The Playlist Ultimatum: What Paola Yaelli Learned About Magnetism Through Rejection
In this Substack Live interview, Paola Iaelli, founder of the Alma Flow movement, shares the organic evolution of her sacred business—a blend of yoga, somatic work, Kabbalah, and entrepreneurship. She recounts a life‑story‑driven path that began with journalism, travel, and a government career before a post‑pandemic return to Brazil sparked the formation of an international community. Throughout the conversation, Paola discusses how fear serves as a catalyst, the importance of daily somatic and breathwork practices, and the need to expand one’s inner "vessel" before scaling. She emphasizes authentic community building over mass appeal, integrating Kabbalah and astrological intent into yoga classes, and navigating rejection when introducing unconventional practices. The dialogue also covers financial stewardship (the "fat cows, thin cows" metaphor), the role of mentorship and spiritual guidance, and practical tactics such as one‑on‑one presence, post‑class coffee gatherings, and WhatsApp groups for sustained connection. The hosts reinforce themes of authenticity, the pitfalls of comparison, and the value of non‑aggressive, intuition‑led growth.
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And there we are. Yeah, we're live. So welcome to Sacred Business Stories. This is our weekly Substack Live. It's really where we just have an honest conversation about what it looks like to build a business that aligns with your deepest truth. And today we're joined by Paola Iaiali. Paola Iaiali. I think I got it right. She is the founder of Alma Flow, which is a movement that integrates spirituality and well-being, and she teaches yoga and leads mentorships that kind of combine ancient wisdom with modern tools. So yeah, we're really happy to have you here with us today, Paola. And I'll let maybe Carolina share a little bit more about her, about the connection. But yeah, thank you for being here with us.
Thank you. Yes, happy to be here.
I'm very honored to have you. And well, I know I love your work and I'm happy that we're going to be sharing a little bit more of you here. So if you're joining right now, welcome. Yes. Hi, Karine. Hi everybody. I always like to remind why we do Secret Business Stories, and it's really from a pure space of inspiration. Like if we have a calling, if you have a desire to create a business that is a combination of like all of who we are, like our failures, our victories, our certifications, can be really challenging. And sometimes when you see people out there doing very cool stuff, and if you're not there, you're like, how do I move from where I am to Where I want to be. And we, we decided to create this so we can share a little bit of like behind the scenes, like, you know, the path. It's like a choice that we make on a daily basis. Um, and we just invite people that, you know, we inspire us in, in different ways so they can share a little more about, uh, who they are and how they came to be, um, or how they, they are where they are. And if you have any questions, I feel safer right now saying this because we have this beautiful desktop that wasn't a thing before. So if you have any questions related to the conversation— hi, Margaret, nice to have you here— just post it on the chat and we're going to do our best to get Paula answering, or even if you have a question for Phil or for myself. So yeah, Paula, thank you so much for being here. She's our yoga teacher, so we do a beautiful hot yoga with her every Wednesday morning. And we wanted to know, like, what is your sacred business? And we know it's a journey, right? But, you know, what was the path? Like, how, uh, you are where you are today with, you know, your mentorship and teaching yoga? Like, tell us a little more.
Yeah, and the invitation— I, oh, sorry, I was gonna say the invitation is, yeah, we, you know, like Carolina said, it's like we see what we see on the surface, but we all know if we've been on this entrepreneurial path for any length of time that it can get messy in the middle. And so, you know, to the extent that you feel comfortable and able, we, yeah, just love to hear kind of the, the unscripted story. So yes, thank you.
