Conversations with Alex Escutia

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Escutia.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in an immigrant household. Both my parents came from Michoacán, Mexico in the mid-80s and they worked constantly just to survive. I watched my dad struggle with alcoholism, his way of coping with things he couldn’t process from his own childhood. I watched my family put on a mask and push through, doing whatever it took to survive.

During my early childhood, I experienced trauma that affected my entire life and left me silenced for most of my life. I learned to perform, to stay small and quiet, to mold myself to fit what was expected. Those patterns followed me everywhere: into relationships, work, every part of my life. I was so focused on surviving and on blending in, that I completely lost touch with who I was underneath all that.

When the pandemic hit, the image I’d built crumbled. I was left face-to-face with the truth: I’d been performing my whole life and I had no idea who I was underneath.
In that isolation, I found my way to a drumming meditation. Not knowing what I was looking for, but just desperate for something. That experience changed everything. I realized I hadn’t just lost myself in one relationship or situation, but had been losing myself my entire life, piece by piece, every time I chose silence over truth, every time I made myself smaller to fit.

That started my journey with sound, movement, breath, and ceremony — unraveling all those years of conditioning and reconnecting with my authentic self. And now, that’s the work I do with others through U-nity. I create space for people who’ve lost themselves trying to belong, performing just to survive. We release those masks together and remember who we are. It’s about liberation, embodiment, and returning home to yourself.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it definitely hasn’t been easy. The journey itself has been anything but linear. After that drumming meditation experience, I thought I’d found the answer. Like I could just dive into these practices and suddenly be myself. But unraveling decades of conditioning doesn’t work that way. There were moments where I’d feel like I was making progress, and then something would trigger me right back into those old patterns, those old survival modes.
Learning to trust my own voice, my own body, my own truth after a lifetime of silencing it, that’s been the hardest work I’ve ever done. And learning to feel my body again after years of dissociation, that has been terrifying. Staying with discomfort, trusting that my body could be safe, that my voice matters, that’s taken time and work, and honestly, I’m still in an ongoing process.

Beyond the personal healing, building U-nity has brought its own challenges. I’ve had to navigate being a queer person of color in wellness spaces that are often very white and new age. Finding my own voice and staying authentic to what U-nity actually is, not what I think will be more marketable, that has also been the ongoing work. Choosing authenticity over and over, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
U-nity is an embodied liberation practice for people who’ve been silenced and lost themselves trying to belong. Especially marginalized individuals, survivors, and immigrant communities who know what it’s like to perform just to survive.

I use sound, movement, breath, and ceremony to help people release the masks of performance and reconnect with their authentic selves. It’s not about healing or fixing but about remembering, reclaiming, and returning home to who you’ve always been underneath the conditioning.

What makes U-nity different is that this isn’t abstract spiritual work or generic wellness. It’s grounded in the reality of what it means to navigate the world as someone who’s been marginalized, traumatized, or pushed to the edges. I’m not positioning myself as a life coach, healer or someone who’s “healed.” I’m walking alongside people on this path because I’ve lived it and I know what it’s like to silence yourself, to lose yourself, and to find your way back countless of times.

Right now, I offer one-on-one sessions along with private group sessions. Everything I create is designed to be accessible, with sliding scale pricing, because the people who need this work most are often the ones who can’t afford help. Because this is liberation work, it has to be accessible.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Showing up to new places as authentically as I am. I’ve learned that being genuine about my approach and values, even when they don’t fit mainstream wellness culture helps attracts the right connections The relationships built on that foundation tend to be the most meaningful.

Pricing:

• Individual lntegrative Somatic Arts Therapy: embodied modality that bridges the body, breath, sound, and art. It’s an embodied process of remembering, listening to the body’s stories, expressing what words cannot, and transforming that awareness through creative ritual. $125-$185
• Group lntegrative Somatic Arts Therapy (2-4 people) -Private group work that bridges body, breath, sound, and art – a process of remembering, listening to the body’s stories, and transforming through creative ritual. $250-450

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.u-nity.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/u.nity_alex/