About Me

My name is Amanda. Thank you for visiting my blog. I really appreciate your time and love your feedback and comments.

This blog is my life in progress. It mainly discusses:

• My emergence from a deep five year depression
• Finishing my PhD thesis
  
• Spiritual development via yoga, Advaita and mindfulness
  
• Working full time in applied anthropology*
  
• My incredible new business venture that combines all my skills
  

*What’s applied anthropology? It’s anthropology that’s done outside of academia. In Australia, it usually means you work in Indigenous representative bodies (like Land Councils or Native Title representative bodies) OR you work in cultural heritage management. I work in the latter, for a small Northern Territory Government statutory body that protects Aboriginal sacred sites.

What else would you do but bakasana on Mt Zeil, highest peak in Central Australia?

You might note that I’m a bit eccentric. Besides yoga, I’m an exercise nut, I adore bushwalking (hiking) and camping, I enjoy birdwatching and geocaching. I am a hopeless bibliophile and self-development junkie. I am a published fiction author (under another name), and the winner of a number of short story competitions. I have two children, the most wonderful man as a life partner, one dog, two cats and four chickens.

I collect snowdomes because I can.

I don’t have big boobs, I’m not blonde, and I’m not into thrash metal, opera or jazz.

And before you ask I hated Eat, Pray, Love.  Hated it so much, I donated it to a school fete.

I live in Alice Springs, Australia. Alice Springs is the real outback. Please read about the other parts of my life at our family blog, desert mandala.

Thanks for visiting.

The picture featured in the blog’s header is of Watarrka (King’s Canyon) in Central Australia. Photo taken by, and used with the permission of, my partner, Gary. xx This acknowledgement written to tease him!