Yeah, so I'll do like a long story short. I feel that I had many lives in just one life in my 30-ish, you know, where it's always just like a lot of things happen. Uh, but my my work grew from a life experience, I think, not from a business plan. I think most of the people that have like a sacred business journey, I think it's more like an experience. So my background is actually in communication journalism. I studied journalism very young and my dream was always to, you know, live abroad, speak languages, have an international life. So after graduating, I worked with photography in a cruise ship, like a transatlantic ship. And there it's where I think everything starts to, you know, like I have all the puzzle pieces, you know, in my life. Because I traveled through, through Europe for about a year. And then that experience abroad really shaped how I see people, culture, movement. And then from there I leave. In many other places, like in Israel for a period of time. So I was studying a lot about Kabbalah and then later I moved to United States. So it's where I entered the yoga journey. So my life with yoga was like in 2012 and then became like a structure for me, especially living far from a family, from a familiar community. So at the same time, I had a, there, a formal career in US working with education. Inside the American government for almost 13 years. And alongside, I kept developing my passions like yoga trainings, health coaching, the health coaching I was studying with Deepak Chopra, any other like, you know, well-known people. So I was building up this career without knowing that was a business plan. So somatic work, tantra, um, deep, deep down in Kabbalah, also holistic studies. And then in after pandemic, 2022, I returned to Brazil and then it was how Alma Flow community naturally took shape, you know, as a community, uh, integrating everything that I live, what I do. And it's really funny because my work, it's a really a result today of a lived experience. So not a, I don't feel that it was a career shift. Because I was doing that parallel with the formal, you know, like American government. So basically this is the journey. So since 2022 in Brazil, and, uh, I thought that would be just for a year here. And then I just find myself here and happy with all this craziness that is going on in the world, you know, and then, and I understand that, uh, Uh, it's not about having a business plan for myself. It's about, uh, a spiritual soul correction. So based on my soul correction, I choose and I decide what I'm going to do in my career life or relationships life, you know, it's the basic is there. So it's not like with the marketing ideas more, it's more about how is that going to nourish my soul, but also it's going to take me to this, to this transformation that I have to go through. And I feel that during, with this knowledge, um, it's not, it's not like getting a root in Brazil. It's just have an international community. Alma Flow can be, you know, in America sometimes, in Australia, and now is in Brazil. And I'm staying here because I don't know, world is going crazy. I don't know how you guys see this, but, um, that's all about it.
Thank you. Beautiful sharing. And I, I love the way you were sharing and how natural it was because I feel that resonates a lot with like the people that connect with our work, like our clients. It's like, I was doing this for years on the side, you know, that was like something that it was just like sometimes my hobby and I wasn't really, and that was my path too, you know, like I have a certification on like yoga and I was doing energy work and I never really planned like, oh, that's going to come. Like, but there is one point in life that I think life invites you, um, to put all together. Right. And then it's kind of like you, as you meet life in the present moment, like your business, it starts like taking shape.
And I, I, I just, uh, just something that I want to add is that it's very scary. And then like we're speaking, it looks like beautiful, right? Like, oh, and it was beautiful. And it was a yoga instructor. And then we're like, we're getting paid in the Brazil, you know, currency. You're not getting dollars anymore. And then you have to pay bills and you have to, you know, it's kind of scary. But when you add the spiritual life in all of the, you know, the spiritual studies, like then I had the opportunity to really, to really apply all the spiritual tools that I had. Because when everything was going well and I had two, like a formal job, and then you have this other job, it was perfect. But then when you have just one and then you, you're building up a community, people getting to know you, I was almost 17 years abroad. So nobody knew me in Brazil anymore. It was like, who's this woman? You know, so to build it up, everything again, it takes time. And it's a training to practice your certainty beyond logic. You know that you're in the right way. It's everyday, like, certainty beyond logic.
Yeah, I was just gonna say, I love that you brought that up because it's like a natural transition. It's like one of the questions we love to ask people because, um, we always share that, you know, it's perfectly normal to have fear and resistance, and especially if you're doing things that are kind of moving you towards your meaningful work or something that's really close to your heart, I feel. And so You know, you mentioned that, you know, there's those fears come up for you and that's totally normal, like for most people that choose this path. But I'm curious for you, yeah, what does that look like on a day-to-day? And probably more important than that, like, what is the work that you do for yourself personally to kind of keep yourself centered and moving forward when you see that fear of resistance kind of showing up, showing up in your life?
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I, I see that fear doesn't stop me. Fear informs me, like it gives me the action. So from that point, I bring all the tools that I teach my students. I have, I really have to walk my talk. So I really have to practice yoga every day. So today I teach 5 classes, right? I have 5 yoga practice today, but I got up at 5 AM and I had my yoga practice and a lot of somatic work to integrate all these harsh feelings that I had. So it's not about denial. Oh, okay. Just, you know, the invisible trust, certainty beyond logic and everything's going to work out. But okay. I'm, I'm having this fear now. How can I feel my feelings and just wait as a wave in the ocean, you know, like in the sea that you see the waves that come and go and how can I integrate? So I do a lot of breathwork. Somatic work to help me to integrate all of this. So it's a combination of working, training your mind that is going to work out at the same time, feel your emotions.
