Hidden Gems: Meet Megan Bakva of Megan Bakva | Somatic Therapist, Mindfulness Guide, & Writer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Bakva

Megan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story begins as far back as I can remember: as a little girl often told she was “too sensitive.” Though it would be years before I recognized it, my sensitivity and the deep, sometimes lonely path it led me down, was actually the initiation to my work as a writer, meditation guide, and somatic therapist specializing in trauma work with highly-sensitive (HSP), neurodivergent, and perfectionistic people.

As a child, I felt different from my peers and hardly ever felt soothed or supported by the adults around me. The onus was placed on me to change: to take up less space, feel less and eventually expect less from the world around me. Art and creative expression became the only spaces where I felt safe to be authentically myself. Because writing and reading were such lifelines, I thought I’d pursue a degree in journalism. Instead, I ended up studying psychology at University of California, Santa Barbara. My coursework emphasized neuroscience, positive psychology and wellness, sexual and reproductive health, philosophy, and religious studies (like Buddhism). Alongside academics, my time at UCSB was an invitation to blossom and become a more authentic, colorful, connected human than I had been in my environment of origin.

Post-graduation, I returned to my hometown of Los Angeles to integrate my creative passion with my bachelor’s framework creating and producing concepts for brands focused on wellness and social impact. During this time, my sensitivity was again challenged through personal and professional dynamics that impacted my wellness. As a high-achieving people pleaser, I was outwardly successful but internally on the verge of a complete burnout.

I once again turned to creativity and deepened into spirituality to support my soul, enhance embodiment, and establish sovereignty. While working full-time in marketing, I completed over 300 hours of yoga teacher training including vinyasa, hatha, nidra, kids yoga, and reiki. I immersed myself in therapeutic and transformational literature, art, practices, and spaces, eventually coming home to myself and the gift of my sensitivity.

Ultimately, in 2020, I enrolled in University of Southern California’s Master of Social Work program with the vision of becoming a therapist. I focused my graduate work on inclusive and affirmative care for LGBTQ+ and at-risk youth. I participated in advancing access to mental health during the pandemic, serving as a teen wellness coach and coach supervisor at a start-up translating evidence-based interventions to the digital space.

Now, I’m a therapist in private practice on track to earn my license in 2025. Individuals and couples navigating the impact of trauma, life transitions, and the ebbs and flows of being a human have found my soulful, yet direct therapeutic style to be supportive. I fill my time outside of session much like I did in my younger years: writing, reading, creating and experiencing beauty. I publish a monthly article on my substack (https://meganbakva.substack.com/), meditations on Insight Timer (https://insig.ht/TnW9yavoDLb?utm_source=copy_link&utm_medium=content), and pursue continued education in neuroscientific, yogic, and somatic based modalities in hopes of best supporting my clients and those who may be feeling deeply on a lonely path.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
With the benefit of hindsight, I see that all the struggles I’ve faced along the way were truly necessary gifts that led me to where I am today. Enduring them, though, was never easy. My path has not been smooth nor linear.

In my experience, the work of the highly-sensitive person is to reach bravely within the deep well of human experience: to see the unseen, feel the unfelt, and express the unexpressed for the individual and for the collective. We often do the charged work of disrupting the status quo and shaking up systems that no longer serve the evolution of humanity. Along the way, we can certainly take on some darkness or feel the jagged edges of the puzzles we’ve outgrown or within which we never fit at all.

At times, highly-sensitive people may get lost in the stimuli of the world. We may take to heart the assimilating forces around us and lose connection to our power or our voice. At many points throughout my journey, I stifled my sensitivity out of a desire for more ease in my life and my relationships. I internalized the voices around me and lost touch with myself. Through my own healing work – mindfulness, movement, therapy – I began to reclaim my power and my voice.

I had to shed many layers of myself and grieve many lives I thought I’d have in order to become the person I am today, supporting others through their own initiations. I honor the cycles of death and rebirth and consider myself profoundly lucky to have endured and keep enduring my own challenges so that I can authentically support others.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My therapy practice is a collaborative, soulful, and sacred place for individuals and couples who are ready to do deep healing work. I approach each client with reverence for the strength and wisdom that exists within their mind, body, and soul. I consider myself a conduit for this strength and wisdom to be accessed, so that each session feels like an unearthing of truth that catalyzes sustainable transformation.

My lens is relational and intersubjective: I believe that healing happens relationally, in spaces where we experience safety in attachment, and that the therapeutic relationship is mutually affecting space where client and clinician are equally moved by and entangled with one another. It’s a profound privilege to be moved by and entangled with the unfolding story of each individual or couple I serve as a therapist. Whether it be for just one session, one year, or longer, I’m deeply awed at being entrusted with caring for the tender, vulnerable parts my clients bring forward.

I integrate a variety of therapeutic modalities including evidence-based interventions like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) as well as depth frameworks, somatic techniques, and philosophies from Eastern traditions. No two sessions are alike because each client is unique and every day is different.

I conduct sessions both virtually and in-person with offices close to the warm, salty air of the Santa Monica-Venice area. I offer a free mini-session, a 15 minute video or phone call, where potential clients can get a sense of my style and my approach before committing to a session. Those interested in my approach can also read my written work on my substack or be guided through meditations on the Insight Timer app. I offer workshops on special topics, such as my recent Rekindling: Inner Child Immersion (meganbakva.com/inner-child), which are announced on my website (meganbakva.com).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://meganbakva.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/meganbakva
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/megan-bakva-los-angeles-6
• Other: https://meganbakva.substack.com/

Image Credits
Jacqueline Smyth