ABOUT
I haven’t always trusted my body. I was born a dreamer. I thought the best stories started in your head. But then I took a long hike that changed my life forever. Eventually, I learned that some of the best, true stories start in your feet, in your hands, your hips. We are all creative storytellers living inside one amazing body. Sometimes it just takes time to access and reclaim that innate gift.
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I'm a mountain girl, born and raised in Southern Appalachia. (Hi, Donut Friar and my beloved Chimney Tops!) I got mountains and rivers and a whole lot of ramble in my blood. In 2014 I hiked over 1,400 miles of the Appalachian Trail and came home wanting to live bolder, more intentionally. I quit my job, moved to Asheville, started a business, and went looking for other “lifers” (that’s what my husband calls the dreamers and doers).
Life was picture-perfect—like days away from owning a Westfalia and traveling the world like the hippie of my dreams. Then I lost it all, and depression moved in . . . then anxiety. In 2017 I started studying the healing arts like it was my life’s mission (and not because it was trendy). I was desperate to find a way back to myself. Turns out nature, writing, and movement are my trifecta dose of strong-and-steady. They brought me inward, which was exactly what I needed after I'd spent years living from the neck up.
Then came off grid cabin living in Madison County at 6 months pregnant, waddling to the outhouse, roughing it. And then motherhood cracked me open in a whole new way, teaching me stillness can live inside chaos and that bodies are miracluous. the end. Somewhere in there I also became a certified yoga teacher, went back to school to get an MA in Creative Writing, and co-authored two Appalachian Trail guidebooks with my husband.
The things worth doing take time and discipline. Building and living a creative life is not easy, but it’s far from impossible. Good friends help. Gratitude, too.
Now I facilitate classes where women can slow down, move their bodies, and let the words come. No rushing, no fixing. Just deep breaths and movement and a blank page, and whatever sub-personality is driving that day. Sometimes tea, always good company. : )
Here's to the courage it takes to believe and the willingness to trust!
It all starts within.
Studies & Trainings
Currently pursuing MFA in Creative Writing, Wilkes University
MA in Creative Writing, Wilkes University (Norris Church Mailer Scholarship)
Co-author, Hiking the Appalachian Trail Through Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee (Falcon Guides, 2026)
Story Lab, Story Parlor, Spring Cohort (2023)
Memoir Builder, a 5-week workshop with Tessa Fontaine, Great Smokies Writing Program (2023)
Co-author, Discovering the Appalachian Trail: A Guide to the Trail's Greatest Hikes (Falcon Guides, 2022)
Continuing education in yoga study with Authentic Movements (2020)
200-hr Yoga Teacher Training certificate (2020), Vira Bhava Yoga
Astrology mentorship with Asheville-based astrologer Virginia Rosenberg, 2019
Level II Usui Reiki certificate and attunement from Daisy Marquis, 2018
Certified in 160 hours of study and practice in Integrative Healing Arts, including Flower Essence Therapy and Ayurvedic Practices — Shanti School of Energy Healing, 2018
Foundations Business Planning, Mountain BizWorks, 2017
Completed 1,400+ miles of the Appalachian Trail, 2014
BA in Business, Carson-Newman College, 2011
OFFICIAL BIO
Amber Adams Niven grew up in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains, where she developed a deep love for nature and hiking at an early age. In 2014, she backpacked over 1,400 miles of the Appalachian Trail with her father. That journey became the heart of her work — inspiring others to connect with the natural world, their bodies, and their own creativity.
She is co-author of Discovering the Appalachian Trail: A Guide to the Trail's Greatest Hikes (Falcon Guides, 2022) and Hiking the Appalachian Trail Through Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee (Falcon Guides, 2026), both written with her husband, Joshua. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University, where she received the Norris Church Mailer Scholarship, and is currently pursuing her MFA there. She is at work on a memoir exploring what it means to root in a place when your spirit longs to roam. Her writing has appeared in Smoky Mountain Living, Mountain Xpress, She Explores, and The Trek.
Amber's background includes over two decades working in the outdoor industry — from her first job taking reservations at a whitewater rafting company, to outfitting adventurers and teaching backcountry skills as a Fjällräven Guide. She is the founder of Elder & Co., a ritual candle company rooted in Appalachian landscapes.
Her work speaks to women caught between staying and leaving, between holding it together and falling apart. Through trail guidebooks, memoir, and somatic practice, she offers a single message: your mess isn't something to escape. It's the material — the clay on the wheel, the dirt where roots grow. She brings years of study, training, and practice in movement, Ayurveda, and herbalism, and as a certified yoga teacher (Vira Bhava Yoga, 2020) with continuing education through Authentic Movements.
She now leads classes like The Well and The Artist's Way that combine movement and writing to help others reconnect with their bodies and their creativity.
Amber lives in a log cabin in Southern Appalachia with her husband, Joshua Niven, and their children, River, Indie and Ezra.
