Meet Lauren Koch | Integrative Wellbeing Practitioner and Creative

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lauren Koch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren, every day, we know how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
The roots of my work – herbalism, art, and music – go all the way back to my childhood. However, the elements of mindfulness and somatic movement did not become part of my practice until 2017. I was entering the second year of my grad studies as an interdisciplinary installation artist and meltworker when I was almost completely immobilized due to issues with scoliosis and hypermobility. I was also navigating undiagnosed neurodivergence and nervous system dysregulation in addition to histamine sensitivity. Yoga, breathwork, and mindfulness became my lifeline – not just tools for healing, but doorways back into my body.

During grad school, I realized integrating self-care was a necessary part of my creative practice – I actually needed to train like an athlete. Naturally, I wanted to help fellow artists and craftspeople prevent injury and burnout while working in the studio – so my demos started including helpful hints on posture and engaging proper muscle groups for the movements we were doing. That offering planted the foundation for what would become my integrative well-being approach: weaving movement, art, and nervous system support into accessible, cyclical based care.
The real spark for my business came in 2021. I graduated with my Masters of Fine Arts in May of 2020 – right in the heart of the COVID-19 lockdown. Social media was starting to become a powerful platform for destigmatizing conversations around neurodivergence, mental health, and invisible illness. That collective vulnerability helped me begin offering workshops that wove together creativity, mindfulness, and gentle movement as a form of care and reclamation for both myself and my community.

In 2023, I began vending regionally to boost local visibility of my business – that is where the herbal apothecary comes in. Previously, I had only made natural skincare and herbal teas for personal use; however, I quickly realized so many others were also looking for gentler, more holistic ways to care for themselves. That is how the teas, balms, oils, seasonal kits, and mindfulness tools went from being a way to cover my vending expenses to becoming the cornerstones of my business, Keeper of the Old Ways.

Equally important to me is integrating ancestral and folk practices—both for myself and those I work with. I believe we heal through remembering. We are not separate from the earth, and many of our ancestors lived in tune with the moon and seasons, moved in rhythm with the land, and found medicine in both ritual and community. These practices remind us that wellness is not something to be bought or perfected—it’s cyclical, imperfect, relational, and rooted in belonging.
Part of my work is about decolonizing wellness – unlearning rigid, commodified models of self-improvement and returning to intuitive, earth-honoring ways of care. It’s about reclaiming slowness, honoring grief and joy, and recognizing the sacred in everyday acts of creativity, rest, and connection.

Today, I offer a variety of workshops, regional pop-ups, integrative wellbeing sessions, and collaborative community art projects that help people come home to themselves—through creativity, through care, and through deep connection to the earth and one another.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
While my business grew from a desire to create healing experiences through ritual, movement, and herbal care, my art is the heart of how I process and transmute what I live through. It’s the thread that runs through every part of my life—from childhood to now—and the space where I allow myself the most freedom, mystery, and contradiction.
I create mixed-media works that are often multisensory and deeply intuitive. My art blends abstraction, found objects, sacred geometry, and ancestral symbolism—what I often describe as a blend of the subconscious and the sacred. I’m fascinated by residue: the way time, emotion, trauma, and memory leave their mark on our bodies, minds, and environments. I want to make those invisible experiences visible, tactile, and felt. Smell, sound, texture, and ritual are often woven into my creative process to help activate memory and emotion in a way that invites the viewer or participant into their own reflection.

Spiritually, my work draws heavily on animist and folk traditions. I identify as a hedge witch and eclectic animist, with practices rooted in Appalachian, Northern and Eastern European, and Latinx folk magic. Much of my work explores the space between—between worlds, between ancestors and the living, between the tangible and the mystical. I often say my work is about communing with ghosts, whether they’re literal or metaphorical: forgotten selves, ancestral wisdom, collective grief.

What sets my work apart is that it’s both deeply personal and meant to be communal. I’m not just creating art to hang on walls. I’m creating immersive experiences – both with my mixed media work but also through ritual workshops, community installations, interactive spaces – where people can feel something, name something, or remember something they didn’t know they had forgotten. I want my work to be a mirror, a container, and a doorway all at once.
Getting here wasn’t easy. I spent years navigating undiagnosed neurodivergence, chronic pain, and burnout in academic, institutional, and corporate spaces not built for brains and bodies like mine. I had to unlearn a lot of perfectionism and internalized ableism to embrace the kind of messiness and magic that makes my work what it is today. I had to slow down, listen to my body, and trust that the rhythms of the earth and my ancestors were just as valid as any external validation or capitalist metric of success.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that healing doesn’t look like a straight line—it looks like spirals, seasons, and cycles. And creativity is part of that healing. My art, music, and business all exist to remind people that they are inherently creative, inherently sacred, and deeply connected to something larger than themselves—whether that’s the land, the lineage, or their own inner voice.

If I want people to know one thing about my work, it’s this: your story matters. Your cycles matter. You are allowed to be messy, magical, nonlinear, and powerful all at once. Art is one way we remember who we are—and how we heal.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If you’re coming to visit me, get ready for a week full of art, nature, and amazing food! I’m based in Frederick, Maryland—about an hour from both Washington, DC and Baltimore—so it’s the perfect mix of small-town charm with easy access to bigger cities and nature escapes.

We’d start the trip with coffee at Dublin Roasters, one of my all-time favorite spots, then take a walk along Carroll Creek and through Baker Park to soak in the charm of downtown. From there, we’d explore the latest exhibitions at the Delaplaine Arts Center, grab lunch at one of my go-to local spots like Tsunami, Cacique, or Sumatra, and wander through art galleries and shops like Peridot and Soul Aura.

In the evenings, we’d check out Olde Mother Brewing for a local brew and catch dinner at 50/50 Burger. I also love Gravel & Grind for more coffee (because one cup a day just isn’t enough), and Juno Bakery for delicious boba and pastries.

For a nature day, we’d hike around Catoctin Furnace and Cunningham Falls State Park, then reward ourselves with farm-fresh ice cream from South Mountain Creamery.

If you’re staying a full week, I’d recommend skipping the typical tourist routes of Gettysburg, DC, and Baltimore (unless it’s your first visit—then absolutely do the museums and monuments). But for a more unique experience, I’d take you on a road trip to St. Michaels to visit the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, then continue on to Assateague Island to see the beach and wild horses—a magical way to end the week.

Whether we’re hiking in the woods, crafting in the studio, or exploring the historic streets of Frederick, there’s no shortage of inspiration, creativity, and community to soak up here.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I wouldn’t be anywhere without my community, mentors, and loved ones who have believed in me. They keep me grounded and remind me who I am when I forget.

Francesca Cervero has been my longterm yoga teacher and mentor – Stillness & Movement Studio.

Irene Glasse of Glasse Witch Cottage is my spiritual councelor and mentor as a traverse being a new(ish) clergy member within our community.

Catherine Barnstone Szafran is my best friend and the Executive Director of the Barnstone Studio.

Without these amazing ladies, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Website: www.laurengkoch.com / www.keeperoftheoldways.com

Instagram: @laurengkoch_creativewellness / @keeper.of.the.old.ways

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keeperoftheoldways

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KeeperOfTheOldWays

Other: Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/c/keeperoftheoldways

Image Credits
Head shot at creek – Amanda Lucia Photography
all the rest are my own photos