Paola grew up in Costa Rica, a place in which people value education and hard work, but also value balance and embrace a lifestyle around the Pura Vida philosophy in which joy, connection, relaxation and enjoying life are essential.

The eldest daughter of two dentists, Paola was on a pretty typical track for a high-achiever. She did well in school and was off to college in the US to study business and economics. She got her MBA and went into corporate America, working in finance at multiple Fortune 500 companies. But while this made her successful in the traditional sense, all the standard problems associated with the high-achieving lifestyle started to crop up: chronic stress, brain fog, anxiety, burnout. She tried all the standard treatments, but nothing really made much of a difference. Once, while on a trip back to Costa Rica, a family friend offered to try Pranic Healing on her. Why not? Nothing else was working. At first she thought this didn’t either. But when she woke up the next morning, she felt… free. Light. Like all the ropes tying her down were gone and she could breathe easily again. The persistent knot in her stomach was gone.  So, she did what all the best high-achievers do. She studied. She took classes to understand what Pranic Healing was. She got certified in Pranic Healing and Yoga. She stayed up to date. And when things got bad, she got more healings, she meditated, and did yoga. Which helped. Like nothing else ever had.

But she also went back to work. The environment was stressful, but she had new valuable tools and a community which she could rely on in good times, but especially in bad times.

Paola always felt a strong calling to help others and contribute meaningfully to society. That drive led her to also work in the nonprofit sector and later in sustainability. But throughout that time, she came to realize that everywhere she worked everyone was under tremendous pressure on a daily basis and dealing with very stressful environments at work, and also in their personal lives. She saw the effects this had on her colleagues around her and one day realized she could have a much greater impact on others by leveraging the skills she had developed. 

She had business training. She also had training in the one thing that truly helped her in that environment. She could start her own business and add more value by helping others navigate the stress with more ease, and to break free of the cycle that keeps people suffering and in survival mode. 

And of course, she could not ignore going back to her Costa Rican roots in which joy, happiness, connection and balance are so very valued and embraced and tie in so seamlessly into the healing journey she has been on and so many are longing for. 

So Monteverde Wellness was born.

Pura Vida!

Paola has a bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Business from Loyola University New Orleans, and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Tulane University. She has been practicing Pranic Healing since 2012 and Arhatic Yoga since 2015. She received her Associate Pranic Healer Certification in 2016 and Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT 200) certification in 2020.