“How do I stand out when AI can create content faster than I ever could?”

My answer probably isn’t what you’d expect.

I don’t think the future belongs to the businesses producing the most content. I think it belongs to the ones building the most trust.

In this episode, I’m giving you a preview of my workshop, The Human Marketing Ecosystem; a practical, no-BS approach to marketing in an AI world.

We’ll talk about why social media is rented land, why your website and email list are still your greatest assets, how the PESO model creates a marketing ecosystem that actually works, and why visibility without trust is just noise.

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by algorithms, content calendars, and the pressure to constantly “show up,” this conversation will help you simplify your marketing and get back to what actually matters: creating genuine human connection.

Whether you’re a coach, creative, consultant, service provider, or small business owner, you’ll walk away with practical strategies you can implement immediately—without dancing on the internet or pretending to be someone you’re not.

🎙 Join me live for this free masterclass:

The Human Marketing Ecosystem
Wednesday, August 5
12:00 PM Eastern

SIGN UP HERE: https://megannepearson.wixforms.com/f/7485739557577557005

Come with your questions. Leave with a marketing strategy that feels a whole lot more human.

I’ve done talk therapy, infrared therapy, contrast therapy, hypnotherapy, and psychotherapy.

I’ve tripped on mushrooms, danced with Mother Ayahuasca (so many times I’ve lost count), did MDMA, LSD, and know my ABCs…

I’ve sat with Father Iboga, and have been inflicted with frog poison. I’ve done sound journeys, gong healings, and sacred garden walks.

I practice and teach yoga, Breathwork, visualization, and meditation. I’ve immersed myself in kundalini shamanic drum circles, and energy initiations and trainings.

I did the Tony Robbins thing and walked on fire, learned how to master abundance via affirmations and muscle testing (ha!), and have done more coffee, chlorophyll, and garlic enemas than I like to recall.

I’ve tried juice fasts, colon cleanses, and keto.

I’ve sought to find the truth in my palms, my tarot, and way out in my akashic records..

Embodiment trainings, detox certifications, plant based chef courses, and raw food indoctrinations; all complete. I have a therapist, a spiritual medium, a coach and a guru.

And I still don’t know WTF I am doing.

Once, during a workshop I was facilitating, I guided the group in some partner work where we shared “parts” of us.

The idea of the exercise was to allow our shadow side to be witnessed and held in unconditional acceptance; to give voice to our subconscious, and the possible limiting beliefs and stories that lived there.

Unexpectedly, what came up for me that morning was my “imposter syndrome”. My unconscious belief that I am not worthy of teaching, don’t know enough, and will never know enough.

While my partner did nothing but what a great coach and person I am, it got me thinking about how it really doesn’t matter how much we think we know; when it comes to understanding this wild world, most of us are merely scratching the surface.

Looking back I can see that even from an early age (way back in the 90s) I was a seeker. Poetry written by 16 year old me spanning topics such as death and suicide; to time being our friend, eternal essence, to curiosity about the afterlife and the meaning of life.

I’m a 5:1 in human design and therefore I know I’m often seen as someone that has all the answers AND I can get insecure when I don’t feel I know enough.

My whole life I’ve searched for knowing; wanting to “figure it all out” for all of us. 😅

So my work has been to learn how to feel secure from within so I don’t NEED to depend on all the external validation and constant learning.

And also; I’ve done some shit in the name of sorting out the secrets of life. 👽 🤮 💩 🔥

I’m grateful for the path that I’ve chosen and all of the beauty I’ve been able to see beyond the naked eye and the physical world.

AND I know nothing (while also knowing I know exactly enough).

In impromptu live, I’m sharing one of the core ideas behind the book I’ve been writing over the past year: what I call The Pivot Cycle.

Whether you’ve left a career, ended a relationship, moved across the world, lost someone you love, become a parent, or simply found yourself wondering, “How did I get here?”- chances are you’ve experienced this cycle.

I walk through the six stages I’ve noticed in every major reinvention of my own life, from leaving television for Costa Rica to packing up a decade later and moving my family back to small-town Ontario.

We talk about:

• why life can look “successful” while feeling completely out of alignment

• the quiet whispers (or “niggles”) we ignore for years

• why making the leap is often the easy part

• the messy, uncomfortable void between who we were and who we’re becoming

• how to stop feeling like you’ve wasted parts of your life and instead integrate every chapter into something bigger

This isn’t really a conversation about career changes.

It’s about identity.

It’s about what happens when an old version of you no longer fits, and how to navigate the uncertainty that follows with a little more compassion and a lot less panic.

If you’re in the middle of a transition—or you can feel one coming—I hope this conversation reminds you that you’re not lost. You’re likely just in the middle of the cycle.

A few things before you go...

My new book, The Brand That Breathes, will be published soon, and this Pivot Cycle framework is one of the central ideas inside it. If you’d like to follow the writing process, get behind-the-scenes updates, and join future live conversations like this one, be sure to subscribe here on Substack.

And if you’re navigating your own pivot—whether it’s in your business, your career, your personal brand, or just your life—I still work one-on-one with a small number of consulting clients. You’re always welcome to book a free consultation to see if it’s a good fit.

If you’ve ever felt like your business has started running you instead of the other way around, this conversation is for you.

I joined the Happy Healthy Women Global Podcast to talk about the winding road from live television director to wellness entrepreneur, breathwork facilitator, brand strategist, and all the pivots (and identity crises) in between.

We get into why I believe your brand isn’t your logo or your colour palette; it’s a living extension of who you are. And if you evolve (which I hope you do), your business has to evolve with you.

We also talk about why I weave breathwork into branding and entrepreneurship. Not because taking a deep breath magically manifests six figures, but because you can’t build a business that’s aligned with your values if you’re constantly operating from fear, burnout, or comparison.

Inside this episode we explore:

• My journey from television to wellness to branding.

• How grief, sobriety, and a whole lot of career pivots shaped my work.

• Why entrepreneurs get stuck in visibility, perfectionism, and self-doubt.

