Conversations with Omar Garcia

Today we’d like to introduce you to Omar Garcia.

Hi Omar, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My story didn’t begin in wellness or personal development. I grew up around violence and instability, and for years I carried that chaos into my own life. I struggled with substance abuse, experienced homelessness, and went through periods where I genuinely didn’t know what direction my life was going.

Eventually, I began rebuilding. I went back to school, earned a degree in Computer Science, built a career in the corporate world, became a husband and father, and created what looked from the outside like a successful, stable life.

But I discovered something important: you can change your circumstances without completely changing yourself.

That realization sent me much deeper into examining how I was living—my habits, relationships, discipline, health, spirituality, purpose, and the parts of myself I still needed to confront.
Eventually, I left the corporate world and, together with my wife Aziel, began building OMZIEL.

Today, OMZIEL creates experiences centered around breathwork, cold exposure, men’s work, retreats, community gatherings, meaningful conversations, and personal growth. Programs like Inner Alchemy, Windhorse Rising, and Purple Sage are different expressions of the same idea.
LIVE AWAKE.

I’m not interested in presenting myself as someone who has life figured out. Quite the opposite. I’m interested in what happens when we stop going through the motions, become willing to examine ourselves honestly, intentionally step into discomfort, and take greater responsibility for how we live.

My past is part of my story, but it’s no longer the headline. What interests me now is who we can become when we decide to participate fully in our own lives.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road.
I grew up around violence and instability, and those experiences followed me for a long time. I struggled with substance abuse, experienced homelessness, and made choices that could have taken my life in a very different direction.

Even after getting my life together on the outside—earning a degree, building a career, becoming a husband and father—I learned that external success doesn’t automatically heal what’s happening internally.
Some of my greatest struggles have actually come after becoming “successful.” Learning how to be a better husband and father. Facing my own patterns and ego. Building a business without the security of a corporate paycheck. Trying to serve others while continuing to work on myself. And accepting that growth doesn’t have a finish line.

There have been financial challenges, failed ideas, difficult relationships, self-doubt, exhaustion, and plenty of moments when I’ve questioned what I was doing.

But those experiences shaped one of the ideas at the heart of OMZIEL:
Discomfort isn’t always something to escape. Sometimes it’s where we discover who we are.

I don’t view my life as a story about overcoming adversity and arriving somewhere. I see it as an ongoing practice of becoming more aware, taking responsibility, and continuing to show up.

That’s what LIVE AWAKE means to me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I consider my work a form of creative human experience design.

Through OMZIEL, I create experiences that bring together practices that are often kept separate—breathwork, cold exposure, movement, music, nature, conversation, ceremony, challenge, and community.

Whether it’s Inner Alchemy, Windhorse Rising, Purple Sage, or an OMZIEL Conversation, I’m always thinking about how an experience can move someone from simply observing life to actually participating in it.

My creativity isn’t necessarily expressed through a paintbrush or musical instrument. The experience itself is the canvas.

I think about the environment, the music, the people in the room, the questions we ask, when we create intensity, when we create silence, and even when we allow people to laugh and simply enjoy being together.
What I’m most proud of is creating spaces where very different people can walk in as strangers and leave feeling connected—to themselves and to one another.

I also don’t believe transformation always has to look serious or spiritual. Sometimes it happens during an ice plunge. Sometimes around a fire. Sometimes through a difficult conversation. Sometimes while dancing, laughing, eating together, or hearing someone tell their story.

That is what I believe sets OMZIEL apart. We aren’t trying to sell one modality as the answer. We’re creating different doorways into the same question: How awake are you to the life you’re living?

That question sits at the center of everything I create.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Luck has absolutely played a role in my life—both good and bad—but I’ve learned not to build my life around waiting for it.

Some of what I once considered bad luck—growing up around violence and instability, addiction, homelessness, failures and setbacks—became part of what shaped me. I wouldn’t wish those experiences on anyone, but they gave me perspective, resilience, and eventually a deeper appreciation for life.

I’ve also had tremendous good fortune. I’ve met the right people at the right moments. Doors have opened unexpectedly. I’ve been given second chances. I’ve had people believe in me before I fully believed in myself.
In business, I’ve learned that what we call “luck” often meets us after we’ve been showing up for a long time.

A conversation leads to an introduction. Someone attends an OMZIEL experience and tells a friend. A podcast guest becomes a collaborator. An idea that seemed unsuccessful creates an opportunity months later.
So I respect luck, but I don’t rely on it.

I try to put myself in luck’s way. I show up. I stay curious. I meet people. I create. I take chances. I fail. I adjust. And I keep moving.

You can’t control when opportunity knocks, but you can decide whether you’re awake enough to recognize it when it does.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://omziel.com/
• Instagram: @OmzielHealing
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/omziel.Jersey
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omziel/
• Twitter: https://x.com/omziel
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMAO_kHZ2e5fBGe-w24LJBQ
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/omziel-healing-sanctuary-north-bergen?osq=Omziel+healing+Sanctuary