Conversations with Paola Ucelo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paola Ucelo.

Hi Paola, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
The journey to who I am today started back in the land of Pashil K’aila, also known as Guatemala. I was born into a traditional Latinx yet rebellious Martial Arts family.

Growing up going to an all-girls catholic school then going home to put on my karate uniform and be empowered in my body felt like a living contradiction from the outside looking in.

As beautiful as our mother land was, because of the corruption and violence in Guatemala, my family and I moved to the US in 2001 following my father’s American Dream to open up a Karate School in the United States.

Getting to the US was a complete culture shock. Not knowing anything besides “ i love spaghetti” and “ sorry I don’t speak english” to having boys in class and so many races in one room was something I had never experienced before.

I was constantly trying to blend, I tried to not stick out like a sore thumb even through I still did – I just wanted to fit it, have everyone like me and live the dream “ lizzie Mcguire school experience”

You might know what I’m talking about.

Ushering into high school, discovering I was Queer, feeling like I needed to be anyone but me led me to extreme disconnection from myself and others, causing a severe decline in my physical, mental, and emotional health that dragged out for almost a decade.

Coming from a traditional family, you don’t talk about your problems. Instead, you suck it up and play the part or you just do what you gotta do to not rock the boat.

Therapy is for the crazy and Queerness is for the lost and confused.

As years went by I took the paved road and got married to my high school sweetheart, got a business degree, moved to Ventura, California.

When I moved to California, I stopped doing Martial Arts, losing the last bit of connection with my body, confidence, and inner power.

All of this led me to what I call my “spiritual awakening.”

Having it all, the marriage, the job, the home, style, and yet I couldn’t feel more empty. So I decided to take into personal development where I was asked the question:

“When was the last time you felt truly empowered?” I quickly answered.

“When I am doing martial arts or dancing,” When I feel the fire in my belly, the ground in my feet, the breath in each moment, the sweat dripping through my face.

So, I got back into it and decided to share it with others at the local beach park near my home Oxnard Beach Park.

My whole life – I wanted to empower others in their own body, and it brought me back home.

I committed myself to supporting others in doing the same in their own way.

Since then, My highschool sweetheart and I got a divorce, bet on myself and my life has been blooming ever since. I’ve traveled around the world to study and be initiated in yogic wisdom, breathwork, and Earth-based traditions from India, Peru, and my motherland Guatemala. Integrating the most effective teachings and healing modalities such as breathwork, embodied movement, and shamanic journeys to create containers of transformation. I now lead and have led both men and women worldwide to reach a level of empowerment that is truly unshakable and see the result ripple into their everyday life and the new world we are creating today.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I was handed a life that required me to face life’s adversities and allow it to mold me into who I am today.

One of my biggest struggles was embracing how different I am, how different I was from my family, my friends, and everything I felt I needed to be good enough, successful, and loved in this world.

Feeling like I was too deep, too much, felt miss-understood.

Growing up as a queer Latina to be an entrepreneur, living empowered in all aspects of my life was simply something I did not have an example of growing up.

All of this brought me to leave a solid profession in the Mental Health industry and a picture-perfect marriage to follow my heart to become the womxn i could be proud of and look up to, and began a life of service to the healing and empowering of our collective through mindfulness, connection to our bodies, and liberation of our creative and spiritual expression.

So that anyone who ever felt like they were too much, anyone who felt misunderstood can know that their own uniqueness and bigness is one of the greatest contributions to themselves and the world.

When it’s expressed and not suppressed.

It has been one giant leap ever since.

Has it been easy? Heck no.

Was it worth it, you bet!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a Guatemalan multidisciplinary artist, healer, poet, and mentor of transformation and empowerment. My work focuses on integrating the most effective concepts, Healing modalities such as breathwork, embodied movement and Shamanic teachings to create containers of transformation with radical trust, embodied wisdom, and fierce empowerment.

My work is not just in you feeling empowered but about seeing the results in your everyday life.

Whether it’s through my life-changing 1:1 & group containers, art, creative projects, upcoming podcast, PASSAGES and in-person immersive experiences – my work is an offering of love and service to the empowerment of our collective. It is for the passionate, the heart driven, the revolutionaries & visionaries of this world. This work has already impacted hundreds of souls all over the world.

I am proud that despite the doubt, fear, and uncertainty, I’ve chosen to constantly bet on myself and choose to grow – now, I get to see the ripples of my own healing in my partnership, friendships, and clients.

I am proud of paving my own path and being of service to remind others that their healing, liberation, and owning their unique story and expression is the greatest contribution to themselves and to the world.

I am proud of the woman I’ve become.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?

• Invest time and energy in your own connection to yourself – creating safety in your body, your connection to spirit and your reverence to the land and earth we live on.
• Let this be the foundation to your path or life and service.
• Accept that you will forever be evolving and that although you may not know what is to come, you have the power to choose who you get to be through it.
• Release yourself and others from the burdens of your expectations.
• Choose to grow, whatever challenges arise – choose to learn and you will grow.
• Oh, and don’t wait to trust yourself and the path ahead before you walk. The trust within you will build as you walk.
• Lastly, be open to support, get a mentor, dive into community, surround yourself with people who have done or are doing what you desire to do in an integrous way. Learn from them and know that you will get there no matter what, but having someone by your side will make it a million times smoother.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://empoweredpath.mykajabi.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paolaucelo_/