• The connection between nervous system regulation and sustainable business growth.

• What it really means to build a brand that breathes; one that grows and changes as you do.

This is a conversation about identity as much as it is about entrepreneurship. About remembering who you are beneath the strategies, trends, and marketing advice. Because the businesses that last aren’t the ones that copy everyone else - they’re the ones built by people willing to become more of themselves.

If you’ve been navigating a pivot, questioning your next chapter, or simply trying to build a business that actually feels like you, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

Join us inside Happy Happy Healthy Women! Learn more about the membership options here.

If you are listening on the podcast, head the episode website for the links.

Subscribe to my Substack and don’t miss a thing!

I share why I committed to showing up live each week in a world increasingly driven by AI and algorithms, and why I believe real human connection still matters more than ever.

I also take you behind the scenes of an exciting new chapter: joining the faculty of The Leadership Circle, a nine-month Breathwork Facilitator Certification beginning this fall. We explore what it really means to become an ethical, grounded facilitator; and why your values, mission, and unique perspective matter far more than copying someone else’s business strategy.

In this conversation, we dive into:

• Why entrepreneurs so often lose themselves while building a business.

• The difference between building a brand and becoming one.

• How breathwork helps us reconnect to our intuition, values, and purpose.

• Why safety, trust, and authentic connection are the foundation of transformational leadership.

• How every breath offers an opportunity to come home to yourself.

Whether you’re a breathwork facilitator, a coach, a creative, or simply someone navigating a season of reinvention, I hope this conversation reminds you that your greatest asset isn’t another marketing strategy; it’s remembering who you are and leading from that place.

If you’re curious about The Leadership Circle Breathwork Facilitator Certification or want to learn more about working with me, leave a comment or send me a message. I’d love to connect.

Get more from Meg Pearson 📘 in the Substack app

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14 years ago this week I graduated from a raw vegan culinary course. It was my first of many plant-based culinary courses I’d complete over the next 2 years. I spent several days at Toronto’s St. Lawrence market under the watchful eye of Chef Claudia learning all of the basic tips and tricks to creating delicious and professional vegan and dehydrated concoctions.

It was 2012. The raw food scene in Toronto was taking off.

At the time I didn’t realize it, but adopting this Raw vegan culinary skillet was equally a business move as much as it was a tool for personal growth.

I quit my 11 year career in television production to “follow my dreams” which yes led to a decade long career in the holistic health and wellness space, but it also led me back to myself.

The period that I found myself in transition between TV and Costa Rica was full of growth and learning. It was pivotal not only for me professionally, but also personally.

After nearly two decades of not knowing who I was, doing everything possible to run away from myself, numbing through alcohol and an eating disorder, distancing myself from anyone who tried to love me…this transition into the health and healing space changed me.

When I did this particular raw vegan culinary training I was just coming off of a 9 month, 200 hour yoga teacher training - a period and practice in which I finally took the initiative to recreate my relationship with my body after years of self loathing and body dysmorphia. With this new love of raw food, I also began to redesign my relationship with food; for the first time in years not feeling that I needed to purge what I ate.

Yes, this career pivot served me very, very, well.

Looking back, I can also see that a big reason why I’ve had to leave my career TV because my integrity is coming into question. It became clear that the male dominated executive suite didn’t care much for those of us working at the production level and cared only about ratings and the bottom line. I found myself in situations where my place in the pecking order was offered in exchange for my body and towing the company line despite it’s dysfunction became non-negotiable if I wanted to move up. I also began questioning an industry (news) built on fear.. I began to recognize just how far I had fallen off the path of my heart. And my soul began whispering to me all the ways in which my values were being compromised…

Several years later I fell into a similar work dynamic. Once again the management team made up of manipulative men mostly concerned with image, ratings, and money. And while the outward mission of the company looked pure, it didn’t take much time for me behind the scenes to start to see that it was the same misguided and misogynistic power structures hiding behind a beautiful veneer.

My soul whispered once again. I listened for a time, and then hushed her. So she screamed. I quit my job. But then my ego (combined with the brainwashing and koolaid I was drinking) brought me back.

We were “doing good work” after all, and helping so many. And I told myself, if there is good here - I can stay focussed on that .

Eventually though - my unwillingness to witness harm and perpetuate power dynamics in what claimed to be a deeply spiritual and human-first transformational space - freed me. Once again my integrity coming before all of the empty promises of wealth, health, and fame.

And what I have learned is this: our values and ethics are all we’ve got.

Once we sell those ? We’ve already lost in life. If we are blessed with the privilege and freedom of choice (and I recognize that many are not), then we need to heed the niggles from the heart.

Sometimes we end up on a train barreling down a path that feels right at the start but then we realize that the train has fallen off the track. And it doesn’t feel good anymore. We’re questioning the trajectory. The mission is off. And it’s at that point that the best thing we can do is listen. And hop off. Sometimes it means rolling in the dirt, scraping our knees, maybe even breaking a bone or two…

But I’d rather end up with some scars that remind me that I chose my truth over the fresh gaping wounds of a life lived in deceit or for someone else’s agenda.

My upcoming books are both teaching memoirs where I am taking my lived experiences and sharing what you as the reader might find interesting, inspiring, and useful in your own life. “The Brand that Breathes” is a book on business, identity and pivoting from the heart. It’s set for release in late 2026 . My spiritual memoir “Dark is the New Light” will be available in 2027. You support means the world as I begin sharing short excerpts and short essays inspired by the content of both. Please subscribe, share, and comment!

Nearly ten years ago, Ashley Ludman introduced me to Breathwork.

At the time, I was searching for healing, answers, and honestly, a way back to myself. What I didn’t know then was that a single training would completely alter the course of my life.

In this week’s episode, Ashley and I sit down to talk about her journey from yoga teacher and entrepreneur to one of the most respected Breathwork trainers in the industry. We talk about healing, leadership, community, and what it really takes to hold space for transformation.

The coolest part?

