You can Call me MMP

Hi! I’m Mary Michael - an Atlanta based Pilates and Yoga teacher, Theatre performer and director, and co-founder of the Bridge Arts Project. If my life has one connecting thread, it’s the thread of movement. Through it I have found expression, inspiration, and the potential for healing.  As a Broadway performer, I was constantly in a PT Office or Yoga studio trying desperately to keep my body intact and my mental health from all but deteriorating.  Pilates and somatic movement changed my life after a debilitating hip injury, and I knew I wanted to dedicate my time to practicing and teaching the work to as many people as I could.  I am inspired by many movement modalities, and find myself at the intersection of functional movement and deep relaxation techniques.  I am an intuitive teacher and know that every student has different needs, which is why I continue to return to this work every day. I am also an experienced and nuanced performer, specializing in story telling through song, and feel passionately about passing on the wisdom my teachers passed to me.

A brief history…I grew up in a small town west of Fort Worth, TX and learned my love for performance at the gem of a theatre-in-the-round, Casa Mañana. After high school, my journey took me to Ann Arbor, where I studied Musical Theatre at the University of Michigan. This was also the space I first became interested in practicing and teaching Yoga as it relates to the artist and performer, and began exploring directing for the first time. Post graduation, the logical next step for any budding Musical Theatre performer is New York City. I moved to Astoria, Queens in 2010 and immediately hit the ground running - auditioning, working multiple jobs, and living up my early twenties. My dream of performing on Broadway was realized quite quickly, and I spent the following decade working not only on Broadway, but also at esteemed Regional houses, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and on a First National Tour.

As anyone who has realized a dream can tell you, there is a natural period of disillusionment. I had pointed my entire life toward this hyper-specific goal, and when I attained it at the age of 22, I felt conflicted. On one hand, I was getting to do this thing that I had spent most of my life obsessing over with constant dance classes, voice lessons, school plays, choir competitions, etc. What a gift! And on the other, I felt like I had hit a wall. Was this the rest of my life? Was I allowed to keep growing and dreaming? After burning the candle at both ends for many years and developing an unhealthy relationship to work and perfectionism, I experienced profound and complete burn out. I was exhausted, unfulfilled, uninspired, and disconnected from myself. Official diagnosis - complete adrenal fatigue. I was over-caffeinated, over-worked, and chronically stressed. I felt ashamed to be realizing that my lifelong dream of starring in a Broadway show couldn’t make me happy or healthy - that needed to come from within. I fundamentally lacked the tools to care for my body and mind, and I grew resentful. I had no idea how to feel fulfilled or nourished in my own skin. Soon after, my father killed himself, and my life was turned on its head. My priorities changed drastically. No longer was the ambition of a career on Broadway the most important part of my life. Healing was the new dream. I knew that if I healed myself, I could help heal others, and suddenly nothing was more important. The path forward became clearer.

That catches you up to where I am today. I am doing my best in this bizarre time to be good to myself, good to family and friends, good to my community, and hope that in those seemingly small and insignificant acts, I can help heal the world.