Ep 122 Deep Listening in Integrative Care with Megan Hadley

Interview with Megan Hadley about the benefits and opportunities that arise when using deep listening as a practice within integrative health coaching.

Topics of Discussion:
-Explaining and valuing deep listening within integrative health
-Developing the skill of deep listening
-Navigating and creating capacity to deeply listen within a fast paced culture

Megan Hadley, MA, NBC-HWC (she/her) is a Nationally Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) and also holds a graduate degree (MA) in Integrative Health and Wellbeing Coaching and graduate minor in Health Equity from the University of Minnesota (UMN). She has additional specialized training in Cultural Approaches to Health, Nature-Based Healing, Reiki I and II, and Mindfulness Facilitation (via Enhanced Stress Resilience Training).

Megan brings a decade of experience community-building and healing through storytelling in the arts, and she has cultivated an artistic lens she uses in her coaching, facilitation, and mentorship work.  She allows time and space for immersive and embodied creative activities to tap into one's inner wisdom and intuition. This whole-person and compassionate approach has guided her to coaching, facilitation, mentorship, and now teaching initiatives throughout the arena of health and wellness.

Her coaching experience includes: NWHSU Integrative Clinic of Minnesota (formerly Pillsbury Clinic); BeWell program at UMN; VA Medical Center; HennepinHealth; Minnesota Head and Neck Pain Clinic; Mettacool International; The Driven Mama; and her own private practice, Harvest Health and Wellbeing LLC.

Megan's Private Practice - Harvest Health and Wellbeing LLC
Northwestern Health Sciences University Free Coaching

Megan's Affiliate Links:
Wellspired Membership
Coaching Through Emotions & Trauma - Kris Kniefel & Kerri Weishoff
Cultural Humility w/ Leslie Atley 
Mental Health Action Planning w/ Amber Reed

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Transcript

Ep 122  Deep Listening in Integrative Care with Megan Hadley

[00:00:00] 

[00:00:00] Cynthia: You are listening to the Well Connected Twin Cities podcast. I'm your host, Cynthia Shockley, and I'm here to learn alongside you through meaningful conversations with health and wellness practitioners. This is your time to experience some mindset shifts, learn practical tips, and get excited about what is possible.

[00:00:22] We want you to own the power of choice in your personal well being journey. Let's discover what's possible right here in our Twin Cities community. 

[00:00:33] Hello, and welcome to the Well Connected Twin Cities podcast. I'm your host, Cynthia Shockley, and today I'm with Megan Hadley. Megan is a nationally board certified health and wellness coach. She also holds a graduate degree in integrative health and well being coaching and a graduate minor in health equity from the University of Minnesota.

[00:00:56] She has additional specialized training in cultural approaches to health, nature based healing, Reiki one and two. And mindfulness facilitation via enhanced stress resilience training. Megan brings a decade of experience, community building and healing through storytelling in the arts. She's cultivated an artistic lens that she uses in her coaching, facilitation, and mentorship work.

[00:01:21] She allows time and space for immersive and embodied creative activities to tap into one's inner wisdom and intuition. This whole person and compassionate approach has guided her to coaching, facilitation, mentorship, and now teaching initiatives through the arena of health and wellness. Her coaching experience includes Northwest Health Sciences University, Integrative Clinic of Minnesota, formerly the Pillsbury Clinic, Be 

[00:01:46] Program at University of Minnesota, the VA Medical Center, Hennepin Health, Minnesota Head and Neck Pain Clinic, Medi Cool International, the Driven Mama, and her own private practice, Harvest Health and Well Being LLC. Here we are with Megan Hadley. Hi, Megan. 

[00:02:04] Megan: Hi, Cynthia. 

[00:02:06] Cynthia: So glad that we can connect. So Megan and I actually were in the same cohort in our master's program for integrative health coaching at University of Minnesota. So we have definitely been interwoven in each other's lives, but it's so nice to be able to sit down and have a longer chat with you today.

[00:02:25] I

[00:02:25] Megan: agree. Yes, you've been doing so much good work with well connected Twin Cities and in your own coaching practice, and I'm just amazed at what you all are putting out. So it's an honor to be here and contributing to that collective knowledge today. 

[00:02:41] Cynthia: Yeah and same could be said for you, right? I just I'm amazed with all the things that you're doing with Well Inspired and just everything else you've got going on.

