An introduction.

Hey friend. So nice to meet ya!

Who am I?

This is the question that we all ask (or probably would benefit from asking). Great question I ask every day, but it’s the part about talking about myself that feels foreign- an elevator pitch. a 1-minute reel. Ick. oof.

What do we tell ourselves about ourselves? Usually, time shows us, that it’s not what we thought.

I’m much more interested in getting to know each other naturally, letting time reveal nuances, personality, and back story through conversations and writing as we reveal and share how the souls’ innards’ manifest. So feel free to just say hi or interact in the way that feels right to you.

Thoughts about a self-portrait and bios.

I got a Fine Art degree at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. We were asked to do a self-portrait in photography class. What does one image reveal? The expression, the lighting, the dress, the body language, the background, and the context- what does it say about the person inside? What do we want to portray and then what is the perception and how is it received? Intention meets perception.

I had the 5 people closest to me make a list. 10 words to describe Megan. Each list placed next to each other was full of contradictions. My parents said studious and responsible, but one friend said life of the party and forgetful. My boyfriend wrote sexy and adventurous, while another friend said innocent and gullible. A professor wrote, bright and astute. Inside I felt like a dumb, confused fraud and possibly crazy. I was 19.

We are made up of a load of facets, layers and identities, over time, many of which feel like a paradox. I took photos based on perceptions and each photo came out very, very different. None of them told the true story.

However, I am gonna share my backstory and what I’m about in case you were curious.

Quick overview: When I ask who I am:

The words mystical and philosophical come to mind. Someone with a wide-angle lens perspective given that I’ve lived in many extremes of the world. When I look back through my life, being reflective and learning communication have been themes running through the years. But all of those words fall flat and imply different things or images that I don’t mean- maybe a hippy who takes themselves too seriously… I do a lot of belly laughing and giggling and wandering about the forest, climbing rocks with my kids and thinking about how ridiculous it all seems.

Here we are on the internet. So. Actual things that happened.

Being a Korean Adoptee in Amish Country

I was an orphan in Korea and then adopted into a white family and raised in a small town in Amish country, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I grew up both in the Catholic and fundamentalist Christian churches that I left over 20 years ago. I think Jesus/Yeshua was amazing. I just don't need the dogma and filtration of the institution.

I had a high school teacher tell me I was capable and had talent and would be able to get into Ivy League schools, when I didn’t believe it at the time. Thanks to her, I ended up getting my higher education paid for at USC, so picked my life up from a tiny town to start again in a a huge city. The LA kids called me Amish Megan; I was a fish out of water. It was such a culture shock that I decided to study abroad when I was 19 and ended up living in Spain for a half year but came back to LA and ended up staying for 12 years.

I studied linguistics, anthropology, Spanish, art, philosophy, business, and marketing at university. How? I didn’t want the degrees. I wanted to learn. So I got a basic art/design degree and filled my schedule with the most classes I could take that my tuition would cover and then sat in on the ones I thought were fascinating. I was 1 class away from having multiple degrees but passed up the accolades because, fuck it.

I share this because I am genuinely enthusiastic about learning.

Los Angeles - The superficial

After uni, I threw myself into corporate life as an overachiever. I was a resume-building, ladder climber to C-level and worked at about 50 Fortune 500 companies, had a client list of 200 over the years, and then helped found two A and B seed-funded, tech start-ups. I just wanted to be good at my job so I hustled and moonlit.

I ended up knowing celebrities and billionaires and used to hang out in strange circles of finance moguls, tech bros, entertainment producers, and tango world champions. Most of them were pretty terrible people- not the tango world champion- She’s a delight. All strange, considering that I looked like a 15-year-old Asian girl from a small country town. I mean, there were cows 2 yards over and I wore my hair in braids growing up. Many times, I’d get mistaken for the intern, be told to go get coffee, and then go start the meeting where I was running multi-million dollar budgets when I was consulting.

I liked people. I liked creating, I liked communicating and I even liked my job.

I severely disliked the world it was in. And I severely disliked myself. Every level higher I moved, I was asked to lie, cheat, and steal more. I was asked to sell off parts of myself - namely my integrity. I saw the inside of the belly of the beast. I saw what companies would say inside, and then what they would do and tell people outside. It didn’t match.

Across industries, it was the same story. Compartmentalize and keep people rushing and scared so people wouldn't get the big picture. I did somehow‚ see. Too much. 12 years in the corporate world working with universities, international shoe companies, global food production, fashion, tech, entertainment, massive PR firms, advertising companies, and even pharmaceutical communications. Many years, I’d say, "Maybe, this time it won’t be politics and deception." But it seemed to go deeper than I could imagine at the start...

While the CV, clients, and the surface told one story, my inner life told a very different story. Everything outside was very typical American dream stuff—live in a condo at the beach with 2 pools, a corner office overlooking the Hermosa beach water, going out with friends—bars, barbecues, and bike riding along Santa Monica with a big ole corporate paycheck. Meanwhile, the secret story was a string of abusive relationships, addictions, self-loathing, jail (twice), and a stint locked in the mental hospital after a suicide attempt where I flat-lined and decided to come back.

