We were lucky to catch up with Amanda McCormick recently and have shared our conversation below.
Amanda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
Since I could talk, I wanted to be a professional dancer. At 18 months old, I knew there should be ribbons on the slippers of my ballerina Halloween costume.
After 2 years of begging to take dance class, my 4 year old self overheard the mother of a daycare friend mention “taking Emily to Creative Movement” and then I brought this information to my mom so I could go too.
My first professional performance job was given to me by Debbie Allen when I was 11 years old. I was part of a small cast that performed “Pearl” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and “Brothers of the Knight” the following year.
I traveled the world to dance, beginning at 15 years old competing a solo and multiple group numbers with the Junior American Dance Team in an international dance competition in Cesena, Italy. (We won.)
And the following year in Lloret de Mar, Spain. (We won.)
And later performed two separate years in Vienna, Austria for the Life Ball which is the largest charity event for AIDS, and at the Stanislavsky Theater in Moscow, Russia.
Both in college and after, I worked with dance legends including Twyla Tharp, Ann Reinking, Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson. And I achieved a childhood dream of performing as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall in NYC for 9 years.
But the career I want to share a defining moment from isn’t dancing, it’s what gave me the confidence at the start of my transition from the performing arts into my purpose work in the healing arts.
As much as I knew I wanted to be a dancer, I also knew that for me, dancing was not going to be the profession I was in forever. And the more I dove into adult life with relationships, heartbreak, depression, anxiety, therapy, self exploration, healing, the more I realized I was here to be of service in a different way.
In 2019, I completed what I decided was my final year as a Rockette, and after spending 3 months in India and Bali—and years obtaining different certifications—I decided to begin a career transition by teaching yoga and playing my steel tongue drum during savasana at the end of class.
It wasn’t until the pandemic when I left NYC and moved upstate NY that I fully accepted my retirement, and that it was time to fully live my purpose work.
But moving to a new place where I knew no one, starting a brand new career at the same time—and in the middle of the pandemic—left me feeling more than a little insecure. I spent twenty years identified as a professional dancer, with a long list of accolades to show for my talents and hard work, and now felt like I was standing at the bottom of another huge mountain.
I started working at an upscale Ayurveda resort as a yoga teacher and reiki practitioner. I had had enough practice teaching yoga in NYC to feel comfortable doing that, but I had never before been paid to give a reiki session.
For those who don’t know, reiki (pronounced ray-key) is an energy healing technique that draws upon “spiritually guided life force energy” through the vessel of an attuned practitioner to help cleanse physical, emotional, mental, and energetic imbalances of the receiver to create more energy flow and healing.
My first day on the job, I had a client signed up for a reiki session.
I was nervous to have someone pay so much money to have a such a novice practitioner, but decided to adopt the mentality that I was an open vessel and trusted the session would go however it needed to go.
During that session, the room was full of the energy of this woman’s ancestors. For a moment, they even flashed and showed themselves to me. This client and I also worked through her making the decision to answer the calling to start something back up again after a long break to process a death.
(She shared none of this information with me vocally until I brought it up from picking up on it in her energy field.)
She cried during the session, processing so much grief. She felt relief, clarity, and inspiration after. We hugged.
Before she left, she informed me that she was a practicing reiki master with over 20 years of experience. That she felt her ancestors present (something I hadn’t shared with her) and helping during the session—she felt their hands replace mine as I moved to the next position.
And that that was one of the best sessions she had ever received.
This very first paid reiki session alone gave me the confidence that I was in the right place in my new career.
In that moment, a single compliment from someone of her level of expertise bore as much weight as all my dance accolades across 20 years and reminded me that while I had been outwardly a dancer most of life, I had also spent most of my life exploring the intangible space of communing with spirit, nature, energy. That I had a lifetime of practice in this field as well. The only thing I was new to was being paid for it.
Now I’m a practicing Shamanic Reiki Master expanding into my unique transmission of energy healing, and enter into every session with more and more faith not just in myself as a devoted vessel, but with a deeper trust in the Divine messages that move through me as I live an embodied life of service to helping others heal.
Amanda, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Sure! First I’ll share an overview, and then I’ll dive a little deeper into my journey and how it’s led me to where I am today.
In response to:
—always feeling different, like I never fit in or belonged anywhere
—being made fun of, feeling judged and unsafe to be my weird, silly, colorful, authentic self
—years of trying to find safety and stability in someone else only to be brought back to myself time and again
—none-the-less believing we each had something unique to offer the world,
I feel deeply called to create safe, inclusive, non-judgmental environments where people can show up as their true authentic selves. There’s so much we can learn from each others’ differences if we commit to keeping open hands unattached to outcome, open minds able to change with new information, and open hearts able to continue giving and receiving love especially in the face of habitual contraction.