[00:02:50] So I'm excited to dig into a little more about your professional journey and what you're working on. But also, I want to know just what's going well for you in your personal slash professional life, right? Just a rose and a thorn, something that's going well, something that maybe isn't going so well. 

[00:03:12] Megan: Yes, that's such a good question.

[00:03:14] And I was reflecting on that beforehand. And I think the rose right now truly is, I have a lot of meaningful work happening. A lot of meaningful time in my personal life as well. I'm a new mom and everything. So everything's feeling full and meaningful. And because of that, the thorn can actually feel like There's not always the space to be as creative as I want to be in all these outlets.

[00:03:39] However, I did rejoin a choir this year. So I'm super excited for that kind of personal creativity expansion. It's called C Change and we do justice oriented music projects and It's an inspiration to be a part of that crew this year just joined literally this month, so I'm just overwhelmed with joy and excitement to be there.

[00:04:03] And then similarly, trying to make more space in my work life to expand my creativity there. And I, have an email newsletter that has been my creative outlet and it's taken a back burner with all of these new things that I'm folding into my work. Taking the time to return to that and figure out how to best find the flow with that in my work week.

[00:04:27] Cynthia: Beautiful. Wow. A justice oriented musical group. I'm like, that's Megan all over. That's amazing. 

[00:04:36] Megan: My friends I have a music and theater background, I had to take some time off from choir due to grad school and then having a baby and asked all my friends what choir I should join and several of them said this choir.

[00:04:48] Yeah. Can't wait. 

[00:04:48] Cynthia: Oh, that's awesome. I know that while we were brainstorming a topic for this episode because You do so much and there's so much that you're passionate about. Something that you said that was really coming to surface for you lately has been the concept of deep listening and integrative care.

[00:05:09] And so I'm curious how this has been showing up for you lately and why you feel like it's important to talk about. 

[00:05:17] Megan: Absolutely. I think so much of my work as a health coach and an entrepreneur is. explaining what health coaching is. So it's a lot of that work of here's what deep listening can actually do for you in the coaching world.

[00:05:32] But then similarly in session with clients, I'm. Explaining and modeling the value of deep listening for them and their understanding how they want to expand their resources in ways that deepen their connection to themselves and what their needs and visions are, as well as how they build an integrative care team with other people who can also listen deeply.

[00:05:55] And then similarly to being in a choir and starting to listen in all these different ways and keeping your ears open. To me. Deeply listening comes in all facets of an entrepreneurial life, right? So it's, I'm supporting coaches who are in training now too. So I'm an adjunct professor with Northwestern health sciences university, and there's such value in truly listening to their concerns about what it means to become a coach and what are the vital things you need to know at the beginning and really sitting with them in their Kind of practicum class of trial coaching for the first time and opening their ears again to these ways of deep listening that continue to unfold throughout our learning as coaches.

[00:06:41] And then on the other end of the spectrum of professional support for coaches, I'm supporting coaches who are board certified and in the field and maybe have been doing this several years, decades even, supporting their professional development, supporting, what do they want that to look like, right?

[00:06:59] We had so much structure in our coaching programs to begin with, and then we're certified and out in the world feeling so disconnected from one another. So my work with Wellspired really Allows me to listen deeply to professionals about what they need and what's missing. So that to me has been profound as well as just the generic act of deep listening and community with each other, right?

[00:07:21] And kind of this post 2020 era of, I've always Wanted to be this adjusted oriented person and I've known that this is a lifelong journey for me. However, the collective consciousness around how we do that and how we unlearn and relearn and remember ways of being, connect us back to our root culture and connect us back to each other can be deeply transformative.

[00:07:46] So I think deep listening is to an active anti racism and collective care. 

[00:07:53] Cynthia: So it just is that underlying pulse in everything that you're doing. And for someone who doesn't really understand what deep listening is as a practice, how would you describe the difference between deep listening versus the typical listening we might do in a conversation?

[00:08:12] Megan: A very good question, and I actually formed an example to bring us into this moment. And this is a very cultural thing, too, I feel. We often ask, how are you? And sometimes we might glaze past over this, not only the asking of how are you, right? Hey, how are you? But also our response to the people we're in conversation with.

[00:08:36] So some people just say, good. And move on, right? They're not available, or maybe we don't culturally allow ourselves to be more vulnerable, and that's what's second, cultural exchange. However, when people do open up beyond the good, we receive so much more information. And so this is something most of us already know how to do, and are taking in this brief moment of connection when we say hello to each other.

