By Janae Jean and Spencer Schluter

For this month’s interview, we had the pleasure to share in conversation with author Megan Griswold. Megan grew up in California in a family that embraced New Age Californian culture. She studied at Barnard College, earned an MA from Yale and later went on to earn a licentiate degree from the Institute of Taoist Education and Acupuncture. She trained in many modalities and has received certifications as a doula, shiatsu practitioner, yoga instructor, personal trainer, and in wilderness medicine, among others. She has worked in many diverse fields including as a mountain instructor, a Classical Five element acupuncturist, a freelance reporter, a commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered and an off-the-grid interior designer. She currently resides primarily in a yurt in Kelly, Wyoming.
Megan is the author of The Book of Help: A Memoir in Remedies where she shares personal recollections from her experiences with many different healing modalities, wellness techniques and spiritual practices. Visit www.MeganGriswold.com and www.LittleMovingSpaces.com for more information about her work. Follow her on social media on Instagram @MeganEatonGriswold, on Facebook @TheBookOfHelp and on Twitter @Megan_Griswold.
The following is a brief excerpt of our in-depth conversation. To find out more about community, acupuncture and alternative medicine, off-the-grid living, how to decide if a healing modality or practitioner is right for you, as well as Megan’s personal healing journey, listen to the entire interview at www.ConsciousCommunityMagazine.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. All 36 episodes of the Conscious Community Podcast are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Player.FM, YouTube and other popular podcatchers.
Janae: You describe your book as a memoir of remedies, would you like to elaborate on what that means to you?
Megan Griswold: Yeah. I had a rather unusual upbringing. My family was very immersed in “New Age stuff.” When I was born I was assigned a Christian Science practitioner; by age seven, I asked Santa for my first mantra for Christmas and got one; and by age 12, I was taking weekend workshops. So, I’ve done over 15,000 hours of spiritual and New Age practices organically—not as an experiment. Then I was married, my husband got arrested for soliciting a prostitute who was an undercover cop. That experience put enough pressure of a certain kind that I dove into what I knew to do when I was in pain or having a challenge. That was these alternative experiments. The book reads more like a novel; it starts on the night of his arrest. Every chapter kicks off with the name of that therapy, purpose, cost, equipment needed and humiliation factor (that is my favorite). The book mentions over 200 healing practices, and there are about 100 that provide the lens to tell the story.
Spencer: You mentioned the “humiliation factor.” Are you talking about opening up to your vulnerabilities?
MG: Yeah. I think in a lot of times, whether it’s in a group setting,