Interview: Michelle Nielsen

From her book Manifesting Matisse—A Practical System for Reality Creation: “Manifestation is an art—a creative process motivated by inspiration and carried out with a group of learned skills. Master Manifestors have the ability to usher their dreams out of the realms of possibility and into the realm of probability until they manifest in reality.”

The thing that really woke me up to manifesting was when my mom took us on a Silva Ultramind course when I was about 13. This [dynamic meditation] system was very popular back then and taught you ways to develop your brain and harness creative visualisation to achieve your goals. My mom was a single working mom, so we didn’t have a lot of money. So if I wanted something, I was always able to find ways to make it happen.

To be a master of life, you need to be a master of mind, body and spirit in equal measure. Everything’s connected.

In the space of a year, I manifested the most important vision I have ever conceived: my son [Matisse]’s healing.

Today’s society values science, technology, information and money; we are getting so far removed from our spiritual selves. I don’t like the term ‘guru’—I prefer to think of myself as a coach; someone who is waking up something you already have inside of you. Nothing I say in the book is new, but what I have done is systemised [the art of manifestation] into a step-by-step procedure.

I fell in love with Barcelona when I came as a tourist 12 years ago. I just thought I would like to live in a beautiful, exotic Mediterranean city and learn a new language. I didn’t think I was still going to be here 12 years later.

I’ve been quite shocked at the response [to the book] from people here. I decided to do it in Spanish almost as a courtesy, but it’s really taken off. I think the Spanish are really open to New Age philosophies. The fact I speak fluent Spanish surprises people. Like when I did an interview recently for one of the newspapers here, they sent along a translator.

I’m a workaholic! We didn’t have the Internet for two days recently and it was like not having air! I’m not very good at relaxing, but, no matter how much I’ve done on any day, I’ll find 40 minutes to stick on my iPod, put on rocking music and go running.