This September, I’ll be joining Ashley’s faculty team as a mentor inside The Leadership Circle: her 9-month Breathwork Facilitator Training.

If you’ve ever felt called to deepen your own practice, become a facilitator, or explore Breathwork as a pathway to healing and personal growth, this conversation is for you.

🎧 Listen now.

✨ Tier One pricing for The Leadership Circle is currently available. Read more here.

After a decade of facilitating sessions, leading retreats, working in the psychedelic space, and teaching hundreds of people how to reconnect with themselves through the breath, I found myself building a new business in branding, coaching, and web design. It seemed like the logical next step.

The problem?

The more I tried to separate these worlds, the more I realized they belonged together.

In this solo episode, I’m sharing my honest thoughts on Breathwork after 10 years in the wellness industry; what I believe about it, what I don’t, why it isn’t a cure-all, and why I still consider it one of the most powerful tools for nervous system regulation, self-awareness, creativity, resilience, and personal transformation.

I also share the story behind The Brand That Breathes Experience, my signature coaching, branding, and web design process that combines identity work, embodiment, strategy, visibility, and business development for women navigating growth, reinvention, and expansion.

Inside this episode, we explore:

• What Breathwork can (and can’t) do
• Nervous system regulation and expanding your capacity for life
• Why healing doesn’t always require reliving your trauma
• The connection between Breathwork, entrepreneurship, and visibility
• Why so many women struggle to be seen online
• The surprising overlap between branding and identity work
• How Breathwork became the foundation of my coaching and web design process

Curious about becoming a Breathwork Facilitator?

I’m excited to be joining the mentorship team for The Leadership Circle, a 9-month Breathwork Facilitator Training beginning this September.

Learn more here.

—→ Ready for a brand and website that reflects who you’re becoming?

The Brand That Breathes Experience combines identity coaching, nervous system work, messaging, branding, and web design to help you build a business that feels aligned, authentic, and sustainable.

Learn more here.

Substack: Meg Pearson Writes

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review and send me a screenshot. I’ll add you to the VIP list for my upcoming mini-course, The Brand That Breathes: A Four-Step Process for Reconnecting to Who You’re Becoming.

Breathwork is such an incredible tool. And that’s what it is. A tool. It’s not meant to be sold as a cure all. It is not going to cure cancer and it is definitely not for everyone.

OK now that I’ve got that out-of-the-way; I do believe that it’s mostly for everyone. Yes there are contraindications, but what I love about this magnificent tool is that it is powered by the one thing that every single human being out there is not only able but is obligated to partake in. Breathing!

The thing is; over the last decade or so it has become just another commodity in the wellness/spiritual sphere and weekend long certification trainings to become a facilitator are a dime a dozen. What’s wilder is that I know that there are many people out there being “certified” as a Breathwork practitioner, but they don’t even have their own practice. Perhaps they’ve never even lay down and had a in-depth meditative Breathwork experience themselves. Sigh.

I myself have done hundreds of hours of training and have hundreds more facilitation hours under my belt. I’ve done one on one. I’ve done virtual. I’ve done it in person. I’ve done large groups. I’ve done retreats. I’ve been on stage with a Britney Spears mic breathing people. I’ve led 10 minute sessions, two minute sessions, 90 minute plus sessions. And I am still learning. And I am teaching (more on that to come).

Breathing for a Meaning

The cool thing about Breathwork is that you don’t have to attach philosophy to it if you don’t want to. I have studied in the more shamanic realm of breathwork and I’ve trained in very practical functional breathwork too. I’ve studied on the spiritual and scientific ends of the spectrum and each teacher that I have learned from have their own unique imprint on the practice and what it means to them and how they speak to its magnificence.

And the really cool thing about Breathwork is that all you have to do is do it in order to reap the benefits. You don’t have to believe anything. You don’t even have to believe that it works. In fact, here’s the funny thing; many people breathe with me for the very first time and get to the end of the session and say “nothing really happened”. But the more they come, the more they visit the mat, the more they put their eye mask on and work with me - the more they start to recognize the subtle shifts: usually like better sleep, feeling a sense of calm immediately after the session that eventually seeps into other areas of their lives. And my favorite is when they tell me they start to find themselves daydreaming more; perhaps considering aspects of their lives that they’ve not put much thought to - or they all of a sudden feel creative and want to start taking singing lessons or dance class or painting.

The truth is; that at some point when we slow down enough to pay attention to our breath, what we’re really doing is slowing down to pay attention to ourselves.

Yes, there are lots of incredible teachers out there that will pound the drum, crank the music, yell at you and get you really amped up during the Breathwork session but there’s also something to be said about a simple, peaceful and quiet rendezvous with your heart; brought on by the simple meditative action of following your breath as it travels in and out of your body.

I’ll be the first to admit the way I facilitate Breathwork skews a little bit on the spiritual side. While I do consider myself a chameleon in that I can make this practice land for people both in corporate settings and at ayahuasca retreat centers; I think what sets my style apart is that I often guide my participants into a deep rhythm with the breath and then through deep exploration, using guided visualization and quasi Hypnosis style techniques. And lately, it’s been less let’s dig into our trauma, and more, let’s explore the beauty that is YOU in the here now and meditate on the frequency of what’s possible for the future.

I find this to be one of the sweet spots doing this kind of work, especially since I am not a trained therapist and as someone who also worked deep in the trauma retrieval/psychedelic space for so long; I will admit that I am tired of expecting people must sift through their darkness in order to find the light…

Breathwork and nervous system regulation

Breathwork can help us expand our capacity. When we actively work with our breath, we are consciously stressing the body in a contained and safe way so that it can begin to understand that stress does not always equal immediate danger. As we breathe, we can work to teach the body and the mind simultaneously that our window of tolerance, (a.k.a. the window in which we are able to function optimally without our body freaking out and wanting to slide into fight, flight or freeze) is something that we can increase, work with, and expand.

