We were lucky to catch up with Ingrid Perez- Esquivel recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ingrid, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

Shortly after completing my 200 hour yoga certification I applied for another scholarship opportunity to further my knowledge and explore different ways of moving the body. Yoga sculpt seemed to be a very popular class people enjoyed taking and I wanted to see what it was all about. I had no idea it would change everything for me.

Yoga sculpt is all about resilience, endurance and having fun. You’re in a room heated up to 91+ degrees holding yoga poses to upbeat music with weights in your hands. In no other fitness class have I ever sweat that much and enjoyed it the way I do.

Growing up overweight and full of insecurities nestled into my brain from childhood abuse. I cringed at the idea of being in public places and moving my body. Looking at myself in a mirror sent me running out of places.I felt embarrassed about how I felt and never felt I could relate to my friends in those feelings of inadequacy. Almost like my body wasn’t deserving of wellness because it was broken because it was fat and struggled to lose weight to have the perfect slim body. The moment I started chipping away at the root of my insecurities and found self compassion through Buddhism my perspective of my mindbody connection changed. It was through the practice of yoga that my mindset and demeanor began to transform. I was not longer concerned with what my body may look like to others in a yoga studio. I found courage to practice in a sports bra and fall on my face trying to do poses that most people think fat people can’t do. Over time the more I practiced, the more patient, loving, and strong I became. Both mentally, and physically.

As I went through various trainings and continued to practice yoga I found myself building a different kind of confidence. Having never taken a yoga sculpt class I eagerly signed up for the scholarship to earn the certification and was in training mid April. I had no idea what I was in for.

Throughout those 5 weeks I awakened something inside of me that was waiting for it’s time to shine. My energy had to be high. My words had to be encouraging, and I had to be motivating enough to make people not quit. In all the anxious nerves one can have when they’re up for a first performance. With sweaty palms and a fast beating heart, I got off my mat on Mother’s Day 2023 to guide a room full of friends and family of my graduating class of teachers in movement. Once I stepped to the front of the room my nerves disappeared. I felt light, in control and full of energy. Something shifted in me during my moment to shine. I gave myself permission to “be”. I got out of my own way and entered flow. The words came out of me naturally, my energy lit up the space. People began to smile and let their guard down to enjoy moving in their bodies without thinking about it too much. I realized then that I had something special to give to the world.

I had become the person I wish I had growing up and in my young adult years when it came to fitness and wellness. I never saw people who looked like me lead in movement so it discouraged me to try or I felt like I immediately would fail. I had fed into the notion that only thin people could move and be happy. After all, every time I tried to move my body I felt miserable. Out of breath and ashamed. I know that feeling all too well. This is why my words and energy impact people. I lived in that mindset for a very long time, I know how consuming it can be. But I also know now how liberating it can be to transform it. Standing in front of a room full of strangers with a smile on my face in crescent lunge holding weights in my hand staring at my reflection I knew I’d won.

I’d transformed my childhood trauma into strength. I was now using all my experience to aid others on their journey to self love through movement. Yoga sculpt training allowed me permission to take up space, build confidence and ultimately find my voice as a movement facilitator. I cannot wait to high five my students on their way out of class knowing I made an impact in their life that day.

Ingrid, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a native to KC of immigrant parents from Mexico. I am also one having been brought here at 18 months old. My first English words being “excuse me” coming home from preschool, I quickly caught onto American life on the outside and a traditional machista Mexican home on the inside. Life at home as a girl growing up in a misogynistic household where we had no voice, and served as a servant to the men in the home made it difficult for me to develop a healthy relationship with myself. I was raised seeing my mother being abused,battered and completely stripped of her identity that I vowed to never repeat her story. I wanted to show the men in my family that women could be important. They had value and were meant to be more than housewives who cooked, cleaned and had children. I wanted to be more. I knew I could be more here in this country and I set myself on the mission to prove it. Being undocumented I struggled with my identity and the thought of never truly belonging. Holding onto a secret no one could know about and making up lies to my friends about why I didn’t have a drivers license. My will was stronger than my doubts and I found a way into a four year institution and received acceptance into programs that worked with me despite my legal status to help me achieve my dreams of higher education. I graduated from Kansas State University December 2014 and went right into Corporate America where I explored many industries that eventually led me into discovering my passion for tech. I learned to live alone and explore new cities having moved to the East, West and Pacific Northwest within 7 years after graduation.

I turned to spirituality shortly after losing my father to heart disease and first partner to suicide within a years time to find peace within. I didn’t know how to stop my pain and needed to find a way to comfort myself- to understand myself. Buddhism began to slowly show itself in my life path and I started reading, listening and absorbing it’s messages of balance, non attachment and true forgiveness. I started to practice dwelling on the present moment. It was through meditation and developing a mindfulness practice that I found a way out of my sadness.

