Michelle Ayn Tessensohn

Michelle Ayn Tessensohn is a healer, ritualist, and guide with over two decades of professional experience in healing arts. She weaves together animism and Eastern spirituality with Western psychology, offering a path of healing that is both rooted and transformative.

✳ How it all started.

In 1994, a profound spiritual initiation awakened Michelle to her life’s purpose to walk the path of healing—not only for others but as an ongoing journey of her own wholeness. She made the conscious decision to commit to her spiritual path and with reverence and dedication, sought out master teachers and sacred traditions, allowing each further initiation to deepen her capacity to hold space for others’ healing and awakening.

✳ The training.

Her formal training began in 1997 with a year-long immersion in yoga and meditation under the guidance of two yogis. This was followed by five years of study in Zen Shiatsu, culminating in a diploma from the Devon School of Shiatsu. Recognising the inseparable link between body, mind, and spirit, she pursued a BTEC Higher National Diploma in Counselling and a diploma in Psycho-Spiritual Counselling from the Sacred Space Institute in the UK.

Drawn deeper into the mysteries of ritual, she spent four years in South America working with sacred plant medicines and indigenous traditions, learning the language of the unseen with humility and devotion. As her spiritual understanding and healing work blossomed, she birthed her own modality, Shiatsu Healing, which she practised and taught for a decade.

Seeking to bridge ancient wisdom with modern life, she was certified as a life coach (2011) and master coach (2014) by Dr. Martha Beck. In 2014, she began guiding meditation circles, later completing the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification through UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center (2021). Her commitment to generational and trauma healing led her to train in Family Constellations and certify as an Ancestral Lineage Healing practitioner (2021) and NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) practitioner (2024).

✳ Where she is now.

Along with working one-to-one with clients, Michelle gives talks and classes in person and online. She also supports the personal and cultural transformation courses run by Ancestral Medicine and mentors trainee practitioners. She has been featured at the Heart, Mind, and Body Festival and interviewed by Connected Women, WKRZ 91.3, 93.8 Live, Razor TV, and Primetime Morning on Channel News Asia.

Her approach is diverse, trauma-sensitive, and inclusive.

✳ Something more personal.

Michelle is a fifth-generation Singaporean Eurasian and lives on the ancestral lands of the Orang Laut in Singapore.

Her ancestors are from Asia and Europe mainly, including India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Melanesia, England, Holland, Germany, and Ireland, to name a few.

To learn more about Michelle’s ancestral healing journey, you can read her chapter in the book Ancestral Wisdom: Sacred Stories of Contact, Healing, and Care, an anthology written by practitioners of Ancestral Lineage Healing. This book is distributed online at no cost to the reader through the support of Pressbooks and the Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center. You can also watch her YouTube interview on the podcast Sitting by the Fire: A podcast on ancestral wisdom, medicine, heritage and transformation by Anna Sólyom.

When she’s not working, Michelle enjoys getting outdoors for walks in thoughtful company, cooking, Korean dramas, watching films at the Projector and Latin dance. She is currently working on a memoir.


Find out more about working with Michelle

Featured

“I was feeling very stuck on an issue in my personal life that I’ve grappled for years to deal with. Michelle has a very calm presence, which put me at ease immediately. Her firm (but gentle) energy that told me she wasn’t going to let me just coast through the session without really digging deep and examining the underlying issues at hand. She means business and is committed to helping you work through whatever challenges you are facing while providing a safe and supportive environment in which to do it. It was an incredibly fruitful session that transformed the way I felt about the issue and equipped me with practical tools to deal with it. The benefits have continued well beyond our session. Thank you so much!”

XL, Singapore

“After working with you I have more trust in myself. You planted the seeds for bravery and a thirst for integrity. I learned about collaboration, accountability, how to trust in my abilities and the courage to try things out. You didn’t push any agenda on me and allowed whatever needed to come out to have its time to flow. And you didn’t make me dependent, you urged me to fly from the nest quickly! You are gentle, calm yet cognisant of the need for establishing boundaries, truly professional and also a wonderful speaker and group facilitator.”

Marixi Salud, Endorsed Mind Body Coach

“Thank you Michelle! You are a gift! I’m extremely grateful to have found you. Thank you for your love, compassion, empathy and for all that you’ve taught me and the great energy you always channel. I’m going to continue to do the work and hope to see you soon!”

Calina, Singapore

“What I like about you is your compassion and ability to relate. Your gentle guidance and honesty. You have helped me recognise my true virtue and the power within myself to live my mission. You guided me to tap into my own wisdom and helped me create a reservoir within to draw my own resources and work through my own challenges. Something within me has changed and evolved for the better, and you have a significant part to play in that metamorphosis.”

Sherlin Giri, Lecturer and Trainer

“I believe the advice and methods that Michelle showed to me was essential in helping me move closer to my dreams and I consistently refer to those skills I picked up from our sessions to help me live my life to my fullest potential.”

Camille Lim, Producer, Nissan Global Media Center

“I felt like I’d tried everything and although it had all helped a little bit, nothing had been the silver bullet I was hoping for – but working with you approached the same problems from a completely different angle.

Now I have a different perspective, clearer boundaries and more insight into what’s really going on with me. I feel much more hopeful and in control of how I feel. I’ve learnt to use some tools that I’ll be able to refer back to and use again whenever I need them in the future.”

Sophy Dale, Edinburgh

“Michelle is one truly amazing individual. She makes you feel right at home, safe and comfortable enough to open up and deal with your emotions and issues. Her positive energy and radiant smile shines throughout and makes you feel hopeful and optimistic for the future. Michelle has given me immense strength to start opening my heart to others and start trusting myself.”

Kephren Ayanari, Events Management Professional