Michelle Paisley

Early life

Michelle Paisley was born in Seattle, Washington on August 11, 1968. She attended high school in Fairfield, California (northeast of San Francisco). Paisley graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from California State University, Sacramento.

Career

After graduating from college in 1994, she worked as a reporter and features editor for the Benicia Herald and Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, CA. The next phase in her career was spent as a Director of a non-profit enrichment program for children, then as a program director for the Richmond YMCA and finally Renaissance ClubSport in Walnut Creek.

In 2002, Paisley earned a Registered Yoga Teacher (500 hours) certification from Yoga Alliance and launched her own yoga studio in Suisun City called Yoga Junction which then relocated to Green Valley. It was during this stage in 2005-2006 when she wrote her first book after sending dozens of query letters. The relationship with Findhorn Press began, and in 2007, the book was published.

In 2008, she was forced to change directions, so Paisley obtained certifications as a Massage Therapist, Cranial Sacral Therapist, Bowen Therapist, Hypnotherapist and also studied E.F.T.

In-between appointments at a job where she was working in 2009-2010, she wrote All in Her Head, section at a time, until it was complete and ready to send to a publisher. Through what she describes as a synchronistic Google event, she entered into an agreement with Strategic Book Group, the only publisher she contacted, all within one week.

She has since owned another studio providing massage and yoga instruction, become a Reiki Master Therapist (Third Degree) and conducted a limited number of seminars entitled “Journey to Self-Love”.

Near Death Experience

At the age of 22, Paisley had a severe allergic reaction to a medication she was given and ”flatlined” for several minutes. After this Near Death Experience, she threw herself into the study and practice of yoga, hypnotherapy and meditation searching for some answers to the experience she had been through.

After the publication of All in Her Head, she studied and learned a great deal about her own life from P.M.H. Atwater’s 2011 book, Near-Death Experiences, The Rest of the Story.

Some of the motivation and themes in Paisley’s novel were born from this life-changing ordeal.

All Over It (2012)

eBook ASIN B006T2EBMQ

Bridget Holiday believed she had it ALL; she had reached her goal weight (for about five minutes), found the love of her life (who, after three years, still hadn’t proposed), and her life’s purpose as a writer and manager of the healing arts center gifted by her deceased mentor, Rosalina.

Still, she wasn’t happy. In fact, she was broke and miserable. Again.

With her aging parents ill, Bridget is forced to delve into deep emotions that she thought she was done with. As she learns to excavate her past once more, she remembers the eternal nature of spirit and her joy’s resilience.

All in Her Head (2011)

Paperback ISBN 978-1-60976-409-8, eBook ISBN 978-1-4524-3424-7, eBook ASIN B0058TTW0M

All in Her Head takes us on an enlightened journey into one woman's psyche. Bridget Holiday is a 41-year-old freelance writer who is obsessed with her weight. In this mind-expanding novel, she meets a beginning hypnotherapist who wants to help her confront her demons.

Instead, Bridget regresses back to a time before her birth, when she is still in spirit form. Seeking help from her yoga teacher, Bridget is guided through this new astral world, where she meets up with her dead boyfriend. When faced with her own life-or-death crisis, Bridget realizes that her only hope for salvation is to embrace the life she is now living.

All in Her Head is all about learning to love your inner self. If you are able to do that, you may open yourself up to connect with your soul mate and with your dreams.

Yoga for a Broken Heart: A Spiritual Guide to Healing from Break-up, Loss, Death or Divorce (2007)

Published in English (ISBN 9781844091140), Translated into German (ISBN 9783035030396) and Italian (ISBN 9788834426203)

Featuring yoga as a curative path for the hurt caused by the loss of a partner either through death, separation, or divorce, this guidebook uses meditation and poses to help during or during this painful and difficult period. By focusing on the emotional stages of separation and articulating how to move from the first to the last, the healing energies in this book—from gentle warm-up poses through more active asanas to final relaxation and meditation—offer positive therapy to anyone who is or has been involved in this painful situation. The personal stories in the first part of the book provide comfort and a sense of community.

Upcoming Projects

Paisley is in the editing stage for a forthcoming third novel, entitled All She's Got, adapting it for film, as well as crafting an original screenplay.

She is a featured collaborator/speaker in the upcoming international film and television project, "The Difference."