It was a strange, horrible, exciting time when I played that game. I partied hard and bought too much stuff, while I also dealt with massive anxiety, depression, and crushing self-esteem issues. Funny how that works. The system loves traumatized young ones who look for their self-worth in the titles and grind.

I had a small group of friends during my stint in Los Angeles. When I left, they thought I went nuts... but I'm pretty sure I went sane.

So how in the heck did I end up in the remote Jungles of Peru raising a family and trying to conserve sacred land? I ask myself this a lot.

The Spirit Quest

I took a sabbatical from my corporate life. I didn’t want to participate and give my life to it anymore. I’d started doing some serious inner work from the time I was in my early 20s and I just couldn’t play pretend; it was killing me. I had no idea what else was out there for me beyond what I knew, but the magical universe and all of its synchronicities took the reins as I made tiny, scared steps searching.

I sold everything and drove across the country seemingly overnight. The first night back in my East Coast home town I reconnected with a childhood friend who would become my husband of 11 years, but before we get into that...

My sabbatical at 30 was traveling solo through the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, through the jungles of Brazil, took a short stop in the UK, and then somehow ended up living in a Buddhist monastery in the country where I was born, South Korea.

This was a 6-month game changer with wild twists and turns and lots of massive life lessons. Most importantly, what I was sold as the only option for life, expanded into possibilities of what life could be. I felt happy, connected, and well for the first time. I wrote poetry, took photos, went on long meandering hikes through the mountains, and made friends along the way. I went without the guidebooks or itineraries and left space for life to unfold. I asked myself the question every day “What do I want to do?” A question I’d never let myself ask for the 30 years prior.

My husband Eric, then childhood friend I barely knew, traveled with me for 2 weeks in Peru. We'd only been reconnected for a month after almost two decades apart. One night when we were talking he told me how much he respected and understood what I was doing, following my heart for the first time. I blurted out, "You should come," even though I'd told every other person in my life that I needed to do this alone. I swear, as I was about to pull the words back I heard a whisper "It's not a bad idea to have a mountain man on a mountain" and we made plans.

He came down and much of our old stories and baggage were revealed. It was a mess. We broke up literally on Machu Picchu on my 30th birthday, traveled apart for a week, reconnected by chance in the street, we drank some Ayahuasca, saw each other's soul and then he flew back to the States for me to travel alone for another 4-5 months.

The Decision to move to Peru

I popped back into Amish country, after a lot of soul searching and accidentally moved in with Eric, (a conversation that went "Are you living here?" with my response of, “No! no way... wait. I guess I haven't left.." because my only other option was living in my parents home and also Eric and I were falling deeply in love (and starting to unpack some of that baggage together).

Within 4 months we were married in a barn, and a week later we moved to Peru with our dog Ted, who I’d adopted 5 years prior, and a backpack each. Obviously, there is far more to this— Our reasons, realizations, and reasons lead up to moving, but I’m trying (not that hard) to keep this short. Long story shortish, we’ve been living in Peru without going back for 11 years.

My husband is an Asbergers, mensa-genius who used to work at the biggest rock star staging company, and is from Amish/Mennonite roots. He now focuses on old trades like blacksmithing, leather work, knife making with recycled materials, permaculture, and many many other skills. (I realize Aspergers is not an appropriate, culturally accepted term at this time, neurodiverse, but I think we are all neurodiverse, and for the theme of understanding, I chose to use Asbergers) I want to share his work. He’s incredibly talented.

We ran a guest home for a few years and lived with hundreds of people of many ages, ideologies and countries. Then, we decided to create a family and now I’m a mom of three unbelievably cool boys who tell me memories of their past lives since they were 2 years old. I homeschool them and learn from them, because, whoa, star babies remember more than most of the people on the planet.

I was freelancing for most of the time when we were in the Sacred Valley and raising very little boys. I focused on helping small, heart-led businesses with my past life skills in design, marketing, and communication. I also volunteered with local organic farm collectives, orphanages and somehow ended up living with maestros, elders and teachers from various lineages around the world.

The Path

Oh, and during these 12 years in this magical place I began to channel ideas from what I call the Council of Eternal Ones- It’s nameless but the idea that makes the most sense to my brain. I have been asking questions and listening: about how we got here and how we get home, how the body/spirit/emotional/mental self heals, what the ancient practices point us to, and what was forgotten along the way.

I started practicing a type of bodywork that I channeled to heal my own body from rheumatoid arthritis, crippling muscle spasms and pain, acne, eczema, hair loss and graying hair, tinnitus, lockjaw, and a bunch of other things that have reversed from this practice.