[00:09:03] If you hear someone say, Whew, I'm alright.

[00:09:06] How much information is in that sentence? That can provide context for how you relate to them the rest of the time you're together. Or, Ugh, I got the day car called, it's going around. What are you hearing in that? Is there frustration? Concern, right? There's emotions involved. There's assumptions.

[00:09:29] There's a level of comfort. There's a change in energy, right? If someone asks, how are you?

[00:09:37] I'm good, right? That silence can speak volumes too. So even if we slow down and recognize more, these first few answers to the people that we speak to every day, we can glean so much more from our connection to them. And yeah, many of us are already doing this. So What people who use deep listening do, and again, yes, this is a skill that we learn in health coaching, and it's not really unique to health coaching, right?

[00:10:08] It's a skill that's emphasized in motivational interviewing, which integrative care providers are grabbing left and right to enhance their practices. It's a skill that I believe a lot of caregivers use, right? It's a skill that sometimes even children use. It's this skill of seeing through just the words, to see through what's unspoken, to listen to body language, and even internal body cues, right?

[00:10:36] When I'm deep listening, I'm noticing when there's a knot in my stomach. I'm noticing the tone and quality of their voice. And I'm listening to the exact words they're saying. So what's lighting up for them? What is it about this language that seems to be striking to them that they'd use it in this moment?

[00:10:55] So it's a layered listening. 

[00:10:59] Cynthia: Yeah. And what a powerful example. Just that simple. How are you? Because, gosh, I don't know how many times I say that in a day. And how easy it is to just glaze past the answer. I remember I had a yoga teacher who, she'd always say, how are you? And everyone would say, fine, good, great, whatever.

[00:11:20] And her second question was always. How are you really? And that was always such a wonderful conversation starter because then people would open up on a whole new level. And so to be able to listen for the, how are they really in their first response, even woof. That's a skill. 

[00:11:43] Megan: It is. And it, I believe that it is innate and I believe it is deeply learned.

[00:11:49] Skill as well, right? So as health coaches and integrative care professionals, we spend so much of our time Listening to people and their concerns for their health and well being we're honing that skill constantly in our work and it's not something we usually turn on and off. I think That's something too that's maybe a common misconception about deep listening is I have to be like on for so much and be, do so much to deep listen when really it's the state of being that we enter in.

[00:12:23] And really that allows us to not take in every single detail they're sharing with us right as health providers and professionals, but that we can effectively. Listen and take it in and understand and be boundaried enough to let their story go because it doesn't have to live on us or on our backs, right?

[00:12:47] Cynthia: Yeah, to hold the space, to be a witness, objective. 

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[00:14:52] Cynthia: So you mentioned that. This is a way of being. It's not something you turn on or off boom, now I'm deep listening. Boom. Now I'm not. So for those who are interested in developing this way of being this skill, what are some steps for people to get started or to start practicing to just transition into this state of being the steep listening?

[00:15:21] Megan: Yeah. And I think it can be different for everyone's one of those people who here's the three step way. And there are certainly elements that are involved that can be supportive as a starting place. And I was trying to understand if there was a hierarchy between these and I think they're pretty equal in their power.

[00:15:44] So I, even in my mind, the image of the, Not the Celtic cross, but it's a Celtic symbol of the three kind of ovals connecting in the middle. Is it 

[00:15:53] Cynthia: like the triskelion? Yes. Thank you. 

[00:15:56] Megan: I love cultural symbols and they pop up and then I'm like, Oh, I'm going to have to read up on that again. But for me the trifecta of deep listening includes radical self acceptance first.

[00:16:10] Because there's this capacity in deep listening that we have to do to ourselves as well. Because in deep listening, we're listening to our internal cues. So if my internal cue is saying something or bringing something up I really need to accept that is what it is, in order to still be present and deep listening with the other person.

[00:16:34] So it's a radical acceptance of the self combined with Mindful presence, right? So not only do we need to mindfully be present with someone else and I can talk a little bit more to about this intersection with mindfulness, right? So a lot of people think that mindfulness practice is actually wiping your brain slate clear, right?

[00:16:56] Clearing your mind and that is where the peace is found. And honestly, if you look into the neuroscience of it all even the monks who meditate years on end cannot wipe their brain for longer than 14 seconds at a time. That's just not humanly possible. Our brain is an organ that generates thoughts.