The entry points to healing are endless, so I enjoy giving others in the space of healing, self expression, and empowerment a platform to share and express themselves, their diverse wisdom, passions, and purposes, and encourage the confluence and fruition of ideas and dreams into form.
I believe we are all students, teachers, and healers in our own right, and work to empower every client, student, friend, stranger to remember the power they yield within the truth of their own hearts. I encourage everyone to connect to the rhythm of their heartbeat and dance to it—the beat of their own drum!
My greater vision is to have a land-based healing and wellness center people can come to in order to find all the barriers they’ve put in place against love (thank you, Rumi), alchemize their pain into purpose, and learn tools and modalities to live healthily, sustainably, and in harmony with nature and our true nature as inter-connected spiritual beings having an expansive human experience.
My brand is currently under construction, but my heart-centered purpose remains the same: to use love as medicine in order to expand consciousness and help humanity heal.
I am here to shine like a lighthouse guiding others on their journeys through darkness, back home to themselves.
I am here to accept, be, and love myself—the good, bad, and ugly, mistakes, flaws, and all—as a permission slip for others to also live more authentically.
I am here to model courage, vulnerability, and strength through transition and transformation—the alchemy of pain into purpose.
I am here to welcome with open arms those who are taking their first steps on the new path of awakening laid out in front of them.
I am here to bridge spirituality and esoteric concepts into accessible and palatable forms for those who are new to the journey.
I am here to encourage others to accept their sensitivities as unique gifts that can in turn be used to help others accept theirs.
I am here to empower others to find their voice and remember their power.
I am here to help others connect with their intuition, inner knowing, and trust the divine guidance of their hearts.
I am here to remind others who they are and encourage them to shine their light again—brighter than ever.
I am here to love, be love, and be loved through every heartbreak and injustice.
I am here to ensure others never feel alone or invalidated in their experiences or feelings.
I am here to guide people and energies into living systems and rituals that help them embody joy, love, and harmony.
I am here to live in devotion to divine truth so we can all be happy, wild, and free. (Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu)
For me, romantic relationships—and ensuing heart break—have been my main catalyst for curiosity and healing on a personal level, which is a large part of what inspired my desire to help others on a professional one. So much is presented, mirrored, triggered in these delicate dances that meet our edges and ask us each if we’re willing to expand them inch by inch—if we can expand our capacities for love, acceptance, communication, intimacy, communion, healing, and growth—to be able to walk a middle road together.
This kind of compassionate relating is helpful in every type of relationship—not just romantic ones—and really all begins with the relationship to self.
People often get stuck in a dance of misery, if you will, to music neither likes, in a style that feels unnatural to both (but somehow comfortable), and call that life. Because they were told to. Because it’s familiar. Because neither knows or can articulate what they actually like, want, need. Because not everyone is interested in pushing past their imposed limits to learn different moves.
But I believe my ancestors experienced the lives they did so I could make different choices with mine. So many powerful women paved the way so I could stand up and say, “You know what? No. That doesn’t work for me. I’m going to do this instead.” I feel a responsibility to end these unconscious cycles of abuse and disconnection to set past and future generations free. To birth higher consciousness humans into a New Earth experience both literally and energetically.
Lessons learned and integrated from each of my relationships came from realizing the best thing for me was to move the focus inward on bettering the relationship I have with myself. On getting to know my unique drum beat—which I believe is the guidance of our hearts, and my unique life dance—which I believe is our raison d’être, or purpose. When we come to the root and have a better understanding of the truth of who we are, why we’re here, and how our past has affected our present, we have a much easier time dancing with others.
My romantic relationships have all taught me so much about myself and helped put a lot into perspective. They inspired curiosity and growth. They each expanded my capacity to give and receive love between me and someone else, but most importantly between me and myself, as all other relationships we engage in take their cue from the one we have with oneself. They each reminded me that love is so much greater than what we feel for a single romantic partner. Love is a verb—something we choose to do, and a state of being—the energy we choose to live in. And they each reminded me of my own wholeness, of the Home within, and gave me a greater sense of self love, which is another piece I teach across modalities and platforms.
Love has always been at the helm of my attention and the intention behind everything I do.
The more we care about, respect, and love ourselves, the more we are able to integrate our shadows and heal.
Our pain alchemizes into purpose creating more compassion, unity, and love with ourselves, each other, the planet and all living beings.
