“Learn to lead a dedicated life…the dedicated ever enjoy peace…the entire life is an open book, a scripture. Read it. Learn while digging a pit or chopping some wood or cooking some food…OM Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi. OM Tat Sat. (OM peace, peace, peace. OM unlimited truth.” ~ Sri Swami Satchidananda
In one week, I will complete my 200 hour yoga teacher training. I’ve been trying to take my yoga practice out into the world. I practice my balance on the subway as it roars down the express track. I find it while cooking my meals. I use it when I encounter someone who is having a tough day and showing it. In the mornings, I try to be mindful of my commute, visualizing my day and what I will be able to accomplishment. I am trying to show up and be present at every moment. I look at service as yoga, too, even though my mat may be no where in sight.
Sri Swami Satchidananda wrote the translation of the Yoga Sutras that we read for the yoga teacher training. While I didn’t agree with all of his notes, the quote above that he used to close out the book has really stuck with me throughout this training. It’s great to be able to start to do arm balances or be on the verge of doing headstead in the middle of a room without a wall. My physical yoga practice has grown by leaps and bounds – for the first time I actually understand how my body is pieced together and why it works the way it does. I began a daily meditation practice with this course, a practice that will always be with me, even when my body stops working so well. I grew to look forward to change, and accept that all of this is temporary. But the real achievement for me is that I am conscious every day of living my yoga, on and off the mat. Yoga gave me a way to grow my dedication to my own happiness.
The most beautiful piece of yoga is that there is no end to the learning. In all the years I’ve been going to class and even with this wonderful training at Sonic, I haven’t even scratched the surface. Yoga has been around for ~6,000 years. Its applications in the world, in our lives, and in the physical practice have no end so long as we are dedicated to their study and to our own personal exploration. Tat Sat, indeed.
The image above depicts Sri Swami Satchidananda at his Yogaville Ashram in Buckingham, VA. Ironically, his ashram is only 40 minutes from where I went to business school; I never knew it existed until my training at Sonic.
Published by Christa Avampato
IN BRIEF
Author, journalist, digital product manager, and licensed New York City tour guide. Creator and host of NYC's Secrets and Lies. Alumna of the University of Pennsylvania (BA), the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA), Arizona State University (Biomimicry), and the University of Cambridge (MSt in Sustainability Leadership).
I build digital media platforms, report on urban climate resilience and biodiversity, and produce live narrative experiences that connect communities to history, nature, and place.
THE DEEP DIVE
My work centers on a single thread: building systems and stories that foster deep connection to our shared world. Across digital streaming, environmental reporting, and live civic storytelling, I design experiences that help people understand complex ideas and the environments around them.
DIGITAL PRODUCT STRATEGY & MEDIA LEADERSHIP
At Carnegie Hall, I serve as Digital Product Manager, leading product strategy, operations, and technical delivery for the video streaming platform Carnegie Hall+. I translate artistic mission into scalable, high-performance streaming architecture that reaches audiences globally. Previously, I led agile product and delivery teams across operations and compliance at American Express, managed Broadway theatrical productions and national tours, and guided strategic initiatives across cultural institutions.
ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM & AUTHORSHIP
As a freelance journalist, I investigate how living systems, urban infrastructure, and human culture intersect. My reported features on urban decarbonization, biodiversity, coastal resilience, and biomimicry appear in publications including Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, Mongabay, Natural History Magazine, and Foreign Policy Magazine. In fiction, I write the Emerson Page young adult novel series, alongside upcoming historical fiction and nonfiction works on New York history, mythology, and human resilience. I also write Togetherhood, a LinkedIn newsletter focused on urban ecology and community restoration, and co-host the podcast Frameworks in the Wild.
LIVE EXPERIENCE & CIVIC STORYTELLING
As a licensed New York City tour guide and live event producer, I transform urban landscapes into shared narrative encounters. I created, produce, and host NYC's Secrets and Lies, an interactive live storytelling series staged across cultural landmarks including the New York Transit Museum, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the historic tall ship Wavertree. I also design and lead site-specific walking tours exploring coastal ecology, food history, and neighborhood evolution, often with partners at Climate Week NYC and the Natural Areas Conservancy.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING MEDIA
Through my independent production studio, Double or Nothing Media, I develop ventures across media, ecology, and public history:
Digital Products & Strategy: Architecting scalable digital platforms, streaming experiences, and operational models for mission-driven institutions.
