We recently connected with Brenda MacIntyre – Medicine Song Woman and have shared our conversation below.
Brenda MacIntyre, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?
In December 2015 I invested in a VIP business coaching session for my birthday. I wanted to shift and expand my business in 2016.
A month later, my son died suddenly and unexpectedly.
I had to take a LOT of time off and deal with C-PTSD. I was in shock for probably 3 months afterwards. It was complicated, so the trauma continued and I was retraumatized by the justice system over and over.
I had a strange identity crisis. My business was supposed to be about helping my clients to have an amazing life and business, but here I was in so much pain I could barely breathe, never mind have an amazing life and business. Imposter syndrome took over.
Being a solopreneur meant I was my business, so my business had to wait but that created other problems, so I had to find supports and slowly rebuild.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’ve been a singer all my life and that was my first business, as a recording artist. I spent the 80s and 90s trying to make it in the music industry. Meanwhile, I was unknowingly living with depression after losing my parents.
I was in love with being on stage and I soon developed a passion for speaking, as well as giving Indigenous hand drumming and singing circles. I discovered that women were coming to my circles to find their voice. No wonder. I’d had to find my own voice on so many levels, including on stage and in business.
I’ve always been a deeply spiritual person. Yep, I was the weird one in class. I never felt like I belonged anywhere, or with anyone. In 2007, after an intense Western Canada tour of my Spirit Connection album, I had a super rough winter that changed my life.
My business had slowed down to a halt and at the same time an old injury made it impossible to go anywhere that whole winter. I was going broke but I knew that Spring would be my saving grace because it always was. Not that year. Exasperated, I threw my hands up and said to whoever out there was listening, “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it!”
Immediately, I received my own healing technique using my ability to channel (instantly improvise and create through spiritual connection) medicine songs. I was shocked to read my first clients’ feedback. I never expected physical healing to happen, just emotional and spiritual, but people were getting lasting pain relief and having a great sleep the night of their session.
The Medicine Song Healing Technique moved my focus out of the music industry and into healing and mentoring work for women. I created my own Sing Yourself Alive system to help women find their voice, using my first two languages, Spirit and Song. The JUNO award, the media attention and the guts to get up on stage in front of hundreds to thousands of people helped me to find my voice in different ways: courage, confidence, figuring out my purpose and networking as an introvert with social anxiety.
Over the years I learned that I can’t just be another coach. I nearly lost myself trying to do what most coaches do, whether the marketing, selling or services I was offering. After investing in a lot of business coaching, I had to drop back down into myself and listen to Spirit once again. That was just before I lost my son.
Losing my son forced me onto a path of heavy grief and trauma that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I learned about how to be with grief and trauma, and how to find relief in the midst of it all. I had to find my voice yet again.
During the murder trial, I created a music album called Picking Up the Pieces to help me get through the next rounds of trauma and grief, but also as a resource for others suffering losses. In 2020 that album became the foundation for my Picking Up the Pieces 13 Moon Program for covid-conscious women.
Now I use mindfulness for mental health and what I call Resilience Embodiment practices along with my original music, to help women who are living with grief and trauma to improve their lives and find their voice.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Unlike typical coaches out there, I am a JUNO-winning singer, healer and Indigenous hand drummer. My voice has healing properties, I am known for channelling medicine songs, and I have my own healing technique and proven system for helping women find their voice. Women drummers across Turtle Island (North America) sing my songs.
Over the years I have done countless circles and workshops, as well as delivering my original women’s programs. I’ve also had a lot of media coverage and done a lot of performances and talks.
Honestly, it’s when I sing that people gravitate towards my work. They don’t just hear my voice. They feel the energy and raw realness in it.
I don’t just “perform:” or “teach.” I help my clients get the teachings and healing into their body. I help them to connect with themselves on such a deep level that sometimes they can’t put it into words.
My market has changed over the years and I have had to rebuild the business due to loss and health issues. These days, I stand out as trustworthy to covid-conscious women because I am one and I volunteer with the group that does Canada’s covid forecasts, so I am becoming well known in that circuit.
I walk my talk and I’m REAL. I didn’t learn my craft by reading books and taking trainings. My gifts were given to me by Spirit and through multiple Dark Nights of the Soul. My teachings and flagship systems come from finding my way through those difficult times.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I am the poster child for resilience, though being Indigenous alone will do that.
I lost my 29 year old son Quinn to gun violence on January 31st, 2016. My life is forever changed and I will always feel a void in my life. Quinn was my first of two children. My daughter lives with me, as she did when Quinn died. The moment I found out, I reached out to a trusted friend, knowing I would likely isolate otherwise. I asked them to check in on me.
When you lose a child, that is trauma enough but when there is murder involved, that loss is complicated and ongoing, involving the police, the media, the in-justice system and counseling. I made sure I had the supports I needed because I knew from losing my parents as a teenager that I was in for a boatload of pain. The trial had delay after delay and began on my birthday in 2018. It ended in June 2019.
To get myself through everything, I decided to compose healing songs and make an album for grief. I knew that singing would be the best medicine for my soul and I knew those songs would then go on to help others experiencing grief. Since my son was a beatmaker/music producer, I knew that making an album dedicated to him, to help others, would be my greatest way to honour him.
What I learned and practiced along the way – what I call Resilience Embodiment activities – was put into my Picking Up the Pieces 13 Moon Program for women and we are now in the 4th round of that program.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://medicinesongwoman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mswcreations/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medicinesongwoman/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendamacintyre/
- Youtube: youtube.com/@mswcreations
Image Credits
Drumming Photo by Kai MacIntyre.
Picking Up the Pieces Album Cover Art by Chief Lady Bird. Photography by Kai MacIntyre.
Speaking Photo by WIBN.