[00:17:21] And so the work of mindfulness is again, accepting those thoughts that come up and discerning what to do with it. So if it's hunger, okay. That's important for now. And I'm in a podcast recording with Cynthia, so I'm not going to get a snack, but I will after this. And then the third kind of thing beyond radical self acceptance and mindful presence is also non judgment.

[00:17:48] Because when we're, when those things are coming up about ourselves, right? Ooh, I'm having a judgment come up. I'm feeling a certain way about myself or the person I'm in relationship to. How can we hold each other and ourselves in positive high regard? So that again, we can just enter that state of being where we're listening to ourselves.

[00:18:08] And the other person, and also listening to the relationship, right? There's a dynamic between us that's happening that I need to listen and pay attention to. So those are the three main things that I feel like anyone could cultivate. But similarly, it's one of the main drawbacks that people find when they try to do this, or when they, start to notice, okay, what's my internal processing as I'm listening to someone.

[00:18:34] Often we'll find we're rehearsing what we are saying. While the other person is speaking. So instead of fully listening and following every word that's coming out of their mouth, we're thinking of the next story to tell, or the next meeting we have, versus being truly present. So that, that can be fun to play with on notice as well.

[00:19:00] Cynthia: And as someone being listened to we've all had this experience where we feel like the person we're talking to just isn't hearing us because we're sharing a story. We want them to be curious about or to expand upon and then they just jump to a different story. And you're like, Where did that come from?

[00:19:21] Because they weren't even paying attention.

[00:19:23] And it's very frustrating to feel unseen and unheard. So I'd imagine being able to, not even imagine, I know the feeling of being deeply listened to and to feel really held. And I think that's the power of Being in a dynamic or in a relationship with a coach, to be able to be in that space where it is all about you.

[00:19:47] It's all about really having that mirror held up and not having to be concerned at all that the coach is there to also talk about themselves. Their job is to listen and then to. Listen inward and see where those little nuggets of wisdom might be hidden that you don't you might not be paying attention 

[00:20:07] Megan: to Yeah, and it's deeply Satisfying and healing and energizing to get that space when you're talking about your health and well being goals right because so much of our wellness culture is focused on solutions and products and Things outside of the self or outside of a relationship that can heal and so to let that be turned around and notice Oh, I can be held in relationship.

[00:20:38] I can be listened to like my words can be healing because I'm coaching not only are we deep listening then we're using those motivational interviewing skills of reflecting those words that really lit up for them. And hearing their own words back can often be what moves them forward towards their goals.

[00:20:57] So it can be completely transformative for people, and they can realize Okay, I'm going to need people like you in every area of my health now, right? Like, how do I replicate you as all these other people? And those people exist, right? At Northwestern Health Sciences University, these students, all of them that I have in class right now, have other integrative care disciplines already set to go, right?

[00:21:24] They want to be doing it all, and adding these coaching skills to it. So not only can we... Find the clinic or find the health system or find the integrative care provider that can do this But our coach can help us build that team and understand and navigate the health care system in that way

[00:21:43] Cynthia: That's just so cool to think about all the different students coming out as professionals And the people who are already out there who have this way of being But we've mentioned a couple times now this Kind of this fast paced culture that we're in the solution oriented culture that we're in and Even though slowing down and listening deeply makes so much sense I feel like it can be hard when we're just drenched in this culture of like right now What's the answer?

[00:22:18] Let's go So just from your own experience, how would you say? This is impacting our ability to deeply listen and then also how we navigate that impact so that we can continue to listen deeply.

[00:22:33] Megan: Yeah. As you were saying that question, another resource popped up to me, which is Margaret Wheatley's book. We are who we choose to be, and it's an incredible book about leadership in times of transformative systems collapse. And we're in this time frame where things are rapidly changing, and according to history and the collapse of civilization we are at a turning point right now of power shifting.

[00:23:04] And so she talks about these islands of sanity, right? There's so much happening, it's a fast paced culture, there's so much pressure there's not a lot of feeling of togetherness, so how do we create our own islands of sanity, of togetherness, so we can get through to whatever the next phase of this transformation is?

