COULD YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF BRIEFLY?

My name is Amanda Norgaard. I’m a writer, public speaker, Kundalini Yoga Teacher, and model. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, I spent the majority of my teens and the first half of my 20s in New York working as a model. I’ve always loved modeling as a way of not only playing around with different expressions but first and foremost because of all the human connections I’ve made throughout the years. Before I was anything I was an artist. I always knew I’d dedicate my life to creative frequency; I write, build universes and move visions into reality to create more love, connection, joy, and depth on the planet. That’s my biggest flex and joy.

Q - AND WHAT LED YOU TO YOUR CREATIVE HOUSE ILLUMINATION?

I created my creative house ILLUMINATION to house all of what I find juicy, moving, and interesting about life from spiritual practices, esoterica, and native storytelling to healing modalities, cultural and creative bridges, community, and essays spiced with punk-rock.

I love witnessing people coming back to aliveness; unfolding their innate creativity, wonder, and power. I do multiple different things within ILLUMINATION from teaching to mentoring, to writing, and to simply just hold a space for the soul to unfold. To work from love to me is to serve love. To create from a place of wholeness that may create more wholeness in the world. Love. That’s the sweet spot. It’s what I live for.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'SPIRITUALITY' AND A SACRED WAY OF LIVING?

What we see today often in spiritual spaces is a big focus on ‘love and light’ and a certain hyper-positivity. Could you draw on the connection between this and the separation between ‘spirituality’ and a sacred way of living?How do self-care and cultivating self-love & deep self-intimacy play a role in this and how can we step away from segregated spirituality into a way of a sacred lifestyle?

I’ve never experienced spirituality as a separate entity from my human life. Yes, I adore my spiritual practices as a way to connect with myself and cultivate a greater consciousness, creativity, and chi within and I come from a lineage of hidden mystics and psychics who worked with esoterica and energy healing, yet,

“Love is the will to extend one's self to nurture one's own or another's spiritual growth. Love is an act of will -- We do not have to love. We choose to love.” ― M. Scott Peck

HOW HAS KUNDALINI YOGA IMPACTED YOUR LIFE?

Kundalini Yoga accelerated my courage to change my life, and my mindset and put one foot after the other. It gave me the courage and the energy to begin reprogramming heavily subconscious imprints that kept me confined and dissociated from my vital energy, joy for life, and essentially, Love. We spend 95% of our lives, living and projecting from our subconscious landscape which is programmed in childhood. Expanding the subconscious to what is possible, what you, in the now, actually desire and the story you tell yourself is really how true change and healing happens. When I started learning about the power we withhold to rewrite our lives and destiny through neuroplasticity my whole life changed. I was no longer a victim but in full Autonomy. Kundalini Yoga, Neuropsychology, and Hypnotherapy have been crucial assets in my own personal and professional journey in returning to wholeness, being, and creating from there. My daily Kundalini Yoga practice supports me in staying not only consistent when life gets bumpy but continues to charge me, expand me and inspire me. I get the majority of my creative business ideas, as healing realization in my daily practice.


CAN YOU SHARE WITH US YOUR RITUAL OR PRACTICES TO CULTIVATE LOVE?

After 5 years of real cocooning, while still starting and growing a business, 2023 has left me feeling incredibly ignited. In the past 2 months, I’ve come back alive to an extent I haven’t remembered feeling before. The last 3 years especially have been alchemical as I’ve moved through major blocks, subconscious programming, and fears. The world looks very different than it did a couple of years ago, inside/out. A daily Kundalini Yoga + Meditations practice in combination with cold showers, nature, journaling, and really solid relationships are a few of my non-negotiables. The daily connection and rendezvous with myself are so incredibly important because the level I meet myself is the level at which I can meet the world.