I don't know if you hear the music.
I just heard something. In Brazil it's like this. You have the loud music in the background, people driving with the funk and you get all dizzy and then the dogs are barking. Brazilian lifestyle. That's, that's how it works here. Um, yeah. And, um, after, I think after that, you open space to understand, have this compass and understand where you have to go. Who is your, you know, the right mentor comes to you, the right people come to you because you feel the emotions, you open space and also you trust the universe and wait for the universe giving you also the directions. Sometimes we don't know. And sometimes what you think is good, it's not good for our soul, right? It's our ego. So it's really hard to understand what is our soul, our ego. And I think the silence, making all this breathwork and stuff gives you a space to be in silence. And then when you're silent, you can really know where's the way.
Yeah, I love what you're sharing. Just a little before the question, like something that you shared that I think it's very, very powerful. Um, like entrepreneurship in a way is a beautiful way to practice spirituality, right? Because, um, just the way you said it was in, in, in a beautiful way. And I'm like, I've, I've been doing my practices and, you know, and understanding and studying, like, but when you have like, um, sense of security in a way, a sense of safety when you have, like, when I had my job, for example, like, it's a different relationship to the unknown. It's a different relationship to the practices, right? Because you kind of, I don't know, it's, um, you're kind of like in a safe space and then you kind of, you know, you talk about the things, but not necessarily, at least for myself, I'm not sharing for everybody, but in many ways I didn't have as many opportunities to practice. Dealing with fear, dealing with resistance, dealing with like being visible, sharing my opinion. Like, you know, like my opinion where I worked kind of like about life didn't matter, right? Like it was my opinion about the business itself. But now that I am my business, then you have to put yourself out there. You need to kind of like own your message. And it's just, there's more like invitations to like you almost inviting fear. Into your life constantly, right? Like when you step into this journey, like, and then if you think that it's wrong or you're not supposed to feeling that way, then it blocks. But if you know the way you said it, like, oh, fear is actually informing and I need to just deal with that in a different way. I think it's what keeps us moving forward and not giving up or not thinking that there's something wrong with the journey, right?
Yeah. And, um, I don't know. I think people don't, how do you say, like take for granted. They really don't appreciate the, this spiritual tool that we have. And I think in order to have the right people come to your business, you don't want 1,000 people. And then in this 1,000 people, they really don't connect with you. They're just there to see, to, I don't know, to speak bad things about your, you know, about your business, whatever. You really want people that really connect with you. And during this journey, I think at the beginning, at least for me, with the experience that I have, when I start teaching yoga in Brazil, all the yoga practices that I was going here was just the regular, you know, yoga traditional practice. And then my yoga practice was not a strategy. It's just the way I am. It's just the way I am, you know, being myself. So when I start doing the intention, when I start sharing the intention of the practice, I share things from the Kabbalah wisdom. I don't share Bhagavad Gita, for example, which is really comes from the Hinduism or yoga. I don't talk about yoga. Actually, I talk about Kabbalah wisdom, the energy of the week or the astrology, astrological energy based in the Kabbalah astrology. And based on this information, I prepared the practice that it can really address with the intention, the spiritual intention. And sometimes I throw some tantra somatic work during the practice. So when I started, uh, working the yoga studios here before I had like my, because I really believe in to build up a community, you have to be around, you know? So that's why Alma Flow, it's a movement that goes to some franchise yoga studios, but also we have our moment where we have our space. Many students that were very familiar with a different yoga practice, they really reject my yoga practice. They were like, what is this? She's asking me to do some noise, like weird noise with my mouth. Like, what is this? The tongue out? Like, what is this? And I was feeling that it was weird. For them, but they are not saying that was weird for them. So it's really funny because, uh, I think it was last year, a yoga colleague teacher saw me and then she told me, wow, I really remember that everybody was behind your back saying, what is this practice? She asked us to scream, to yell, like to break the wall. What is this? And, uh, now they love it. They say, where is the scream yoga practice? I want to sprint today. I want to put this out. You know, um, so sometimes I think the universe, the life really tests you to know if you really want to do what you're doing. You're going to face the rejection sometimes, and it's okay.