Our life’s experiences, upbringing, limiting beliefs, stories, traumas, adverse childhood experiences - you name it - all have some effect on our window of tolerance. Not to mention the everyday stresses of constantly binging phones, high stress jobs, needy bosses, traffic - all of it! Our bodies have begun to recognize the simplest and smallest stresses as being catastrophic. Breathwork allows us to examine these stories and re-pattern the body’s response to stress so that not only can we stay calmer in the mundane stresses of life, but this work also begins to teach the body (and this is the more important bit) how to more quickly move from a stressed state back into a relaxed, parasympathetic state, and that is the money, my friend!

Breathing into the TRUTH

In my decade working with Breathwork, one of the raddest things I have witnessed for myself and others is that sometimes this work can be more powerful than any other practices or substances like psychedelics.

When I worked full-time in a psychedelic space, there was always a number of people who would come to me at the end of their experience saying that they got more out of the Breathwork than they did the plant medicine.

I think a big reason for this is that some folks are just wise to the fact sooner than others that anything outside of our ourselves is never going to bring us back to ourselves better than ourselves.

That’s what’s so cool about Breathwork. It’s us doing the work with us.

And I will mention as an aside that I do believe that the breath is more than just the breath. As I said, I don’t believe you have to believe anything in order for it to work, but if you wanna hear about my philosophy, I do believe that the breath stands to represent something greater than us moving through us… a.k.a. Spirit, prana, life force, the Universe, the ONE.

Think about it: if you’ve ever tried to hold your own breath til death (which I do not recommend), the funny thing is you wouldn’t be able to do it. Your body would faint and then you would keep on breathing in your unconscious state. Our bodies are breathed all day every day without us asking.

AND while breathing is completely automatic, we do also have the ability to switch on our awareness and control it to a certain degree (this is breathwork!). Another way to say this is that while most autonomic functions in the body are strictly out of our control, breathing is a unique exception that runs on autopilot, but our brain allows our somatic nervous system (voluntary system) to take over so we can speak, sing, or change, speed up, slow down, or hold your breath. There’s got to be reason for this…it’s a built in tool for living and healing.

Why Breathwork, Why Now?

Over this past year as I pivoted most of my work towards entrepreneurship, business coaching and web design, I thought I needed to put my breathwork business down. I believed that it would be too confusing (and maybe too much) to maintain my breathwork programs and offers while simultaneously working to build my new brand in the digital marketing space.

The moment I brought this idea up to the ladies inside my virtual breathwork program, they countered saying that after 8 rounds of the program, they couldn’t go on without it (in this program we gather live on Zoom every week to connect, share, laugh and practice breathwork and sisterhood). As I was considering this I was also invited to speak to breathwork as a leadership tool in both a retreat environment and at several in-person events for women in business.

Around the same time I was working with some website design clients who, once we had their beautiful sites ready to go live online, came up against their ego and stories about what it meant to “put themselves out there”. Their fear of being seen and stepping into their brand, needed some real coaching and nervous system work.

This is when I had an aha moment. I didn’t need to compartmentalize the practices that I knew worked in the name of a new business model. In fact, the more I leaned into this beautiful pairing of business and breathwork, the more I realized just how much sense they make together. After all, I myself have long used my breath as a tool to settle nerves, reconnect to my vision, and to regroup after a tough meeting or before having to send a serious email or boundaried message.

The Brand That Breathes Experience

What has birthed from this last decade is my signature branding and web design offer: The Brand That Breathes Experience. This is where vision, mission, message, business, branding and embodiment meet. Yes, at the end of the experience you will have a shiny new website and brand that matches who you are becoming. But perhaps even more important is that your brand reflects who you are evolving into and can breathe and be and shift and pivot as you do - because you are a living breathing being that doesn’t belong inside any boxes.

We do some identity work. We breathe. We dive deep into your why, your vision, your ideal buyer. I support you through your resistance around being bold and hold you at your visibility edges…And then you get to rock out into the world in your new branded digs.

When you commit to the Brand that Breathes Experience you are not just committing to a new brand and website.

You are declaring and stepping into the version of you ready to hold your elevated business and income, visibility, and power it brings.

Curious to learn more? Head here.

And as for my breathwork programs? Stay tuned. Round #10 of Breath Alchemy Circle is getting an upgrade. And we start in October.

And if you have ever thought about becoming a breathwork facilitator yourself a heads up - I will be helping lead a teacher training later this year!

I am also working on a new mini-course The Brand That Breathes: A Four-Step Process for Reconnecting to Who You’re Becoming.

This isn’t a branding course. It’s an identity course.

A chance to pause, take stock of where you are, and reconnect with the woman you’re evolving into beneath the expectations, roles, responsibilities, and noise.

Whether you’re navigating a career change, a relationship shift, motherhood, an empty nest, a business pivot, recovery, reinvention, or simply feeling the pull toward something more authentic, this work is for you.

If you want to get on the list to get first dibs when this course is available (for free!), Please head over to my podcast and (hopefully) give me a 5-star review. Take a screen shot and send it to me here or on Instagram at @coachmegpearson and I will put you on the VIP list to have it sent to your inbox when the course is available!

After a life spent cycling between achievement and addiction, Meg’s experience with Iboga—a sacred African plant medicine often associated with addiction recovery—became a turning point in her journey toward nearly nine years of sobriety.

But getting sober wasn’t the end of the story.

It was the beginning.

In this episode, Meg explores what happens when alcohol, food, and other coping mechanisms are no longer available to numb grief, shame, fear, and pain. She shares the surprising challenge of learning how to feel again, discovering joy after addiction, and rebuilding a relationship with herself after decades of disconnection.

Topics discussed include:

• Sobriety and addiction recovery
• Iboga and plant medicine experiences
• Emotional healing after trauma
• Learning to feel joy again
• Recovery from self-abandonment
• Personal growth and spiritual healing
• Navigating life without numbing behaviors
• The unexpected freedom that comes after sobriety

If you’ve ever wondered who you might become when you stop running from yourself, this conversation is for you.

Subscribe for more honest conversations about reinvention, recovery, identity, and becoming.

