Today we’d like to introduce you to Manuela Welton.
Hi Manuela, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born in Colombia, and growing up, my family moved often. When I was nine years old, my family was politically exiled because my father was writing about the political corruption happening at the time.
From an early age, I experienced deep sensitivities — seeing, feeling, and hearing energy in ways I did not yet understand. It wasn’t until the death of my parents that I fully stepped into studying the human psyche, healing, and energetics more deeply. At a young age, I immersed myself in different teachings and modalities, studying energetics, neuroscience, hypnosis, constellation work, movement, and somatics. Through these studies, I began to understand my gifts more clearly and started supporting others through grief, healing, and major life transitions.
At seventeen, I began my private practice while continuing to expand my understanding of our shared humanity. I attended a traveling school that connected me to different cultures, philosophies, ceremonies, and ancient traditions, opening my awareness to the many ways people heal, connect, and create meaning across the world.
I later brought this work back home to Colombia, working with different communities and groups through somatic, breath, and creative practices focused on healing and reconnection. In 2021, I attended Harvard University, an experience that expanded my understanding of leadership, human development, and conflict resolution, and deepened my commitment to bringing embodied practices into spaces of leadership and collective transformation.
I see life as an ongoing experiment — continuously placing myself in experiences that challenge me, expand me, and deepen my capacity to be of service to others. Recently, I launched Here, Now, Human, a series exploring the shared threads of what it means to be human. I continue to grow through my mentorship with SomaSource with Melissa Michaels and through my path toward facilitating 5Rhythms.
More recently, I have been curating immersive experiences where people gather to connect, breathe, move, heal, and expand through different modalities in powerful natural environments that have deeply informed my own journey and transformation.
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 am at a place in my life where I can look back with immense gratitude for the gift of being alive. And it has not always been an easy journey. In many ways, I would not have grown into who I am today if the path had been smooth.
Growing up without a stable foundation, and losing my parents at such a young age, created one of the deepest fractures in my psyche. It was the wound that led me toward healing. For a long time, I was searching for a place of being fully healed, until I realized that healing is not a final destination. Grief moves in waves, and each wave invites us into a deeper relationship with ourselves. The work is not about avoiding the waves, but learning how to move with them — learning how to surf them with presence, compassion, and trust.
For most of my life, I lived in survival mode. It wasn’t until more recently that I began to soften, lean back, and truly trust life again. This has now become a core part of my work: supporting others in reconnecting to trust within themselves, within life, and within the unknown. Because ultimately, I believe this is the path toward freedom.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Creativity has always been at the foundation and center of everything I do. I have held a transformational and holistic healing practice for over 18 years, and today I work with leaders, entrepreneurs, and creatives in accessing deeper parts of themselves, strengthening their intuition, and navigating life with greater clarity and alignment.
Over the years, I have developed a methodology designed to support people through life transitions, emotional healing, self-discovery, clarity, and decision-making. Rooted in years of study, lived experience, and deep inner work, this approach has supported thousands of people and continues to evolve and expand alongside me.
What sets my work apart is that I stepped into this path at a very young age. In many ways, I did not consciously choose this work — it chose me. For most of my career, my practice has grown entirely through word of mouth, something I feel deeply grateful for. Only recently have I begun speaking more publicly about what I do and the work I have devoted my life to building.
The metamorphosis of my own work has been profound, and I have grown alongside it. Everything I offer comes deeply from the heart and from my own lived experiences. My work invites people into a journey through the deepest parts of themselves — mind, heart, body, and soul.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was — and continue to be — a hummingbird, immersing myself in many different practices, experiences, and ways of seeing the world. I keep an open mind to life and intentionally place myself in spaces that challenge me, expand me, and help me grow. I often try to step into the shoes of others so I can hold greater compassion for the many different lived experiences that exist on this planet.
I deeply care about people and have always been drawn to learning from different cultures, indigenous wisdom, and First Nations communities. As I mentioned before, creativity sits at the center of everything I do. Movement and dance have always been essential parts of my life, something deeply rooted in growing up in my mother’s ballet school. Embodiment has always been one of the core languages through which I understand myself and the world around me.
My love for writing comes from my father. Growing up, we used to write together, and storytelling became a way for me to process, connect, and make meaning of life. Before the work I do today, I worked as a photojournalist, which shaped my relationship to visuals, human stories, and the importance of witnessing. More recently, my podcast, Here, Now, Human, has become another extension of that passion — creating space to deeply listen to people and honor their lived experiences.
Music, too, has been one of my greatest loves, something my brother continues to teach me about. And my sister’s creativity continually inspires me to stay connected to my inner child, imagination, and sense of play.
Throughout my life, I have started NGOs, interned in many different spaces, stood on the frontlines of conflict, and found myself on dance floors around the world learning about my soul, healing my own wounds, and ultimately stepping more fully into supporting others on their journeys.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.manuelawelton.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manuelawelton/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HereNowHumanPodcast