[00:23:23] Is so I'd highly recommend just checking out that resource in general. It's very empowering in a continually anxiety producing state of the world that we live in. And I think You know, there's so much in this that to me is cultural work, right? Cultural self awareness, cultural connecting in my graduate program I did a graduate minor in health equity through the School of Public Health, and we worked directly with the Cultural Wellness Center and some of those classes and I've been involved in a local group for remember, Eurocentric or Euro historical root culture type of people called Healing Roots, and the work there is really centered on learning three facets to move through this cultural work, and it's root culture, we focus on root culture, our mainstream American culture, and white culture.

[00:24:20] Right, which includes white supremacy culture and some of the tenets of white supremacy culture. Of course, I'm not a scholar in this area. I just also a lifelong learner here. But as I was reflecting on your question of how this capacity to deeply listen is impacted by culture. I think some of the main tenets of white supremacy that I see show up Are one right way, right?

[00:24:47] So in our minds, we think, and a lot of people come to coaching, think, okay, I'm meeting with a coach to learn this one right way forward to meet my movement goal or contribute to a different nourishment habit, what have you. And they think there's one right way, and often that's the way things are marketed.

[00:25:07] Two there's one right way to deeply listen. I told you from the start that's not true. And then similarly another tenet of white supremacy culture, the right to comfort and fear of conflict. So often when we're in conversation with people, and something comes up, That maybe triggers in us some kind of activation of, wow, that brings up some things I haven't processed yet, whether that's trauma, whether that's discomfort, whether that's Yeah, maybe just on alignment with what their life is have, you have no idea what happens in conversation with people, right?

[00:25:42] So sometimes people turn off in conversation because they're not ready to engage themselves with that content right and then there's also a fear of conflict of okay This person's maybe has a different totally different belief system than me. How could I possibly deeply listen? To them when I have a different belief system, right?

[00:26:02] So there's so much disconnect in the binary that exists politically in our cult, in our American culture right now and it's that fear of conflict, being able to really connect with people and listen deeply without getting so activated and frustrated and that really ties in with another tenant, which is individualism, right?

[00:26:23] And that comes to the idea of when I'm talking to someone, I'm rehearsing what's next, right? Because I need to insert myself or it's about me instead of this conversation is actually about listening to them. And then I can be present and bring whatever comes up when they're done talking, right? I can trust that I'm empowered enough to listen fully and I don't need to share these things that remind me I'm human to them right?

[00:26:52] A relationship is also just as important as an individual, if not more. And also the sense of urgency. You talked about that, right? That quick culture, right? Okay, I'm having a conversation. How can we get through and get to the heart of it and move forward, right? And so many corporate coaching gigs have such short coaching sessions.

[00:27:15] Right? That's 15 20 minutes long, I think, for the national boards when you're yes, To become eligible, you have to have coaching sessions at least 20 minutes long. And I've never done a 20 minute session. I know it would be a whole nother skill set and a whole nother set of accessibility for coaching.

[00:27:33] And that sense of urgency to get to the heart of things just doesn't allow the space to truly explore the depth of something together in one conversation. That sense of urgency definitely comes up as well. And then as far as how to navigate all that cultural impact, that's a lot. I just said a lot.

[00:27:54] How we're culturally affected and, disembodied from deeply listening. How do we move forward knowing that is the case? Again, a lot of this comes back to cultural self study. Even being aware that these elements are in place in ourselves, in our bodies, in other people, in our culture in our relationships.

[00:28:14] So that we can build and craft those cultural connections ourselves to our root culture and have that capacity to have cultural humility and understand that we will never understand everything and trying to be okay with that. And then the final thing I'll just hint at really is relationship to nature because one of the additional tenets of white supremacy is fear like fear of disconnecting Ourselves from everything else, right?

[00:28:44] So this our connection to nature often connects us back to that root culture and sense of spirit in many ways. So Even just cultivating that relationship to nature can be very grounding for people in a culture that really tries to disconnect us. 

[00:29:02] Cynthia: Gosh, so many little lightbulb moments I had while you were speaking around the impact of the white supremacy mindset and culture.

[00:29:16] That's just... Naturally infused into our American culture. It is our history. It's our present. And so it's really making sense to me that, when you enter into a conversation with these influences, it is hard to deeply listen, there's just different priorities that you've been instilled with.

[00:29:40] And so it's almost this like active rebellion. To deeply listen and to slow down and I think it like you said to be able to reconnect with nature and remind yourself that you are also of nature. You are not a cog in a machine, like you are a living, breathing, feeling being. And I know that's something that's really important to you in your private practice.

