#16: Amelia Heintzelman
"I really believe that imagination and curiosity is what keeps our bodies going."
Amelia (@annonomus_rex) is a dancer and somatic educator. She teaches a weekly yoga class at Pageant (every Tuesday at 7pm).
#16: Amelia Heintzelman
Pisces/Taurus/Aquarius
New York, NY
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
Acupuncture (Ariel at Tigerlily Holistic for any injury), deep relationships and new exciting ones alike, Katonah yoga, lemon, laughing!
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
Frenetic, deep, awkward, dense, rich, challenging, vibrantly seeking. I’m in the period of deep work that is intense but devotional — I'm looking ahead.
How do you start and end your days?
Start: Cat, boyfriend, coffee, pack lunch, emails.
End: TikTok, reading, imagining, cat, boyfriend, melatonin or edible.
What’s your relationship to self-healing?
I am working with this idea of speculative physiology, in my creative work and also lightly in my approach to teaching. I’ve dealt with minor injuries, traumatic injuries, post-op rehabilitation, both within my own body and the bodies of students, friends, and loved ones. I really believe that imagination and curiosity is what keeps our bodies going. I really believe that losing belief in your own ability to heal can cause you to be stuck in a tremendous amount of pain. My body is really strong, and sometimes my head can get in the way.
Was there a specific moment in life that made you more conscious of your health?
I was in a car accident when I was 16 and spent about four months in a wheelchair. Everyone in the car with me was severely injured, one person died. Those four months of recovery were hell and I’ve fought with my body ever since to develop a unwavering resilience, deeply loving relationship to my own physicality, a desire to push and get stronger with every day I get older. My yoga teacher says the body gets better with age, so far I’ve found that to be true. But this is not without an immense amount of enthusiasm, work, and care.
Where do you look to for information and guidance?
My favorite place to go with a sense of unknowing is Pageant. I admire Ayano Elson, Abbie Glavin, and Juliana May, my current teachers and mentors who keep me in my body. I love listening to POOG with Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak. Sometimes I don’t have any guidance and I have to go “1, 2, 3, go” knowing that I have no idea what I’m doing.