Hello, world!

I’ve been wanting to start a blog for a while and, well, 2018 is as good a time as any to finally do it. Sometimes it is easy to get frozen with indecision and self-doubt when taking on a new adventure. What will I write about? Will my content be any good? Does anyone even want to hear what I have to say? In the end, I decided to do it for me, and if I can inspire at least one other person (hi mom!) in the process then I will have considered this a success.

I guess I should introduce myself now. My name is Amanda Cooper if you haven’t yet met me. I’m a 27-year-old New Yorker currently living in San Francisco, but we’ll talk another day about where I began and how I got here. I graduated from MIT with a degree in civil engineering and have been in the corporate world ever since. My greatest passions in life besides my husband Burjis and dog Lupo are fitness, traveling, and women’s leadership. I’ll be talking a lot about all three through this blog. I love to read and I love to see Broadway shows and do all sorts of culture-y things, but don’t be fooled… Leave me alone in a room with double-stuf Oreos and Netflix and I could survive for WEEKS.

My main goal in creating The Clever Yogi is to share my fitness journey with you all, and how I’ve managed to balance this journey with a full-time career. Sheryl Sandberg, I’m lookin’ at you girl! By being just a little clever and working just a little smarter, we can achieve anything we want to. Your hustle might look different from mine – maybe you’re a basketweaver, or a stay-at-home mom of four, or a gastroenterologist or anything else for that matter – and to that I say hell yes. We can all learn from each other’s journeys. Empowered women empower women, and that is the real intent here. Before we proceed, you – dear reader – should know that I love a good cliche and I will probably (unapologetically) use them often.

I will be focusing heavily on yoga as it has been an important part of my personal fitness and spiritual journey. In just a few short weeks, I will be beginning my training to become a certified RYT-200 yoga teacher! I’ll be documenting what I’ve learned and my own general progress as well.

You should also know that I am currently in the process of applying to business school, so I will be documenting a lot of that here too. It’s important to always keep learning and always keep working to better ourselves. It’s not about comparing ourselves to others or the rate at which change occurs, but rather, just that we keep moving forward. What is it that you are wanting to achieve? Have you taken any steps today to work toward that?

Well, you’ve made it this far and so I want to thank you sincerely for reading. Bear with me as this is my first website and first blog. Let me know your thoughts and definitely let me know the kinds of info you’d like for me to share!

Abrazos,

Amanda