Farming for Health Podcast #20: Amy Ippoliti

When Amy Ippoliti was just sixteen years old, an event—an entirely ordinary event—totally changed her life. She was babysitting her little brother and, after putting him to bed, she sat down, looked up, and saw Tao De Ching (The Book of the Way of Virtue) on her dad’s bookshelf.

She pulled it off the shelf and randomly opened up the book, which contains eighty-one short verses on wisdom. She landed on verse twenty and, when she realized that her favorite pop singer had incorporated this verse into his lyrics, it blew her mind. She then read the book from cover to cover. 

This led Amy on a path of spirituality where she began mulling over the bigger questions of life. Then, her mother invited her to a yoga class and, although Amy appreciated the physical aspects, what really resonated was how yoga wove throughout the mystery of life and what truly matters while we’re here. 

Fast forwarding by eleven years, her current yoga teacher announced that she would provide teacher training. Amy didn’t immediately respond, feeling she was too young and not yet worthy. When the deadline came down to the wire, though, she made herself ask for an application—and, although she worried that her teacher would scoff, she was actually quite encouraging. 

After her first night of teacher training, Amy told her instructor that she was really there to deepen her understanding of yoga instead of learning how to teach. Her teacher used the occasion to reinforce her belief in Amy—and she’s taught yoga ever since. She also writes about yoga, including a book she co-authored: The Art and Business of Teaching Yoga.

Plus, yoga deepened her connection to the soil. Amy had always been an advocate of the Earth and of caring for the planet; so, she notes, when you appreciate nature, you can’t help but to “get lit up” by soil health. But, not surprisingly, yoga intensified this connection. 

Here’s how it happened. The publisher of Yoga Journal was coming to her classes—until, one day, he didn’t. He later texted her, letting her know that, after he left the magazine, he began working for Rodale Institute. He also invited her to visit the farm where research was conducted. After she arrived, he shared insights with her about healthy soil and how regenerative agriculture is a solution for climate change. 

Now, here’s where you can find the rest of Amy Ippolito’s story in episode #20 of our Farming for Health podcast: Yoga, Climate Changes, and Creating a Livable Future.

Past Episodes of our Farming for Health Podcast

If you’ve missed any of our previous episodes, you can find them here:

• Episode One: Keto, Cruciferous Vegetables, Salt and Your Mindset
• Episode Two: Cooking, Conviviality, and Preserving the Harvest
• Episode Three: Ferments, Food Insecurity, and Wasted Food
• Episode Four: Anti-Cancer Diet, Food as Medicine, and Vegetables
• Episode Five: Plants, Happiness and Mindful Neglect.
• Episode Six: Whole 30, Sustainable Habits, and Loving Vegetables
• Episode Seven: Iodine, Egg Yolk Enzymes, and Miso
• Episode Eight: Fungi, Bitter Foods, and Food Extinction
• Episode Nine: Understanding Food, Nutritional Healing and Farming
• Episode Ten: Enjoying the Process, Connection and Soup
• Episode Eleven: Monica Geller, Community and Limiting Salads 
• Episode Twelve: Nourishment, Creativity, and Full-Spectrum Health
• Episode Thirteen: The Joy of Cooking, Fermentation, and Seasonality 
• Episode Fourteen: Cauliflower, Potlucks, and the Joy of Food
• Episode Fifteen: Time Savers, Pickled Raisins and Cooking With Creativity
• Episode Sixteen: Romanticizing Food, Seasonal Eating, and Shamed Spinach
• Episode Seventeen: Being Present, The Eat In Method and Food as Fuel
• Episode Eighteen: Regenerative Grazing, Monarchs and Voting with Your Dollar 
• Episode Nineteen: Childhood Injustice, Soil Health, and Relationship with Nature