I have been writing my memoir since 2018. If I am honest; I suppose I started it back in the 90’s with my angsty poetry and short stories that will make up much of the backbone of the lessons and learnings I will be sharing inside it. I picked it up again in 2012 I suppose - when I began telling my story in blog form, both on my own page and more publicly in my column of Huffington Post. In 2018 I started calling it a memoir and dedicated more time to writing it; this time more seriously. It wasn’t until then that I felt I had some real themes and meanings I could extract from a life wildly lived.

Writing has been a go-to for me since I was a child. It has long been my way of expressing and make sense of a world that is so seemingly nonsensical. And the more I write, the more I understand that I understand nothing…but I have learned a thing or two about myself and what it means to human.

(I am actually in the midst of writing not one but two books and I am going to be sharing short excerpts here over the summer as I plug away.)

In 2017 I worked with a sacred plant called Iboga from Africa. This particular plant medicine is renowned for its support in releasing addiction and I can honestly say that my experience with it definitely had much to do with my now near nine years of sobriety.

Here, a section of my book on what life was like post-healing:

What my life looked like before I got sober was this: it consisted of my career (whether it was TV in my 20’s, wellness retreats in my early 30’s, or plant medicine in my early 40’s) and my addictions. We all have 24 hours in the day and I spent eight to twelve of those doing my job (and doing it damn well I might add; hello perfectionist striving for approval) and when I would clock out I’d head straight to the liquor store to grab two bottles of wine and maybe a small bottle of vodka. Some days I would also hit the grocery store where I would purchase up to $200 worth of treat foods like ice cream, donuts, frozen cakes, chips and chocolate. I would head home and binge (numbing technique numero uno). Then purge. I’d shower (to cleanse myself of the stench of vomit), let the dog out, and pour myself a glass of wine. That would turn into another... and another. Eventually I would make dinner and open another bottle. After eating and cleaning up I would put on Netflix, drink more, and send regrettable text messages. I would consume until all the booze was gone and then stumble to bed. That was it. That was my life.

That first day back to work after Iboga was interesting. I stayed later than usual for one thing. Up until that point I had zero patience staying for dinner service at the hotel - my hands would be shaky by then and my capacity for human interaction, nil. No, once my urge to drink took over my capacity to be of service in any way was shot. But that day - that first day back - I stayed (much to the surprise of my staff). In the evening I eventually left and went straight home. I let the dog out. I sat on the couch…

Hmmm… I sat. I looked around the house. I twiddled my thumbs. I asked myself, Do I have any hobbies? I checked my watch. OK, so 6 hours til bedtime…

It was wild. All of a sudden I had all the time in the world that was previously eaten up by addiction.

And so, I got to know me. This was when I began my personal development growth tour version 2.0. Yes - I had been in the wellness world for 5 years by then with a strong focus on nutrition and body health. But in 2017 I got far more into the work. I read. I coursed. I studied, obsessed even. And thank goodness I did. You see this period of adjustment revealed so much; all of a sudden I could feel again after decades of numbing. I started drinking as a teen in order to not have to embody all the fear, anger and shame I felt from sexual abuse. It was easier to disconnect, unplug and disassociate from my life than it was to actually face the parts of me that felt gross, guilty and unlovable. Now, at age 37 allllll of that started to come to the surface.

I am grateful that I was at a time in my life where I had a great (decent) support network. My group of friends were all personal development junkies and my workplace was all about spiritual healing and self study. I had world renowned teachers and healers on speed dial and ayahuasca on tap. And so navigating this period was ok. Christmas came and went and my family saw me (for the first time in YEARS) enjoy brunch booze-free (you should have seen my sister almost fall of her Yorkville restaurant chair when I ordered beet juice and not champagne).

That January my mother had a health scare that sent her to hospital for pacemaker surgery. It was the type of life event that would have normally forced me into a bender - the blackout drunk for days kind - but instead I hopped on a plane from Costa Rica and was able to be by her side for some of her recovery- sober.

In the 6 months that followed I lived. I started get tattooed more regularly. I spent time out of big boats on the ocean. I learned how to scuba dive. I went skydiving. I spent a lot of time writing pages and pages of this very book. I met a guy online and within weeks booked a flight to meet up with him in Croatia for a tour across the country on a rented Harley (although I decided he was too bitter and angry a man and ditched him after 3 days and flew to Italy solo). I wandered the streets of Rome, hitting patio after patio sipping fancy coffee and eating luxurious pasta dishes all by myself…realizing that the old me - the drunk me - would have never thought one could INjoy Rome without wine.

I went to a Shakira concert. Was a guest wellness expert on two live national TV shows in Toronto.

And one day - a good friend at the time turned to me and said, “Meg - I know you quit drinking….but I have to ask: did you start doing cocaine?”

And I get it - from the outside I must have seemed a bit…manic. I was doing ALL. THE. THINGS, after all.

But here’s the thing about numbing yourself silly. When you work really hard to not feel any of the “bad” shit, aka all the heavy painful stuff that you think will kill you - like grief, shame, guilt, and anger…what you inadvertently do is stunt your ability to feel any of the magical stuff too!

Allll those years I ran from my pain, I also capped the amount of joy that was possible for me too. After that Iboga journey, the little girl in me; my SOUL SELF; was ready to FLY! I wanted to feel allll the big beautiful feelings like exhilaration, ecstasy, bliss, and even pain from tattoos. I wanted to feel ALIVE for fuck’s sake! After years of feeling quite dead inside. I needed to recreate my relationship with emotions and I rushed into it like a wild woman running into the forest barefoot. So it freaked my friends out.

The tricky bit was this though; while I was learning how to truly feel happy again I was also having to navigate a new way to approach the harder stuff. My mom’s heart trouble tested me, yes. But so did all the other little moments when my ego was pinged around old beliefs about me not being good enough. At times when I would normally turn to the drink I had to instill new coping skills - new tools - in order to let the feeling move through me and not hold me down - or hold me back in life. It was a real journey towards making my pain my teacher; and learning how to extract the lessons, the learning, and the healing was a full time job all its own.

