Melissa Michaels

Melissa Michaels, Ed.D., guides individuals and communities through major life transitions. As a “soul midwife” and mentor to emerging leaders around the world, she has created Surfing The Creative, a rite of passage process that links somatics, youth development, and peace-building. Youth On Fire: Birthing A Generation of Embodied Global Leaders tells the story of this life-changing work as it has unfolded in diverse settings ranging from inner city schools to college campuses, and from refugee settlements to the United Nations.

Melissa is also the founder of Golden Bridge, a nonprofit organization dedicated to our collective renewal through the liberation of the creative Spirit. She is a first generation teacher of the 5Rhythms® and a registered Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist. Her doctorate in Education, Leadership, and Change is from The Fielding Graduate University. She also held a post-doctoral fellowship at Fielding’s Institute of Social Innovation.

Whether she is tending to individuals transitioning from one life cycle to another or to communities in the midst of major change, Melissa dedicates her life to dancing along life’s edges and guiding others as they do the same. Her forthcoming book, Threshold Dancing, will tell the story of how this body of work that she calls SomaSource weaves together the arts of body, heart, and soul to support the journey from birth through death and through the many mysterious, maddening, and miraculous adventures in between.