What Is Amba?
“Amba” is a word with multiple cultural roots, each of which powerfully reflects the essence of my work and lived experience. It holds meaning across Indigenous Siberian beliefs, Hindu mythology, and ancient language. For me, it’s more than a name—it’s the foundation of why I do what I do.
Amba – The Tiger as Spirit Judge (Russian Far East)
Among the Indigenous Udege and Nanai peoples of the Russian Far East, “Amba” is the name given to the Amur tiger—but not in the way the Western world understands animal naming.
In these cultures, Amba is not just a tiger. She is a force of nature. A spiritual entity. A judge.
Amba is deeply respected and feared. She is seen as a guardian of the forest, a being who observes human actions and holds them accountable. Hunters who disrespect the land or break natural law may face the tiger’s wrath. Those in right relation may never see her at all.
This concept is central to the events that shaped my life.
In 2009, while working at the Calgary Zoo, I had a direct, near-fatal encounter with an Amur tiger. A safety failure brought me face to face with a fully grown predator—alone, unarmed, and entirely unprotected. I survived that moment. But I did not walk away unchanged.
I have come to understand that moment as a rite of passage.
I met Amba—and I lived.
Now I carry that power forward, not as mythology, but as memory.
Amba – The Reborn Warrior (Hindu Mythology)
In the Indian epic Mahabharata, Amba is the name of a princess who becomes a symbol of rage, injustice, and transformation.
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Abducted, dishonored, and discarded by powerful men, Amba is denied the ability to live out her fate.
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Rather than submit, she devotes her life to reclaiming her agency.
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She performs extreme austerities and is eventually reborn as a warrior—a being who ultimately defeats the one who wronged her.
This story resonates with anyone who has experienced betrayal, erasure, or systemic injustice—and chosen to respond not with collapse, but with transmutation.
For me, Amba represents the trauma survivor turned sacred witness, the feminine force that refuses to be diminished, and the warrior who reclaims her name on her own terms.
Amba – A Name Meaning “Mother” (Sanskrit) अम्बा
In Sanskrit, Amba translates directly to “mother.” But this isn’t the sanitized, patriarchal version of motherhood. Amba is the primordial mother, the wild protector, the feminine source of life and destruction.
She is fierce, generative, nurturing, and unyielding. This version of the mother archetype aligns closely with my role as a ritualist, herbalist, and trauma-informed guide.
I do not mother from softness alone—I mother from structure, sovereignty, and truth.
Why I Chose “Amba Untamed”
I didn’t choose the word Amba lightly. It chose me—first through myth, and then through direct experience. I named my work Amba Untamed because I believe healing is not about taming the wild parts of ourselves. It’s about remembering that they were never meant to be domesticated in the first place.
Amba Untamed is about reclaiming identity through lived experience, embodying sacred rage and reverence, and honoring the primal intelligence that exists within trauma, nature, and the nervous system.
It is the name I now carry forward as a healer, herbalist, and guide.
