Meet Meg Edwards | Well-being Coach & College Psychology Professor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Meg Edwards and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Meg, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
The pandemic was a scary time for all of us, filled with so much loss, fear, and uncertainty. My family had moved to Longmont, Colorado from Cave Creek, Arizona just two years previously. Fortunately, my family stayed healthy and my child’s Waldorf school created outdoor classrooms so students could resume school in August 2020. It was clear to me how greatly meditation and mindfulness were supporting me during this tumultuous time. When I got the email in November 2020 that Deepak Chopra was offering a new Well-being Coaching program, I realized this was a new way I could be of service and help people live more satisfying lives. I’d already been a Mindfulness Instructor for K-8 schools in Arizona and was continuing to teach psychology remotely for a community college in Arizona, as well as facilitating Stress Management online courses for Arizona State University.

I had a life-changing experience at a Chopra meditation retreat in 2015, and this was an exciting opportunity to create a coaching business to reach so many more people. It was a clear “yes” for me to enroll! A little more than a year after earning my coaching certification, my business, <i>The Integrated Heart</i>, was born into the world. It was created with the intention of helping women regulate their nervous system, prioritize self-care, and cultivate everyday joy using science-based practices. As a mindfulness educator and psychology professor, I knew I wanted to merge positive psychology, mindfulness, and meditation into well-being experiences.

I quickly began coaching many women who were so used to prioritizing other people’s needs that they forgot about their own. Particularly in our achievement-based culture that values the hustle and expects women to “selflessly” care for everyone in their lives, it was difficult for them to see that this was even happening. And it was causing burnout, resentment, exhaustion – many of my clients walked around with a short fuse and then blamed themselves for not doing “better” or not doing “more.” It’s so common to take on external pressures and expectations that create a heavy weight to carry.

I was also interested in shifting the narrative of happiness. We tend to postpone happiness and have this nagging belief that “I’ll be happy when I finish this, or get through that, or achieve this next milestone, or have the house of my dreams or retire,” etc. We often think our happiness is conditional – dependent on others changing before we allow ourselves to feel joy. Essentially, there’s this nagging thought that I’ll be happy when circumstances and the people around me are “just right.”

Yet we can’t control other people or events outside of ourselves, but we can change our inside – our thoughts, our practices, our self-care. And in fact, by prioritizing our own joy we are also increasing our resilience when facing difficult situations in our lives.

Creating an online business that offered remote coaching sessions, virtual workshops, and digital classes allowed me to work with women around the country and helped me build more ease into my business.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I didn’t set out to build a business, but the teachings and practices that I shared with my college students made a huge impact on the quality of their lives. Earning my Chopra Total Well-being Coaching certification gave me the inspiration to create The Integrated Heart. Not having a background in business, I had so much to learn. As a mindfulness educator and psychology professor, I knew I wanted to merge positive psychology, mindfulness, and meditation into joyful well-being experiences.

The decision to launch an online business gave me the flexibility to support more women with greater ease. It also allowed me to continue teaching and still be present at home and do the school runs for my daughter. But there were still so many decisions to be made – which social media would I use? Which email service? Do I want to blog or not? Working with a business coach helped me refine my offerings and inspired me to design my free 7-day Joy Challenge to give people simple action steps to spark positive change in their lives.

A foundation of my coaching work is guiding clients to discover their purpose and question the conditioned thoughts and stories that hold them back. With each client, there is an invitation to ritualize slowing down and to prioritize white space in their days. Women in our society tend to be the caretakers of the world, with an endless to-do list and the pressure to keep giving and doing more, which comes at the detriment of their physical and mental health.

I discovered this firsthand this past year after experiencing a family emergency that required my full attention and energy – physically, emotionally, and mentally. It was fortunate that I had built an online business that I could temporarily step away from to ensure I had the reserves I needed to show up as best I could during a difficult time.

The really scary part of my loved one’s struggles lasted for around two months, and when things began to settle down, I discovered I was depleted. I’d been in a highly stressful state for weeks, and it didn’t just turn off when the emergency was resolved. I was experiencing anxiety, depression, and grief. One of my top values is authenticity – I’m allergic to toxic positivity and I can’t fake feeling good. For a decade, I’d consistently devoted myself to the tools and practices I’ve taught others in terms of meditation, intentional living, and self-care. However, I knew I was in a space of needing extra support – we all have our own blind spots, and I am no different. I sought out resources to receive the compassionate care I needed to heal and soothe my nervous system – the kind that I usually offered to others.

So I slowed down and put The Integrated Heart on pause. With the help of therapists I worked on letting go of the emotional loads I’d taken on that weren’t truly mine. I wrote ungrateful lists (yes, the opposite of a gratitude list) to validate why I felt so sad. I rewrote the harmful stories I had been telling myself that kept me stuck in negativity so that I could move toward a more optimistic perspective. Many days felt heavy and bleak, so I would ask myself a simple question each day: “What is accessible for me today in terms of joy?” Sometimes it was a walk in nature, reading a book, or getting my favorite boba drink and taking a drive while listening to a favorite podcast. I was careful to acknowledge any shame that popped up inside of me for taking this pause to practice deep self-care because the drive to “push through” adversity is pervasive, and I’m committed to overriding the societal message that implicitly tells us to “just get over it.”

Essentially, I did the thing that I encourage all my clients to do: I gave myself permission to put my needs first. I put aside the busy work – the things I thought “needed” to get done – and I gifted myself intentional time each day to reconnect with my higher self, or if that wasn’t possible, to do whatever felt good, guilt-free.

This experience deepened my understanding of self-care and how essential it is for our ability to show up authentically and sustainably in all areas of our lives. Now I bring an even deeper compassion and understanding to the women I serve, knowing firsthand the courage and effort it takes to prioritize our own well-being in a world that constantly demands we put others first.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I always feel best when I’m in nature and luckily my best friend does too! When she visited me last week from Whidbey Island, our first “must-do” included hiking the Anne U. White trail in Boulder, followed by a refreshing blended drink at Pekoe to cool down.

Back in Longmont, we went to yoga in the park with Full Circle Yoga and later hung out with friends in the Left Hand Brewery Beer Garden. We enjoyed a festive outdoor family dinner at Oskar Blues which has a delightful outdoor space.

Other highlights included a few rounds of pickleball at 3rd Shot Pickleball, a peaceful kayaking outing on McIntosh Lake, and a taco stop at Jefe’s.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’ve been fortunate to receive support from many incredible people along the way, and I’m deeply grateful to each of them. One of those people is Sophie Cliff – a coach whose business I admire and whose skillful mentorship played a pivotal role in helping me shape my own.
Sophie consistently shows up with authenticity and warmth, embodying the principles she teaches as a Joyful Coach. I had the privilege of working with her early on through 1:1 coaching and later through her <i>Coaching with Joy</i> program. She’s a creative and savvy business owner, and her grounded guidance has left a lasting impact on me.

Website: https://theintegratedheart.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meg.edwards_/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-edwards-5245b711a/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@theintegratedheart

Image Credits
LoveJoy Photography | Ashlee Burke Hannah Hester