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[00:30:50] Cynthia: So I know you practice integrating nature into your coaching sessions, going on walks, sitting outside. So what have you noticed? About your client's ability to deeply listen when outside versus inside, or even like your own ability to deeply listen when you're outside versus inside. 

[00:31:11] Megan: Oh, there's so much to that

[00:31:14] I'm just like, here I am sitting in my messy room with. My noise canceling AirPods in being like, I have to distract myself from all of this external environment right now because None of it to me screams healing That's just me as like a toddler mom a little bit But also right when you add in the element of nature, you can just let go of everything else, right?

[00:31:41] like nature becomes the third partner in that relationship because It's its own healing element. I can step back in many ways and let nature make those connections. It's like group coaching, right? Where you're holding the energetic space. And the point of group coaching is to let the group dynamic be a part of the healing process, right?

[00:32:05] They end up coaching each other and supporting each other. And that group support ends up being vital to people's progress. Similar with nature, it becomes vital to people. Literally breathing that fresh air and moving their body and right there are physiological things that happen to awaken the brain and to have that mindful presence to memory is improved all of those things.

[00:32:30] As an example, I just I personally see significant increases in deep listening. And again, it's not just with each other or the self, it's with this element of nature around us. So as an example, I had a client who, that we were walking down a path and there was a fork in the path and they chose the path on the right.

[00:32:50] And we encountered a young buck on the path

[00:32:54] and we were just that quiet. We stopped the conversation, we watched the buck move and it was a very powerful moment for the client. The way that the buck navigated the forest, the strength he had, there are neural pathways making connections for this client that I can't possibly touch, right?

[00:33:19] That's the immersion of being there, the smell, the walking, the sounds. And then this synchronous moment with an animal that connects to her and her memories and her other nature metaphors in her healing journey that I couldn't possibly make up, so it's really a magical space for coaching.

[00:33:43] It seems to, yeah, be an obvious choice for in person option. So that's the only in person coaching I do is outside in any weather. The day before I just text my client like, Hey, here's the weather outlook. We can reschedule. We can gear up. What are you feeling? And it's deeply meaningful for me and my clients.

[00:34:08] Cynthia: That's beautiful. To be able to deeply listen, not only in the dialogue, but to nature, to observe, to notice, and then to invite in these insights that you wouldn't have otherwise because of just what's happening already around you. That's beautiful. And there's always so much meaning you can infuse and everyone's going to have such a different experience, right?

[00:34:34] Like the fork in the road, the buck walking by, like that's amazing. I know you. Typically you do these, you do your outdoor coaching, who do you typically serve? If a listener wanted to work with you directly what might they expect or who might be the right person to come and seek your services?

[00:34:57] Megan: Yeah, for that outdoor coaching with my private practice, I'm really learning that I'm starting to see people on the creative and educational spectrum. So artists, activists, and academics, I've said, who are at risk of burnout, who are actively experiencing burnout, or have been in a recovery period with burnout and really want to keep that balance moving forward.

[00:35:21] So I can support those people in integrating their self care. With the collective and environmental care they're already doing so that collective and environmental care becomes so important that self care ends up on the back burner. So I help them re navigate what it looks like to do all those to the best of their ability.

[00:35:41] And it's really through these mindfulness and nature based approaches, including outdoor coaching and. Anything else fun that I do with them. I love guiding meditations and things. So I have an additional training in just mindfulness and guided imagery. So that's a jam of mine too. Yeah, so I offer different packages of people who can meet me within five miles of my zip code in Minneapolis.

[00:36:04] And usually people sign up for four, six, or eight sessions, and they never expire. So sometimes people do two in the fall, two in the winter, two in the spring. Sometimes people do four at once. Yeah, it's all over the place, but it's something that I have actively carved out time for because it means so much to me.

[00:36:25] And it's a very currently accessible price for folks to, that's been a a goal of mine is to make the rest of my work my bread and butter so that my outdoor coaching can really be this space of collaboration at not a huge cost. 

[00:36:42] Cynthia: Amazing. So I know we've got a ton of links that are going to be down in the show notes.

[00:36:50] Do you mind just walking people through all of these links and ways they can connect with 

[00:36:55] Megan: you? 

[00:36:56] Oh my goodness. Yes. Yes. So right beyond kind of my private practice I have a landing page right now. So that's the WeSparkle site. So S P R K L dot E S. HHW LLC, so my private practices, Harvest Health and Wellbeing LLC.

