About Amber: In the Restaurant
(see below for more on my personal spiritual journey and teaching information).
A little history:
My three favorite places to be have always been in the kitchen, in nature, or living in ritual. Through 20+ years of hands on restaurant experience in many capacities; front of house, working in Kalani Eco-Resort’s kitchen (Big Island, HI), creating local organic meals for retreat participants, catering events, hosting Sutra Farm dinners, co-creating Sutra’s dining experience, creating herbal tonic and elixir menus, I’ve come to adore every aspect of the process. I’ve studied whole foods cooking at Bastyr, ayurvedic cooking, and have a special interest in dietary needs and restrictions. My most satisfying endeavor is creating beautiful meals at home for my family (and sneaking all sorts of veggies and wild foods into our 3 kids’ diets!).
In the Mana Kitchen:
I love creating unique medicinal botanical tinctures and non-alcoholic elixirs and tonics to pair with food. I’ll be serving up these unique very low (or no) sugar drinks and curating a wine list with boutique style, purely sustainable wines to pair with dinner. I’ll also be collaborating with the front of the house staff to create a meaningful and memorable dining experience starting with setting a paid pre-shift meditation for staff to set up a beautiful inner and outer environment and growing tons of herbs and flowers for Mana. I’ve also got a few special secrets to be kept for the dining experience.
What I love most about dining:
I love all the subtle aspects that support every meal and gathering. I’m super interested in the uniqueness of the container created for each experience. What the weather was like for a particular vegetable or herbs life, what they need and how that expresses itself. If it was farmed or wild harvested, what the people were like that were caring for it. If it was me, what state of being was I in through its life. What the land where things grow is like. If it was wild, how was the energy of the Wild calling awareness toward itself. How is the food, drink, experience honored and how does it create beauty for what’s to come.
Yoga, Meditation, Shamanic Practice Journey
From a very young age, I spent much of my time turned inward. I craved silence and stillness. Although I loved school, socializing, and playing, something was consistently magnetizing me inward. What I found there, was an amazing and vast inner sanctuary in which I could access deep source and hear the call of my own purpose and I began to develop an evolving navigational system of the inside world.
There has always been a deep knowing in me of the connection to divine source, love, and protection. I’ve been offered so many opportunities that created enough of a stirring of the soul for me to continue to strengthen my own understanding and relationship to the Great Mystery; it's no surprise that for the last 20 years, my life work has been to explore, learn, and to become a translator of the sacred formless as it expresses itself uniquely through each of us.
What I most hope to bring through my work, is a safe container to explore these deep realms of the soul. To offer a hand in helping you to access your own beautiful inner sanctuary. We all have allies of support and wisdom that we can only access by spending the time going inward. My purpose is to help you attune and engage with yours.
I love to flow consciously and creatively in a physical class, honoring the physical form by igniting the formless. I have a sweet spot for working hard, but doing so mindfully, with steadiness and a light heart. By integrating teachings of energetic anatomy, alignment of physical body, & attunements to nature, we work together to access personal empowerment with spiritual practices and practical tools to live fully, wholly, integrated. In the slower yin and restorative classes I so enjoy creating pockets for pure space and stillness and from that creating fresh impressions of light and beauty.
I have a deep love and respect for ceremony and ritual. I try to weave this into my yoga and meditation classes, and hold specific ceremonies honoring transitions of the seasons, transitions in life, and celebrations of following your purpose. I have a passion for beautiful poetry and music and mythology which finds its way through the teachings.
I am a lifetime learner. I am full of gratitude for having had the great privilege of studying extensively with a diverse group of teachers that have so skillfully and artfully distilled the ancient teachings of yoga and shamanism, and awakened me through these beautiful practices of the spirit, inspiring and guiding me on my path. I am a certified Reiki Master, a Yoga & Meditation teacher, have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Holistic Health Psychology from Bastyr University and a Master’s Degree in Integrative Studies in Psychology from Antioch University. I love collaborating with illuminators teaching the healing arts to bring students a comprehensive understanding of their own healing potential. Some of my most beloved work is integrating Positive Psychology & Shadow Work.
May you be healed. May you thrive. May you be the most vibrant loving expression of yourself!
You can find me leading a yearly international spiritual retreat integrating many systems of healing and expressing, leading a yearly women's gathering, holding space for transitions of the seasons in Ceremony & Ritual, holding Mana Moon Circles in Leavenworth & Seattle, teaching regular yoga & meditation classes in Leavenworth, and as adjunct faculty for a couple amazing 500 hr. teacher training, and playing (or working) on our restaurant & homesteading project with my sweet family. I am very happy to meet you.
You can also find me at:
https://www.instagram.com/ambertande