Thoughts? Resonance? Be sure to subscribe - I am working on some exciting subscriber-only stuff coming soon!

Get more from Meg Pearson 📘 in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

While I’m still stumbling to find my way around the ‘Stack and all of its incredible capabilities I wanted to just drop this here to prove that we don’t need to figure things out before we take the leap, pass “go”, and dive headfirst into the wild Unknown!

This little preview episode is just a teaser about what to expect in upcoming episodes.

Welcome to The Brand That Breathes.

I’m Meg Pearson.

Over the last twenty-five years, I’ve been a television director, yoga teacher, chef, retreat facilitator, breathwork practitioner, entrepreneur, author, mother, and professional pivoter.

I’ve started over more times than I can count.

Some of those pivots were exciting. Some were devastating. Some I chose. Some chose me.

Along the way I’ve navigated eating disorder recovery, bankruptcy, grief, sobriety, motherhood, entrepreneurship, and the uncomfortable realization that a life can look successful on paper while feeling completely disconnected from who you really are.

This podcast was born from a simple belief:

That becoming yourself is rarely a straight line.

Each week, we’ll explore the messy, beautiful process of reinvention through honest conversations about identity, business, creativity, spirituality, recovery, relationships, purpose, and what it actually means to build a life that fits.

You’ll hear solo episodes, conversations with fascinating guests, audio essays from my Substack, behind-the-scenes reflections from my upcoming books, and the kinds of discussions that usually happen after everyone else has gone home and the masks finally come off.

This is the podcast for women who are too smart for self-help bullshit but still want a more meaningful life.

Because your identity isn’t your logo.

It isn’t your website.

It isn’t the version of yourself you’ve been performing for the world.

Your brand is the living, breathing expression of who you’re becoming.

And if you’re in the middle of a reinvention, a pivot, a breakdown, a breakthrough, or simply asking bigger questions than you used to, you’re in the right place.

Welcome to The Brand That Breathes.

If you enjoy The Brand That Breathes and you’d like to support the show, the best way to help is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Reviews help more women discover these conversations, and they tell the podcast platforms that this kind of honest, nuanced discussion is worth sharing.

As a thank you, I’m giving away my upcoming mini-course, The Brand That Breathes: A Four-Step Process for Reconnecting to Who You’re Becoming.

This isn’t a branding course.

It’s an identity course.

A chance to pause, take stock of where you are, and reconnect with the woman you’re evolving into beneath the expectations, roles, responsibilities, and noise.

Whether you’re navigating a career change, a relationship shift, motherhood, an empty nest, a business pivot, recovery, reinvention, or simply feeling the pull toward something more authentic, this work is for you.

If you’ve left a review, head over to instagram and send me a screenshot , and I’ll make sure you receive the course when it’s released.

Welcome to Meg Pearson Writes - a space where I hope you get to see yourself reflected in each passage, each story, each failure, success, and celebration - because let’s face it: while our lives’s details differ, the lessons we learn are all the same. And the thing we are all striving for is equal - to be enough as we are and live our authentic lives.

I’ve overcome a 20 year battle with bulimia and alcohol addiction; both habits formed after years of sexual trauma. I was bankrupt at 29, fell into and escaped toxic relationship after toxic relationship, watched my father die from ALS and frontotemporal dementia when I was 30, and I nearly died that same year from suffocation after swallowing a spatula trying to make myself throw up.

After ditching my career as a successful television director around that same time to sell everything I owned to move to Costa Rica with a backpack and dream, I became a serial entrepreneur without even knowing it. I worked full time in the wellness industry and spiritual space for a decade, supported by juice cleanses and ayahuasca before moving back to Canada and found my footing here; back home in my country and in my heart.

I’ve seen some shit. And I know you have too. My mission with this platform (and all the work I do) is simple: to help others feel seen and to permission them to own their story, their mess, and choose truth over anything else.

This space is going to introduce you to my philosophy and stories so you can adopt what feels good, leave behind what doesn’t and hopefully finish each post feeling more excited to be YOU. My main areas of focus will be as follows:

• The Brand that Breathes: this is my core body of work consisting of a book under the same name, my latest iteration of my podcast, signature web design and branding package, and upcoming group coaching program.

• Memoir in Motion: Stories from the front lines aka the dumpster fire that has been my life. Excerpts from my upcoming memoir and reflections on recovery, grief, motherhood, entrepreneurship, sobriety, relationships, spirituality, and the beautiful chaos of being human.

• Breathwork & Becoming: Practical tools and reflections on nervous system regulation, emotional healing, Breathwork, embodiment, and learning to trust yourself again. Less “fixing yourself.” More remembering who you already are.

• Women Who Went First: Interviews and conversations with women who have chosen the unconventional path. Entrepreneurs, creators, leaders, mothers, artists, and everyday rebels who are building lives aligned with their values instead of other people’s expectations.

• The Messy Middle: For anyone standing at a crossroads. Honest writing about pivots, uncertainty, identity shifts, starting over, letting go, and what happens between who you’ve been and who you’re becoming.

A Bit of Me: A girl called Bubbles

Growing up, I suppose you would have called me a happy kid. I grew up on a hobby farm, rode my bike, entered countless crafts into the fall fair exhibition, played sports, enjoyed the odd McDonald’s meal and drive-in movie with my family. I went to Disney World, camped every summer and loved my dog.

When I was 22, my nickname at work was “Bubbles”; a name given to me by a middle-aged man on my TV crew. I was working at MuchMusic (the once upon a time Canadian MTV) and from the outside my life looked peachy keen. My childhood dream had been to get the f*ck out my small rural town and live in Toronto where I could ride the subway to work after all - and I was doing it! Surrounded by cool kids and celebs no less. When I showed up to work - I was a joy. I was so thrilled to be where I was, doing what I was doing and so I was cheerful and bright and damn good at my job.

Little did the world know that I was struggling with bulimia and alcohol addiction and had been battling my own self hatred for years.

