May Reflection
When Love is Presence
Awakening means very little if we cannot stay present enough to live it
Hello Beautiful Community!!!
I don’t know about you all, but 2026 has moved incredibly fast.
At the same time, this year has invited me into deep reflection, unexpected slowing down, loss, and profound life shifts.
For the past several months, I was in Europe, my homeland, with my dad during the final chapter of his life. The experience was deeply tender and, in many ways, a profound gift. Not only to spend that time with him, but to witness something so human, vulnerable, and transformative unfold. What unfolded during that time deeply impacted me and clarified so much about our shared human experiences, embodiment, integration, and what truly matters.
Being close to death has a way of stripping away illusions and inviting us back into what is real.
It reminded me that love is not merely an idea or philosophy; it is a presence. A way of being with ourselves and with life.
I wrote a personal reflection about witnessing the softening that can happen near the end of life, and what it revealed to me about love, presence, vulnerability, and the essence of who we are beneath it all. (You can read the full reflection here)
This life experience deepened something I have long been feeling into through my work. I find myself returning again and again to the grounding presence of love. Not the soft or sentimental kind, but the steady, embodied love that helps guide us back to ourselves.
What deepened for me during this time was the understanding that love is presence. The willingness to stay open to our humanness with compassion, vulnerability, and care. Perhaps it is through this softening that the deeper love of the soul begins to emerge.
To soften enough to feel
To stay connected when life breaks our hearts open
To move slowly enough so our nervous system, body, and soul can come into deeper presence with what is unfolding.
We do not grow by bypassing our pain or transcending our humanity.
As I return more fully to my work, I do so with an even deeper devotion to slowing down, embodiment, integration, authenticity, and love.
What I feel more true today than ever before is that our deepest transformation is not always found in grand experiences, peak moments, or blissful states. Perhaps some of the deepest change happens quietly: through presence, compassion, vulnerability, and learning how to stay curiously open to life exactly as it is.
Thank you for your patience, your understanding, and your presence while I’ve been away.
I look forward to reconnecting, sharing, teaching, and continuing to walk this path alongside those who feel called to this work.
With love,
Michaela