Mandy Beal

I have completed two yoga teacher training programs. The first was in a style of Hatha yoga blended with Buddhist philosophy.  The second was in Integrative Yoga Therapy (IYT), which had an intense focus on the subtle body.  

Although my asana practice is currently on hold due to an old injury, yoga remains very important to me. After all, asana is only one of the eight limbs of yoga. I practice pranayama (breathwork), mudra (finger poses), and meditation regularly. I also try to incorporate the yamas and niyamas into my daily life.

 My spouse, Mx. Jesse Beal (they/them), is a social justice educator who works primarily in the administration of diversity and inclusion programs at higher education institutions. Jesse and I have been married since 2009. Our oldest son is 17, and he was adopted in 2021. We are currently working on the adoption of an infant, which we hope to have completed in early 2024.

We have two beautiful Labrador Retrievers and a mind-bogglingly old cat named Linus.

I enjoy spending time outside, especially at Kensington Metro Park. Before living in Michigan, I could often be found in the foothills of Western Massachusetts or in Austin’s Greenbelt.

Music is a big part of my life, and I've been lucky enough to pick up a few instruments along the way. I say I've been lucky because I know that I've had some pretty amazing opportunities. I grew up in a church where the pedal harp was a regular feature of Sunday worship services. I began taking piano lessons from this very talented musician when I was in elementary school and quickly graduated to the harp.

When I was 14, I began playing the guitar. I'm mostly self-taught, but picked up a lot from others while co-leading music at youth group. In my 20s, I began playing hand drums, including the dumbek and djembe. Again, by luck and happenstance, I spent a lot of time playing for belly dancers and fire dancers in Austin.

In divinity school, I accompanied UU student worship services, taking turns on the guitar and djembe as needed. These are really the two instruments that I love playing the most. Although I no longer play the harp (or own one), I am very grateful for the training I received in classical music. 

Music plays a crucial role in worship services because it can move people at a deeper level than words and silence alone. Because my musical training was primarily through church, my understanding of music is very closely tied to my understanding of liturgy. My knowledge of classical (piano and harp), contemporary (guitar), and eclectic/world (drum) music has been very helpful in the planning of worship services and collaborating with professional musicians. 

My personal music taste is pretty diverse. I have a deep and abiding love of David Bowie. I can almost always listen to Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zepplin. I am a walking compendium of hip hop from the '80s and '90s. I'm also a big fan of old school Country Music, like Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Patsy Cline. (It's possible I was born about 20 years late.) From my yoga days, I have an appreciation of devotional music as well, including Deva Premal, Krishna Das, and Jai Uttal. I even listen to some contemporary instrumental work from people like Paul Cardall. I find that most people have an emotional connection to some kind of music and it can really bring people together (as long as we don't get into Stones versus Beatles).