Taking radical responsibility for our own healing journeys and all the mistakes we make along the way creates a sense of personal empowerment and builds a palpable unshakable trust that acts as a magnet attracting others because the aura that radiates is one of accessible safety and acceptance—feelings so many spend their lives in external pursuit of, but never fully embodying for themselves.
It makes us the absolute best dance partners and teachers so those feelings that were once externally elusive, are remembered and found on the inside within us all.
Sometimes this requires a whole lot of trial and error to fine tune, but it’s all divinely guided for our individual betterment and additional ingredients to the medicine we’re each here to offer ourselves and others. The fruits of our darkness—especially while in service to others—show just how strong, adaptive, and resilient we are.
For a long time, I felt like I was just sitting on a mountain of knowledge—thinking that if I’m only scratching the surface of my own healing, how could I possibly help anyone else?!
There’s a yogic story about a man who spent lifetimes studying scripture thinking if he knew the most about God the cycle of samsara (birth, life, death) would end. Only to be reincarnated again. He realized that in order to stop the cycle and reach moksha, enlightenment, he didn’t need to learn anymore, he needed to share his wisdom with others. At the end of his lifetime as a teacher, samsara was broken, moksha was granted, but instead he asked to be reincarnated again in order to continue teaching and being of service. His idea of eternal bliss was helping others reach this point as well.
We don’t need to be completely healed or have all the answers in order to be of service to anyone else. Like Ram Das said, we’re all walking each other home. I was finally able to see from the perspective that we’re all on different legs of our journeys. There are some people ahead of us on the path able to offer us their help and insights, and when you turn around to see how far you’ve come, there are others behind you on the path able to receive your help and insights.
Again, I’m in a bit of a transition period, but there are big things on the horizon in my continued service to others. Keep an eye out for “Project CreatRx” a women’s empowerment movement utilizing wearable art designed by female creatives inspired by the women they feel empowered by, the launch of my podcast “The Lighthouse Sessions”, and the publishing of my poetry book “Her Journey Home”.
If my story and vibe resonate, please join my mailing list and follow me on Instagram to stay tuned to the frequency of emanating love and the upcoming rebirth of my brand.
Here’s to the Phoenix rising, baby!
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
Authenticity is a buzzword these days, but I truly believe success in the new paradigm of business and entrepreneurship—especially in the field of spirituality and the healing arts—depends on it.
The market is full of false prophets and the promise of quick fixes.
Greed and self-serving intentions are the most prevalent they’ve ever been, but thankfully, also more palpable.
Authenticity requires honesty, vulnerability, and pure-intentioned alignment which all take an immense amount of courage to embody.
A risk that is applauded and rewarded because it comes from, and is felt with, the heart.
Fun Fact One:
The root of “courage” is “cor” which is Latin for “heart”.
Fun Fact Two:
We’re all electrical beings that give off a torus shaped electromagnetic field—often referred to in the spiritual community as the “aura”. The heart’s electromagnetic field is 60x greater than that of the mind, so whatever we do from this place is actually magnified and felt to a greater degree whether you’re cognizant of it or not.
With more and more people searching for meaning—meaningful work and relationships—in their lives, and shifting from survival into aligned, and thriving heart-centered purpose coupled with sustainability, activism, and altruism, authenticity matters. It’s the permission slip that they, too, can be loved, accepted, and successful just by being themselves. And that’s such a powerful gift to give yourself and others as we move through this paradigm shift together.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I’ve read countless books, watched countless videos, taken countless courses over the years—and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon—but one book that has had a profound effect on the way I approach business is “The Go-Giver” by Bob Burg and John David Mann.
In under 200 pages, this bite-sized book put words and anecdotal actions to things I only had a felt sense about, while outlining five distinct rules to live by in order to have wild success in business. The book follows Joe, a “go-getter”, on a journey where he “learns that changing his focus from getting to giving—putting others’ interests first and continually adding value to their lives—ultimately leads to unexpected results”.
Similarly to the story I mentioned about the man who shifted his focus from what he had to do in order to reach enlightenment to finding his eternal bliss in teaching and helping others, so too, the overarching premise of this book is to set your intentions on being of service and GIVING as much as you can to others rather than focusing on what you need to do to receive more money. This small shift has had massive effects in my business; I highly recommend the read.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://amandamccormick.love
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandamccormick.love/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-mccormick-2546aa19/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@amandamccormicklove/videos
- Other: Email: [email protected]
Image Credits
Shaun Gillen (IG: @newalchemy)