About Me
I have been in the health and wellness industry for almost 20 years. My journey began as a Recreational Therapy student, working in mental health, physical rehabilitation and longterm care. I had a passion for helping individuals improve their quality of life and to find value in what they were doing every single day. However being a military spouse who traveled, both nationally and internationally, I was unable to stay in my field.
So I began my journey of discovering who I am, though I did not realize that was the journey I was on. As a young girl who battled an eating disorder and body dysmorphia, I began learning about healthy eating and exercise habits. This pathway took me to my first Personal Trainer certification. I was definitely a new fish in a big pond. However, I met the challenge and began looking for ways to better myself as a professional.
I trained for marathons, Tough Mudder races, and even a Bodybuilding competition. What I learned was none of these activities fully suited me. They may have been interesting to a small part of me and provided educational growth, but overall the outcomes did not benefit me and left me in worse shape than when I started. I was battling demons of a girl trying to find
who she was. Instead of searching for myself, I was looking for who I was supposed to be by what others found joy in. I was doing it all wrong. However, I did not yet come to that conclusion.
No….No. It happened over a decade later. I then discovered Powerlifting. The stars slowly began to shift. As a powerlifter, I learned that I can only focus on myself. I cannot focus on chasing anyone else, because they are on their own path and pace in their training. I was new…I was just building my strength. My only competition was me. In this moment of my life, I had a small glimpse into the lesson of, “I AM what needed focused on.” (This only took a decade or two, but better late than never).
A couple years later, I decided to take on Massage Therapy training. You see, after coaching and training for a decade, I knew I needed to be able to help my clients even further. What they couldn’t gain through flexibility training, I could support through massage. I went to the Naturopathic Institute of Therapies and Education (NITE). During my training, I learned much more than just the importance of massage therapy and bodywork. I also learned about the holistic approach to health through the use of alternative therapies and techniques to help restore health back into the body, rather than fighting only the disease.
Though training on topics like these have been bastardized in our society, it helped me to understand that a balance of both Western and Eastern techniques may have a multitude of benefits for individuals. This inspired me to further reshape my practice. To not only look at the body as a physical entity, but as a body that is full of energy and chemistry that is interacting with both itself and the surrounding environment. I blended my teachings from personal training, strength training, massage and energy techniques to offer a holistic experience to my clients. It was phenomenal! Who knew you could love what you do and feel fulfilled every single day.
But there was still something missing!
In building my training and therapy practice, I had truly been blessed with amazing clients, referrals and experiences that helped me to grow as an individual and a professional. But during this growth, I still hadn’t found what I was ultimately looking for. What this page on my website is about. Who Is Amanda Fisher.
For years I had devoted myself to building up my skills, networking with others, etc. to be a skilled professional. To have a successful business where I help individuals connect with who they are. During the pandemic, everything changed. During the pandemic, the question became, who am I if everything I had worked so hard for was gone? I became frustrated, angry, depressed, fearful of my future, to the point I shut down, turned off any emotion that may have come up and decided it was best to weather out the storm.
But the storm never ended. Even though I was able to slowly re-open and move forward, I was lost inside. I was defeated. Seriously, one of the hardest times I had ever been through in my life. And then one day I walked into a retreat, on the recommendation of a friend, and the door I was waiting for was KICKED OPEN! No knock, no howdy do…it was KICKED! How was it kicked might you ask?
At the beginning of the retreat, the facilitators put on music and encouraged us all to dance. I closed my eyes and started dancing…moving without fear of judgement, without restrictions or being told how to move, in a group of individuals who I did not know. I began crying…crying to the point that someone had to assist me into a calmer state. It was the first time, in a long time, I allowed a stranger to assist me.
That day I left the retreat knowing I was not in touch with who I truly am. I had numbed myself to the point that I was trying to block off the outside world and just survive. And like many, I thought was doing a good job at it. But let's face it, I was doing a terrible job at it. It was eating me up inside, causing physical ailments and mental exhaustion. I could only play the part for a while longer.
So I signed up for a 9-month long program with the Vitalist Institute in Grand Rapids, MI. My original intent was to get in touch with what I was feeling from my clients and learn ways to help them dive deeper into their healing (Yes, this is outside of me learning who I am, but hey, from my past you see I haven’t exactly dove into addressing myself…yet).
In this program, what I was given was a key. A key to understanding the potential I had within me to help individuals. But to do this, I first had to go on the journey I was asking my clients to go on. And let me tell you…
THAT SHIT IS HARD!
I truly experienced the phrase, if it were easy, everyone would do it. You see, what I didn’t realize is that standing in my way of helping my clients was years, decades of my own learning and conditioning. My perceptions, my experiences, the meanings that I put on outcomes that drove how I reacted to specific topics and/or events. What I didn’t realize, is that I would have to go back and reconnect with the 5-year old Amanda who was abused, the 8-year old Amanda who was manipulated, the 13-year old Amanda who was told she wasn’t good enough, and so on. All of these parts of me, who were packed down deep into my being, needed healed. The emotion that was not expressed during the original event or trauma that was too much to be experienced at that time, needed to be released.
As a 39-/40-year old woman, it was time. With the help of an amazing team, I was guided down a path that allowed me to slowly heal each piece of me. This is when I discovered how the body keeps score. Woven into our bodies are the tales and traumas of our past, and for some the stories of those who came before them. To heal these tales and traumas within us, we must find a path that allows for release.
This was my missing puzzle piece. The use of somatic (body) healing to help release the tales and traumas that no longer serve us and finding the tools and/or resources that help us to live our truest life. One that aligns with who we are meant to be. It is somatic healing that was missing from my practice.
All of these segments of my journey, from a personal trainer, to a powerlifter and coach, to a massage therapist, and finally to my own healing journey, have allowed me to evolve into the Holistic Coach that I am today.
A coach who has the understanding and awareness of the uniqueness of every individual who walks through my door. A coach who has a deeper understanding and appreciation for what a journey can look like, whether an individual is just starting out or if they have a calling to enter into deeper work. I have been there. I am still continuing to do it.
This is my purpose. To help guide individuals along their journey to finding who they are. To help individuals find both their inner and outer strength so that they may fully step into alignment with who the universe, not society, meant for them to be.
