teaching yoga right at home. Just as athletes seek to mend their minds and bodies, so does the average person who is hoping to live a meaningful life. Amy studied yoga for many years before she actually gave up her work as a Sport Psychology Consultant. In 2001 she decided to go to the source of modern yoga as we know it, the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM). Amy took this first trip to the KYM in Chennai, India and met the teacher who would later become her mentor, Kausthub Desikachar.
Amy now studies with her teacher, Kausthub Desikachar, 6-8 weeks per year, on average. Kausthub comes from India to teach in the United States several times per year. Amy also travels to Europe and India to learn the teachings so that she can bring them to her students in the west. This is how yoga was originally taught, from teacher to student in an oral tradition. Amy's yoga education includes large group classes with Kausthub and his father T.K.V. Desikachar, small group workshops and seminars with Kausthub, Sri Desikachar and colleagues. But the heart of the teachings are taught by Kausthub one-on-one and during private yoga therapy sessions with Kausthub for her personal growth and healing. It is important to note that Amy studies yoga as it applies to others (Yoga Sutras, Yoga Therapy, Functional Yoga for groups). However, consistent with the origins or yoga, she also receives yoga therapy from her teacher. In this way she continues to grow and learn, with the hope of helping others do the same.
Amy has recently become quite interested in studying Non-violent Communication as a form of connecting with others on a heart level, and also communicating in a way that supports and nurtures the relationship. Non-violent Communication teaches how to speak truth in an authentic, transparent and clear way that meets the needs of both parties involved. It corresponds to Ashtanga Yoga (8 Limbs of Yoga), specifically the Yama called Satyam. Satyam is said to be "speaking the truth with kindness". The principles of Non-violent Communication are ones that Amy will need a lifetime to study and practice. T. Krishnamacharya said that our personal relationships are the barometer by which we can measure the success of our yoga practice.