Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Heidi Barr. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Heidi, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

It’s tricky to pick just one project! The work of a writer and wellness coach is a bit like a mosaic or a quilt: It’s pieced together one story, one interaction, one observation, at a time and sometimes it feels like a project is never ‘done’ – it just shifts as others pick it up and integrate it into their own stories.

But if I had to pick one project to explain, let’s go with my 2023 book. Collisions of Earth and Sky: Connecting with Nature for Nourishment, Reflection, and Transformation, is a book of creative nonfiction that dips into the personal development genre–it’s an invitation to live in a way that is attuned to nature, paying attention to what’s going on inside ourselves and in the larger collective. It is a journey of self-inquiry for digging into our origins and roots, figuring out what it means to be a good community member (both to other humans and to our nonhuman neighbors) and integrating those truths and lessons so we can add to the healing of the world. It’s an illustration of how it can look to let nature be an ally in living well and offers hopeful inspiration to continue down the path of self-discovery.

Early in the project, as I was starting to dive into organizing my writing into something that resembled a book, I wrote the question: What do I want this book to be?

I answered my own question with: I want it to be a safe place to dive into personal reflection—a non-judgmental journey into what it means for a person to be fully themselves. A perspective on living in a way that is attuned to nature and wildness. A self-inquiry tool. A book that might leave people with more questions than answers but also leave them with hopeful inspiration to continue their own path of self-discovery. A collection of reflections and questions and prompts that does no harm. A celebration of what it can mean to embrace wildness as an integral part of one’s humanity.

I was able to interweave the stories and perspectives of myriad other diverse voices and engaging in those conversations about how to be a good ancestor, what it means to live attuned to the natural world, and how to accept what is while working toward what hasn’t yet come into being was an incredible gift.

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 live in eastern Minnesota (Mni Sota Makoce in Dakota) near the St. Croix River — on ancestral and contemporary lands of the Wahpekute (Dakota), a place that also holds significance for Ojibwe and Ho Chunk people — with my family where we tend a large organic vegetable garden, explore nature and do our best to live simply. I’ve been in the health and wellness field for about 20 years, in roles from personal training to adaptive fitness to health coaching to my current role in the wellness department at a nonprofit addiction treatment center. My writing has been a good companion to a career in wellness: I like to ask my readers questions, as well as offer gentle guidance and ways to dig further into one’s patterns to create meaningful change on both a personal and community scale.

As a mother, spouse, gardener, wellness coach, and writer, I am committed to cultivating ways of being that are life-giving and sustainable for people, communities and the planet. Hiking through forests and across prairies, wading in streams, digging in the soil and surrounding myself with natural wonder helps me stay grounded in reality.

My first book was a cookbook based on a year of life on the family vegetable farm, and from there I branched off into nature-based essay collections, a few more wellness minded books in the self-help genre, and I just released my fourth poetry collection in April 2025. (Church of Shadow and Light, Wayfarer Books). I’ve worked as a telephonic health coach, in the digital app-based behavior health space, and now I’m enjoying my work as a Wellness Specialist as I walk with patients as they move down their addiction recovery path. I get to teach yoga and meditation, help folks figure out how to more effectively manage stress, and encourage mindfulness– all themes that show up in my published writing.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I’ve been a wellness coach for 18 years, and I’ve been laid off twice from coaching jobs. Both layoffs were unexpected and came after several years at each company. Layoffs are common, of course, but until you’ve been through one, it’s tough to understand the impact one has on life and your sense of self. After being laid off the first time, I wrote a short book (part of an essay series through Wayfarer Books) about the experience, which was a cathartic and helpful way to share my story. I eventually found another coaching role, kept writing, published a few more books….and then I was laid off from the next coaching role I got seven years into my tenure there. (I’ve always held a full-time job in addition to publishing books–a common misconception is that selling a book can pay the bills. It’s quite rare for someone to support themselves, not to mention a family, on the income from publishing books, especially books published by small indie presses.)

I wrote the following passage after layoff number one, and I was glad I had it as a reminder the second time around. The earlier version of me who wrote it helped support the me who couldn’t believe it had happened again.

“You are not your job. You never were, and you never will be.
Your life still has meaning and purpose.
Even though it feels like the rug has been pulled out from under you and everything about life feels uncertain, your foundation can take the shaking. Even if the shaking leaves cracks.
Losing your job sucks. I’m really sorry to hear this happened.
Things will be hard for a while, maybe even for a long time, and it’s ok to be angry or sad or overwhelmed. It’s ok to ask for and accept help.
There are financial ramifications when work goes away, but even though money wields a lot of power, it doesn’t have to hijack your values.
If you are white, able bodied, straight, cis gender, enjoy a stable family life, and have a large safety net, your experience navigating unemployment will be easier. [Not easy. Easier.] If you have it, this is a good opportunity to check your privilege.
This may feel like a personal moment of destruction, but even destruction has the capacity to contain beauty.
You are not your job.”

So, going through two layoffs from jobs that I was really good at helped me build several layers of resilience, as did continuing to write and publish while the future was still very uncertain.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My work as a coach and a writer has always been grounded in the mission to add to the healing of the world, in whatever ordinary and quiet ways are available. Part of that mission is acknowledging the cyclical nature of life. In my latest release, the final sentences of the book are, “Every moment is the end of something and the beginning of something else. What ends now? And what begins?”

I don’t know where my creative work leads, only because that place doesn’t yet exist. I hope it’s a place of peace and wholeness for all beings, and my creative practice is an effort to keep building the road that leads there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.heidibarr.com
• Instagram: @heidicbarr
• Facebook: @HeidiBarrwriter
• Other: substack: heidibarr.substack.com

Image Credits

Amy Carrier
Tasha Hergott
Brian Bradley