It’s a powerful holistic technique that I call The Regenerative Bodywork System that starts simply and works specifically with how the body naturally wants to release and take in energy. Eventually, it can get very nuanced using touch point, acupressure, energy, visualization, breath work, gua sha, tapping, sound, bone cracking, other modalities and massage. I took no courses and have no certifications but learned from my own body. Spirit pushed, whispered and I've acquiesced. Being the ever-learner and researcher that I am, I constantly studied to figure out how it fits into known practices to be able to give it a language that would make sense in our modern world.

I then was asked to share with others. I had no idea how it all happened, but I’ve been able to witness the blind see, the deaf hear, those who haven’t been able to walk for years get up and run and many other things that may be considered miracles through sharing this work. Every client I’ve worked with ends up also reverse aging and losing massive weight. Truly, it’s the body’s natural design that is a miracle.

It’s been wild. Now, I’m working with people with cancers, body pain, chronic illness, neurological conditions and emotional trauma and being asked to teach others. I'm writing out the manual so that others can understand the miraculous body and how it wants to heal all the time. It’s easier than we realized. So stay tuned if you are into it.

I now work full-time as a curandera/healer and do intuitive iChing readings. It’s a silly title because the person heals the person, but honestly, I’ve made peace with it. People find it easier to understand, I suppose.

Delving into the Sacred Forest near Machu Picchu and Off-grid Homesteading

A few years ago, before COVID madness, we decided to move to the more remote jungles near Machu Picchu (10 km away). It has been part of our long-term vision for years— permaculture, off-grid, community, and had been visiting the area for years.

Our plans were delayed and, of course, in perfect divine timing. We eventually made our way out to reconnect to the land, live a simple life, and focus what we are most passionate about- nature, family, healing, community and connecting. I love Peru, this incredible place, the ancestors who still walk here and am grateful to be a voice for the voiceless.

Coming back to live immersed in the land, in old-school rustic ways has been a bumpy challenge for the old American girl parts of myself, even after 9 years living in a small-town in Peru surrounded by the mountains and being outside all the time. I feel like I went back in time and backwards when I turned down the money, the house, the stuff, societies norms in general, to build everything backup from scratch. So here we begin again.

Our first couple years here have been sink or swim—and I did a lot, a lot of sinking. It's been transformative, unbelievably difficult to my ideas of needs and comforts. It felt like a testing of my commitment to this lifestyle. We lived without electricity for months at a time, without running water, and without internet for large portions of our first two years along with wild tradeoffs of not having transportation, and dealing with environmental issues that Westerners cannot fathom. It’s been hard, it’s been raw, it’s been beautiful. I find my self grateful and seeking balance in life.

We are still renting and rebuilding a stable foundation out here—financially, as a family, and as a humans who went through a massive change. If it had not been for my little boys telling me “Thank you mama for bringing us here, we are so happy,” and seeing the bright vibrancy and excitement they wake up with, I truly don’t know if I would have made it these years.

I heard that we were replanting the seed of eden, protecting a sacred portal and bringing together the tribe of seers/sensitive ones to ensure a future home for us all.

I’ll be sharing a bit more about the journey to the cloud forest through these posts.

Thanks for being part of this story and coming along for the ride. (and sticking with a long backstory. I’ve lived many lifetimes in this one.)

Reach out and say hi! I really do like to just connect one-on-one.

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Okay. *sigh. The backstory part is down. Main chapters. Orphan. Amish, Asian, LA Corporate girl, Traveller, Guest home mom, Freelancer, Momma of 3, Witch in the forest hut. Conservationist.

Identities, Stickers, Roles. Usually, time shows us, none of it is what we thought.

bonus fun facts (cause it wasn't long enough)

• I studied dance competitively for 20 years, and then I did pole dancing for 5 years in LA to put my dance background to good use. I was never a stripper—it was just it was the most fun I ever had dancing. Haha. I can do a split on the ceiling.

• I know how to cut hair, so one of my 5 jobs in university was cutting all the boys' hair in the dorm for book money.

• I worked at an Amish Buffet during high school and part of college.

• I'm an etymology nerd.

• I like taking pictures- 99% of the pictures I will post are mine and I Prefer human touch and perspective to AI and will never steal people’s work.

• I really like plants. a LOT. but I was terrified to start because I didn’t want to fail and kill things but now, I will joyfully post about plants.

• I've been studying the iChing for 10 years. I merge many many global ideas but always come back to the Tao.

• I struggle with editing and I’m dyslexic. I apologize for grammatical errors and spelling problems. This has kept me from writing publicly in the past. Thanks for grace while reading my posts.

• I’m wildly insecure about cooking but want to get better.

• My skin is burning real bad from bug bites and I'm in a full sweat as I've been writing this throughout the day during a very hot season.

• While honoring and respecting life in all its forms and my life here, I also just can't take any of it too seriously.

And the story continues: More twists and turns.

My page, all of the writings, comments, meditation and podcast will be free. I believe all should have access regardless of financial constraints.

That said, I do see what I bring to the world is valuable and if you find yourself moved to support the page, this work single-handedly supports my children and our needs. There is no obligation. Only love.

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