Inspiring Conversations with Maren Gauldin of Seeds to Wholeness

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maren Gauldin.

Hi Maren, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I have always had a way of being with people that felt like I could see through the surface into deeper meaning, as if I could peer behind the curtain and notice what wasn’t visible to everyone else. This drew me toward a hunger for truth and meaning wherever I went. In high school, I took on an independent study of world religions and found myself playing the role of counselor, guide, and confidant for friends. People called me an old soul, or said I seemed older than my years. I had the ability to speak truth with kindness, to challenge with compassion, and to walk alongside others in challenges of life. One of my closest childhood friends told me years later that I “mothered her more strongly than her own mother did.” From the start, there was something in me oriented toward the willingness to face whatever was in front of us with wisdom and presence – always holding the wholeness of life in view—the body, heart, soul, relationships, spirit, and the wider human experience.

At the core of my being and my work is an orientation to life as a transformational journey. I believe we are each here for the unfolding of the soul. Like an acorn that contains the full instructions for the oak tree, I see every person as already holding within them the magnificence of who they are meant to become. Our task is to listen to the messages and calls that guide us, and to fulfill our potential for growth.

This way of seeing has shaped my choices from the beginning. I graduated with a degree in sociology, a leadership certificate focused on social justice and community leadership, and a clear vision for a career in coaching and consulting. The sudden loss of my mother during my junior year cracked me open and set me on my own soul-recovery journey. The decade that followed was immersed in transformational education and rites of passage work. I led international trips, guided personal journeys, and devoted myself to study and practice. I attended powerful personal development and healing programs such as The School for The Work with Byron Katie and Vision Quests with the School of Lost Borders, and completed a certificate in the Life/Art Process through the Tamalpa Institute and training with the Ecology of Leadership. I sought out tools for working with life as I understood it: as a mythic journey where we grow through both darkness and light, expansion and contraction. These experiences deepened my own path and strengthened my ability to hold others in theirs.

Alongside this inner work, I cultivated a practical gift for organizational clarity. I was drawn into leadership roles in mission-driven spaces, where I brought structure and systems to organizations that were rooted in soul-centered work. Over time, I became known for this rare combination—someone who could hold the depths of human process while also designing strong, clear frameworks for organizations to thrive.

The next decade carried me further into organizational leadership. I worked in the tech sector, in higher education at an international graduate school, and at an international embodiment nonprofit. I also completed a coaching training, a yoga teacher training, an Enneagram certification, and a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership. Each role and educational opportunity gave me the chance to weave together organizational development with my soul-centered approach to growth and transformation. I considered ministry, but no religion could hold the breadth of my faith. I considered therapy, but my organizational mind made coaching a better fit. I also found meaningful work as both a birth doula and a death doula, bridging the sacred thresholds of life.

Eventually, the quiet call that had always been with me grew louder. Encouraged by people close to me, I left my full-time leadership roles and opened my own practice. It was time to share the essence of my gifts – transformational coaching, grounded in deep inner work and practical organizational wisdom – with a wider community.

Today my work lives at the intersection of personal and collective transformation. I offer one-on-one coaching, organizational development consulting, and team-building workshops with the wisdom of the Enneagram woven throughout my offerings. With two decades of experience in transformational and leadership spaces, I specialize in seeing beneath the surface and clearing the obstacles that keep people and organizations from realizing their full potential. As a mother of two and a partner of twelve years, I also bring a reverence for the ways our relationships and family systems shape our humanity.
At the heart of it all is this: I believe we are each unfolding into the truth and potential of who we are. My work is to listen, to witness, and to support that unfolding – whether in an individual, a couple, a team, or an organization – so that the full magnificence of the oak tree within can come to life.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest challenges for me have largely been internal. People have always seen me as a natural leader. I graduated at the top of my high school class and was voted “most likely to be president” my senior year of high school. At 14, I was already at the helm of a 150-person Girl Scout camp. My freshman year of college I was making friends with graduate students, organizing third-wave feminism events, and speaking at conferences. I’ve always carried a strong presence, and for as long as I can remember, people have remarked on my maturity, and my leadership.

Yet as an Enneagram Six, my core struggle has always been self-doubt. Even when I stepped into roles I was more than qualified for, I often wrestled inwardly with insecurity and self-doubt. Looking back, I can see how I longed for bigger challenges and more responsibility while at the same time holding myself back with inner hesitation. After college, remarkable opportunities were offered to me: a director role for a leadership program, an invitation to write a column for a Denver newspaper, even a consulting position with a firm. But I didn’t feel confident enough to say yes to any of them. In hindsight, I can see how much I needed the personal journey that unfolded instead, yet I also recognize how self-doubt shaped those early decisions and continued to shadow me in subtle ways over the years.

