Natalie Herdoiza
PhD Env Ethics, MSc Biology, Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher.
My deepest passion is teaching people to cultivate the inner skills, strengths and qualities that help them to positively influence their lives, their teams, and their communities — for their own benefit and the benefit of the wider world.
Why I founded BeingIn
After more than a decade of study, training, and personal practice, I decided to develop an approach to translate scientific research and ethical insights into practical methods that can help us reduce suffering and truly flourish.
My work draws on my background as a scientist, environmental ethicist, and mindfulness teacher, as well as my personal experience in overcoming hardship and designing a more meaningful life for myself. I have used the practices and tools I teach to recover from severe anxiety, burnout, chronic pain, and illness, and to rekindle my own sense of purpose—and I have seen them do the same for many others.
Before dedicating myself fully to this work, I spent nearly a decade in academia researching and teaching biology, environmental ethics, and sustainable development. Parallel to this, I dedicated my time to training in different inner development practices and tools, including mindfulness meditation, self-compassion, mind-body recovery, positive neuroplasticity, and mindful leadership. Throughout these years, I also had the pleasure of working with people across diverse contexts, supporting them in both their personal and professional development.
Through BeingIn, I help people cultivate the skills to gradually awaken to different ways of being and the inner strengths to act on them, building a solid foundation for individual transformation and collective change.
In my work, I translate scientific research and ethical insights into practical methods to help us reduce suffering and truly flourish, together.
My Story
My interest in the science of well-being and inner development began more than a decade ago. It started during a chapter of my life when I was trying to advance my career and settle into a new country, all while dealing with chronic anxiety and the unresolved effects of trauma.
Eventually, my lifelong strategy of just 'pushing through' caught up with me. My health declined further, and I found myself dealing with severe burnout, chronic pain, an illness that significantly limited my daily life, and the sense of a deep loss of direction. Trying to keep going the way I always had only made things worse, so I was left with no choice but to find a completely different way to rebuild my strength, recover my health, and rekindle my sense of purpose.
That turning point is what led me to research the science of well-being. It began with meditation, which opened the door to studying neuroplasticity, self-compassion, mindful leadership, and mind-body healing techniques. Along the way, I worked with wonderful mentors who guided me and helped me cultivate the agency to truly own my choices and change my circumstances for the better.
As my health returned, I realized that these skills I was developing weren't just helping me feel better; they were fundamentally changing how I related to myself, others, and the world around me. Within a few years of recovering and gradually rebuilding my sense of purpose, I successfully defended my PhD thesis and went on to obtain certifications as a mindfulness meditation teacher and mindful leadership mentor.
The skills I used to change my circumstances for the better are skills you can learn too.
Going through my own process of personal development and recovery taught me something I consider the heart of my work today: our inner life is the foundation upon which genuine agency and wise, effective action are built. We can rely on this foundation to live and act from the very best of who we are, and when we do this work ourselves, we become more capable of supporting others in doing the same.
Based on my knowledge and experience, I decided to develop an approach not just for people navigating challenging times, but for anyone looking to cultivate greater agency, purpose and integrity, for themselves, for others, and for the living systems we are all part of.
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Positive Neuroplasticity Training, with Dr Rick Hanson (2026)
Freedom From Chronic Pain Practitioner Training, with Dr Howard Schubiner (2025)
PhD In Environmental Ethics, Utrecht University, Netherlands (2024)
Inner MBA Mindful Leadership Certification, Mindful NYU, (2022)
Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification, UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center (2021)
The Power of Awareness, with Tara Brach PhD & Jack Kornfield PhD (2019)
MSc. Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Netherlands (2016)
Diplomate on Youth and Societies in Latin America, FLACSO, Ecuador (2011)
BSc. Applied Ecology, USFQ, Ecuador (2009)
What I Believe
The resilience, purpose, and agency to navigate hard times and change our circumstances for the better are skills that can be trained. Building our inner foundation is one of the most impactful things any of us can do. For ourselves, for each other, and for our shared future.