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Senior CCT™ Teacher Spotlight: Amanda Mahoney, M.A.
We’re delighted to have Amanda Mahoney teaching Compassion Cultivation Training© (CCT™) courses at Compassion Institute. Amanda is a psychotherapist and the Leader of Wellness and Culture at Four Seasons Veterinary Specialist in Loveland, Colorado as well as a wellness coach for companies throughout the country. The cornerstones of her work emphasizes a compassionate mindset. Additionally, she shares a solution-focused approach to understanding the events that unfold in life, and how these events can impact our health and wellbeing.
Read below to discover what else Tori Sarris — CI’s Program Manager, Public Programs — discovered about Amanda and her powerful insights around compassion in her interview for this special CCT™ Teacher Spotlight.
What is one insight from CCT™ that you would share with anyone?
I believe the strongest and most consistent insight that I have from CCT™ is that engaging in a compassionate mindset for yourself and others avails you to the power of choice. Choice of how you interact with yourself and others as well as how you will respond to yourself and others. Also allowing yourself to choose your mindset before, after, or during any interaction, situation, emotion, or outcome.
For me, this insight comes from the awareness of our mind-body connection that’s cultivated during CCT™. It’s supported by the opportunity to embrace our shared common humanity. The systematic approach over the eight weeks of CCT™ helps bring great awareness to our old habits of the mind and/or behavior. These habits and/or behaviors slowly begin to melt away — and what they’re replaced with is the beautiful gift of choice via compassion for yourself and others. It’s truly freeing.
This has been true for me since I was a student of CCT and has stayed steady throughout my journey as a teacher of CCT.
What should someone who is considering signing up for CCT™ know?
I think it’s really important for those considering signing up for CCT™ to know that you’re not alone. Whether it’s in your excitement, your fear, your doubt, your hesitation — or simply wondering if there’s even enough time — you’re in good company.
For me, I was intimidated by the curriculum at first, having very limited exposure to contemplative practices at that time. I’m so grateful I didn’t listen to that self-doubt and took a chance on compassion.
What components of CCT™ do you use most in your everyday life?
I feel I utilize the practices around breath-focused meditation, self-compassion, and active compassion the most. I previously had a very strong narrative that I wasn’t enough. Through my practice and the education I have had and continue to receive from CCT™, my narrative now begins and ends with “common humanity” and “compassion” bookends. This truly allows me to engage in a more balanced mindset — for myself and others.
You’re invited to join Amanda Mahoney for her 8-week online Compassion Cultivation Training© (CCT™) course — which starts March 25th, 2024.
Click here to find other upcoming Compassion Institute programs.