The loss of my mother when I was 21 was another defining obstacle – both heartbreaking and transformative. I found myself stepping into leadership within my family, supporting her through her transition, and even holding her in my lap as she took her final breath. That moment left me both unmoored and profoundly awakened. It launched me into a decade-long search, and while it was incredibly painful, it became one of my greatest teachers. Ten years later, I was also holding my grandmother’s hand as she took her final breath and ushering her transition out of this life. Through these experiences I came to understand that I carry a deep, almost innate relationship with the fullness of life and death.

That understanding has only deepened over time. I have doulaed friends through births and loss and I’ve come to see how my Enneagram type equips me to create contexts of safety, security, and holding of the wholeness of life that not everyone has access to. Holding people through life’s most vulnerable thresholds is an immense honor, and it is the essence of the container I create in my coaching work.

One of my current edges is learning to give voice to these subtle gifts – the wisdom that lives at the intersections of life, death, transformation, and spirit. They can be difficult to articulate, and I sometimes feel shy or self-conscious naming them clearly in my work or on my website. Beyond that, running a business in the modern world carries its own set of obstacles. Doing soulful, healing-centered work while navigating the structures of capitalism is a tension I live with every day.

Still, I have come to see all of this as part of the path. The Enneagram has been a profound guide for me in transforming my inner operating system, teaching me radical presence, self-love, and the capacity to live beyond the limitations of my type. And I believe that the entrepreneurial path itself is one of the deepest personal growth journeys a person can take. Each challenge has been its own curriculum, shaping me into who I am and refining the gifts I now offer to others.

We’ve been impressed with Seeds to Wholeness, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My practice is called Seeds to Wholeness. The name comes from a core belief I carry – that each of us has seeds within us, waiting to unfold into our wholeness and full potential. Through presence, listening, bravery, and healing, those seeds can grow into something magnificent.

I believe this same truth applies not only to individuals, but to organizations as well. That’s why my work brings together deep, personal and oftentimes spiritual transformational coaching with organizational leadership consulting – because both individuals and the systems they create have the potential to grow into their wholeness.

On the individual side, I offer one-on-one transformational coaching and spiritual advising, as well as Enneagram assessments and coaching for individuals and couples. On the organizational side, I work with small, purpose-driven businesses to support leadership, culture, and systems. My consulting blends Enneagram-based team building with executive coaching, helping leaders uncover the personal growth that always runs alongside business growth. I specialize in guiding people to clarify their vision, align with their integrity, and turn challenges into opportunities for expansion.

What sets me apart is the breadth of what I hold. I like to joke that I have both a master’s degree in organizational leadership and a self-directed master’s in personal and spiritual development. That combination of strategic clarity and soulful depth is really the heart of my brand. I work with individuals on their soul path, people who see life as an unfolding curriculum, and with business leaders who want their work to succeed in the modern world without compromising their values or integrity.

Almost all of my business has grown by word of mouth, which I feel deeply proud of. People who know me trust my capacity in both personal and organizational spaces, and every client so far has come through referrals. That speaks to the intimacy and safety of the work. In the past few years, I’ve walked alongside clients navigating some of life’s most intense challenges. These are the kinds of moments where transformation is both needed and possible, and I feel honored to be trusted in those depths.
What I want readers to know is simple: I’m here for people who are navigating thresholds, whether big or small, personal or professional, practical or spiritual. My work is about creating a safe, supportive and inspiring context where individuals and organizations can step into their fullest potential.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I am forever on the hunt for resourceful tools. Part of the magic of being human, to me, is our access to collective intelligence, the incredible body of wisdom that exists in the world if we’re willing to slow down and engage with it.

Some of the books that have influenced me most deeply include books by Byron Katie, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, Conscious Living by Gay Hendricks, and Atomic Habits by James Clear. Each of these has shaped my perspective in different ways, from practical habit-building to transformational ways of seeing and living.

Podcasts are also a big part of my life. I’m drawn to conversations about transformation, about finding deeper centers in challenging times, and about exploring spirit and meaning. I’m always open to what others send my way – if a friend thinks something will resonate with me, chances are it will. Recently, I’ve been inspired by podcasts featuring Alok, Michael Mead, and Liz Gilbert but I am always on the hunt!

For me, the resources that matter most are the ones that remind us of what’s possible: to live more consciously, to keep leaning into growth, and to stay connected to both the mystery and the practicality of being alive.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.seedstowholeness.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/seeds-to-wholeness-consulting/

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