Today we’d like to introduce you to Michele.
Hi Michele, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My childhood is extremely relevant to my story because it informed how my body shaped around the stories it holds, and how I learned to work with and relate to energy. Not to bring the vibe down but I grew up in a fear-based household where physical, emotional and mental abuse were present. As I grew up, those experiences informed how I showed up in the world, and the beliefs I held about myself. As time passed, I found myself in a life that didn’t feel like me; unable to find healthy romantic relationships, working a job I didn’t like but felt I had no way out of, family dynamics and friendships that asked me to dim my light. I had a huge awakening moment, my mirror was through, yet another emotionally unavailable boyfriend and I finally decided, enough was enough I need something to change. It was then and there I decided I needed to heal myself if I wanted different outcomes in my life. I created a podcast called “Deeply Rooted Magic” that was dedicated to trying different healing modalities and speaking on the experience and then I would conduct an interview with the healer. And seeing how my life would change through the work I was exploring. Things improved but it didn’t fully have the answers.
Eventually my body started doing the talking, I developed lower back pain around age 30-31 which was a pivotal moment in my journey. That was around the time I realized emotions were held in the body. Being a seeker, I deep dove into everything related to holding trauma in the body, and eventually stumbled on Neo Emotional Release, and I knew I wanted to learn everything about what they were doing. So, I took a trust fall and signed up for their practitioner training. I dedicated 6 months of my life, plus a 10 day in-person retreat, to learning all the ways the body holds trauma. But what I found while I was there was, I was numb to my physical experience, I couldn’t process emotions like others could and I intuitively felt, I needed to work with my nervous system first and foremost. I stumbled upon Neuro-Somatic Intelligence, where I studied and trained under the guidance of Elizabeth and Jennifer (both Austin based!) and slowly, my emotions started coming back online.
I ended up pairing both modalities to work with clients of my own because I felt they were the perfect marriage. My business grew overnight and I had more clients than I knew how to hold (while still working a full-time job.) My body started hurting more and I developed chronic fatigue which resulted in me dissolving my healing practice. I also realized that I spent all my free-time caring for and being with others, and yet, I didn’t realize know myself or what I wanted out of life. I started turning inward to discover who I am when I am not focusing on trauma, healing, or others. And to me this was the biggest pivot I’ve had in my entire journey. I didn’t realize how outward-focused i was, until I had this a-ha moment, which was through how much energy I was constantly depleting because I didn’t know how to pour into myself. And this leads me to exactly where I am today.
I am someone that no longer wants to pour into others from lack and depletion of energy. I am someone that has learned (and is still learning) how to fill myself first and create an overflow of energy. And what I am doing at this moment in time is conducting The Energy Experiment. I am taking to Youtube and Substack to document what happens to your life when your energy becomes your purpose, instead of using your energy for jobs, relationships etc, that don’t actually feel good to you or produce more energy, things that take more than they give. What happens when you no longer use your energy for survival, and instead, for thriving? And for the first time in my life, I feel ready to leave my full-time job and pursue myself. So far, a month into this experiment, aligned opportunities have started to arrive at my doorstep, both monetary and visibility exchanges. And I wake up with full energy in my body, I’m rarely tired, and I have more energy to give to living life instead of numbing myself out from it.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This has not been a smooth road, rewarding yes, but not smooth. I live by trial and error. Somethings work, some don’t. The hardest parts I face are losing people from my life that aren’t down for the version of me that doesn’t tolerate mediocre behavior or breadcrumbs. The loss is painful, re-negotiating dynamics is extremely difficult and nuanced. But I am incredibly happy with the life that I’ve built and the strength I’ve acquired along the way. The grace and compassion I’ve grown for myself (and others.) But absolutely re-negotiating relationships might be the most difficult part about the experience because when you decide certain behaviors are no longer working for you, people feel disoriented and don’t understand how to relate to you anymore and arguments may be had, because relationships have a hard time letting go of the parts of you that once served them. As an aside, we can’t control how others treat us, we can only control how we respond to them and how much we pour into them. And that is really what we are changing, not watering dynamics that are dimming your soul. It’s also pretty painful to experience consciously how you may have settled for minimal effort relationships because of how little your worth may have been. That part always turns the water works on for me. And something people don’t talk about is, initially when you start freeing your energy from these experiences, you tend to become very sensitive initially, it’s your body finally processing the pent up energy and pressure inside your body. I’m in the stage where after I do a somatic workout, I tend to spontaneously cry without any awareness of why. It just happens and I ride with it and let it move.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
At this point, I am known for content creation and long-form essays via substack. My writing is where I pour out my heart and my soul though. It is where I send transmissions to others as a sort of soul moving prayer for those that may need to hear the message.
The focus of my content is about what happens when you start choosing what has energy for you, over survival. I also touch on what it looks like to energetically upgrade your body. How to let go of the pain and tension and allow the emotions to flow. I share the messy and the vulnerable and what it is like to truly feel and be alive, not numbing our pain, not living to appease others, just living to enjoy my life and letting emotions move through me. I don’t position myself as an expert, which is maybe why others find it appealing. I am just a human learning how to be human and live fully alive.
Although on occasion I still do Neo emotional release work if it feels aligned, I have a relationship with a high-performance coach here in Austin and I typically get asked to facilitate work at his retreat. But I’m always open to this work as long as my body is primed and ready and working from overflow.
What does success mean to you?
For me, I define success as how much available energy you have to actually create AND enjoy your life. Because what are we living for if not for creating a life full of fun, adventure, love, excitement? So many of us (myself included) get stuck in ruts; living life on routine and auto-pilot; doing the same thing day in and day out. Working jobs because we need money, but that don’t particularly inspire us. We may not have any available free time, and if we do, we numb ourselves out through social media and binge watching Netflix. But for me, the benchmark to success is to have the freedom to follow what lights me up at any given moment without squeezing my energy inside spaces that are dimming my zest for life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.michelebolona.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelebolona
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@michelebolona?si=mpGYhov-0D4I8uv6
- Other: https://michelebolona.substack.com/
