Meet
Michelle Blasen
Performance Life Coach
Body | Mind | Bodhi
Michelle is a certified health and life coach through The Health Coach Institute, currently finishing her B.S. in sports psychology at Grand Canyon University, Advanced Nutrition Coach, certified Sports Psychology Coach, NASM personal trainer, Equinox trained Tier 3 coach and 200-hour RYT yoga instructor. Michelle has worked with and been mentored by some of the top business, money mindset, energy medicine, and NLP coaches, as well as sports psychology coaches in professional basketball.
Michelle has been coaching since 2014 and specializes in working with college and professional athletes, coaches, and founders in the healthcare and entertainment industry. The A3 system that Michelle created focuses not only on performance but mental, emotional, spiritual, energy, and financial health. In 2022, Michelle and her team successfully acquired 3 accreditations, including the International Coaching Federation, for their life coaching certification program that combines sport psychology and life coaching.
Michelle with long-term client, professional tennis player Catherine Harrison
Why the A3 Way...
Michelle lives and works by the belief of ultimately allowing your heart to lead and practicing the art of surrender. She inspires clients to face all of themselves so that they can remember who they truly are again and the many purposes they have. When one knows how to surrender and take aligned action from their heart, it allows one to step into their souls calling(s) and create the impact and legacy they desire.
Her mission in all that she does is to guide individuals in realizing that they are not defined by their genetics, traumas, titles, or past. That they are powerful and have the ability to become all they are meant to. Her empathy, relatability, & and experience allow clients to feel safe in uncovering their traumas and subconscious belief systems that not only inhibit their performance but no longer align with who they are becoming. She believes that the journey to one’s highest self doesn't have to be alone or lead to burnout. The core of her coaching is guiding clients to realize that one’s purpose is much greater than any title and that the platforms one achieves are just the beginning of being able to create greater impact. As Joe Dispenza says, ‘The brain thinks but, the heart knows’, serves as a reminder that if one is willing to open their heart it will guide them in asc3nding to their highest potential...which is what life is all about.
Michelle's Story
Michelle grew up in the small town of Albany, Oregon. From the day she could walk, she was with a ball running, kicking, or shooting. She grew up playing soccer, basketball, and gymnastics but soccer became her ultimate love. At the mere age of 6, she remembers wanting to be a professional soccer player. From there, her years will filled with playing competitive club soccer year-round with the goal of one day becoming professional.
Over the years, she progressed greatly in soccer but not without challenges. Throughout her childhood and teen years, she endured several injuries, depression, bullying, and traumas. By the time she was 16, she had to quit club soccer due to finances and issues going on at home, decided to graduate early from high school, and moved to Santa Barbara.
She planned to play at SBCC, work towards a 4-year scholarship, and go professional. That dream ended up being cut short a few months before her 18th birthday and official college tryouts. Michelle suffered a complete tear in her ACL, MCL, and meniscus. Within those few minutes, Michelle felt the immense pain of realizing everything she knew and her worth being stripped away. Little did she know, from here it would be a 13+ year journey of deep inner work before she started to understand who she was.
For the next few years, Michelle went through severe anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. She sought relief through partying which left her more empty each time. It wasn't until multiple run-ins with the law and a DUI charge at 19 that she was left with two choices: either continue down this path or slowly start facing all that she had suppressed.
So began her 11-year journey of navigating multiple careers, homelessness, facing her traumas, and major identity shifts. Identity shift #1 at 21 was releasing the 'athlete' title. Identity shift #2 at 31 was releasing her worth and attachment from a 7-year co-dependent relationship, removing birth control, and healing her hormones. It was these years and inner work that laid the foundation for her to develop A3 for what it is today and to go through her 3rd and hardest identity shift at 32.
After creating A3 and obtaining accreditations for her Life Coaching Program, she realized she had yet again attached her identity to performance and the external. She was called to step back from her business and go into a 2-years journey of getting to her core, releasing all attachments to everything worldly, and coming to peace within her body. Through 3 plant-medicine sits, several guides, coaches, and different therapies, Michelle was able to finally heal from a dysregulated nervous system and fully be in and feel her body. For the first time, she finally learned to rest and embody the concept of 'being'. It was in those 2 years of resting, integrating, learning her body, going through body changes, and re-learning who she was that led her to step into her authentic self. She started coming back to A3 in November 2023 but in a completely new way and with new intentions.
It was a rebirth and with that rebirth came to realize to trailblaze a new way of training in sports, she must show up each day vulnerably, and authentically and speak her truth. In her 3rd identity shift, she realized that many athletes and high-functioning individuals are some of the most physically abled people, but most are not in their bodies. She realized she had to go to the depths of facing her disconnection with her body to realize this was the missing piece. It's not enough anymore to just train the mind and body: we must also learn to be in our bodies. Being in the body allows us to release, heal, and come to who we are and embody who we are. We can't outthink or outtrain a dysregulated nervous system, not for long. If we want to step into our potential sustainably and consistently, we must see, feel, and respect our bodies in a completely different way. We must open our minds, and hearts, and be willing to embrace all of who we are.
Some of Michelle's Work
Pause is Power Panel: Powerade
August 2022:
Michelle had the unique opportunity to present to a group of 40+ marketing executives at Ogilvy. A team at Ogilvy was looking to understand the mental health side of sports to better develop a campaign called 'Pause is Power' for Powerade. She created a PowerPoint presentation that detailed her story of mental health challenges, what she sees in the industry, and how she helps clients with these challenges.
Leadership Retreat for Happy Haven LLC
November 2022:
Michelle was asked to fly to Maine to lead an in-person retreat for her client Amanda's leadership team at Happy Haven. She had the honor to lead 30+ individuals in a day full of learning intentions, organizational values, behaviors behind those values, team building, trust, communication, health and self-care, and mental health. She developed a 5-page packet for each individual, organized the flow of the 5-hour event, and team activities. It was a day filled with reflection, bonding, many laughs, and dancing!