Yes, it's, um, I, I love that. And I, and I believe in that too. I think it's kind of like building up the energy to like, do you really want this? Right. Um, and one thing that I'm going to share with you that I don't think I shared, but I shared actually with our community. I remember in one of the classes, you started the class and then you came and you said, I want to say something, uh, for you guys. Somebody like the, the, the place, they do like a questionnaire or something for satisfaction. And then people complained about the type of music that you are using it. And then you came to the class and you said like, and I want to share with you guys that if you don't like my music, there's other teachers. And I cannot tell you enough how much I appreciate that. And then I was actually teaching right after that. And I like, I need to share that with our people, with our students, because this is the thing of like, I can't, if you want to be successful and if you want to stand up on whatever you do, you can't be fitting in everybody's boxes, right? I can't be, oh, they complain a bit. Like, I think there is a like wisdom to like, I pause and then I'm like, do I make, does it make sense? Right? Like, is the music some, but if it's connected to your heart and then it makes sense to you, you got to own it. And if you're not happy, just leave. You don't need to be here. And there's like thousands of other yoga teachers. Right? So, um, I just want to mention this to you because it's like, yes, it's rejection. People will not like what you have to say. People will not like your style. But if you keep trying to adapt, it's almost a testing from life as well. You will never like stand up, but the minute you're like, this is me and you're welcome to stay if you resonate, but if you don't, you're welcome to leave. Uh, that's something that we do in our business too, uh, about like subscriptions and people like quitting the list or, you know, you send too many emails. Well, if you don't like, you can turn it off, you know, but it's, it's not up to me to filter that, right? Yeah, it's funny.
Yeah. And that day I was, uh, just explaining to others that after class, I was like, listen, I was doing a lot of inner work in my life, especially living abroad when you're always there, you feel like the outsider just to, you know, like to appreciate who you are. And I don't want to fit in boxes. I just want to be who I am. And, uh, we, we have another, you know, like beautiful teachers there and different yoga styles. You just can go like, I'm not going to change because I already I, uh, during my young age, I, I tried to fit in boxes sometimes, you know, because you're like far from family, far from everybody. Uh, and then you see how you suffered because you're not happy. You, how can you be a magnetic person if you're trying to fit other boxes like inside of, you know, like you're suffocating yourself. To be magnetic, you really like feel this vibrant energy. Uh, you really have to just be who you are. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. I think the, the magnetism happens when you, but then you will also face rejection and you're also going to get people that do not like what you do and that's fine.
Yeah. But then, you know, after you cross, like, you know, it's kind of a fear too, right? To feel a rejection. It's not about the rejection, it's the fear to feel the rejection. You know, it's like the fear to feel anxiety, the fear to feel the fears. I think it's like, you know, you're expecting, I'm going to feel that. I think it's more about that because when you're really feeling, it's just like, okay. And then when you just overcome that, the right people comes. You know, and I think it's more about the quality than quantity. And what we see now, especially when you're a lot in social media, we're just comparing ourselves with everybody. And then you, you just ended up seeing yourself doing copy and not being yourself. You know, just because you think that this works. And then if you're copying all the time, sometimes you're not going to have also the same success of the other person because you don't know what is behind that. You know, seeing, so, uh, how much money are they investing, you know, to share that information if they are buying comments or if they're buying followers. There are so many things behind when you have, especially now we see a lot of gurus, right? Or people that are, I don't know, they know about everything and they want to sell you everything and you just pay, you just pay for the Instagram, Google Ads or something to share your stuff. It's crazy, you know, and then if you're just comparing yourself, it's really be harsh on yourself for nothing, you know, it's more about who are the people that really relates to everything that you do, like really likes the things you do and connect with you.
Yeah.
And it's step by step. If you think about a doctor, he's in a university for how long? I don't know, 6 years and then they have to. Do all these extra courses and then they go to hospital. So it's like, I don't know, 10 years. We open a business in 6 months, we want to be a super like visionary success person. It's different. It takes time.
