Guidance + Encouragement Sessions with Maia

I believe there is a wellspring of nourishment, inspiration, and resilience available to all of us. In Guidance + Encouragement sessions, I support you to access this wellspring so you can make wise life decisions.

I offer a 20-minute Exploration Call so you can get to know me and how I work, and so I can understand what you’re looking for. This allows us both to decide if it’s a good fit to work together.

When we’re ready to work together, you can schedule a one-hour Guidance and Encouragement session (see the section On Time and Money below; we may not need the full hour).

What is a Guidance and Encouragement Session
and how can it support you?

Guidance and Encouragement (G+E) sessions are a unique blend of mentoring, resource connections, and spiritual guidance (if you are open to it), customized to your needs. While I draw on some elements of traditional coaching, I generally don’t use that term as I tend to center other approaches such as cultural frameworks, presence, and spiritual accompaniment. But when helpful, I call on practices such as accountability and action steps to support your process. So this is a bit like coaching, if that’s the model you’re most familiar with.

Some examples of how G+E sessions can help you:

• Identify a contemplative practice that works for you, and learn how to overcome barriers to consistency in maintaining your practice

• Apply the insights coming up in practice to your career, relationships, creativity, finances, and more

• Get detailed guidance in creating right livelihood, including practical ideas on how to start or grow a business if that’s what you’re called to do

G+E sessions are especially useful when you’re in a transitional time (shifting careers, changes in relationships, moving to a new area, etc.) and are seeking support to navigate these changes in the most beneficial way.

G+E sessions are also about walking with you as you find your way through these transformational times, and as we collectively learn how to live through an environmental and economic collapse of epic proportions. Something more beautiful is waiting on the other side for all of us, I have faith in that. These sessions are a means of co-creating that future.

My philosophy and approach

The heart of my philosophy: 

We can access peace of mind and wise insights to help us live our lives with more freedom and kindness – no matter what our life circumstances. I believe this with all my heart because I’ve experienced it myself.

Drawing on my experiences as a longtime meditator, anthropologist, and research maven, my intention is to support you to find a deeper connection with your Core Intention and to offer practical guidance in how to translate that into creative and joyful possibilities for your life.

Clients appreciate my down-to-earth way of helping them access inner wisdom to more effectively address questions and challenges. I also bring a systems perspective as well as cultural insights that give you a new way of looking at a situation. I’m a great listener and skilled at helping people cut through confusion to gain clarity on how to take next steps.

“I feel super stoked after our session! Your help was clarifying, focused, and made such good sense. The action steps you proposed actually made my heart sing with ‘Yes,’ I can and want to do that!”

– Dr. Patty Lee, Author and Educator

I love to work with people who:

• Understand the value of awareness practices (such as meditation) and are actively using these kinds of practices in their life – or aspire to do so.

• Want to explore how the insights that come up in these kinds of practices can be harvested and applied to daily life, in areas such as livelihood, creativity, and relationships.

• Are curious and open-minded.

• Have strong creative tendencies.

• Are community-oriented, have a desire to be engaged citizens, and long to contribute to the creation of a more just and peaceful world.

HOW THE PROCESS WORKS

G+E sessions take place by Zoom video.

• If we haven’t spoken before, schedule a 20-minute free Exploration Call so we can get to know each other and make sure it feels like a good fit to work together.

• When we’re ready to work together, schedule a one-hour session using this link to my calendar.

At the beginning of the call, it’s helpful if you can bring the questions or issues that are most important to you to work with and any initial reflections you have on them. Some examples might be…

• I’m looking for a new direction in my career, can you help me figure out what this might be?

• I’m in a big life transition right now and could use some support to navigate through it.

During the call, I will practice deep listening and draw on my diverse skillset to see if we can find a deeper layer or another angle on your questions.

When the call comes to a close, that’s actually not the end of the session! I’ve found some of my best insights come after a call, once I’ve had time to digest our conversation. I will take another day or two at the most to reflect on our time and see what comes up. No more than two days after the call I’ll send a brief email summary of our session as well as any additional insights or suggestions I’ve got for you. If relevant, I may add some “homework” assignments. That email will include a payment link.

On Time and Money…

I am striving for a de-colonized relationship with time and money, and that’s informed how I’ve set up this offering. I’m trying to move away from a transactional and into a more relational way of dealing with time and money.

While sessions are scheduled in one-hour increments, I recognize that we may not need all that time for our process. There might be calls when it’s clear to both of us that we’re complete before the hour is up, and that’s okay.

It’s important to me to find a balance between having sustainable income and making these sessions accessible to those who would benefit from them. The model I’ve settled on is a sliding scale where you decide what you can offer as a form of reciprocity for my time and guidance.

The suggested lower end of the scale is $45 (for shorter calls and/or for those with fewer financial resources), the upper end is $160. You will choose what amount feels right for you. I request that payment be made within a day of your receiving the summary email and payment link. You may use a credit or debit card to make your payment.

As we work together, we can discern if it makes sense to work over multiple sessions to explore your questions more deeply and gain clarity (it usually does, at least initially).

Terms

Re-scheduling/Cancellation: If you need to cancel or re-schedule, please give me at least 24 hours notice (this is true for Exploration Calls too). If you cancel less than 24 hours prior to a scheduled session, you are racking up not-good karma (with the exception of medical and other legitimate emergencies) and I probably won’t want to continue working with you.

Training and Credentials

My professional journey started with a bachelor’s degree in music therapy, followed by a decade of working in the mental health field as a music therapist and outreach counselor with psychiatric patients. In 1996 I earned a master’s degree in cultural anthropology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. This was also when I started a meditation practice and study of Buddhism, which continues to this day.

In 2012, I was ordained as a Buddhist chaplain by Roshi Joan Halifax after graduating from the Upaya Zen Center’s two-year Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program. I am also preparing to receive entrustment as a lay Zen Buddhist teacher from Shosan Victoria Austin of San Francisco Zen Center.

I’m the author of Work That Matters: Create a Livelihood that Reflects Your Core Intention (Parallax Press, 2017). In addition to my own coaching/mentoring practice, I’ve served as an associate coach on Pamela Slim’s “Indispensable” program, based on her book Body of Work.