Wide Open Heart Project

09/09/2026

Wildfires 🔥
Waves 🌊
Wishes 🕊️

….. and a Wide Open Heart ♥️

Reflecting tonight on a retreat filled with wonder, connection and beauty. Thank you God for this opportunity to serve others on their journeys to their own wild and wide open hearts
💕💕💕💕💕







More to come…. 🌀

08/26/2026

💚Preparing for the Wide Open Heart Experience💚

As I prepare for next week, I keep thinking about the word retreat. Somehow, it doesn’t quite feel big enough.

Yes, we are stepping away from our everyday lives for a few days. We are traveling to a beautiful place. We will hike, gather around tables, sit in circles, journal, laugh, breathe deeply, and spend time beside the ocean and redwood trees. But what I am preparing for feels less like a retreat and more like an experience.

A Wide Open Heart Experience.

Over these past weeks, I’ve found myself thinking less about schedules and itineraries and more about how I want these days to feel for the women who are traveling over 2000 miles to be with us 💚

Spacious.
Unhurried.
Meaningful.
Joyful.
Connected.
Alive.

As is often the case when we make plans that involve the natural world, Mother Nature has reminded me who is really in charge. I have been watching the Timber Fire in Big Sur closely, holding concern for the land, praying for the wildlife, the firefighters and everyone who has been affected. I am deeply grateful that, at this point, the fire will not impact our adventure.

But it has also been another lesson for me around surrender and allowing what “is” to “be.”

I can make the plans. I can create the itinerary. I can organize the details and imagine how each day might unfold. And then I have to loosen my grip and remember that I am bringing this experience into a landscape that has its own rhythms, its own wisdom and its own plans.

Mother Nature is in control. And I am surrendering to that.

Perhaps that is part of the Wide Open Heart experience, too.

08/10/2026

Whatever “it” is….

Send it love
Send it healing
Send it peace

Send it forgiveness
Send it compassion
Send it understanding

Send it love
Send it growth
Send it openness

Whatever “it” needs

Send it love
Send it harmony
Send it vision

My message today…..

I’m sending love 🕊️🤍

08/03/2026

Registration is officially closed for our September Hearts in the Parks retreat along California's Central Coast and Big Sur. 💛

My heart is overflowing with gratitude. Thank you to everyone who said yes to this journey, and to everyone who supports the Wide Open Heart Project.

Your love, encouragement, and belief in me and this work has been a constant source of strength. Thank you for walking this path with me.

To those joining us in September... I can't wait to share this awe-inspiring landscape and heart-healing time with each of you.

With gratitude,
Michele 🤍🌿

07/30/2026

06/24/2026

California Central Coast and Big Sur
Wide Open Heart Retreat 💚💚💚
September 2–6, 2026.

Nestled between rugged cliffs, sweeping coastlines, and ancient forests, this immersive multi-day retreat will provide a rare opportunity to deepen your heart journey in one of the world’s most soulful landscapes.

✨Hearts in the Parks✨
Wide Open Heart Project – Fall Retreat
September 2–6, 2026

California’s Central Coast & Big Sur 🌊

This fall, step out of the noise of everyday life and into a landscape that invites you to soften, listen, and reconnect.

The Wide Open Heart Project’s 2026 retreat gathers spiritual seekers and openhearted women for five transformative days along California’s Central Coast—culminating in an unforgettable experience surrounded by the cliffs, forests, and the wild ocean of Big Sur.

Why Join Us?
This retreat is a place to remember who you are when the world quiets down. Through guided practices, mindful exploration, and supportive community, you’ll reconnect with your inner wisdom and open your heart to deeper clarity, compassion, and courage.

What to Expect:

Daily heart-opening practices including meditation, breathwork, shinrin-yoku (forest bathing), gentle movement, and reflective journaling.

Transformational workshops designed to help you release old patterns, realign with your values, and cultivate emotional freedom.

Immersion in nature with guided walks along scenic iconic Highway 1's natural environments, including Montana de Oro State Park, Harmony Headlands, Moonstone Beach, Cambria and Big Sur vistas.

We will experience grounding moments in redwood groves, sweeping ocean landscapes and have time to simply be with the land.

Nourishing meals crafted with intention to support wellness, energy, and presence.

A conscious, caring community of individuals committed to living fully, authentically and heart-centered.

Accommodations at Cambria Pines Lodge, nestled within the magical landscape of California's Central Coast. www.cambriapineslodge.com

The Setting: Where Land Meets Soul
California’s Central Coast and Big Sur offer a rare meeting of raw natural beauty and profound stillness. Towering cliffs, the crash of the Pacific, golden hills, and ancient redwoods create a backdrop that naturally opens the heart and resets the nervous system. There is something here that awakens you—an invitation to breathe deeper, slow down, and see life with new eyes.

Who This Retreat Is For:
If you are longing for renewal…
If you feel called to explore your heart and its inner workings....
If you feel on the verge of a new chapter…
If you want to reconnect to joy, purpose, or inner strength…
If you want to experience the awe and wonder of our natural world...
If you simply need space to feel again…

This retreat is designed for you.

Come Home to Yourself- "YOU ARE HERE"
By the end of our time together, you’ll return to your life with grounded perspective, a sense of emotional spaciousness, and a renewed commitment to living with a wide-open heart.

Spaces are limited to 8 attendees.
Give yourself the gift of deep restoration, honest reflection, and a powerful reset in one of the most breathtaking places on earth.

Option 1: Retreat Cost: $1750 for overnight queen double accommodations, breakfast, lunch, snacks, instruction, guidance and teaching materials.

Option 2: Retreat Cost: $960 for instruction, guidance and teaching materials, plus lunch and snacks. Accommodations on your own.