Yeah, you've touched on like 3 really important things all at once. So thank you. Like there's 3 things. The first is this thing of the power of one. And that's something that we kind of share with our folks all the time, which is if you just focus on the one person in front of you, and if you're speaking to an consider speaking, you know, through a newsletter, even just remembering that conversation you had, you know, in your case at the end of a class or something like this and something that was sparked from that creatively, like this is the answer versus to your point, like trying to be everyone's everything. And the second one is what you said about the not knowing what's going on behind the scenes. And this is one that I see so, so much and it just kind of breaks my heart in a sense of like how people play this comparison game. But they, you know, they'll go out and I always use this kind of tip of the iceberg analogy where it's like you see someone and you see what you perceive as success online and you're like, okay, I like that. I like, you know, actually I don't think I'm particularly the most amazing interviewer on Substack Live, but let's just pretend that I am. And I'm like, hey, I love the way that guy Phil does his Substack lives. I'll start doing that, you know, and then you go over here and you see someone else and you're like, hey, I really like the way they do their newsletter. I'll go do that. And I like the way this person does their emails. I'll do that. And you kind of end up with this, what I call kind of like a Frankenstein duct tape business, because what you can't see is like everything that's happening below the surface. And you can't see, you know, in some cases, for example, you know, we're very honest about this, like, You know, we've, we've experienced fairly fast growth here on Substack, but, and you know, there's a certain version of that story I could tell, which is like, hey, we started this business 2 years ago and look at us. And that would be true on one level, but there's another version of the story that I could tell you is I've actually been building online businesses for a decade and I've had several online schools that had thousands of students and that created a certain amount of traction that is carried over. And, you know, so it's not, it's not all equal, right? And so I think it's really, really important for people to understand that as they come into this. And then that last one, which is equally as important, like you have so many people telling you that, you know, join this thing and, you know, in 90 days you're going to have a 6-figure business or all this kind of nonsense. And Same thing, those types of advertising, they're not necessarily true or false, but they're deceptive in the sense that they're optimizing for the 1% of their students, right? So for example, again, to the point that we're not all created equal, if I go buy someone's $39 product that teaches a very specific tactic, I may get, uh, you know, a 5-figure result out of sending one email, for example. But someone who has just left their job and this is the first step that they've made to build their list, there's no way they should expect that same sort of result. And then this carries this kind of mythology forward that I feel is so harmful for people that are trying to build their business online. So anyway, I really appreciate you bringing all those things up because there are things that I'm fairly passionate about in terms of how we speak and just the time it takes to build something meaningful. You know, we've had an interview with a very successful entrepreneur who talked about what he calls the 1,000-day rule. And that's kind of his limit, his bar of saying like, hey, like if you're not experiencing the signs— and he's not even saying the end result of like your highest vision— but if you're not experiencing the signs of like traction or at least the signals that you're moving in the right direction, have you given it 1,000 days? Because if you haven't, you probably haven't given it enough time. And then we are, you know, there's so many statistics out there about, you know, 5 years being kind of like the mark where many businesses turn the corner or, or they fail before that. But that's, you know, these, these are the realistic, true numbers. And I just feel that I'm fairly passionate about people being more, yeah, being more honest about that and upfront about it. And it's not to scare people away. It's— there's such a beautiful experience waiting for those who want to step into entrepreneurship. But it's really to what you were saying of not experiencing the shame or feeling like I'm doing something wrong, which is what I often see people do because they step in and then they try a few things one time. And when they don't get this magical result, because this is what they see, they think something's wrong with them and then they give up or they shift too quickly to a new idea. So anyway, I'm getting a little bit preachy, but this is— Yeah. —hit on some stuff that's really important to me.