But that’s the thing about life and other people’s perspectives. Even when things look great on the outside, they often are vastly different on the inside. That’s a lot of what we’re going to chat about here on this page and in my two upcoming books:

What it means to choose to make change and pivot, even when no one else understands it.

How it feels to ditch patterns, circumstances, relationships, and roles when things look perfect from the outside.

How to follow your heart and integrity; especially when the pivot that you’re choosing looks crazy or wrong to everybody else.

What’s coming:

• Course: The Brand That Breathes: A Four-Step Process for Reconnecting to Who You’re Becoming.

• Breath + Becoming: A virtual breathwork program for women, by women. Tiered options for those who want to simply breathe live with me every week, and the option to join the immersion program that will include monthly masterminds, coaching and workshops.

• My memoir, Dark is the New Light

• International retreats, events and more!

Who This Platform Is For

• This space is for women who know there has to be more than simply checking boxes and performing their way through life.

• It’s for the woman who has built a successful life on paper but feels disconnected from herself somewhere along the way.

• It’s for the woman standing in the messy middle of a pivot; whether that’s a career change, divorce, sobriety journey, spiritual awakening, business reinvention, empty nest, grief, or simply the realization that the life she’s built no longer fits.

• It’s for entrepreneurs, creators, healers, leaders, and women who want to build meaningful work without selling their souls in the process.

• It’s for the woman who is tired of self-help perfectionism, exhausted by performative personal development, and more interested in truth than appearances.

• It’s for those who are curious about spirituality but grounded in reality. Women who value intuition and personal responsibility. Women who want to trust themselves more than the latest guru, trend, or blueprint.

Most of all, it’s for women who are ready to stop becoming who they think they should be and start becoming who they already are.

This space is for YOU.

Barefoot. Newly married. Drinking wine at lunch. Building a business. From the outside, it looked like a dream.

But inside… I knew something wasn’t right.

One morning, we woke up to a deafening buzzing sound. At first, it was just noise. Then it literally oozed into vision. Honey started dripping through the seams of our bedroom wall and down the windows too.

Bees had built a hive inside the drywall. And I remember standing there thinking…

This is beautiful. And this is a problem.

Here’s the truth I didn’t want to admit at the time:

I loved the idea of my life more than I loved the reality of it.

The jungle. The marriage. The business we were building. It was all… aesthetic. It was all… a story I wanted to be true.

But just like that live hive in the wall- something deeper was misaligned, and eventually, it was going to break through...

This is exactly what I see in business and branding every day.

People fall in love with:

• the aesthetic of their brand

• the identity of being an entrepreneur

• the idea of freedom, impact, success

But they’re building on something that doesn’t actually feel good in their body.

And then they wonder why:

• their content doesn’t land

• their offers don’t convert

• they feel exhausted trying to “show up”

Because here’s the real leadership work:

It’s not just strategy.

It’s the willingness to ask:

In digital marketing, this shows up as:

• brands that look polished but feel hollow

• messaging that sounds good but isn’t true

• offers built from trends instead of lived experience

And audiences can feel that.

I went through this myself for a time - back in 2021 trying to mute my brand; morphing into a soft, neutral look and feel as to live up to the “spiritual” image I thought clients in the space desired...

And of course it wasn’t until I better owned my bold that the right buyers rolled in...

The most powerful brands right now?

They’re not the prettiest - they’re the most honest.

They’re built by people who are willing to:

• dismantle what isn’t working

• pivot without shame

• tell the truth - even when it disrupts the story

That moment in the jungle was one of the first times I realized:

Sweet doesn’t always mean right.

And eventually, if something isn’t aligned…

It will find a way to show itself.

If your business feels heavy right now…If your content feels forced…If your brand looks good but doesn’t feel like you anymore…If your LIFE is misaligned…

This might be your “honey in the walls” moment.

And the work isn’t to cover it up. It’s to listen.

Because the most magnetic brands (lives!) aren’t built on performance.

They’re built on truth.

This is the work I’m doing inside Rebel Soul Media right now- helping people build brands that actually match who they are, not just who they think they should be.

Because your body always knows when something isn’t aligned- even when your mind is still trying to sell the story.

For years, I thought my problem was the company I worked for.

I started my television career full of ambition and excitement. I loved the energy, the pace, the storytelling, and the feeling of being part of something important. Yet despite the promotions, opportunities, and obviously cool quotient of being a TV director at age 25 - I would go home feeling exhausted, disconnected, and empty.

Looking back, some of that exhaustion was undoubtedly tied to my addictions and afflictions at the time (hello high functioning alcoholic with bulimia). But I can also see now that spending years immersed in a news environment filled with death, disaster, tragedy, and crisis takes a toll on a person. A soul can only absorb so much before it begins to change them. Not to mention my soul had (has) a bigger purpose and she started to nudge me away (so that I could figure out what I should be moving towards).

Rather than leave television altogether though, I tried making smaller moves (as many of us do when faced with the discomfort of massive change). I left one network for another. I moved from CityTV to CTV. Then into satellite television. Then SunTV, CBC, and back to Global. Then other roles within the industry. Every time, I convinced myself that perhaps it wasn’t television itself that was the problem - perhaps it was simply the wrong company, the wrong position, the wrong environment.

But the same feelings followed me everywhere.

The same tension.

The same exhaustion.

The same quiet voice whispering that I no longer belonged there.

The turning point arrived when my father was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (yes, the same thing Bruce Willis has been faced with).

Suddenly, life became very real. When you learn that a parent is dying and there are still years of unspoken words between you, something shifts.

I left my job and spent several months resting (spiraling?) while my partner at the time supported me. During that time, we became engaged and began planning a fairytale wedding. Outwardly, life appeared to be coming together beautifully.

But beneath the surface, everything was unraveling.

My father’s illness forced me to confront my own shadows. The engagement ended abruptly two months before the wedding. I found myself couch surfing, broke (and bankrupt), unemployed, and deeply entrenched in addiction.

Yet somehow, I kept returning to television.

