my approach

i work inside the gap between the gap™ — the quiet space where the nervous system settles, clarity returns, and embodied presence becomes possible.

about michelle

from performance and survival to embodied presence

for much of my life, my identity was defined by what i did and what i achieved — as a professional, a mother of twins who walked alongside them as they trained toward high-level junior competition, a yoga teacher, and a woman living inside a nervous system that never fully settled.

on the outside, it looked like strength. on the inside, my body carried generations of sudden abundance and sudden loss, coping patterns shaped over time, and nervous system-stress that was never given a path to fully reorganize and release.

years of committed sobriety, nervous-system work, and daily embodied practice slowly began to rewrite that imprint— not through force, but through presence.

lineage, devotion, and choice

i am the first in my lineage to choose a different path: sobriety. regulation. embodied presence.
lineage, for me, isn’t hierarchy — it’s devotion.
i honor what shaped me, and i translate what i’ve absorbed into something simple, practical, and safe for the body— a life where it is safe for the nervous system to settle, and where presence, not performance, sets the rhythm.

how this work was formed

receiving blessings from my living teacher in the yoga tradition, Gurudev Shri Amritji,
continues to shape how i listen —not only to the mind, but to the body and the nervous system.

years ago, my work in washington, dc was featured in hillrag magazine, where i was described as a feng shui “house whisperer” helping people restore coherence iin their physical environments. today, that same devotion lives in the spaces I help create between rider, horse, and breath.

if you’d like to read the original feature, you can find it here: "hillrag article "  

yoga, meditation, and breath-centered practice — rooted in lineage — became the way my system learned what real safety feels like. breath stopped being a technique and became a way of relating to life.

the gap between the gap™ 

the gap between the gap™ is the quiet space between thought and action, tension and release, pressure and response.
it's where physiology reorganizes, perception clears, and coherence becomes possible. 

as we drop into that gap, posture softens, perception clears, and the body begins to trust the moment again.

it’s the field horses live in naturally — exquisitely sensitive, sentient beings whose survival depends on feeling what’s real beneath the surface.

and it’s the field humans can return to — through breath, awareness, and nervous-system repair. 

my role inside this field is simple: to hold a steady, regulated presence where your nervous system has permission to soften, reorganize, and remember itself.

what i bring to this work

i come to this work as a former competitive athlete, a mother of twins who walked alongside high-level junior competitors, a long-time yoga and meditation practitioner, and a certified trauma-informed breathwork facilitator.

for over three decades, i’ve lived inside the practice of regulating my own nervous system — not perfectly, but persistently.

this means i don’t just teach techniques; i sit with the realities riders carry: pressure, expectation, past falls, performance culture, and the quiet ways trauma and stress live in the body long after an event has passed.

in sessions, i bring:

• a regulated, trauma-informed presence that lets your system exhale
• somatic breathwork rooted in neuroscience and lived experience
• an equestrian understanding of seat, rhythm, balance, and feel
• deep respect for the horse as a sentient partner already reading your internal state

my work is not about fixing what’s “wrong” with you.
it’s about helping your nervous system return to a rhythm your horse can trust — so performance, partnership, and presence can arise from the same coherent field.

a glimpse into my equestrian story

my love for horses began in the quiet corners of childhood, long before i understood how deeply they would shape me.

at fifteen, i rescued a retired thoroughbred named play-boy — a spirited racehorse destined for euthanasia. the moment our eyes met, something unmistakable passed between us. 

play-boy arrived with the racetrack still in his body — fast, fiery, difficult to contain. beneath that velocity lived a gentle soul yearning for trust.

over time, we built a bond rooted not in control, but in presence.

he taught me what no method ever could: that regulation is connection, presence is leadership, and healing moves in both directions — horse to human, human to horse.  

his legacy lives in my work today.

authority spine (this is the integration)
this work did not come from theory.
it came from lived reorganization.
i don't anticipate. i orient.
i don't perform presence — i hold it.

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