Conversations with Amanda Goe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Goe.

Hi Amanda, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have taught at Desert Vista High School since 2004. Dr. Joe McDonald was my high school principal (I graduated in 1998), and he hired me on as staff. He was a phenomenal role model and mentor. I started out as a special education teacher, where Mrs. Henrietta Bobo and Ms. Alyssa Tarkington taught me a great deal about leadership and making positive differences in the lives of students. I eventually transitioned from special education to health education. I started our yoga program in 2011 and our yoga teacher training program in 2015. This will be the last year we offer the yoga teaching training program for certification at Desert Vista, but I look forward to growing the program in other ways. I believe my purpose is to help promote and encourage increased individual, community, and planetary health.

I promote life-long learning, and have always strived to continuously grow and improve. Wanting to be the best yoga teacher possible, I earned my Master of Arts in Yoga Studies from Loyola Marymount University in 2022. My yoga therapy project utilized yoga to improve collegiate and professional basketball players’ overall sports performance and my MA thesis was on Rap and Yoga as a means of expanding yoga’s reach of wellness, specifically, to address health issues rooted in generational trauma.

I have coached multiple sports teams, including track and field, varsity dance line, and flag football. These days, I channel my expertise into teaching yoga after school as well, working mostly with football and basketball players, but other athletes and teams as well. I am extremely passionate about holistic wellness and personal development for all.

I am a Chopra certified meditation teacher and also work as a Traditional Japanese Reiki Master Teacher. I offer trainings and certification to our community. We will be starting our next Reiki training this November, and will be hosting a wellness retreat to Japan in March. If anyone is interested in Reiki trainings, they can reach me at amandanoellegoe@gmail.com

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have been extremely blessed to have such support from my department heads, principals, and now, our amazing superintendent, Dr. Stacia Wilson. Dr. Wilson even attends our annual reiki practicums. Building my classes and the entire yoga program has been wonderful.

I would say my biggest challenge has been during sustainability committee. We consume a lot; people have become accustomed to over-consuming, and shifting people’s mindsets so they see how vitally important sustainability is for all of us can be difficult. Groups get excited about celebrating with balloons or want the ease of using disposable plastic cutlery or plastic water bottles. They don’t necessarily understand how those choices hurt the environment. I continue to hope to inspire people to prioritize the earth and do what they can to consume less plastic waste.

In recent years, an additional challenge I have witnessed is an increase in high school girls fighting. This generation has so many examples of women fighting each other on social media, disrespecting each other on reality tv…women acting from low levels of consciousness making money and getting attention. To provide tools to students, to give them the ability to disengage from those forms of media, and practice self-love, self-study, and yogic ethics, to work to raise their levels of consciousness, it does improve our own functioning, as well as the functioning of our communities. I am deeply thankful to be in a place to teach such tools.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a high school teacher and yoga and reiki guide. My specialty area is yoga for improved athletic performance. I am most proud of the connections I make and the amount of people who have shared how our practices have been positively life-changing. I am grateful to my teachers and lineage for helping me develop into a better version of myself, and feel blessed to get the opportunity to work with so many amazing people, passing along knowledge and practice.

As far as yoga goes, my trainings and education at Loyola Marymount set me apart academically. My heart/passion, deep driving desire for all beings to be well and at peace, commitment, drive, and attitude are qualities I am proud of.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Teach what you are passionate about and remember that you teach people, not a subject. We always have room for growth!

Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @amandanoellegoe
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-goe-1405b873
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@amandagoe

Image Credits
O’Shea Tometi