Written by Chelsea Clarke | Photography by Fernando Venegas
Age: 36 Hometown: Gilbert, AZ
Gig: Content Creator, Life Coach & Yoga Instructor Follow Her:
@amandawebsterhealth
You know that your happiness increases after you complete a workout, but for Amanda, this fitness and mental health connection hasn’t just become a science, it’s also become her life’s mission. In 2018, after grappling with severe mental unwellness and addiction, she found herself in a circumstance that would change it all. Unsure of how to create a life she would be happy in, Amanda turned to what was in her control: Her nutrition, the people she surrounded herself with, and the ways in which she could increase happy-making hormones. She credits tackling these areas simultaneously and staying consistent in them as the reason she’s able to tell her story today.
“Exercise is connected to lower rates of mental illness and improved emotional well-being.”
“I had a burning determination to find the one thing that had always been most elusive to me: Happiness,” she says. Now as she spreads her message to her clients to put mental health first, her coaching revolves around the idea that physical fitness is a welcome bonus on top of what really matters. “I consider myself to be in good shape,” she says. “But my smile is the most important physical attribute that fitness gave to me.” She encourages her clients to find happiness via optimized nutrition for decreased inflammation and committing to movement that feels good, such as moving their bodies to their favorite songs, rollerblading, or even volunteering to walk dogs at their local shelter.
