Work with Meghan

Hello,

Thank you for your time and for your curiosity to discover more about yourself and what it means to be human during this moment on our planet. For many of us, a split has occurred between our natural world and our inner landscapes. Many believe this is an inevitable aspect of life today. But after more than two decades of tracking wildlife, I understand that this fragmentation from our selves, family, ancestors, and nature is not innate to being human.

Rather, to be human is to be connected. Connected to each other, to our non-human world, and to a vocation that fills us and benefits the greater good. Each of one of us has the skills, senses, and ability to listen deeply and respond to what we hear. My tracking journey has helped me to trust my body and my intuition. When following an animal, it is essential that I am in my senses not my thinking brain. Every time I try to override my sensory perception and “think” my way towards an animal, I inevitably botch it up. I literally cannot see the tracks.

No one was more astounded than me when I realized that my internal landscapes of trauma, grief, and ego hindered my ability to trust myself and therefore my ability to make healthy decisions. Once I understood that there is no separation between my internal and external landscapes, I saw old patterns that once protected me were a hindrance.

When I uprooted those entrenched behaviors, my ability to track wildlife increased. I could see clear connections between the animals and their living landscape. My relationships with home, ecology, and the non-human world became vibrant, reciprocal, and diverse. As did my relationships with work, friends, and my husband. Turns out the skills I use to track a bear, are pretty similar to the skills necessary to track down funding for a project. Who knew?

Sometimes people ask me, “What do you do?” and cheekily I answer, “I help people slow down so that they can listen.”

Essentially this is true, but day to day, I get to work on diverse projects that integrate tracking, conservation, and social justice. I am adjunct faculty at my local college and independently teach tracking classes. My own tracking journey has led me to learn indigenous knowledge from local California and North American tribes as well as the KomaniSan Bushmen in the Kalahari. With permission from these tribes, I am able to bridge this wisdom into mainstream conservation to help create regenerative and resilient habitats.

I also work one on one with people to unravel their feelings of separation and build connection. While I have no intention of creating a world of trackers, I do hope to help folks track their way towards their passions, self love, and curiosity about the world with the assistance of our non-human neighbors.