All my life, I have felt a pulse in the world around me; in nature, horses, the hearts of humanity-and I knew it to be the truth. I suffered for some time with my sensitivities, wondering why others did not connect from their heart or feel as deeply as I did. I would often tell my mother that 'people were always lying' because I could feel what people were feeling, but weren't saying. This was my gift, and my pain until I learned how to work with it. It is what drove me to wanting to be with horses more than humans as a young girl. I could feel and relate deeply with them, and they became my heart and home. They were always whispering, to me. Horses live as truth. Horses are here now. They also call you to relate from an authentic space, your heart.

My understanding of horses has come from years of studying them in their natural environment. I began 'training' the troubled horses at my childhood barn at the age of 12 because I understood them, I let them show me their story, and learned to work with them. What followed was years of working with misunderstood horses. I became a voice for the horse. My Psychology, life coaching, and self awareness studies lead to me working more closely with the horses and their humans, and it lead to the birth of Medicine Horse Journeys in 2005 where I lead people on journeys into themselves with horses as their guide.

I have studied my own heart. Had the privilege to be in the presence of medicine people both in the US and Peru, studied with master guides, teachers, and my tireless mentor Frankie O who has since passed, who never let me lie to myself, or pretend I didn't have the answers within. He fought for me to see myself, and I carry his legacy within me.

If you can't feel it, you can't heal it was my mentors tag line, and it's true.

My commitment to the path of self awareness, and understanding, is my gift to others. The life challenges I have transformed into medicine, my offering. I have taken the path less traveled, I have faced hidden worlds, the art of feeling even when it's hard, fear, habitual patterns of behavior and how they inhibit us, and my own struggles with the light of truth being the balm to the illusions that bind us.

My offering to you is rooted in the understanding that you, have the answers that you seek.
My goal is to empower you to better see yourself, whether we are in a coaching relationship one on one, or with the horses. I hold space for you to glean the courage to face the feelings that are hard to face, but hold your freedom, and to create a compassionate container for self understanding, whether it is in the world of life or with yourself learning with horses, or your own horses.

Truth is the light that guides the way.

May we be courageous enough to look it in the eye and receive it's wondrous teaching.

​Come journey into the heart with myself and the horses. It is my joy to be your guide.
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Meet Michelle 

My journey of learning..

• University of Massachusetts Lowell:  Associates in Psychology & Philosophy 
• 2000 Usui Reiki Master Teacher (taught classes in Reiki for many years)
• 2000-2002 Apprenticeship with Cheryl Bourget in Source Healing & Coaching 
• 2003 Ann Drake Soul Work Year Long Apprenticeship in Shamanism & the Psyche
• 2004 Equine Inspired Learning with Nicole Birkholzer
•  Flower Essence Therapy Certification for horse and humans with Sonoran Arts, Sedona
• 2008 Palero Ayahuasca Shamanism Immersion with Blue Morpho, Peru
• 2012 Herbal Medicine for Women Course with Dr. Aviva Jill Romm 
• 2016 Authored Seven Sisters for Seven Days: The Mothers' Manual for Community Based Postpartum Care
• 2011-2018 Awareness Coaching Mentorship with Frankie O:  Awareness through Movement, Cortical Re-education
• 2016-2020 Numerous horsemanship clinics with clinician and horseman Buck Brannaman

I have studied with numerous lay teachers who are not necessarily listed here such as medicine people, a folk healer from the gila desert, all the horses I have worked with and met, meditation teachers, as well as formal trainings with teachers of Advaita Vedanta such as Adyashanti.  I have done silent retreats, wilderness retreats, camped in the wilderness for weeks at a time with my horse, and let life be the teacher-experience being the greatest teacher of all.  

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General Sherman largest living tree.

Medicine Horse Journey Workshop 2016

My horsemanship mentor, Buck Brannaman.

With the curandero who taught me about plants and plant spirit medicine in Peru 2008.