Meet Charleen M. Michel, Ph.D., author, Vedic educator, and meditation teacher living in Switzerland. In The Wellness Universe Guide to Complete Self-Care: 25 Tools for Navigating Loss, Grief & Transition, Charleen shares how loss and change can invite us to reconnect with ourselves. Through her story and the Silent Awakening of the Heart Meditation, she offers a gentle invitation to pause, listen inwardly, and rediscover self-trust.
The Wellness Universe (WU): Hello Charleen, please tell us about yourself and what inspired you to write your chapter in the book The Wellness Universe Guide to Complete Self-Care: 25 Tools for Navigating Loss, Grief & Transition.
Charleen M. Michel (CM): Much of my life has been shaped by learning, leadership, and a desire to understand. My path has taken me from science into corporate leadership and, eventually, into writing, meditation, and sharing the wisdom we discover through lived experience.
Along the way, I have known the satisfaction of achievement and the quieter questions that arise when life changes. Beneath our responsibilities, relationships, and accomplishments, we may begin to wonder: Who am I now? What do I need? What matters to me in this season of life?
My chapter grew from my own journey through loss, change, and transformation. I wanted to share how those experiences can bring us into a different relationship with ourselves.
Loss can leave us feeling unfamiliar to ourselves. We may grieve a person, a relationship, a role, or a future we imagined. Finding our way forward takes time, and sometimes what we need first is a little space to acknowledge what we feel.
For me, meditation offers that space. It allows me to pause, soften my need to find answers immediately, and listen more closely to the wisdom within. That is what I wanted to offer readers: a gentle way to return to themselves, even while life remains uncertain.
WU: What tool do you share in this book, and what can we expect to experience as a result of using this tool?
CM: I share the Silent Awakening of the Heart Meditation, an invitation to turn inward with kindness and make room for what is present.
When we are navigating loss or transition, our minds can become busy with questions, memories, and concerns about the future. A quiet pause gives us an opportunity to notice how we are feeling without having to resolve everything at once.
The words that guide my practice are:
I open my heart.
I listen to my soul.
I trust the wisdom within.
These words remind me to approach myself with openness and to give my own experience time and attention.
Each person’s experience will be different. You may notice a moment of ease, greater awareness of what you need, or simply the comfort of sitting quietly with yourself. Thoughts may continue to arise. There is no need to judge your meditation by how silent your mind becomes.
I also offer Silent Awakening: A Personalized Mantra Meditation Experience for people who would like individual guidance in developing a practice. Rooted in Primordial Sound Meditation, this experience includes receiving a mantra selected using your birth information and learning how to use it gently in silent meditation.
My hope is that the practice becomes a supportive part of everyday life—a place you can return to when you need a pause.
WU: What does “a silent awakening of the heart to lead you home” mean to you?
CM: Coming home means recognizing myself beneath the roles I fulfil and the expectations I carry. It means making choices with more awareness of what feels meaningful and true for me.
I often notice that connection in ordinary moments: walking beside the lake, enjoying the fragrance of a rose in my garden, or having an honest conversation with a friend. When I give those moments my attention, something becomes clearer.
I call these moments Soul Notes: small pieces of lived wisdom that help me remember what matters.
Silence gives me room to hear them. Sometimes the insight is that I need rest. Sometimes it is that I am ready to speak, ask for support, or take a step I have been postponing.
That is the awakening I hope to share. We can honour what we have lost while gradually becoming curious about what is alive within us now. We can move at our own pace and learn to trust ourselves again.
A Soul Note: Give yourself a quiet moment. You may hear something within you that deserves your attention.
To begin your journey with Charleen, book your Silent Awakening of the Heart Meditation experience.
Connect with Charleen M. Michel on The Wellness Universe. Follow Charleen M. Michel on LinkedIn and Facebook.
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