Amy Dawn Kotel: A champion for empathetic fitness

Written by Charles Noyes
Photos by Kelly Z Photography

Sponsored by Valley Home Improvement

Published in Northampton Living (May 2022)

Amy Dawn Kotel is a Personal Fitness Trainer who strongly believes that everyone should strive to be active in whatever way is possible for themselves. “I do think that if we’re feeling good we’re gonna be kinder to each other,” she said. It’s this spirit of finding innovative ways to stay active and this philosophy of doing so with self-kindness that she carries through her practice: Fit Spirit Personal Training. What brought her to starting this business and to her philosophy of fitness and life is a story all to itself.

Born and raised on Long Island, she went to SUNY New Paltz for Women’s Studies, with a minor in dance, and eventually Lesley University for a Master’s in Elementary Education. “I was always doing fitness on the side no matter what else I was doing,” she remembered. Between these studies, she traveled everywhere, living in New York, Maine, and Cincinnati, doing puppetry, teaching, dance, art, and, of course, fitness. But it turned out to be dance that brought her to the Valley.

She spent her first few months in the valley volunteering and taking dance workshops at Earthdance in Plainfield and has stayed in the area since arriving in 2001. In that time, Amy got married, had her daughter, Annika, divorced, and eventually remarried Matt Swift, a social worker at Behavioral Health Network in Agawam.

Some of their favorite activities together with her family are bike riding, going on local hikes like Fitzgerald Lake, Mount Tom, the Rail Trails, and swimming at Musante Beach.

Annika loves animals and will take any opportunity to meet and see animals, even stopping to interview people with dogs on the bike path. “That was an interesting hobby,” Amy chuckled.

Throughout all these years, fitness, art, and dance followed Amy. She worked at the Northampton YMCA from 2005-2017, she taught middle school dance, and eventually she got involved with Strength for Life, a chiropractic and exercise center dedicated to strength-building and fitness for people of all ages. But once the pandemic hit, all of that changed overnight.

When life went upside-down for so many, Amy saw it as a unique opportunity to explore some of her greatest interests and passions. While tutoring and teaching her daughter from home, she also dedicated herself to her art to ease the negative emotions of the pandemic stress. “Art was always my way of dealing with others when I was a child,” she said. “If I felt any social anxiety I would look down and draw.” She has worked to produce vibrant, colorful works that celebrate nature and the beauty and challenges of life, many of which have been featured in local exhibitions around the Valley. If you’re interested in seeing her art in person, she has an upcoming show on May 6th at the Easthampton Council of the Arts.

“Growing up, I was always drawing. Through both art and dance I feel like I’m channeling different energies. Art is a more reserved and contemplative energy while dance is a high-voltage, effusive, energetic explosion. I have a lot of injuries from dancing: stenosis, arthritis, all kinds of fun things. As I head into my later years, I’m learning to continue to be active despite all of these battle scars, which is why I love supporting people with their fitness. I take what I am learning to keep my body moving and I share it with my clients.”

And it was this thought that brought her to starting her own business, Fit Spirit, to help other people who are in the same boat as her. “My mission statement is to essentially be of service to as many people as I can be in a way that supports and serves my community. I keep studying and growing what I know, so I have more and more to offer myself and others.”

“My specialties are people over 45, but also people in their 70s and 80s, helping to have safe, conscious, considerate fitness so they can keep their bodies going in a way that keeps them independent and feeling good and out of pain or lessening pain. I work with postpartum moms and people who’ve had injuries and are at the point in their recovery where they can begin to get back into fitness, but they still need to be careful. While I do work with people who have specific goals like a race or upcoming competition, I find it super satisfying to work with people who are new to fitness or find fitness scary.”

Part of how Amy has given back is through her business and making sure it remains open to everyone. “I used to do a sliding scale , but now I have set prices,” she began, “but I want to give scholarships to people who financially need them. I don’t want to turn people away, I want to work with everyone I can. I was very poor for a while and so I know firsthand how much it matters to pay it forward. Now that I have the ability to be there for others, I want to be.”

At the end of the day, Amy knows that whatever she does and wherever she goes, she does so by both giving and receiving love. “I think I’m a kind, loving, non-judgmental person which many people find inviting. I know what it’s like to have an unhealthy obsession with my body and fitness. I had an eating disorder when I was young so I take a very body-positive approach and for a lot of people, that’s what they need.”

“I see each person who comes to me as beautiful and lovable and as they get stronger and get more mindful with their food, their bodies will find the correct weight for themselves. Taking actions toward health and fitness is a journey. For me it’s important that I approach fitness with my clients from a place of love.“