New Canaan resident Amanda Nisenson began studying opera at The Juilliard School when she was 16 and sang professionally all over the world until a few years ago when she had surgery for vocal cysts. Forced to take a medical break from performing, she started working out and doing yoga. In so doing, Nisenson lost about 80 pounds and shed an unknown amount of physical and emotional baggage.

“My whole life was about the voice, not about the body or even the breath unless it related to the voice,” she explains. “When I couldn’t sing, I unexpectedly found myself through yoga, chanting and breathing.”

As Nisenson began to treat her body differently, she was awakened to her deeper purpose in life, a calling to reach people not only on a musical level but also on a spiritual level. She is now finishing her training at Soul of Yoga in San Diego, California, where she is learning to incorporate music movement and the teaching of yoga as a spiritual experience.

“Every person is on their own journey. Yoga allows them to get out of their own way and just experience breath and life,” Nisenson says. “If they’re open to it, there is so much to discover. A lot of people say they can’t do it, but at some level yoga is accessible to all. You just have to try.”

Nisenson currently has a private voice and classical piano studio and still plans on teaching music at her studio in New York City. Once her training is complete, she plans to teach private yoga clients while preparing to give workshops on music yoga and spiritual integration. She hopes to eventually also teach at Jate Yoga in Rowayton where Jennifer Buckman, her yoga mentor, is opening a studio in September. Nisenson says her workshops are going to help teach people how to find their individual voice and human truth through the mechanisms of breath, music and yoga. 

“Yoga and music are the gateway to freedom. I will continue to use my voice to reach the masses and spread the word of love and truth around the world,” she says. “In the short time I have been doing this work, I have witnessed miracles in myself and others and seen peoples’ lives change with self-love and confidence.”

To connect with Amanda Nisenson, email [email protected] or visit her Instagram @AmandarnitMusic.