I moved from one role to another, one network to another, one opportunity to another. The Weather Network. Online Video Producer. Reality TV.

As much as I knew the industry wasn’t for me, I didn’t know who I would be without it.

That was the real problem. Television had become part of my identity. Leaving wasn’t simply changing careers.

It meant becoming someone new.

During the final months of my father’s life, I traveled across Canada while working on a reality television show. By the time I returned home, he had deteriorated dramatically. I was fortunate enough to be present with him and my family at the hospital when he took his last breath.

The following week, hundreds of people attended his funeral. Story after story poured in about the impact he had made on their lives.

As I listened, something became painfully clear. My father had touched people. He had changed lives.

And despite all my success in television, I felt no connection to the work I was doing. And so the week after we buried my dad I walked into my executive producer’s office and I quit.

Shortly after the funeral, I traveled to Cuba for a long weekend.

I spent four nights drinking heavily, sleeping with random men, numbing myself in all the familiar ways.

But every morning, I sat alone on the beach and stared out at the ocean. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was praying.

I asked for guidance. I asked what I was supposed to do next.

Most importantly, I asked what it was that I truly loved (because I had been unhappy for so long that I had forgotten)

The answer arrived clearly.

Raw food. Yoga.

Confusing at first, and rather “Eat, Pray, Love” random seeming - but I went with it.

Within weeks, I enrolled in a yoga teacher training program and began studying under a raw vegan chef who taught me not only how to prepare food, but how to build an educational business around it.

For the next year and a half, I maintained one foot in television and one foot in wellness.

I worked on a morning show while attending training, teaching classes, and slowly building a new life.

Eventually, I made the leap. And I left television for good.

Not because I was certain. But because I finally trusted myself more than I trusted my fear.

That decision would eventually lead me to Costa Rica, where I spent the next decade reinventing myself over and over again - as a culinary educator, caterer, bakery owner, retreat facilitator, executive chef, workshop leader, breathworker, coach, mother, writer, and entrepreneur.

What looked like a series of disconnected careers was actually a long journey toward myself.

And every pivot that followed would teach me the same lesson:

The hardest thing to leave is never the job. It’s the identity attached to it.

What’s your experience in purpose, passion, and pivoting? Anyone else 45 and not sure what they want to DO when they grow up - but at lease you know who you want to BE?

“The Brand that Breathes” is my new body of work consisting of a book under the same name, my latest iteration of my podcast, signature branding package, and upcoming group coaching program. If you are interested in working with me please book a complimentary consult call.

In this episode, I’m talking directly to breathwork facilitators (and other somatic practitioners) who left their certification with powerful skills - but very little support for what comes next.

I share:
– the gap I see over and over again between certification and sustainable practice
– why so many facilitators feel overwhelmed by booking, messaging, tech, and visibility
– how to think about offers, marketing, and systems without burning out
– and what it actually means to build a business that supports the work instead of draining you

Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠Rebel Soul Media ⁠⁠⁠⁠

Book your FREE ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠1:1 Consult Call with Meg!⁠

⁠⁠⁠Subscribe⁠ to my "Digital Marketing Made Simple" newsletter to get the real juicy goods in online biz!⁠⁠

In this episode, I’m breaking down the mindset shift I had to make when I moved my work online, and the exact place I see new digital entrepreneurs get stuck over and over again.

If you’ve been saying “I want an online business” but haven’t quite crossed into “I run one,” this episode is for you.

Check out ⁠⁠⁠Rebel Soul Media ⁠⁠⁠

Book your FREE ⁠⁠1:1 Consult Call with Meg!

⁠⁠Subscribe⁠ to my "Digital Marketing Made Simple" newsletter to get the real juicy goods in online biz!⁠

We talk about career pivots, losing everything you thought defined you, and rebuilding confidence - on camera and in real life. Tanya shares her journey from Miss Canada and Hollywood TV to creating the Life Masters podcast and teaching women how to use their voice without performing or pretending.

If you’re navigating reinvention, visibility, or confidence in a digital world you didn’t grow up in - this one’s for you.

Get $50 off Tanya's "Mastering the Spotlight" course with the coupon code: AGDW50!

Check out ⁠⁠⁠Rebel Soul Media ⁠⁠⁠

Book your ⁠⁠Website in a Day⁠⁠

⁠⁠Subscribe⁠ to my "Digital Marketing Made Simple" newsletter to get the real juicy goods in online biz!⁠

We talk filters (not funnels), values over vibes, and why the most effective marketing starts with knowing who you’re not for.

If you want clients who respect your work, trust your process, and align with how you actually operate - this episode is your reset.

Check out ⁠⁠⁠Rebel Soul Media ⁠⁠⁠

Book your ⁠⁠FREE Consult Call

⁠⁠Subscribe⁠ to my "Digital Marketing Made Simple" newsletter to get the real juicy goods in online biz!⁠

It isn’t loud.It isn’t constant.
And most of the time, it isn’t happening on social media.

In this episode, I’m talking about the kinds of marketing that fly under the radar - the work that doesn’t show up in your feed, but quietly builds trust, authority, and momentum over time.

We’ll explore:

• Why social media is just one distribution channel, not the whole strategy

• How things like speaking, podcasting, networking, referrals, and collaborations do the heavy lifting behind the scenes

• Why owned platforms (your website, email list, and long-form content) matter more than ever

• The power of local marketing and relationship-based growth

• And how to stop measuring your success by what’s visible online

This episode is for the business owner who’s doing meaningful work; even if it doesn’t look flashy or “content-y” from the outside.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re doing enough because you’re not constantly posting…
This is your permission slip to trust the kind of marketing that doesn’t need to perform to be effective.

Quiet doesn’t mean ineffective.
Sometimes it means strategic.

🎧 Press play.

Check out ⁠⁠⁠Rebel Soul Media ⁠⁠⁠

Book your ⁠⁠Website in a Day⁠⁠

⁠⁠Subscribe⁠ to my "Digital Marketing Made Simple" newsletter to get the real juicy goods in online biz!⁠