And at this point of fear of failure, it's also something very important to, you know, to work on yourself. Like, I know that in Israel, people that they have like business that they fail, have a problem with the business, they're more, how do you say, appreciated by other companies than the one that never tried because they have experience, you know, they open a business, they there is a failure there. So, you know, they open another one. So they get an experience and they understand what works and what doesn't work. So sometimes, and also other point is, uh, that's why I think it's very important to know, uh, many other, you know, entrepreneurs, like to know their life and to know how, uh, was to build up their career because sometimes it's like a very well-known, I don't know, actress and an actor. That was working with art, and then she just decided to open something online. And, you know, you don't know this person, but she's very famous in other field. I don't know. And then she's like, just to show a cup, that's it. Everybody wants to buy this cup because it's the cup of, I don't know, Angelina Jolie, whatever. And you can't compare yourself with this kind of people. Sometimes you're, you know, like, oh, they're not buying my cup, but they're buying her cup. You can, because they're so, they have a lot of money and they invest so much money. I remember my, one of my tantra mentors, she knows all these global people here in Brazil and she spends like R$25,000 just in social media, R$30,000 just in social media. I can't compete with a person that is investing that money. I can't see myself, you know, Kabbalah talks about the vessel, that you really have to expand your vessel in order to receive what you want. So if you don't have this vessel, so if you're not in the place that you want to be, it's because your vessel is not expanded enough. It's the same as saying like, I want to get to money in the lottery, but I don't know how to manage money. You're never going to be in that place because if you get to the lottery, get money in the lottery, in a day you're going to spend all your money. You're not going to invest and make this money grow. See this money grow. You're going to spend everything. So that's why I think spirituality is so important to have just this, you know, how to say, direction to understand that sometimes it's not moving forward, but maybe nothing is wrong with you. It's not about a strategy. Sometimes you just have to work more on yourself, build up your vessel. You understand? I don't know if it's connected. Perfect. Exactly. Understanding. But this is as I see, for example, because sometimes also when I got in Brazil, I was like, okay, so why I'm doing the same thing that she's doing? And then I start working with her and I saw, I was like, I'm not investing all this amount of money in Instagram, you know, like all of this. And then I was like, oh, what, where are my crença limitante. How do you say that? By limiting belief? By limiting belief, yeah, like, you know, that I can't, and I was like, wow, I really have to expand my vessel. Sometimes I'm also thinking very small. Sometimes I think I have, you know, to open my mind for other things. And not instead of being just comparing, oh, he's better than me, ah, but this is investing this money, he's doing this, he's doing that. How can I look inward and just understand where can I spend my vessel to understand that I can receive, but I have to be that person that I know how to delegate, that I know how to hire people to expand my job. I cannot have a job in that amount, in that time, in that size. If I'm working by myself, I need to delegate. I need to have space. I need to have employees, you know? So sometimes we are very harsh on ourselves, but you just don't give this time to expand that vessel. Yeah, I love, I, I love the word vessel.
And I think we are like, whatever we hold in our heart, like it's because we are the perfect vessel to bring that forward into the world, even if it doesn't make a lot of sense. But when we step into entrepreneur entrepreneurship, very often, because what we see out there is the strategy, the actions, go there and do it. But we don't realize that for you to hold the business or to have a business, there is an identity shift that needs to happen. And sometimes it's not because you're doing the wrong strategy, it's just because it's the time that it takes for you to transform into someone that actually can hold that energy, right? And that's kind of like the work that we do in Sacred Business is like, Yeah, we're going to provide you with the strategy. We're going to help you with the tactics. There is like an order of operation. Like you can't just go on social media and post every day and just think that like, oh, it's only consistency. But what about the foundation? What about the density of the thing that you're offering? And that's the transformation. Like, are you looking within and are you like sharing from experience or are you just like reading a book and repeating like a parrot, like whatever it is, right? So the energy behind your actions matter a lot. And sometimes people just don't realize that and they're not willing to do the transformation. And that's another thing. And that's fine too. You know, like maybe you tried and it's like, hey, this is just not for me and I don't want to do it. And that's completely fine. But the biggest challenge I see is actually the transformation is changing the mindset is actually looking within and like, there's nothing wrong with me, but I do need to change if I want to change my reality or my business or the way I serve.