**Please note flights, rental vehicles and dinners not included. Group dinners will be at local restaurants.

Non-refundable deposit of $395 to secure registration. Deadline is July 1st to register ✨♥️

THANK YOU!

To get to Cambria, California, most travelers fly into a nearby airport and then rent a car for the scenic drive to this charming Central Coast town off Highway 1/US-101: the closest commercial airport is San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport (SBP), about 33–39 miles south of Cambria with a roughly 45–60 minute drive north to Cambria on Highway 101/1, making it the most convenient option. Other regional airports include Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX) (~70 miles, ~1.5 hr drive) and Monterey Regional Airport (MRY) (~140 miles, ~2.5–3 hr drive). If you’re coming from larger hubs for more flight options, drives are longer: San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Cambria is about 3.5 hours southwest, and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Cambria is about 3.5–4 hours north by car.

https://square.link/u/8nbbeqQK

06/19/2026

✨BEYOND THE SELF-IMPROVEMENT LOOP✨

What if the journey you’ve been on is leading somewhere deeper?

Many of us spend years exploring personal growth, healing, spirituality, self-discovery, and emotional well-being.

Along the way we learn, heal, grow, and uncover new parts of ourselves. This work can be profoundly meaningful and transformative.
Yet at some point, many sincere seekers begin to wonder:

Is there ever a place where I can simply rest?
Beyond the next insight. Beyond the next breakthrough. Beyond the next thing to heal, fix, improve, or understand.
What if the deepest peace is not found by becoming someone different, but by discovering a new relationship with who you already are?

Join guest facilitator Stephen Ladd for two evenings of reflection, discussion, and inquiry exploring the possibility that the path of growth and healing may naturally open into something even deeper: freedom from the constant pressure to become.

Event will be held over two evenings, Wednesday, July 22 from 6:30-8 p.m. and Wednesday, July 29 from 6:30-8 p.m at the Wide Open Heart Studio, 1449 Arlington Avenue, Marble Cliff, Ohio 43212

Link in bio to register ✨

06/11/2026

Friends 💚 my email has been hacked. Do not open any attachments from me! Sorry for the trouble and inconvenience!!
~Michele

06/08/2026

Dear Friends and Supporters of the Wide Open Heart Project,

As summer unfolds around us, I find myself reflecting on what it truly means to live from an open heart. For many years, I believed that healing was something we pursued—a destination we worked toward. What I have come to understand is that healing is not separate from our daily lives. It is the work we are living. It is found in the conversations we are brave enough to have, the boundaries we are willing to honor, the love we extend to ourselves, and the courage it takes to show up authentically.

The Wide Open Heart Project continues to remind me that transformation happens not in grand moments alone, but in the small choices we make every day to remain connected to ourselves and one another. This summer, I invite you to reflect on your own journey. Where is your heart asking you to grow? What truth is asking to be spoken? What part of your life is ready to be lived more fully?

Perhaps this is what a Summer of Love truly asks of us—not simply to feel love, but to live it. To speak it. To embody it. To allow it to transform the way we move through the world and the way we show up for ourselves and one another.

Because in the end, the work we are living becomes the life we are creating. And as part of the heart-work I have been living, I am excited to announce a collaboration with my mentor and friend, Stephen Ladd.

UPCOMING WORKSHOP WITH STEPHEN LADD
A Conversation with Stephen Ladd- Beyond the Self-Improvement Loop

Wednesday, July 22, 2026 6:30-8 p.m.
Wednesday, July 29, 2026 6:30-8 p.m.

Wide Open Heart Studio
1449 Arlington Avenue
Marble Cliff, Ohio 43212
Stephen's work invites us to examine the emotional patterns, limiting beliefs, and internal barriers that keep us disconnected from our truth. Together, we will explore the powerful relationship between self-awareness, personal freedom, and authentic expression.
To register: square.link/u/hfEMDK6e

HEARTS IN THE PARKS WOMEN'S RETREAT
California's Central Coast & Big Sur

September 2–6, 2026
Cambria Pines Lodge
cambriapineslodge.com (http://www.cambriapineslodge.com)

One of the greatest gifts we can offer ourselves is the opportunity to pause and listen. This September, we will gather along California's breathtaking Central Coast and Big Sur for five days of connection, adventure, reflection, and renewal.

Together we will explore scenic coastal trails, share women's circles, practice meditation, enjoy meaningful conversation, and create space to reconnect with the wisdom of the heart. Whether you are seeking inspiration, community, healing, or simply time to breathe, this retreat offers a beautiful opportunity to step away from your daily demands and remember what matters most. Only a few spaces remain available, and I would be honored to share this experience with you.

For retreat information and registration:
wideopenheartproject.com (http://www.wideopenheartproject.com)

REFLECTIONS FROM THE HEART

The Six Inches Between the Heart and the Voice

The throat chakra and the heart chakra…the intersection between two of our most valuable resources: our truth and our authenticity.

I measured the distance between my throat and my heart and it’s about six inches. On most days, the distance between my voice and my heart might as well be a thousand miles. Why is it so hard to speak what we really feel? So close in proximity, yet so far away in reality.

Allowing the voice to open the heart requires courage. It makes us feel vulnerable and exposed. Speaking our truth can feel scary and uncomfortable. What is held in the container of your heart’s voice? Can you speak freely about your heart’s desire? What needs to be said? What needs to reach the voice and be set free into the air?

Today, reflect on ways to speak your heart’s truth. It could be through journaling, taking a walk in nature, stopping to talk to your favorite tree, or having an open and honest conversation with someone you trust. Find a way to release what is being held captive on the bridge between your voice and your heart.

I believe love will find a way to bridge all obstacles.

With gratitude and love,
Michele
Founder, Wide Open Heart Project