About Us

Our Philosophy

The Perennial Heart exists because Healing isn’t a destination. It’s a practice. A returning. A slow and steady coming back to yourself, again and again, through every season life brings.

We work with people who are tired of just surviving. Who know there’s more to life than white-knuckling through each day. Who are ready to do the deeper work, not just manage symptoms, but actually heal what’s underneath.

Our approach is rooted in neuroscience, somatic attachment therapy, and polyvagal theory. But it’s also rooted in something simpler: the belief that you already have everything you need to heal. You just need the right support to access it.

Trauma lives in the body, not just the mind. That’s why we work somatically, helping you reconnect with your nervous system rather than just analyzing your thoughts.

Healing happens in relationship. Whether that’s a relationship with a coach, a community, or most importantly, yourself, we don’t heal in isolation.

There’s no timeline for grief. We don’t rush you through your pain. We sit with you in it until you’re ready to move.

Self-compassion isn’t soft. It’s strength. Research shows that treating yourself with kindness is one of the most powerful tools for healing trauma and building resilience.

Your history shapes you, but it doesn’t have to define you. With the right tools and support, you can break patterns that have followed you for decades.

At The Perennial Heart, we blend:

• Neuroscience – Understanding how your brain and nervous system respond to stress, trauma, and healing
• Somatic Attachment Therapy – Working with the body to release what’s been stored there
• Polyvagal-Informed Practices – Helping you find safety in your own nervous system
• Inner Child Work – Reconnecting with and reparenting the younger parts of yourself
• Self-Compassion Training – Building a kinder, more supportive relationship with yourself
• Grief-Informed Support – Honoring loss as a natural part of the human experience

This isn’t about fast or easy “fixes”. It’s about lasting change. The kind that happens when you finally stop abandoning yourself and start showing up with presence and care.

This work is for you if:

• You’re carrying childhood wounds that still affect how you show up today
• You struggle with boundaries, people-pleasing, or chronic self-criticism
• You’ve experienced trauma and want to process it in a way that actually heals
• You’re navigating grief and need support that doesn’t rush you
• You feel disconnected from yourself and want to come back home
• You’re tired of surviving and ready to start thriving

If any of that resonates, you’re in the right place.

Perennial: lasting or existing for a long, or apparently infinite, time; enduring or continually recurring.

Everlasting. Enduring. Eternal.

The perennial is the one that persists. Regardless of how extreme the conditions, perennials have developed the ability to adapt and endure.

The perennial plant doesn’t bloom year-round. It retreats in autumn, goes quiet in winter, and rises again each spring from the same root system. Its strength lies underground, in what cannot be seen.

That’s the kind of healing we believe in. Not a performance of wellness, but a deep-rooted resilience that sustains you through every season. The hard ones and the beautiful ones. The ones where you bloom and the ones where you rest.

You are perennial. You have always been.

I’m Vanja, an experienced coach with a diverse background in sports coaching and human development – from leading a national team at the Olympics to guiding business leaders, families, and individuals through some of life’s most complex transitions. Alongside my formal education in sports coaching, I’m a certified neuroscience coach and hold certifications in Somatic Attachment Therapy and Polyvagal Safety, Connection, and Human Experience. My approach blends professional expertise with lived experience, emotional awareness, and trauma-informed sensitivity.

Over the past two decades, I’ve had the privilege of coaching and supporting people across three continents and more than 20 countries, working with individuals and communities from a wide range of cultural, social, and geographic backgrounds. This global experience has shaped my ability to connect with people whose stories, identities, and histories differ from my own, and taught me how to create spaces of safety, respect, and understanding no matter where someone comes from.

My work is grounded in both knowledge and lived experience. As a war survivor, I’ve witnessed firsthand the human spirit’s ability to adapt and heal. The sudden death of my mother, a complex second-trimester pregnancy loss, and the painful process of confronting betrayal trauma and family dysfunction have deepened my understanding of grief, trauma, identity, and relational healing. These experiences continue to shape the empathy, depth, and understanding I bring to my work today.

I’m Michelle, and my work centers on creating psychologically safe, emotionally intelligent workplaces where people can show up authentically and thrive. With a background in Marketing and Communications, certification in Organizational Culture Design, and training as a certified meditation teacher and Reiki Master (Levels I and II), I bring a unique blend of strategic insight and heart-centered practice to organizational transformation.

I’m passionate about bridging the gap between performance and presence, showing that emotional safety isn’t just good for people, it’s essential for sustainable success. My approach weaves together evidence-based organizational development with mindfulness and energetic awareness, helping leaders create cultures where people feel seen, valued, and inspired to contribute their best.

But my understanding of human connection, vulnerability, and resilience wasn’t born in boardrooms alone. It was forged in the vulnerable, messy places of my own life.

I’ve navigated pregnancy loss, experienced the profound grief of losing my almost 15-year-old dog who was family, walked through divorce, and rebuilt my life through complete transition. These experiences didn’t just deepen my compassion, they fundamentally changed how I see leadership, presence, and what it truly means to hold space for others.

I’m deeply engaged in inner work and mindfulness practice as lived practices, not just concepts. I understand what it’s like to lead while tending to your own heart, and this lived understanding informs everything I bring to my work.