Though I have always dreamed big, I believed that my success is dependent on others. Everything has changed when I came to Israel for the first time. This country’s energy and diversity impressed me and changed my worldview. Now I know that dreams can become goals, and if I want to achieve something I have to believe in myself.

5 years later I live in Tal Aviv, the most energetic place in the world. I start my big project Move On Together Israeli Was, which promotes Israeli movement and dance culture. Its goal is to bring people together and fight prejudice using universal tools such as movement. I also start my job in a medical startup where I’ll work on improving the digital healthcare system.

I work hard and sometimes I’m overwhelmed but everyday I’m excited with my life and I go to sleep happy.

I believe that life is too short to spend on meaningless things. Live your life the way you want! “Haval Al Hazman”!

*Haval al haznam – (a waste of time), is used in Israeli slang to describe something so good/ delicious/ beautiful, you just have to experience it without hesitation.

For Scare Your Soul, I decided to step outside my comfort zone and do a photography boudoir shoot.

I would never in a million years do one but I entered a contest to be a pin up model for a local photographer that wanted to get real women to be models for their upcoming Chicago Pin Up magazine.  So I was chosen to be one of their pin up models.  This was exciting and terrifying at the same time. I felt honored that they chose me and scared that now I really had to do this photo shoot. There was no turning back and since I was their model, I had to do whatever they needed for the look they were going for.  I hate it when people take pictures of me, I have always been so self critical of all of my pictures done by photographers starting as young as grade school.  I always feel so vulnerable in front of a camera because I don’t know what the photographer sees, can they see all my flaws and insecurities?  Selfies never bothered me because I can control what I see but I can’t control what the photographer sees.  I always feel naked and exposed.

So this was my chance to overcome that fear and just dive into those insecurities that I feel about myself.

At first, I was so very nervous and crazy scared to do this photo shoot.  There were many times that I tried to talk myself out of it.  But I wanted to do this scare your soul challenge to prove to myself that I can do something scary and be a better person from the experience. And you know what… I felt like a bad ass, I felt bold and strong, and even though I am going to expose this picture to the world, it is ok because I know the picture will reflect the inner beauty and strength that I was feeling.

Michelle is a yoga teacher in Cleveland, Ohio with a passion and enthusiasm for mindfulness in all that we do. Michelle became a SYS Ambassador because she believes in the power of courageous acts to propel us forward in life. Her motto, “we learn, we do better,” inspires her to commit to a life of permanent expansion and that motto aligns full circle with the mission of SYS. Her advice when you are stuck, “Get your body moving – try something new – and the mind will follow.” Her favorite SYS moment to date was sky-diving.

Who am I?  In the words of the great Nisargadatta Maharaj, “I AM”….without any adjectives, without any finite labels or boundary edges. I am BEYOND THE LIMITATIONS OF MY BODY & MIND.

I AM LIMITLESS!

While I do have glimpses of this limitless experience, I often define myself by the limited labels life has given me or I’ve given to myself. First and foremost I’m a spiritual being having an earthly, human experience!

I’m a WOMAN, YOGA PRACTITIONER, YOGA TEACHER, ACTRESS, SINGER, HARMONIUM PLAYING FRIEND, ENTREPRENEURIAL WIFE, MOM, DAUGHTER, JUGGLER OF LIFE JUST LIKE YOU.

I’m a sugar addict in recovery who falls off the wagon often and who loves sautéd spinach & kale with garlic, olive oil & lemon!

I’m often found facing my fears by teaching yoga and leading the JIVASARA YOGA TEACHER TRAINING program that honors both the JIVAMUKTI & ANUSARA YOGA methods. I’m the creator of mantra mixed Indu Aromatherapy that was born out of my desire to heal anxiety, sadness & suffering. The newest thing “scaring my soul” is becoming a certified XCHANGE GUIDE.

Used for unlocking full potential in groups, XCHANGE is a scientifically based approach that employs the art of facilitating conversations with appreciative inquiry.

