We recently connected with Megan Morgan and have shared our conversation below.

Megan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

What’s interesting is that I’ve always been creative. As a kid I was a dreamer and a writer very young. I knew how to read before entering kindergarten, and I started out as a lefty – but the Catholic school I went to, the nuns would punish you for using your left hand, so I was forced to use my right instead. I would stay inside at recess to write stories, and stay up late at night under the covers to read books – my mind could not get enough knowledge, storytelling and possibilities that existed beyond my small town world view.

In high school I still knew I wanted to write and to create. I fell in love with photography during high school art class and I’d always loved writing. My well meaning guidance counselors and family members decided that this would mean journalism school because it could afford me a career where I would use both passions. Unfortunately, this was not the case for me. These were not the kind of stories I wanted to tell nor the photos I wanted to take.

I married young and had children right away and returned to art school in my mid-thirties. It was a transformative experience and truly changed my life. My hindsight in one way wishes I’d figured out the path sooner, but in other ways, being lucky enough to return to school as an older student with more life experience and real knowing about what I wanted to do rather than what teachers or family members wanted me to do also afforded me a unique opportunity I couldn’t have had when I was younger.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

While I was completing my graduate degree in Art and Photography, I was also completing my training to be a certified yoga teacher. I found the two disciplines to be complementary to me and to one another and it eventually resulted in me writing and publishing my first book in 2019 called The End of Me. The body stores so much emotion and trauma, and creative expression and bodily movement can help to release what can keep us stuck in pain and fear. I wrote the book to share how three incredible experiences helped me to have a different approach to life, art and healing.

My book is a partial memoir that recounts the three near death experiences I went through at age 19, 25 and 28. At 19 I drowned in Lake Huron, at 25 I hemorrhaged after a very fast unplanned birth at home and at 28 I was t-boned by a double tanker truck during a winter snow storm and the car flipped over several times and was almost completely crushed. Each time I was transported to another “place” and saw and spoke to relatives who had passed on and much more. The feeling of being in that liminal space is almost indescribable – but – it is most similar to how I feel when I am in a creative zone or in a yoga or bodily movement zone. Somewhat like runners high I guess you could say – that’s something else that I enjoy doing too.

I used to teach regularly at yoga studios and gyms. Pre-pandemic I usually taught at least once and sometimes twice a day, everyday. It was beautiful and I loved the community of folks I found myself within. They supported me in the launch of my book, and eventually I was able to partner with bigger brands like Athleta, Prana and several non-profit organizations to host both creative and movement events.

Today, I host a podcast and website called MYA~ My Yoga Audio and I still work with brands, organizations and private individuals to provide teaching and healing sessions involving yoga, creativity and Reiki. Often it is a combination of speaking, movement, creative activity and connection. I’ve taught 1:1, for small groups of 8-15 and for large groups of 75-400+. I’m probably most proud of being a BOLD Speaker Series speaker last year through Clutch. At that event I recounted my three near-death experiences live with over 400 people. The best part was hearing from people afterward who had lost loved ones and were comforted by the experiences that I shared. I still encounter people while out and about who were there that night or have since read my book and have been positively impacted by it.

This fall I’ll be speaking at several events, including being one of the keynote speakers at Design Week Sacramento, hosted by the Capitol Creative Alliance. There I’m leading the audience through “Radical Creativity through Inclusion, Belonging & Balance” and I’ll be introducing some inspired approaches for staying aware, engaged, and radically creative as the machinations of local, national and global polarizing forces work to divide and distract our communities.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The biggest lesson that I’m still unlearning is that you’re never too old, too female, too ANYTHING to begin creating and building and living the life of your dreams. To be sure, there are societal and institutional inequities that impact our ability to experience and benefit equally in the world, don’t get me wrong. That’s a big part of my work too as an arts and equity advocate – how do we balance the scales? As a woman of color who identifies as both Black and Multi-Racial, I’ve long had to defend, define and dance around my identity for the sake of others’ comfort.

But what I’m also learning is that along with historic and current inequities that still impact our ability to build recognition and capital in this world, there are also a lot of people, organizations and advocates making sincere efforts to lift up marginalized individuals and communities. There is funding, education and even legislation that is helping to turn the tide on who we can become and what we can accomplish. With so much trouble in the world, I am still buoyed by what is possible when we work together.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think what’s most rewarding is the ability to see, think, imagine – and then implement ideas from body and brain into reality. In our society, we are typically ruled by binary thought: yes or no, left or right, black or white. But in reality, those binaries are a disservice to what we as connected beings are capable of. There is so much room for possibility and resolution through creative means! For a long time I felt like I just couldn’t fit in anywhere because of the way I looked, the way I moved in the world (I’m 5″11) and the way I thought and expressed myself. What I’ve realized is that being creative has helped me to be more resilient and thoughtful in the world, in my life and when it comes to problem solving. In addition I have the ability to find joy in the simplest of things. And I think everyone has that capability, and maybe it’s just sleeping inside of them right now, and I want to help them to see how they can wake up to it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.myyogaaudio.com/
• Instagram: @luvinthislife
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganriamorgan/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@myyogaaudio

Image Credits

Nicolette Lovell – for the one photo doing yoga.