Hi! I’m Mariana.
Psychotherapist, Yoga Teacher, Life & Mindfulness Coach and Founder of Alive as Life.
Alive as Life
This is what we are, alive as life itself.
You are life manifesting as this human being.
We are nature itself, already whole, already complete. There is nothing to fix or change, nothing missing, no fault in you. You are made of the same living substance as the sun and the moon. You belong on this earth as life itself.
We are here in this world alive, simply, ordinarily, and miraculously alive. Your breath breathes you. Your heart beats you alive. You are the life that is living you, one and the same, with no separation.
Alive as Life is about coming home to your body, attuning to the life within you, and allowing it to guide you, so you can live the life that wants to move through you.
The Heart of My Work
My work weaves together two paths of healing and self-discovery:
Yoga: a practice of intimacy with life, reminding us that we are already whole, just as we are.
Psychotherapy: a compassionate, grounded space to meet our experiences, patterns, and pain with awareness and presence.
Together, these practices reconnect us to the body — the source of memory, emotion, and truth. From that rooted place, therapy and yoga become alive, real, and embodied. We don’t just talk about life; we feel it, breathe it, and live it.
Guiding principles:
The body, mind and spirit are not separate, they are one.
You are already whole.
The body is wisdom, always communicating.
Change is not about becoming someone new, but letting go of what does not belong.
Cultivating, as opposed to ‘fixing’.
My Journey
For many years, I sat with the question: What am I even here for?
I couldn’t find a reason to live.
Over a decade ago, I left Mexico and moved to New Zealand, searching for safety, freedom, and a life that felt true. I longed to step away from cultural and familial patterns, and in the quiet of solitude, uncover who I truly was.
After leaving a career in accounting, I tried several paths in search of “purpose.” For years, I felt like I was hitting play, then stop, then eject — switching tracks, never quite finding the right one.
It wasn’t until I immersed myself in the practices of yoga, meditation, and psychotherapy that things became clear. These practices brought me to a sense of wholeness, safety, and aliveness. It was as if I had finally placed the needle on the right record, and the music began to play in rhythm with my own heart.
As I began to let go of what didn’t belong to me and embrace what did, I started creating a life that felt aligned with my body and my heart, a life worth living.
I realized I had been searching outside of myself, in countries, careers, and even in an external power like the universe or a God that inhabits the sky, when the answers were already within me. I am, and always have been, whole. I am life itself, and I can trust my life.
Now, I hold space for others to experience the reality of their own wholeness, through therapeutic conversations, personal yoga practices, and deep inner listening. Together, we meet the parts that hurt, gently explore what’s true, and move toward experiencing life at its fullest.
Qualifications & Training
Humanistic Therapist. Specialized in the Person-Centred and Gestalt psychotherapies - Humanistic Institute of Gestalt Psychotherapy
Yoga teacher 500YTT - The Heart of Yoga
Yoga Education is Schools - The Heart of Yoga
Certified Transformative Coach - International Coaching Federation
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR) Certified Teacher - Mindfulness Training Institute
MBSR Programme - Mindfulness Aotearoa
Science of Wellbeing Course - Yale University
Earlier career in International Tax & Programme Management:
Bachelor in Accounting - Panamerican University, Mexico
Specialisation in Portfolio Management - Stock Market Institute, Madrid
Postgraduate in Business - Whitireia New Zealand
Programme Management Diploma - University of Auckland
"Listening is the oldest and perhaps the most powerful tool of healing. It is often through the quality of our listening and not the wisdom of our words that we are able to effect the most profound changes in the people around us. When we listen, we offer with our attention an opportunity for wholeness. Our listening creates sanctuary for the homeless parts within the other person. That which has been denied, unloved, devalued by themselves and others. That which is hidden. In this culture the soul and the heart too often go homeless. Listening creates a holy silence. When you listen generously to people, they can hear the truth in themselves, often for the first time. And in the silence of listening, you can know yourself in everyone. Eventually you may be able to hear, in everyone and beyond everyone, the unseen singing softly to itself and to you.”
– Rachel Naomi Remen
