Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan McFarland.
Hi Megan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in South Austin riding horses in the Texas Hill Country. When I was a teenager, I was a competitive horseback rider, worked at the barn, and was in great physical shape, but I started coming down with symptoms that would later be diagnosed as an autoimmune disease. I went through the struggle that most people do when they develop an autoimmune condition: I went to many doctors and specialists, spent a fair share of time in the ER, was medicated with harsh drugs for years, and couldn’t get a proper diagnosis or consistent relief from my symptoms. 2007, I moved to Brooklyn to pursue my fine arts degree at Pratt Institute. Living in the city, I didn’t have access to excellent healthcare, and as a college student, I was struggling financially. I used to like to visit this park in Brooklyn to sketch, and one day, while walking home, I noticed an acupuncture clinic on the block. My intuition told me to give it a try, even though I did not know about acupuncture or experience with holistic medicine at that point. My first treatment and the week after that was the first time I’d had relief from my symptoms in years. I also felt a lot more at peace and was less irritable. I think I was carrying a lot of anger over what I was experiencing and how conventional medical practitioners were treating me; even with just that one acupuncture appointment, I felt tremendous relief from all of this. I want to say I was hooked from then on, but I couldn’t afford regular treatment, and my insurance did not cover acupuncture. So, I went to a few more visits, was prescribed herbs, and unfortunately went back to struggling with my disease on my own. I remember that these were the early days of YouTube, and I would look up acupuncture videos from China on how to treat my symptoms. I tried to perform acupuncture on myself with sterilized sewing needles I had! (This was not successful or safe, and I do not suggest anyone try it). It was after this that I became hooked on herbal medicine and nutrition and started treating myself that way with varying success, following any information I could find in books or online.
I moved back to Austin in 2009 and finished my studies at Texas State University. I knew I wanted to be a holistic healthcare practitioner and started taking prerequisite classes to become a Naturopathic Doctor. Meanwhile, I started an organic micro-farm in Hyde Park and got into growing my food and herbs. I decided to stay in Austin and attend the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine’s Clinical Herbalist program, a 2-year program in Western Herbalism and holistic nutrition. During this time, I also founded Fallen Oak Mushrooms, a gourmet and medicinal mushroom farm, with my former partner. In 2015, we moved out to Wimberley and expanded the farm into a mid-size growing operation, where we operated until 2017.
During the years that we operated the farm, I still knew that holistic healthcare was my real calling. I taught herbal medicine and hosted native medicinal plant walks in Austin and Wimberley. I also had a small practice out of my house selling herbs and hosting wellness consultations for the rural Wimberley community. I wanted to do this full-time, but I knew I needed more education to make a real difference in the health of my clients.
So, partly due to the dissolving of my relationship with my then-partner, I sold the farm in 2018. I had a kismet opportunity to travel to China to study Chinese Medicine for 1-month and took it. This life-changing experience opened my eyes to how powerful acupuncture can be and solidified my decision to pursue it. At the end of that year, I moved to Santa Fe, NM, to pursue my 4-year master’s degree in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine at Southwest Acupuncture College. I lived there and attended school full-time while bartending and waiting tables until I graduated in 2022. This was a challenging program. I did not realize that acupuncture school would be akin to medical school, but we are required to learn Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine and spend over 1,000 hours in the clinic before we graduate. The great thing about acupuncture school was that I met some amazing professors who became mentors and friends.
I also was finally properly diagnosed with my autoimmune condition and was able to put it into remission through the acupuncture I received from some of my professors. My blood work has not shown any markers of my autoimmune condition since 2020, and I continue to treat myself regularly. After school, in 2022, I moved back to Austin, earned my Texas Medical Board license, and worked at 2 other acupuncture clinics. I knew that my dream was to own my clinic. Finally, in October 2023, I could lease a space in Southwest Austin and start Coyote Herbs and Acupuncture. My vision was for a peaceful, beautiful, fun clinic that felt inviting to everyone in the community. I wanted something nearby where I grew up to serve my network of friends and family here. Having struggled through health crises of my own, I wanted a space that would be a holistic health resource and a source of inspiration for other folks in the same boat. So far, the clinic has grown at a steady pace. I am about to reach the 3-month mark since our grand opening in October. It’s still a one-woman show for the most part, but Coyote is well on its way to becoming the vision I’ve worked towards for so many years.
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As you can tell from my story, the journey to opening Coyote Herbs and Acupuncture was a big challenge. I went to school for 11 years to become an acupuncturist and clinical herbalist. My mom is a self-employed architect, so I knew I wanted to be self-employed growing up. She made it look easy to have a successful career and time to raise a family. It is not as easy as it is for an entrepreneur. I have taken quite a few risks in starting business ventures of my own that have not panned out. In addition to Fallen Oak Mushrooms, I also operated a business installing kitchen gardens and doing residential landscaping. I’ve sold herbal teas and remedies. I’ve hosted retreats and classes on herbal medicine. Since I still have a studio art practice, I have also sold paintings, illustrations, and textile art.
All have been met with challenges, some success, some struggles, and I always had to have some extra employment through bartending, waiting tables, or landscaping to make it happen. The decision to sell the farm and go to acupuncture school alone was a considerable undertaking and sacrifice, and it required me to change my life completely. There were a lot of struggles initially in acupuncture school. The Covid pandemic happened halfway through my master’s degree, and I was trying to pay my living expenses on student loans and part-time work, so it was challenging to go to school full-time and earn enough money to get by. Then, when I got my degree, I realized that there were limited employment opportunities as an acupuncturist and that it took a lot of time and effort to find patients and build a reputation. However, I love what I do. I am a spiritual person, and when I decided to open Coyote, it felt like there was a higher power or fate on my side because everything just came together. Despite the challenges of making it to this point, opening the clinic itself was smooth. It has helped that I have an incredible community here in Austin who were there to help me realize this vision. I couldn’t have done this without all of their support and efforts.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Coyote Herbs and Acupuncture?
Coyote Herbs and Acupuncture is an acupuncture and herbal medicine clinic in Southwest Austin on Nutty Brown Road. Our motto is ‘Acupuncture is for Everybody’ because we believe that acupuncture and herbs are vital to a sustainable future where holistic medicine is widely accepted and available to everyone in the community. Megan McFarland, LAc, and I operate it. MAc. CHM. I am an acupuncturist and clinical herbalist who grew up in this town. My vision is that every person has an acupuncturist-herbalist on their healthcare team who can help them see the bigger picture of their health and work with them to achieve their health goals. The clinic is located in a small farmhouse next to a horse farm. The peaceful, beautiful location helps take our patients out of their routine and bring them into a safe space to relax and heal. We feature an apothecary of over 400 Chinese and Western herbs. Custom herbal formulations that consider the patient individually are made on-site. We work hard to ensure that our patients find relief and healing here and strive to be an inspiration for a lifestyle that incorporates beauty, sustainability, and peace.
Anything worth doing will have its challenges!
Pricing:
- Initial Exam: As state law requires, all patients must undergo an initial examination before treatment. This is a one-time fee of $45
- Acupuncture Treatments: $90
- Facial Rejuvenation Acupuncture: $180
- Herb and Nutrition Consultation alone: $90
- Custom herbal formulas typically cost about $30/week.
Contact Info:
- Website: CoyoteAcupuncture.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/coyote.herbs
- Facebook: Facebook.com/coyoteacupuncture