Let’s create psychological safety, so we can face our fears together and uncover who we really are which is limitless love itself!

Marnitask.com Indulotion.com

A few years ago, I made the courageous decision to pursue passions and interests regardless of what anyone thought.  This also meant I had to scrap my previous vision about how my life was going to turn out.

I realized that personal connection ignites the fire within my soul and brings purpose to my life. In addition, I found that throwing myself into new experiences brought me great joy. I was not born to simply move through the stages of life unaware and unmindful of all the small moments, the opportunities and the experiences life can offer.

A few years ago, I discovered Scare Your Soul and have been participating in many of their challenges and experiences since then. What do I find courageous? Showing up to something new (an event, a workout, a restaurant, a new destination) by myself. Although it can be uncomfortable at times, I’d rather go by myself and experience it than stay home and miss out.

Leah Willis, founder of Hueman Alternatives, offers workshops and mentoring encouraging empowerment, resilience and healing through ancestral practices.

She is a wise woman and matriarch sowing the seeds for a new epoch through her intuitive connection to plant spirits, the wisdom and guidance of nature and her ancestral lineage. Leah is a student and teacher of ancestral life ways, certified Shamanic Ecotherapy Guide through an apprenticeship with Elizabeth Meacham, PhD., a 200 hour registered yoga instructor through the Dawn M. Rivers School of Yoga, and a certified permaculture designer through Bret Joseph, president and director for Resilient Health Network, Inc. and director at Center for Ecological Culture, Inc. She has completed survival training, wilderness first aid and is an avid forager of mushrooms and wild edible and medicinal plants.

In June of 2019, Leah participated in a 6 day survival skills training. Of the 4 participants, she was the only person of color and the only woman. She was also the only one who stayed the entire 6 nights in the woods, built a shelter and slept on the ground. Leah learned to build a fire without matches, carve traps, navigate in the woods, filet a fish and survive with a knife, cordage, flint and steel. It was scary and empowering. Because of that experience, Leah became a certified yoga instructor, created Hueman Alternatives and became a shamanic ecotherapist. One act of bravery led to a new and exciting life and career.

I’ve always known I was bisexual. And in today’s day and age, it’s really no biggie. But for years I beat myself up about my orientation – and to this day I’ve only ever dated men.

My Scare Your Soul challenge was more internal.  It was to fully accept myself and to tell others – besides my super close friends. So I did – and as it turns out, there are so many other thirty-somethings, like me, that are just coming out as bi or figuring things out about themselves. I feel a sense of solidarity.  It’s important for me to be open now, regardless of whom I date or whom I’m attracted to (and even if I end up in a hetero-normative relationship) because I don’t want any future kids hating themselves or suffering internally, as I did.  If anything else, I’m saying what I’m saying so that my inner child knows she will always be loved. And in June 2022, at age 39, I finally told my parents. I was so fearful of what their reaction might be — would they look at me differently? Love me any less? My wonderful parents received me with unconditional love. 

I’ve also started to share more publicly about being HSV2 positive (genital herpes), which I got the night I lost my virginity in 2005. Navigating the dating world isn’t easy, period. But with an STD? It’s a Wild West out there. I take daily medication and haven’t had an outbreak in over a decade but I feel a sense of moral obligation to disclose my status to potential partners. To try something new — and really scare my soul — I include my STD status on my dating profiles and remove all emotion out of the disclosure. “Just telling you I have HSV2, I take daily meds, and it’s really not that big of a deal. Ask me anything!” I have fewer matches now but the ones I do get, I feel more empowered about.

I celebrated 15 years of being a booze-free babe in July of 2022 and choosing to embark on a path of sobriety was the most infinitely massive way of scaring my soul in 2007. It continues to be the best decision I ever made.

Instagram: @wearesober / @boozefreeindc / @zeroproofnation / @byvolumepodcast 

TikTok: @boozefreebabe

Websites: www.zeroproofnation.com / www.boozefreeindc.com / byvolume.buzzsprout.com