Hello,
I'm Meg

Meghan Pappenheim, also known as Meg, is a mission-driven leader with 25 years’ experience as a social activist and entrepreneur. Endlessly creative and possessing a start-up mentality, Meg has spent many years mentoring others in creative and business endeavours and has programmed and presented at many international events throughout the years.

As the Co-Founder & Chief Manifestation Officer of The Yoga Barn and the BaliSpirit Group, Meg is focused on a purpose-driven approach to entrepreneurship. Meg’s purpose over the years has been to attract socially conscious, culturally sensitive and eco-aware travellers to Bali; helping to steer the island’s recovery from the devastation wrought by its several disasters over the years, and now, the pandemic.

A New Yorker by birth, Meg’s love for Balinese culture began when she came as a college student to study the island’s indigenous folk art. She fell in love with the island, its people and with her partner, the father of her two children, Dek Gun, making Bali her home for the past two + decades.

Cross-cultural relationships have always been profoundly important to Meg. As a teenager studying at the UN International School in NYC, she created her own little UN with friends from diverse socio-economic, religious and cultural backgrounds. This aspect of Meg’s personality has always been integral to her being and has inspired a major part of her various endeavours.

Originally Meg and Dek started off their partnership in 1995 working the field of arts & crafts. They assisted small cottage industries in villages throughout Bali, Central Sulawesi, Central Java & West Lombok in the areas of with creative design, manufacturing, production and export and implementing fair trade principles where ever possible.

After the collapse of the SE Asian handicraft industry, which coincided with the Asian Financial Crises, in the early 2000s, the partners opened www.kafe-bali.com, which has become one of Ubud’s most popular staple restaurants and in 2008, www.kebunbistro.com, Ubud’s favourite wine and tapas bar.  Meg has been the creative and operational director off and on for both restaurants over the years, while Dek has overseen the creation of an organic farm & retreat center, www.yogisgardenbali.com, located in Payangan, just outside of Ubud, which has become a major organic supplier for restaurants all over Ubud.

As a visionary businesswoman who is constantly innovating new product offerings, she foresaw the advent of Bali’s value as a global destination for wellness. She is now widely credited with kickstarting yoga tourism in Bali. Her online directory, www.balispirit.com, and her business activities to promote Bali as a yoga and wellness retreat, contribute to the agenda that fuel Bali’s relevance in the global map of wellness retreats.

The annual BaliSpirit Festival, going into its 14^th year of operation, is Meg’s effort to drive industry-disrupting change. This multi-cultural festival of yoga, dance, world music and holistic wellness dominates the international festival scene & yoga calendar.

Attracting thousands of dedicated participants from 60+ countries, it has inspired the creation of other transformational festivals in Hawaii, New Zealand and Byron Bay- Australia. Portugal Spirit Festival is another similar event co-founded by Meg in 2017.

The BaliSpirit Group and the festival also fund a number of on-going outreach projects that have a social impact on communities in Bali e.g. a bamboo reforestation program in East Bali, a multi-cultural music exchange program and an HIV/AIDS awareness program.

Meg fearlessly fosters a culture of integrity in her businesses. She has no patience for “guru” complexes that can afflict the yoga and healing community. Meg believes passionately that all companies, large or small, should include community development as an integral part of their mission.