Meet Tiffany Andras-Myers: Mindfulness Coach and Host of the Wake The F*ck Up Podcast

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tiffany Andras-Myers and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tiffany, putting aside the decision to work for yourself, what other decisions were critical to your success?
Radical authenticity has been both the most scary and rewarding decision I have ever made. When I first started my business, and I think this is true for many of us, I used models of other people’s successful endeavors to help lay a foundation for my own direction. The problem was that I couldn’t see how deeply the belief that I need to BE those people in order to be successful had become engrained. I mean, we all emulate those we adore and respect, but how much do we unconsciously tell ourselves the story that we would be better if we could just be more like them? How often do we behave, dress, and speak differently because we think someone else would do it better or that to be successful we need to be just like the people who already are? I remember the day that I realized I was teaching in a voice and vernacular that wasn’t my own. Especially as a meditation teacher and inside the mindfulness community, there are pretty clear standards for what’s meditative or appropriate if we’re “self-evolved.” But in certain moments, that’s just not fucking me 🙂 The reality is that we have enough teachers that mirror the expectation, but we don’t have any that are “me.” Embracing myself as I am and teaching from my authentic self and experiences has opened every growth door my business has experienced. I’ve never, not once, advertised my company. I’ve grown on word-of-mouth alone, and I believe with fullness that the permission I give myself to be radically authentic and open and vulnerable, opens the door for others to do the same, and it just FEELS good to BE with other people in a real way.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
(Wo)man! The journey to building my business has definitely been one I’d describe as an adventure and probably the loudest space where I’ve learned the lessons of letting go and trusting myself. The cool thing is that my business looks nothing, and simultaneously exactly, like I thought it would when I set out. When I left the corporate world to start my spiritual practice I began as a yoga teacher and quickly realized that the lifestyle of teaching yoga was not what I wanted for myself. I mean, it’s literally an after-hours career, and with a 5 year old at home at the time, it just wasn’t aligned with how I desired to balance work and family. One thing I’ve always heard is that to be an entrepreneur you have to accept that you’ll be working 24/7. I don’t buy it, and the more I’ve trusted myself, my heart, and the value of what I offer, the more clients have come way who are completely aligned with the way I like to flow.

I feel so fortunate to be able to say that I am in love with my business. I’ve been able to grow from primarily teaching yoga to coaching, from a mindfulness-based perspective, clients all over the world. I work with CEOs, classical pianists, elementary school teachers, international conductors, people and culture officers, people in software, design, advertising, classical arts, education. The greatest gift of my work is the privilege of connecting authentically with people from all different walks of life and getting to feel both the oneness and uniqueness of our shared human experience.

There are lots of coaches out there, so if I could share what I believe sets me apart it’s 2 things. First, my background is in ecology and evolutionary biology, so I love combining neuroscience and evolutionary biology with the experiential process of meditation and mindfulness. I think having a biological understanding of why we engage in particular ways can be so permissive to our humanness and from there, being compassionate toward ourselves when we’re unskillful can be so much more accessible. Secondly, I operate from the belief that every single one of us contains all the wisdom we’ll ever need to wake up. Through my own journey I’ve experienced first-hand that wisdom and deep truth are already within us; it simply takes the right conditions and sometimes just having the language to understand our experience to wake up in a profoundly radical way. Many coaches and people operate from the belief that we’re innately broken or we need help or fixing, and I don’t believe this at all. We may have habits and ways of operating in the world that are painful, but I believe at the core we are all innately good, awake, and powerful. We just have to be willing to shed our skin, our masks, the covers on our hearts, and sometimes that courageous path is easier to take with someone by our side.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh, this is such a great question! I have to start by saying I absolutely love Atlanta, and our beautiful city with its rich cultural history has so much to offer. I think some of things that, for me, define Atlanta are music, food, green spaces, and the incredible mix of spaces filled with city energy and others that are just so peaceful and serene. This is also such an interesting question as we’re just beginning to venture back out into the world in what we could maybe call pre-post-covid??

I have to say that my favorite place in the city is my home in Decatur, and my absolute favorite thing to do with friends is uninhibited time in my space. There’s something so deeply meaningful and connecting about sharing this tangible part of myself with people I love, but I also find that being in a space without too much hustle allows for more meaningful conversation and attention in a way that is just rich and fulfilling. As a vegan, I also love sharing some of my favorite, most unexpected vegan foodie places around the city. Any tour d’Atlanta would have to include stops at Mush Ni for baos and tempura fried oreos, Cafe Sunflower for vegan wings and desserts to die for, Argosy for their burger and pizza and rad atmosphere, Iberian Pig, yes, they have vegan food and it is awesome, and RA Sushi who is always down to veganize any of their amazing rolls.

In terms of things to do and places to visit, one of my favorite ATL spots is also a little known hideaway called The Lake Claire Land Trust. My wife and I got married here, and as a co-op space it’s so eclectic and welcoming. It has a playground, amphitheater where they host drum circles, so many garden patches, tall adirondack chairs that look over Pratt-Pullman Yards and the midtown skyline, a pond, and even en emu named Lu! A bike ride around the city is also an absolute must, of course including but not exclusive to parts of the beltline and maybe a trip into PCM to grab the best ramen the city has to offer or a picnic in Piedmont Park to close out the ride.

To be honest, I’m not often a late night girl, but when I do anything I like to do it right which means making it until sunrise, and there are only a few places that carry you well that late, so if a bestie was in town there would be at least one night that started at Ravine, meandered over to District, and ended at someone’s house hopefully with my girl DJ Canvas throwing down a sunrise set on her decks. Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
HA! I think more than any other group, it takes a tribe to raise a mindfulness coach. Spiritual work, while crazy personal, mostly gets worked out in relationship with others; so I have to shoutout first to my amazingly patient wife, who sees me in all my moments of unskillfulness, mindlessness, and habitual reactivity and has taught me that even in those moments, I (and therefore all of us) are still worthy of love. I also want to express overwhelming gratitude to my grandmother who started me on this path. Through her own spiritual journey she had me reciting Buddhist mantras as I learned to ride my bike at 5 years old, and with the feeling I had the first time I sat in meditation at 25, I know her energy deeply embedded in my being. Finally in my personal connections, I want to thank my squad of unfathomably fantastic and authentic friends who have listened to me drone on and on (and on) about all my “ah ha” moments, the things I find to be so cool about mindfulness, and these crazy moments of awakening, and they continue to not just love but also encourage me to greatness I sometimes don’t even see in myself. And last but certainly not least, I also want to shoutout to the many teachers who’s wisdom has guided me on this path: Khenpo Tsewang, Stephanie Swann, Noah Rasheta, Andrew Olendzki, Rick Hanson, Fleet Maul, Andrea Gibson, Rumi, Kahlil Gibran, Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, Mooji, (many I know I’m missing) and all my clients and students who are just as much my teachers as I am theirs.

Website: https://www.amindfulheartyoga.com

Instagram: @petiteTiff24 and @a_mindful_heart

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanyandras24/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AMindfulHeartATL

Other: https://insighttimer.com/tiffanyandrasmyers (Free guided meditations) The Wake the F*ck Up Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wake-the-f-ck-up-podcast/id1544104175 https://soundcloud.com/wtfupodcast https://open.spotify.com/show/1lKHWaRmxcuB3c6qe4MmbA

Image Credits
Rebekah Andras-Myers