We’re looking forward to introducing you to Amanda A. Carpenter. Check out our conversation below.
Amanda A. , it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
The first 90 minutes of my day might just be the most important part of my day. These days, there’s so much to do that even if we had three clones and a robot assistant, the to-do list would still win. I see it in my clients, and I live it myself. Technology promised to make life easier, but somehow we’re all just responding to everything faster.
Here’s how I start my day before the chaos begins.
I naturally wake up around 5:30 a.m.—no alarm, unless I have a flight or an early call. Before my feet hit the floor, I do an internal gratitude roll call—sending love to everyone I’m grateful for… myself included.
Then comes the un-glamorous part: I peel off the mouth tape, castor oil pack, and sleep mask (yes, I look like a science experiment at bedtime), and head to the bathroom. After that, I take care of my pup Bailee, who reminds me that breakfast is more urgent than mindfulness.
Some mornings, I pour myself a cup of dandelion tea, pull a card from one of my decks, and read a passage from The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo. Other mornings, I follow the call to crawl back under the covers and snuggle up with my love—because intimacy is one of the most underrated forms of self-care out there.
Then, to wake up every cell in my body, I hop in a cold plunge (yes, on purpose) and then thaw out with a cup of hot cacao while I plan my day.
It’s part ritual, part rebellion—anchoring myself before I dive into a world that never stops spinning.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Amanda A. Carpenter — a transformational leadership and foundational health coach with over 25 years of experience helping high-achievers find vitality, clarity, and purpose without burning out in the process.
My work sits at the intersection of science, spirituality, and somatics — basically where your nervous system meets your soul. I help people reconnect to their innate intelligence so they can lead, love, and live from a higher frequency.
What makes my work unique is that it’s not just mindset or motivation — it’s embodiment. After nearly burning out myself in 2010 (and losing my health entirely), I had to learn how to listen to my body’s wisdom instead of fighting it. That journey helped me reverse chronic disease, reclaim my energy, and develop a framework I now use to help others do the same.
These days, I’m leading a community called Leaders of Vital Energy, where we’re exploring how to lead with vitality in a world that glorifies exhaustion. We blend neuroscience and soulful practices that reconnect you to your power.
In short, I help people remember who they are before the burnout, beneath the busy, and beyond the fear. And I like to think I do it with equal parts heart, rawness and humor — because if we can’t be real and laugh at our own healing journey, what are we even doing here?
Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was that brave, joyful little girl who could feel everything — the moods in the room, the magic in the air. I loved imaginative play, freedom of movement, and the sunshine on a peaceful summer day. I didn’t know it then, but that sensitivity — the ability to sense and hold the energy of others — would one day become both my greatest challenge and my greatest gift.
Like many empaths, I learned early how to care for everyone else’s energy but my own. That pattern carried me into adulthood — building businesses, achieving big things, and eventually burning out spectacularly. Losing my health in 2010 became my wake-up call and my invitation to return home to that little girl — the one who knew how to listen, feel, and flow.
Today, my work is about helping others do the same. I guide high-performing leaders and helpers back to their own vitality and intuitive wisdom — so they can lead, love, and live from coherence instead of survival. It’s the full-circle journey: turning sensitivity into strength, performance into presence, and leadership into love.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I define suffering as pain plus resistance. After 25 years as a physical therapist, I’ve seen that the human body can tolerate an incredible amount of pain — but it’s our resistance to that pain that creates suffering. We’re taught to hide it, numb it, or push through it… and all that does is trap it inside our tissues. The body keeps score — literally — remembering every unprocessed emotion and experience, even when the conscious mind has long forgotten.
My own experience with chronic illness about 15 years ago became my greatest teacher. It stripped away the version of me who believed her worth was in helping, fixing, or protecting others. Suffering forced me to surrender who I thought I needed to be — the strong one, the healer, the one who could carry it all — and meet myself in my rawest humanity.
Success had taught me how to perform.
Suffering taught me how to be.
It reconnected me to compassion, embodiment, and truth. It taught me that healing isn’t about avoiding pain, but learning to move through it with grace, curiosity, and presence. And in that space, real vitality — and real leadership — are born.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
I believe that every human being — no matter their title, background, or level of success — longs to feel that they carry value, that they are worthy, and that they are loved.
Over 25 years, I’ve worked with everyone from industrial athletes who rely on their physical strength to earn a living to executives running billion-dollar companies who live in constant mental overdrive. And underneath all the differences — the language, the roles, the external measures of success — I see the same longing: to be seen, to matter, and to feel safe being who they truly are.
We spend so much of our lives chasing validation, achievement, or belonging, when what we’re really seeking is connection — first to ourselves, and then to each other. That’s what I’ve come to understand through my work and my own journey of burnout and healing: when people remember their inherent worth, their entire frequency changes. Their bodies regulate. Their relationships deepen. Their leadership expands.
I can’t prove that love is the most powerful healing force on the planet — but I’ve witnessed it too many times to doubt it. Every time someone remembers their own value and begins to live from that place, the world around them shifts.
And that, to me, is the truest kind of evidence there is.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What light inside you have you been dimming?
The light I’ve dimmed most often is my authentic expression — the part of me that speaks truth even when it shakes. My higher self knows that our light is what guides not only us, but others, out of the dark. Yet in my own seasons of darkness, fear sometimes whispers that if I shine too brightly, I’ll be left alone — abandoned, forgotten, or misunderstood.
That fear can make me soften my voice, dilute my message, or hold back parts of myself to avoid triggering others. But authenticity is my highest value, and when I silence my truth, it creates deep conflict within me. I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter how carefully I choose my words — the energy behind them always reveals what’s real.
When I dim my light, I abandon myself.
And that’s a form of pain I’m no longer willing to live in.
These days, my practice is to let my light lead — to speak from love, not fear — and to trust that those meant to walk beside me will recognize the frequency of truth and rise with me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amandaacarpenter.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandaacarpenter/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-a-carpenter/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amandaacarpenter
- Youtube: ttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_cgvzuCE4ZY-0dk6SMILPg
- Other: Mighty Networks: https://amandaacarpenter.mn.co/share/BOPuhYu5MvfY0Ikn?utm_source=manual
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