Environmental Reporting & Publications: Delivering long-form reporting, books, and newsletters grounded in climate resilience and regenerative design.
Site-Specific Live Storytelling: Producing immersive live shows and educational walking tours that engage public audiences in community history.
CONNECT
Website & Production Hub: doubleornothingmedia.com and christaavampato.com
Newsletter: Togetherhood on LinkedIn - linkedin.com/newsletters/togetherhood-7273771832221089792/
Instagram & Threads: @christarosenyc
Emerson Page Novels: emersonpagebook.wordpress.com/
View all posts by Christa Avampato
“Learn to lead a dedicated life…the dedicated ever enjoy peace…the entire life is an open book, a scripture. Read it. Learn while digging a pit or chopping some wood or cooking some food…OM Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi. OM Tat Sat. (OM peace, peace, peace. OM unlimited truth.” ~ Sri Swami Satchidananda
Christa, with every post you write about your training, I grow more and more certain that yoga teacher training is in my future – possibly at Sonic.
“Yoga gave me a way to grow my dedication to my own happiness” – YES. And yoga helped me understand that being dedicated to my own happiness isn’t selfish…that until we make our own light shine bright, we cannot fully serve the world.
Thanks, again, for writing about your journey…
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Hi Amanda! I really loved the training at Sonic. It was very rigorous – physically and mentally – and that’s exactly what I wanted. It changed my life. And yes, it did show me that being happy helps us give the best we can to others.
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Agreed, Lon! I was talking about Ursula’s boss. See how much he was like Michael Scott 🙂
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Oh, no, Christa, don’t you just hate it when that happens?
This has happened to me so many times that’s it’s not even funny.
Sometimes, we are so caught up in the banalities and trivialities of daily existence…we forget to see what is before us or overlook it even if it is staring you in the face.
That’s why your post resonated with me. It really did.
To think the Swami’s Ashram was only 40 minutes from Darden, and yet you never knew of its existence at that time. Do you think you would have attended, had you known? Or maybe you may not have been ready for it?
Wow: Similar, weird things have happened in my life too, because sometimes we just don’t know what’s out there.
There may be fantastic resources and facilities, but we are locked into our tunnel vision. And so it goes; so it goes.
For example, I found Wayne Dyer’s “Manifest Your Destiny” purely by chance. It was staring me in the face all the time, but my attention was diverted by my growling stomach, and the need to go for a walk and a million other things.
Nice to know there are people out there sailing in the same boat as yours truly. Good luck with sonic yoga too.
And, by the way, whenever things like this happen….I just say: oh, well, tomorrow is another day and move on.
Cheerio!
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Hi Archan! I totally would have gone had I known. Life is so funny like that – there is so much to see that we can’t help but miss something. You’re right – now I know that there is something more to discover tomorrow!
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From everything I have read, I think yoga is very powerful. For awhile I have been meaning to make yoga part of my day. Since I have children it is kind of hard to get out of the house. Maybe I will use a video. I think that is the only way I will actually do it. Do you have any video suggestions?
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Hi Andrea! I have tons of suggestions: I really like Shiva Rea’s Daily Energy Vinyasa Flow Yoga (http://www.amazon.com/Shiva-Rea-Daily-Energy-Vinyasa/dp/B002IVLWCE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1274063365&sr=8-1) and Rodney Yee’s AM PM Yoga (http://www.amazon.com/M-P-M-Yoga-Rodney-Yee/dp/B00007JME6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1274063499&sr=1-1)
If you have something you’re specifically looking for, let me know and I’ll find a DVD that suits you perfectly!
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the thing i love about yoga is how you arrive at places you never thought you would or could. i am able to do things now that a year ago i had assumed i never would be able to do. once i stopped forcing, pushing … i tried and failed enough times but little by little kept trying … there was sudden ease.
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Same for me, Col! All of a sudden the impossible becomes possible in this practice!
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