About Love Coach Mariya - Spoiler: It's actually about Love

Mariya Graestone

Author | Speaker | Coach

Austin, Texas, USA

You don’t have to sacrifice your compassion in order to become empowered and boundaried. Empower your compassion so it’s big enough for yourself as well as others, and your boundaries will become healthier than ever.

Love is unconditional. Relationships are not. That’s what boundaries are for.

Root your security within, so you can shift from push and pull to peace of mind.

Dappled sunlight in a room with a chair and a blanket

My Love Story

As a lifelong student of personal development, coaching became a natural expression of my passion. And when I discovered Relationship to be the most fertile ground for my deepest inner work, my specialty began to take shape.

The roots of it go back to the early stages of a budding romantic intrigue that quickly brought on a particularly familiar unpleasant realization: This person wasn’t going to meet my needs.

As it dawned on me that I had been here before – and on more than one occasion – I decided to try something different. When everything around me was urging me to leave, I cupped my ear to my heart, and I opted to lean in.

What I discovered through my triggers was an unfulfilling reliance on external validation for my sense of worth and acceptance, and the salvational ability to validate myself. From there, I embarked on a journey of self-love and acceptance that took me through 7 years of a relational crucible that purified my relationship with myself and clarified my relationship with boundaries.

In that process, I learned how to accept myself and others as we are, to stop trying to change anyone or even wish for either of us to step out of alignment, to change dynamics instead of people, to prioritize alignment over “togetherness”, and to provide my own approval and security.

Once I had determined that there was nothing I could do to MAKE our relationship functionally and mutually supportive, I single-handedly consciously uncoupled us over a year-long process that salvaged our friendship and allowed me to restore my authentic alignment with myself.

As it turns out – I am the love of my life – and from this awareness, I’m able to show up to Connection with a full and pure heart.

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My Background

My credentials aren’t the formal kind…

I completed a self-paced personal development course when I was about 10 years old, and later went on to devour several books on the subject, including “The Road Less Traveled”, by M. Scott Peck.

As I matured out of adolescence and pursued a variety of interests, I continually took notes on anything I came across that helped me better understand myself and flesh out a comprehensive worldview.

By my mid-twenties, with a general-purpose bachelor’s degree in business squared away, I began to compile all that I’d learned about being human and interbeing with others into a book, in the hopes that it might ease someone else’s journey.

After exploring a wide variety of professional exploits (including Travel Agent, Dog Trainer, and aspiring Hosteller), by my mid-thirties, I made my way to a coaching course (created by an ICF certified coach), and in 2015, I embarked upon my Path of Purpose, which eventually came to be clarified as Empowering Compassion.

Studies

In the following few years, I devoured several Mindvalley courses and webinars, completed Bob Proctor’s 24-week course, “Thinking Into Results”, studied Nonviolent Communication (I highly recommend the book on it by Marshall Rosenberg), practiced Authentic Relating and Circling, did an intensive Authentic Leadership and Facilitation Training, read countless articles and inspiring posts, as well as numerous books, and I’ve apprenticed with masters of spiritual energetics.

Some of the most influential books I’ve read include Ken Wilbur’s “Integral Life Practice”, Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” and “A New Earth”, Charles Eisenstein’s “The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible”, Pema Chodron’s “When Things Fall Apart“, and Michael A. Singer’s “The Untethered Soul”.

Through it all, my own personal development has perpetually evolved and become brilliantly refined. I have worked with a number of guides and a variety of modalities, incorporated what fit for me, discarded what didn’t, learned to hear my own inner guidance, and released the drive to “fix” myself and others. What I have now, I call my Peaceful Power Practice.

Contribution

Along my journey, I’ve discovered that I find the purest joy in connecting with other humans, and that I’m a naturally gifted teacher. I have a deep appreciation for the human experience, and I have found nothing more fulfilling than guiding others to the light within themselves.

Since authoring my first book the same year I launched my coaching practice in 2015, I turned one of my courses into a DIY workbook and published that in 2018. Then, in 2024, I completed a more comprehensive essay that advocates for self-love, empowered compassion, and healing into boundaries. It’s called, Becoming Secure in Love: From Push & Pull to Peace of Mind (and you can get it HERE).

Most recently, I published an article with Tiny Buddha about my personal journey of discovering boundaries, I’ve launched a podcast on the subject, I’m also working on yet another book (working title: The GATES Method for Developing Loving Boundaries), and I’m presently working towards delivering a TEDx Talk to spread my message of empowered compassion and healthy boundaries even further.

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In Humble Service

I don’t pretend to be an idealized human with all the answers. I do offer my authentic self, though, and a loving space for you to express your authentic self and to learn to bring it into your relationships and your whole life. If you would like to explore working together, please reach out.

If you require a guide who exudes certainty and authority and will tell you exactly what to do, then I am not for you. I AM NOT YOUR GURU. I am not your savior. I am a naturally humble, ever-learning supporter and lighthouse for fellow travelers on this journey of life, in service of Love.

Choosing a coach is a very personal matter. Find one (or more!) who resonates with you. Watch some of my videos to learn more about my approach. If you think I might be the one, let’s have a chat to be sure.

Please note: I’m not here to save you or fix you, and I only work with clients who exercise Personal Responsibility. I do respect wherever you’re at on your path, though, and when you’re ready, I’ll be here.

Namaste