Michaela Baumgartner

I consider it an honor to assist others in their healing journey and to help them shine their light. That’s a life worth living. Nature has always been my refuge to heal from my own heartbreaks. I am deeply grateful for Mother Earth and her nurturing silence.

It all started when…

I lost my nineteen year-old brother in a tragic car accident. It was the greatest heartbreak for me at a young age and the peak of a series of losses which ultimately became the turning point of my life path. Within twelve months at age 28, no stone was left unturned: First my relationship ended, shortly later I was diagnosed with myocarditis, a dangerous inflammation of the heart (the savvy reader might feel that the two things were interconnected and yes, they were).

When I had finally recovered after three months of being sick, nothing in my rooted Austrian life made sense anymore. I quit my journalist career, one I’d tenaciously built since I was fifteen, in order to move to Canada for one year and to work at a guest ranch with twenty sled dogs.

There, I was sure I was now in my new, destined life and past all the difficulties. Unbeknownst, my most significant initiation was yet to come: While in Canada, thousands of miles away from home, I lost all my belongings in a van fire followed by my brother, my only sibling, dying.

Months after the funeral in Austria and feeling more dead than alive, I returned to Canada to complete the year abroad I’d originally set out to do. On this healing quest, I traveled 20,000 miles by road and by foot across the Canadian wilds to mend my broken heart and find some meaning in the rubble of despair.

I was out in nature every day, walking myself back home to myself and forward into my future. The silence of the wilderness and the sacred connections with wildlife started to heal me and make me feel whole again.

Being alone and quiet for vast times, I was available to listen deeper, like an open chalice to receive from the spirit world. It was then when my brother began to communicate with me and his undeniable presence beyond death was a truth I couldn’t unsee. First I thought it was all my imagination, but then I understood these words he spoke were not my words, not my thoughts, not the way I speak. His revelations, I learned, were not coming from my mind but indeed coming from him who was well and alive in a non-physical world. It shattered my beliefs about death and separation and birthed my own authentic spirituality.

I knew then as I traveled further north to the Yukon what I wanted to do with my life: My pain unearthed my true calling to becoming a healer. I ended up in Alaska where I was introduced to the global healing work of The Whirling Rainbow Foundation. After I had certified in the Australian Bowen Technique back home in Austria, I left for Alaska for good where I began to train in many healing modalities with White Eagle Medicine Woman and learn from indigenous Elders and western teachers from around the world.

More than 15 years and 10 countries later of assisting others as an International Healer and Teacher, I can look back at my most difficult times with gratitude. Because I have come to understand that our greatest heartbreaks can become the very doorway to our greatest dreams.

I would have never chosen this amazing life of being of service to others had it not been for my brother’s transition into the spirit world. I owe him my path. Through his death he gave me my life’s service.

Michaela Baumgartner, MA is a Certified Bowen Practitioner, Certified Master of Shamanic Arts and Certified CSM Practitioner. Born and raised in Austria, she has lived in Alaska for 15 years working since 2010 with the non-profit organization The Whirling Rainbow Foundation as Co-Director, Cultural & Healing Arts Teacher, Tour Manager & Program Coordinator. Touring in more than ten countries, Michaela is an initiate of ancient teachings and medicine bundles by indigenous Elders from around the world and has also studied with western wisdom keepers. These experiences with different cultural traditions define her work. Her lectures, workshops, retreats and healing sessions blend ancient wisdom with modern methods.

In 2013, Michaela was the Europe Peace Tour Manager leading reconciliation ceremonies for Israeli descendants of the Holocaust at Austrian concentration camps. She works with traditional ancestral healing methods to bring to light generational patterns. A teacher of the Native Style Flute and recording artist, her music can be found on the “Holy Ground” CD. She has also served as the organization’s Master Drum Maker crafting thousands of hand drums and crystal-inlaid community drums.

Michaela has pioneered the organization’s grief work with her "Loss 2 Love" Workshops, Lectures and Healing Sessions which all focus on empowering ways to build a new relationship with yourself and your loved ones. Since 2024, she has trained with Austria’s Top Medium Irene Gira-Marl and will graduate from this certified mediumship training in 2026 as a Psychic Medium to bridge communication between the physical and the spirit world. Her English memoir with the subtitle “Loss 2 Love” will be released soon to inspire others on their journey from loss to love. Michaela still travels for work, but now makes her home in Austria again.

Her first career was in journalism. She holds a Master in Literature and Communications from the University of Vienna and completed a post-graduate training at the Upper Austrian Journalist Academy. She has worked for radio and newspapers since she was fifteen and full-time in her twenties as a political journalist in Austria until she rerouted her life to becoming a healer in 2010. She has published her German thesis "Fulgura Frango. Thunderstorm Literature of the 1700’s" in Vienna and has self-published her German book "Rainbow Land”. Stay tuned for the coming release of her English memoir!

Her passion is to assist others in walking their own authentic path of healing, courage and empowerment. To schedule a healing session or to book Michaela for a workshop or public speaking, please email her at loss2love@gmail.com.