Parents divorce, and we moved to Portland. Cue troubled teens. One rainy night, I get hit by a car at a crosswalk. I’m taken to the hospital for days of testing. I’m having some kind of transcendental experience, no one knows what that is. I see a mix of specialists and I’m given an IQ test, scoring eligible for Mensa. When they release me, the neurologist tells my mom I need to live “a quiet life” as I’m “too sensitive” and suggests she keep me at home on antidepressants indefinitely. We all see how well I followed that stellar advice! I stabilize myself with the help of therapy and off to New York City I go! Having attended a performing arts high school, I received a talent scholarship to NYU! Sorry, Mensa, I was young; I thought you’d be boring.

In college, even on a scholarship, I work 3 jobs and eat canned soup most days. I study screenwriting, dance, voice, and acting. Through ETW, the Experimental Theater Wing abroad program, I’m one of 15 selected to study commedia dell’arte with the Théâtre du Soleil in Paris. After Paris, I go to Hollywood on Christmas break. I get my SAG card, and acting parts on TV shows like Charmed and Friends (nice people) and my career begins. I almost ended up as a lead on several big TV series. I eventually took a part in an erotic thriller rated R to pay the bills. They promise me an “outfit” to wear, we fight over the nudity contract; producers threaten to sue me. Fed-up, I decide ‘the industry’ is not for me, and I come back, fire my agent, quit the biz for good and follow my passion for Yoga.

A friend gives me Tony Robbins cassette tapes, and I discover personal development. I overcame my eating disorder and decided to follow my real passion for spirituality, well-being, yoga, and meditation full-time. I meet Bikram, but after one class, in which he tells me, “I will make you a star!” I decided NOT to study with that guy! I get certified in ParaYoga Level 1 with Rod Stryker, Kundalini Yoga with Yogi Bhajan, Gurmukh, and the teachers at Golden Bridge California, plus Prenatal Yoga with Gurmukh Khalsa. I received the name Amara from Yogi Bhajan personally. (There’s another story there navigating him.) I meet Amma Chi, the hugging saint, who gives me the last name Samata, and I attend her meditation sessions annually for 15 years. In 1999, Amara Samata became my new name, a new leaf to turn over, and a way of remembering the true essence of self within its meaning: Infinite Oneness.

I long to be a mom. I ask the “Universe” to support me in starting a family. I meet my husband, have our son, and choose a completely natural childbirth—pure chaos and magic! We move to Hawaii, where I implement children’s yoga in multiple school districts and teach adaptive yoga offering Hatha/Kundalini classes for many years in California, New York, and Hawaii. I embrace pottery, gardening, beach picnics, and camping. I dedicate a decade to being a stay-at-home mom, wife, and caretaker of a menagerie of pets, including a guinea pig named Water Lily.

The breakdown begins. Old patterns of insecurity emerge. The marriage becomes unhealthy, the financial crisis hits, and we move to Singapore, where my son’s father is from. Our relationship and ability to communicate worsen, and I’m away from friends, family, and my supportive community in a country where I can’t legally work. I’m scared. Things escalate, and I seek refuge from a stranger at a meditation group who affords me a lawyer. It’s time to make a major change, and I know it starts with me. I beg the universe for another change and the guidance needed to overcome the root cause of suffering and my own blind spots. I ask, “Show me the way and make sure I don’t miss it!”

I meet a series of spiritual teachers who, like a 1-2-3 punch, shake me to my core. I discovered energy work, advanced Buddhist philosophy, and non-duality. I travel to India and Malaysia to co-facilitate energy healing. In November 2012, guided by a female Tibetan Buddhist-trained Lama who lived with me for a total of 2 years, Awakening unfolds. My entire worldview falls away and turns right side up. We all moved to Bali. My husband and I separate, focusing on co-parenting and my son’s education. Lama Dolma takes a villa nearby, and I lay in a state of nearly unbearable bliss for seven months. My ego dies, rallies, and subsides as I watch, surrender, and integrate over the next three years. Encouraged by my Lama and her teacher, His Holiness Sakya Trichen, to teach “outside of the order”—meaning without robes while maintaining a Bodhisattva vow of service—I offer private sessions and monthly group programs by donation. This leads to the unexpected birth of the InnerGuidance Method™.

Word quickly spreads and, “Go see Amara” leads to catalyzing major change in thousands of people’s lives. I started to teach and take private coaching clients. I see up to 15 people a week at times. I’m holding retreats on tour, refining my methodology for accelerated, integrative, life mastery. In 2019 I’m invited to meet and give sessions to a few prominent industry disruptors and innovators. I become the life coach for a private company offering the world’s best transformation to multimillionaires and billionaires, seeking in-the-know guides offering optimization for their well-being and mission. I start to focus on relational wellness as my clients naturally bring me into their relationships, partnerships, families, and consulting needs around family and teams. My private ATLR™ program is launched and Couples Coaching and Mediation services become the secret behind my clients’ relational success. I formed two companies to secure the InnerGuidance Institute™ events and IGM methodology. From 2020 forward, I focus on blending both online support and grounded onsite programs for high-impact human evolution through my private practice and the certified graduates at IGI.

I launch the Institute’s InnerGuidance Method™ Certification Training 2.0 with in-depth theory and tools crafted into scripted frameworks, refining everything I learned over a decade of service for serious experts and committed up-and-coming guides in the field of human evolution through what I call ‘The Guiding Arts’.

Fifteen incredible people join, including a university psychology researcher, a doctor of psychiatry, a nutritional wellness entrepreneur, a breathworker, a social worker, a speaker, and an internationally known yoga trainer. They all came to learn the secrets of what my students call THE BOOM: deeply impactful guidance leading to breakthroughs and integration in life and relational empowerment and mastery.

From 2024 forward, I focus on the artful balance of self-care and continued reflection, supportive family and friends time, team building, collaborations, and being of greater service at scale while maintaining high-touch integrity and heart. I’m just getting started. I’ve learned integrity is key and we are nothing without each other’s support.