We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mara Bishop a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Mara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.
Thank you so much. My background is eclectic. Having a range of interests and skills can be helpful, but it can also be a challenge in a world that tends to reward having an explicit specialty. I created my practice after working primarily for universities, schools, and art-related organizations. These jobs fit my education, but they didn’t inspire me. I didn’t feel like I was making an impact.
Then, I found more intuitive and nature-based spiritual consulting and healing work. I was energized! People responded. I felt I could be more useful there, so I started building a practice. I did it over time, working nights and weekends while I kept my job at a university. A reporter wrote a story about me that was published in the local paper, and I was outed for doing spiritual healing work, which not that many people knew about. At the time, this was still a culturally fairly conservative place, and I braced myself a bit for how that was going to go over, but it went fine.
The practice grew gradually, and at a certain point, I transitioned from the day job to working solely with WholeSpirit. The main steps I had to take were being persistent and dedicated and making the physical space. At that time, working remotely was not as common, so I needed a physical office. I was lucky to have the space to do that.
My advice for people considering starting this kind of practice would need to be quite personalized (and I have done that for some of my apprentices). Some people who want to work in counseling or healing are so deeply empathetic that it takes a huge toll on them unless they have a way to manage their emotional and energetic boundaries. If you absorb your clients’ suffering daily, you are more likely to burn out. We can take steps to moderate that, and it’s part of my Shining Bright Without Burning Out course. Some people are quick to trust that it will work out great and take some big financial risks without understanding how business works. Even though this may be considered spiritual work, it is also a business, and that intersection can be tricky. You may feel called to do it, but if you are unwilling to keep your books in order or follow the law about what you can and can’t do based on your training, you may have problems.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’d be happy to. Whole Spirit began over two decades ago. My sessions have a spiritual (non-religious), intuitive, and nature-based focus. They differ from traditional therapy, but I often work on referrals from therapists and other providers.
Although consultations can focus on many things, I specialize in helping people:
• avoid burnout by creating healthy energetic boundaries
• develop personalized spiritual practices
• engage with nature for better health and well-being
• come back to themselves after traumatic events
• deal with the grief of our current climate situation
• create healthier relationships by understanding ourselves and others better
I have several books that focus on these topics as well. The world can be such an overwhelming place, especially for people who are empathic or sensitive. Having the tools to adjust what we take in increases our stamina and resilience, and we’re less likely to feel overwhelmed and burn out. My audio book Shining Bright Without Burning Out is about that.
I created the Enatured® method to help us develop better relationships in our local environments (and with ourselves) anywhere, regardless of whether we have access to beautiful private nature. One of my favorite classes is with Columbia University Teachers College, working with graduate students and at an incredible animal sanctuary. My passion is nature, personally and professionally. When I ask people what they love, and where they feel most at home It’s remarkable how many say nature. Research shows how healing nature is for humans, and with this work, we try to make that exchange mutual. Some exciting things happen!
People are often told to do practices precisely one way, for a certain number of minutes, or every day. It can be oppressive and lead to a sense of overload that causes people to give up on practices that could be joyful and helpful. Shamanism for Every Day: 365 Journeys seeds a journeying or meditation practice with ideas to keep it interesting, but without being too rigid and without appropriating from cultures that are not your own.
Whole Nature Inc. is the nonprofit I recently started, which focuses on communing with nature and how important that is to us individually and collectively. I’m thinking about new partners as that organization begins to build.
We can work together in person and online. If you have any questions before booking an appointment, you can schedule a short session without cost to see if we are a good fit. Or you can join one of my free open monthly circles. WholeSpirit.com has all the information.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn (I am actually still unlearning) the idea that we are as valuable as what we produce, create, or do for others. I have always known this in theory. I would tell others this in a heartbeat and mean it, but one of my challenges is to remind myself that I don’t have to make something or do something or improve something somewhere to earn the space I am taking up in this world. I grew up believing that I should be good and I should do good. Some of that pressure was internal, and some was external. Those are valuable guiding principles, but if we take them to the extreme, we can be too hard on ourselves or even make situations worse with good intentions.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I feel like I’m constantly pivoting! I’ve changed careers several times, and I’ve had a child which changes almost everything. Moving away from a traditional job with a steady paycheck and benefits and a career trajectory was a massive pivot and an unconventional one, especially at the time. But it was a move that felt necessary for my personal well-being.
There was a specific time I had to pivot quickly which was a bit nerve-wracking. I was about to speak at a university medical center and was gathering myself outside the lecture hall a few minutes before going in. I was asking for some support and guidance: that what needed to happen in the session would, that it would be helpful, etc. I heard that I needed to do something very different from what I’d planned. It was the kind of presentation with a PowerPoint and a lot of time spent preparing, so this was not welcome guidance. More like, Are you kidding me?! I tried to do as I was advised. In this work, there is a fine line between being prepared and being willing to change those plans because something else is needed, so hopefully, I was somewhere near that line.
Sometimes, I initiate the pivots, and sometimes I don’t. COVID was a big one. Moving almost entirely online really changed things for so many of us. I loved that I could connect with people from all over the world more easily. I also loved that our pets often join us on Zoom! I still do much of my work online, although I also work in person. The ripples from the last few years are part of my current pivot. I’d love to have you join me if you are interested. You can read more or see what might appeal to you at WholeSpirit.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.WholeSpirit.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marabishopwholespirit/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaraBishopWholeSpirit/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-bishop
- Other: Shining Bright Without Burning Out https://www.soundstrue.com/collections/authors-mara-bishop/products/shining-bright-without-burning-out#5ecff76fad3c7