An author, futurist, and mindfulness trainer based in Amsterdam, Maya Frost works with people facing climate anxiety, ecological grief, and what she calls despairalysis: that painful state in which awareness actually limits action. She shares the practice she built during lockdown, her belief that our value lies in our contributions, and what she tells anyone who hasn’t started.
Maya Frost was fifteen when she learned mindfulness. Early experiences of loss and grief had already pulled her toward psychology and the question of how awareness changes us, and the practice she found at fifteen saved her. She has spent the decades since handing that steadiness to other people.
She has lived in seven countries with her husband since 2005 and traveled slowly through many more. For fifteen years their four adult daughters were scattered across four continents. Recently the whole family decided to make big moves to be together, and they now live within easy walking distance of each other. Adaptation is not an abstraction in her life. It is how she and the people she loves have arranged themselves around the world.
Tell us about yourself and what you’re building.
Though raised in a tiny town in rural Oregon, I have always had a deep interest in exploring new places and dreamed of living abroad. I grew up and raised my own family in Oregon, but since 2005, my husband and I have lived in seven countries and traveled slowly through many more. For the past 15 years, our four adult daughters have been scattered across four continents. But recently, we all decided to make big moves to be together. We now live within easy walking distance of each other!
Because of my experiences with loss and grief starting very early in life, I have always been fascinated by psychology and how awareness changes us. I was fortunate to learn about mindfulness at 15. It saved me, and changed the course of my life.
My current work started during the pandemic while I spent a long, strict lockdown with my husband in Buenos Aires. I knew people were suffering in isolation, so I reached out to my nonprofit network and offered my help at no cost.
As I listened deeply to women who were devastated by the COVID-caused collapses in their own lives, I developed a unique and effective way to help those who are overwhelmed by our entangled crises. My current clients are experiencing climate anxiety, ecological grief, and what I call despairalysis: that painful state in which awareness actually limits action.
Through my private Collapse Companioning practice, I help leaders and creatives in over 20 countries rewild their imagination so they can move from paralysis to purposeful action. Rather than trying to “fix” people or convince them to be optimistic, I help them develop the clarity, creativity, and agency to build meaningful lives now despite uncertainty.
What’s a belief about success, work, or how women should be treated that you live by?
I believe that our value lies in our contributions rather than our qualifications.
In this time of acceleration, our credentials and status can be rendered meaningless overnight. What matters now is our ability to pay attention, adapt, and help others.
Right now, what the world urgently needs is not more women chasing achievement. Instead, we are being called to connect deeply with each other and use our experience, imagination, and voice to protect people, places, and all living things.
What’s one small thing you did in your business to bring more meaning or light into the work you do?
I offered to help women who were suffering alone with their COVID-related grief…and charged nothing.
When the pandemic started, I was living in a studio apartment in Buenos Aires with my husband during a very strict lockdown. I could not stop thinking about all the women who were losing partners, parents, and children, and grieving without support.
I reached out to my nonprofit network and asked, “Who is falling through the cracks? Who keeps you up at night because you know they need more help than you can offer?”
My first referral was a woman in Japan whose husband, a doctor, was one of the first in the country to die of COVID. She had to stay in a quarantine center for an entire month in total isolation. She longed to be surrounded by her loving friends. Through our work, she created a wonderful online course to help lonely people in Japan make friends in person. Over 50,000 students created new skills and friendships thanks to her decision to turn her grief into meaningful action.
My second client was a high school English teacher in the U.S. She was hospitalized for several weeks after a school shooting in her classroom that killed one student and injured several others. She longed to find a way to help her students and other school shooting survivors process their experience. Together, we designed a trauma-informed creative writing program. Her writing retreats have helped students, teachers, administrators, and parents heal through creative expression.
My simple offer to help changed everything for me and for over 200 women during the most devastating time of their lives. I continued this deeply fulfilling pro bono work for over two years, and it led to my current client work as well as opportunities to write, speak, and collaborate.
What would you tell the woman reading this who sees herself in your story but hasn’t started yet?
Don’t wait until you feel fearless or have all the answers.
Most meaningful work begins long before you feel ready. You don’t need perfect clarity, a flawless plan, or everyone’s approval. You only need enough courage to take the next step.
The world changes because ordinary people decide to act on what they care about, even while they’re still uncertain. Your experiences, including the painful ones, may become the very thing that allows others to find their own best way forward.
Maya’s LIFT Index Stage Is: Significance (Leopard)
This is the stage where you are living and working in full alignment with your purpose, leading in ways that are both impactful and energizing. You focus on expanding your influence, guiding others, and leaving a meaningful legacy. You carry responsibility with intention, mentoring the next generation and creating structures that allow your contributions to endure. Your goal is to elevate your impact while staying replenished, ensuring your unique gifts continue to inspire without draining your energy.
This is also an opportunity to step away from the path you’ve forged for others and into a new path for yourself.
Women of Élanoura features women who are leading with purpose, and finding ways to LIFT other women as they go.
Connect with Maya on LinkedIn and her website at equifruit.com, on Substack, and her media page.
