About Meredith
Meredith Heller is a poet, author, singer/songwriter, nature lover, and educator. Join her for a poetry workshop and express the wild beauty of your heart.
My passion is empowering women to believe in themselves, trust their creative instincts, cultivate their curiosity, tap their wild wisdom, speak their truth, and ignite their hearts.
My Story
My healing journey led me to weave together my passion for poetic writing, holistic healing, and embodied learning. I have degrees in writing and education from Naropa, Goddard, and Johns Hopkins. Every experience in my life, from the painful to the glorious is the soulfood by which I learn and grow, trust and open. Having navigated my own darkness, through trauma, depression, and insomnia, I return bringing courage, wisdom, craft, and playfulness to guide others home, to live inspired, vital, and true to their hearts.
I was born in Brooklyn, NY and grew up along the Potomac River in Maryland, near Washington, DC. As a child I immersed myself in music, dance, theater, and literature, finding freedom through creative expression. But in adolescence my life took a significant turn. Disenchanted with society and in search of a deeper truth, I left home and school at age 13 and raised myself. I lived in domes I built in the woods, old barns, and abandoned houses where I learned to live by my own rhythms and resources. I found belonging in nature. It was during these years that I began writing the poems and songs that saved my life.
I had a thriving practice in massage therapy and spinal-cord injury rehabilitation for 27 years. I retired my hands in 2011. In 2012, I opened music & movement studios for children and seniors. I’ve been a wilderness guide, gardener, and performing singer-songwriter. I’ve coached guitar, voice, and songwriting. I helped run the farm at Esalen in Big Sur, CA. And I was the caretaker at Whale Song, a retreat center on the Big Island of Hawaii, where we swam with the wild spinner dolphins.
A poet in the schools since 1996, first in Boulder, CO and then in Marin County, CA, I lead workshops at public & private schools, juvenile detention centers, women’s prisons, the Institute for Poetic Medicine, the Kennedy Center for the Arts, National Association of Poetry Therapy, creativity summits, wellness retreats, and online.
My writing appears in numerous literary collections including HerStories, Rebelle Society, We’Moon, Raw Earth Ink, Sad Girls Club Lit, Quiet Lightning, Tiny Seed, Aquarian, Avocet, Common Ground, Tiny House, American Songwriter, Creation and the Cosmos, Women’s Names and the Stories They Tell, and Aphrodisiac.
I am the author of Writing By Heart, Write a Poem, Save Your Life, and three poetry collections, Songlines, River Spells, and Yuba Witch, and the upcoming Caterpillar Girl (May 2025).
Happiest in nature, I spent fifteen summers solo-backpacking & vision questing. I now hike the trails daily and live with a gentle footprint in Northern California. Summers you’ll find me camping and writing beside rivers and oceans. In nature, I find my rhythm and connection to source, and I glean the metaphors that help me navigate this “wild and precious life.”
I hope you’ll join me for a workshop
& express the wild beauty of your heart.
Every experience in my life, from the painful to the glorious is the soulfood by which I learn and grow, trust and open. I have navigated my own darkness and returned with courage, wisdom, and playfulness to share.