[00:37:16] So there you can find all my socials and you can even send me a tip if you want. You can buy packages straight from there and I'm working on updating my website. So when that's ready, it'll all be linked from that one landing page. You can sign up for my email list that I mentioned, really working on changing our relationship, or for me, changing my relationship to urgency and the sense of time by writing this moon based email newsletter instead of, I'm going to send a newsletter every Wednesday, I send an email newsletter on the new moon, first quarter moon, full moon, third quarter moon, and dark moon, so That's just my heart song.

[00:37:54] I love that. And then, yeah, the work that I do supporting professional coaches who are already certified is through Wellspired Co and we have several exciting things happening right now. So I do mentor coaching with them. So people who really want to brush up their professional development skills. So there's a link for that.

[00:38:13] And then we have three amazing classes coming up this fall. The October Skills Clinic is on Coaching Emotions and Trauma with colleagues who also went to the U of M, Chris Kniefel and Carrie Weisshoff are teaching that. The November Skills Clinic is a DEI workshop with Leslie Atley. And the December Skills Clinic is Mental Health Action Planning with Amber Reed.

[00:38:39] So just some fun stuff if you're looking for community in the professional development space as a board certified coach or a wellness entrepreneur, you don't necessarily have to be a board certified coach to join those conversations. And then, I do a few other things, too. I have a few contracts with some mom coaching organizations.

[00:38:56] I coach 10 hours a week for a pain clinic. And I do this mindfulness training as well. So feel free to just find me and figure out all the things I'm doing. And then the most exciting thing is this work I'm doing with students right now. So Northwestern Health Sciences University, they're just starting their program and we launched, the first full trimester of free health coaching for their practicum class, their senior students. So we're continually going to be having free health coaching with students available and I'll be supervising along with my colleague, Olivia Beisler, also a colleague from U of M. So there's a link there if anyone wants to try coaching for free or you're an integrated provider and you're like, I really just need three sessions to get me through this fall.

[00:39:42] We'd love to have you that registration is open and we'll continue to update the registration as 2024 happens and our. Our next trimester is on fold. 

[00:39:53] Cynthia: And I will say I got to have three free coaching sessions last quarter and it was so helpful in just navigating the busyness of the season and it's just nice to have that space carved out where you know you're going to be listened to.

[00:40:11] You're going to have that time to get off the hamster wheel of life and just pause and reflect and actually have someone like Give back that, that feedback that you need to really hear yourself. So yeah, highly recommend if you haven't tried coaching or if you have tried coaching, definitely, take advantage of this free opportunity.

[00:40:32] Yeah. 

[00:40:33] Megan: Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed it. That's awesome. 

[00:40:36] Cynthia: Yeah. There's, oh, you can, you always need coaching, right? It's never, it's always helpful. Yeah. 

[00:40:43] Megan: Yep. I have my own coach. It's the best. 

[00:40:46] Cynthia: Yes. Megan, I know we covered a lot from just the deep listening how to really do that within more of this fast paced, different type of culture that we're in.

[00:41:00] And just some of the resources that you have as well. One takeaway that listeners leave this conversation with, what would you hope it would be?

[00:41:10] Megan: Yeah, I think it's really that deep listening is innate. And like we were talking about these, we get acculturated to forget to listen and really connect in that full bodied, present mind and spirit way. So if anyone wants to continue to expand their skill of deep listening, you're really just expanding on this innate inner sense of.

[00:41:41] Expansive possibility.

[00:41:43] Beautiful. 

[00:41:46] Cynthia: I feel like I'm just entering this day now with a new lens. So I really appreciate this conversation. I feel like I'm going to enter my coaching calls with my clients with just a renewed connection to myself and the intention of deep listening. So I'm really grateful for your time and this conversation, Megan, thank you so 

[00:42:09] Megan: much.

[00:42:11] Thank you, Cynthia. It was a blast. 

[00:42:14] Cynthia: Thank you so much for listening to the Well Connected Twin Cities podcast. Did you learn something new? Did you feel that spark of hope and excitement for what is possible? Because so much is possible. Tell us about it in a review on Apple podcast. Not only would we absolutely love hearing from you, but these reviews help our ratings and help other curious minds like you find this resource.

[00:42:39] We are always better together. Thank you again and see you next time.