Andrea is one of those vibrant beings that is so positive and full of energy that you can’t help but take it on yourself. Really, its contagious. You can see it for yourself on her Youtube channel, or Instagram, where she speaks really openly and candidly about her life and path to self discovery.
She lives in Albuquerque where you can catch her teaching yoga, or at different women’s circles she is running there.
Read on for more about her road to healing, how she found her way, and what’s next for her.
Name: Andrea Elena Varela
Age: 23
Your sign: Virgo sun, Taurus moon, Pisces rising
Where are you from?
I was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico and I currently reside in Albuquerque.
Where are you going?
Everywhere. I want to see the world. I want to experience different cultures, and observe the way in which we operate in this physical existence.
Can you tell us about your work?
I am a yoga instructor and an embodied feminine being. I am also an energy worker, and plant medicine advocate. My work on all levels and planes includes assisting in awakening others to their own divine essence. It took me a long time to really understand what it means to be IN body, and over time it has shown me how to embody my highest truth. My work here is to show others the same tools that have helped me through my journey and create a safe container in which their own transformation can occur. I love working with people one on one and I also love sharing what I have learned through various platforms. I plan on creating retreats around the world in order to take my gifts and medicine to others. My work here isn’t to teach anyone anything they don’t know. Rather, my work here is to help them REmember what it is that they already have within them.
Do you have any other passions that you pursue or would like to?
I plan on getting certified as an herbalist, and am passionate about helping the earth ease her way into this new paradigm. I am also passionate about conscious heart centered business and communication and am working on creating my own business. Lastly, I am deeply passionate about self exploration and radical self transformation. I love understanding myself in as many ways as I can. One thing I have discovered through this process, is that I am passionate about working with other womben. I am going back to the jungles of Costa Rica in March to get certified as a Wise Wombxn Way Transformational Facilitator in order to continue this passion of creating and holding sacred space for others. I will learn ways in which I can use ceremony and ritual and the science behind the two in order to create revolutionary space for transformation.
What is a typical day like for you?
A typical day for me is always lead by my intuition. I try not to plan many things through the day and instead really make my mornings about connecting with what I FEEL I am meant to do that day. Some days that is answering emails, attending meetings, or teaching classes. Others its hanging out with my friends, wandering around town, or laying in bed all day resting. I really like to have a balance of getting things done and taking the time for myself to rest and process. As a highly sensitive empath, I believe this way of living is what resonates and works best for me.
Have you gone through or overcome something in life? What got you to the other side?
From the ages of 17 to 20 I was drinking very heavily. This was the darkest. Of my life. It took losing a relationship, and friends to finally wake up and decide to change my life. What got me to the other side was beginning my spiritual journey and realizing that alcohol was a lower vibration. From the start of my spiritual journey I knew that I wanted to raise my vibration, and raise consciousness.
Can you share a bit about your spiritual journey?
My journey ,just like anyone else’s, is so unique to me. I grew up Catholic / Christian, my dad being Catholic and my mom being Christian. Eventually when I moved out I started studying many forms of religion, ritual and spiritual practices. Along the way I have taken what has resonated with me, things I have directly felt and watched changed my life. I have also let go of things that don’t resonate with me, or that don’t further expand my process of radical self transformation. My awakening first started happening subtly in 2012, and has been radically unfolding since 2015. I have studied different forms of energy work such as reiki, polarity, marma points, and shamanistic practices. I have also been certified in many different forms of yoga, as well as worked with developing my relationship to plants and working with them as form of medicine. Each day is different and calls for different aspects of modalities I have learned over the years. I am a very versatile person and I love being able to pull from so many different places when needed.
What was your trip to Costa Rica like?
Absolutely life changing. I wish there words that could truly describe what kind of transformation took place for me there (shout out to being human amirite). I learned so much about myself and took so much time for introspection and self development. I got to watch and question the patterns of my mind operate in front of me. I finally understood Source energy, God. I sat in silence and got to watch the true patterns of nature and observe the ways in which I have been conditioned to see myself as separate from it. That was probably my biggest take away was how truly connected everything is. I fell in such deep love with the rain forest and all of its energy. I felt so held and seen in the beauty of sisterhood.
What are your superpowers?
My ability to empathize and have compassion for others. I truly love hearing someone’s story and making them feel seen and heard. I have studied people and the way in which we interact with each other for a number of years now, and one thing we all truly want is to feel as though we have been seen and someone has truly heard us out. There is so much beauty in being able to look someone deeply in the eyes as they peel the layers of their life away while sharing that space with you. It humbles me every time I am able to look with that much intimacy and love at another human being and is a lot of the reason why I do what it is that I do.
What’s on your music playlist?
It’s funny my best friend and I were talking about this recently. My playlist is everywhere. It goes from deep house, to heavy dubstep, to classical, then to people like Nicki Minaj or Cardi B, to artists like LANY, Trevor Hall, taking a sharp left to Vedic chants and Hindu music. Just as versatile as me. One thing you wont find on my playlist is country music.
What’s your go-to meal?
I absolutely love some curry. Yellow curry is something I have once, if not twice a week with absolutely no shame. It’s something I have only tried within the last year, and I have made it a point to eat all the curry I haven’t eaten over the last 21 years in that one year, haha!
Who inspires you and why?
Usha Anandi, Kaylin Otero, and Zoey Tafoya. These are my top three inspirations. This is because they have such a similar passion for Spirit that I do. They each have such a unique way of bringing spirit into matter with the work that they do here. Each one has their own potent medicine and gifts that they so openly share with the world. The way spirit moves through and speaks through them is such a beautiful mirror for me to look at the ways in which Spirit also moves through myself. They continuously inspire me to show up for myself and take responsibility for my life and the way I show up for that as well. I have sat at the feet of all three of these beautiful women, not only as a student but as a sister.
What is your best advice for loving yourself?
To be gentle with yourself. Speak to yourself as though you are speaking to someone you deeply admire. Nurture yourself the way you would a new born child. When we allow ourselves to operate from a place of wholeness and non judgment, we see the relationship with ourself begins to shift. When we speak to ourselves with respect, we give others the permission to do the same thing. When we love ourselves so deeply, and really take the time to get to know ourselves, we also inspire others to operate from that same space. Be gentle with yourself on the days in which self love seems the hardest so that you may shine brighter and brighter each time that layer of healing comes up for your attention.
Has learning to accept yourself been a journey for you or has it come naturally?
To be honest it’s been a good balance of both. For a long time I didn’t accept a lot about myself and would really get down on myself. From things like appearance, to skin, to the way I acted and reacted, there was also judgment. I remember one day I was looking at myself in the mirror and I had this epiphany. This is one life I am going to be in this body, with these features, and it clicked. I haven’t stopped loving myself since. I have my days when layers of insecurity creep back up to be recognized and healed like “hey we are still here”, yet there isn’t a day where I spend time talking down to myself. Instead I allow myself to feel everything that is coming up from that and really tune into wherever that is stemming from and then sit with the root of that. It comes a lot more naturally to me now then it ever used to and is still something I am working on daily. However the deeper I go, the more naturally it comes. It is only the days in which I close up or don’t just surrender that it becomes hard.
What would you tell your younger self?
That it is okay to be sensitive. It’s okay to feel everything I am feeling. I would tell her that everything is going to be alright. She doesn’t have to be afraid. She is safe to play, to be a kid, to enjoy the magic of life. I would tell her to remember to be a kid, and it’s okay not to always do what the adults are doing. She should know that its okay to be different, and to be herself. She doesn’t need to judge herself anymore.