I was once the girl in big sweatpants avoiding attention to now being the confident woman taking up space on the dance floor at a salsa social living in her joy. I was able to find balance and peace despite everything around me fighting to keep me down. I still chose my joy. There has always been something inside of me that doesn’t allow me to give up, even when things got very dark I found a way to stay afloat. That is what has driven me to leave the corporate world and begin my own journey as a spiritual wellness coach to help others find a way out of their minds and into their body. I have become inspired to guide others on their journey to self love and acceptance. I know what it’s like to live in your head and your insecurities. It’s because of that and my lived experiences that I know what it takes and can understand the complexities around loving yourself and healing trauma, I want my life’s work to be around healing and feeling whole. I do this through the practice of yoga, meditation and mindfulness workshops. I am also a content creator. In my work I focus on helping people find balance, share thoughts on mindfulness, self compassion techniques and share more of what spirituality is and how it can help them find presence in the moment when life gets hard. I wrote a short ebook available on my website that guides people on simple practices that I’ve incorporated in my life that helped me find healing through heartbreak, grief and loss.

I recently started a newsletter where I share more about myself, wisdom I’ve gained while in the practice of life and offer mindfulness exercises for people to contemplate. I want spirituality to be accessible for people who need it most. It is something that changed my life for the better and I feel it my mission in life to help others struggle less and find peace sooner. I lived through what I lived through so I could teach others how to move forward so they don’t stay stuck and live the life they deserve. One of love and peace.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Growing up undocumented has always come with challenges.I immigrated to Kansas City at 18 months and raised within the city limits with a deep desire to know more of the world and what it had to offer. Coming from the inner city I wasn’t exposed to positive influences in my immediate surroundings. I knew that the safest and most certain way to give myself a better life was through education.

My parents also never lied to me about my legal status. I knew I was at a disadvantage not being a legal citizen, and knew life would be harder for me. But I was determined to not let it stop me from achieving my goals of a better life. My father would spend hours at the dinner table reminding me that I was my only limitation. That if I wanted something, I’d find a way. So, I networked, searched, volunteered, read and put my all into my dream. By the time I reached my senior year of high school I had enough scholarship money to pay for an entire year at a 4 year institution and was accepted to a summer bridge program at Kansas State. At the time, KS was only 1 of 11 states in the country that allowed undocumented citizens to pay in state tuition and attend public universities. I fought for my version of the American Dream every day. I wasn’t sure how’d I’d get there, but I knew I would.

I began my life journey with nothing. Limited resources, in poverty, experiencing domestic violence in my home, and a lot of fear of what my life would look like as an adult with no papers. Luckily, DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) was introduced in 2012 allowing me to continue my education without fearing deportation and the ability to legally work. I received access to a Driver’s License and the ability to be a contributing member to society. In the same year I got the amazing news that a door of opportunity opened for me, one simultaneously closed forever. I lost my father to heart disease at the age of 20 during the start of my junior year in college. A large pillar of my life left me with a big hole in my heart. But, his words of encouragement stayed with me then, and continue to help me now. Not only was I able to finish my degree but upon graduation accepted an offer to work for a Fortune 500 company. Since then, I’ve transitioned to varying industries from Food and Beverage to Tech reaching the heights as big as Amazon Corporate. I’ve proven that no matter where you begin your journey, your dreams matter. When you believe in them deep enough you find others along your path who believe in you too and help you achieve them. Where there is a will, there is always a way.

That same resilience lives in me today as I embrace a career change and build out my own business in the spirituality world,

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I’ve had to unlearn that I needed to be perfect all the times in order to be accepted. The majority of my life I’d been told to be seen and not heard. To make myself smaller because I shouldn’t want to draw attention to myself too much. It would look bad. That I should only try something if I knew for a fact I’d be good at it or not try at all. Being undocumented added to the pressure because I was constantly trying to prove that I was worthy of being a part of this country. I’d feel like I had to be one of the smartest in the room, the most driven, because I had the most to prove.

The last several years have pushed me to break free from the chains I put on myself and my value as a human, I do not need to prove my value to anyone to know I have it, Being hard working and driven are not wrong and un-womanly. I held onto a lot of pressure to be someone important to prove I was worthy of existing because of all the hate that I grew up listening to about immigrants and how little their life matters, I had to unlearn that being perfect is real. There is no such thing and carrying all the pressure of every decision being based on trying to fit in, and be accepted by this country was something I had to let go of in order to be happy. My focus is now towards what makes me happy and not how my life should look in order to satisfy society’s expectations.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.awakenwithingrid.com/
• Instagram: its_ingrid_b
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Awaken-with-Ingrid-102750069376581
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/awaken-with-ingrid/

Image Credits
@kellyphoto on IG for photos titled IMG_0215, yoga, dancer. All others are @monarch_photographyllc