Laly Peña

I grew up in my country, Colombia, during the 80’s, when it was supposed to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world. However, Colombian culture is very peculiar and thanks to my environment, from a very young age, I learned to focus on the good and understand that my destiny wasn’t made from the circumstances of life, but from how I responded to them.

I was part of a middle-class family with a loving, but half-absent father who had to travel a lot, a responsible but strict mother, who demanded high standards to hardly ever gain her approval, and a younger brother.

My teenage years passed at a Catholic girls’ school. Thanks to my large and curious Hispanic family, I was also exposed to Buddhism and New Age. The variety and open vision about human development and spirituality gave me an extensive and peculiar understanding about life and wellness.

In a country like Colombia, you don’t tell your parents that you want to be a trainer; instead, your parents make you choose between being a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer. I was overprotected and disciplined to be the best at everything, so I ended up graduating as a civil engineer, a degree that I pursued with excellence yet without passion.

After a very short career, I got married to my spiritual guru and left my country to live in Thailand for a year. Then we moved to the states, where I’ve lived ever since.

As soon as I moved to the states, I started to explore career possibilities and realized that my options were endless. I could finally pursue my passion and be whoever I wanted to be. I was always in love with fitness and wellness and I quickly found my path. I have been a Fitness Trainer for over 15 years.

I was married for 11 years. For the first 9 years, I was married with a loving and great partner. For the last two years, I felt like I was married to a mentally and emotionally abusive stranger. The story behind that is long and unusual, but let’s just say that his faith dramatically changed from universal and loving to extremism and darkness. Although my marriage ended, I was blessed with two amazing boys. The youngest is autistic and my purpose. The oldest is my wise advisor and my rock.

My life experiences have always shown me that joy and wholeness do not depend on external situations, but on internal awareness and that health, strength and fitness are the result of the proper connection between body, mind and spirit.

My passion is to support others in the pursue of a joyful life and to be the best version of oneself through love, strength and mindfulness.

Laly