Yeah, I saw a workshop with my Kabbalah teacher that, um, a woman, she was, I'm just, I don't remember all the details, but the thing is that she was investing a lot of money in her business and she was not seeing results. And then he was asking her, um, he saw her and told her, you have a lot of light, I see a lot of potential, but tell me how's your work and how's your, you know, the way She seeded her routine. And then she would start, like, the bottom line is that she was saying that the limited belief is that if she, she was thinking that if she was working the way that she's supposed to or delegating things, she wouldn't have time to be spiritual. Like she would have to decide, or I'll be spiritual or I have to work so hard. And then he was like, There is a way where you can be spiritual and you can also work a lot, but, you know, learning how to delegate, it's a, there's a, there is a way that you can do all of this, you know, it's just your, the way you believe that, or I have to be less spiritual, or I'm gonna, if I share, if I use the money to pay this, it's not like pay, it's an investment. So it's like. It's going to grow more. And if you share here, if you respect the way of sharing, I don't know, 10%, that is one of the Kabbalah tools that you share 10% to expand more your vessel. You can share with, I don't know, family, uh, institution, whatever, you know, or how come you have— there are tools, but she was afraid to do it because she was like, oh, but if I do this, then I'll not have time to sleep, you know? Oh, but I have to sleep 8 hours. Sometimes you cannot sleep 8 hours. Oh no, but I have to keep this. So all these things was blocking her to expand. She had all the potential, but she was blocking herself. So that's why it's so important to have a mentor, to have a person so you can share all of this. So you have this direction.
Mm-hmm. I love it. Thank you. Um, another thing I wanted to touch on, and I think maybe it'd be interesting to hear your perspective because I know you had this big shift where you had spent many years abroad in the United States, and then you found yourself back here in Brazil. And, you know, you said something early in the interview of like, oh, like nobody knows, you know, I was, I'm from Brazil, but nobody knew who I was here. And, you know, you had to kind of, in a sense, I'm not, not completely, because I know you have some sense of online community, but you had to kind of start over in a way. And so as it relates to that, you know, what I've seen is one of the biggest challenges creators can face is kind of making connections, like meaningful connection as they're sharing their message. And so, um, as you've been kind of grounding your community in Brazil, like, how do you approach connection? And, you know, what advice might you have for someone who's trying to kind of share what they have to offer more consistently? And for me, this doesn't matter whether it's online or in person and community. I think in, in many ways, and if not always, the principles are the same. So I'm just curious, um, what your experience with is like with that.
Yeah, first, uh, the first thing I think it's really, for me, I, I help people to reconnect with their bodies, with their inner clarity. So I always think about this first. And I think that community for me comes before I scale, for example. So to build up a community, it's really, people really wants to be seen. They want to feel that they're, you know, like you give attention. It's not about the formula, right? But I see as much as people come to my classes, they really, all the mentorship that I do now comes from my students. You know, I work like around here in the city. Most of them are here online too, but most I've, I've been focusing more since I got back to Brazil to one-on-one, you know, like in person. So I think it's about really seeing people, really connect with people. It doesn't matter if it's just one person, because this person is going to tell a friend, oh, you have to meet this person, and then they're going to bring a friend. Or they're going to say, oh, I'm going to share this because, you know, or so being really mindful of giving this genuinely, like really be open-hearted and really give attention for one-on-one, you know, but from your heart. Because also from your, people can feel your energy. And I think more than, than ever with this AI, you know, revolution where everything it's like you can create on with GPT, whatever, uh, we are going to be more sensible about, you know, the energy of people. If you, this person wants me to sell something or really cares about me. So it's really focused on showing up, you know, nurturing community, even if you have just two people in your community, just, you know, allowing your work to really evolve naturally, uh, with people, you know, and trust also the long-term connection. I think, uh, that's everything takes time. So now I feel that I have a strong community. So for example, in the the yoga practice that I'm doing in the mall here, uh, they just share, like, they do the, how to say, the propaganda thing that, uh, 2 days before the yoga class, but my community is so strong that when I get there, there are like 55, 60 people there, you know, because they really, they're really connected with me. So I don't do any effort anymore. And I also, try, I try in a balanced way to be vulnerable with them. It's not just help them to be seen, but just being vulnerable, you know, not shy to try to show that I'm perfect and I'm the perfect leader. So I'm just being myself, as you said in the class. Okay guys, I know, like, I'm gonna keep up with my, you know, playlist. If you don't like it, you can go to other classes. It's okay. I'm not gonna be sad. You know, just being real. And I also had a thing with a student last month that was recording all my classes. And, um, I also was like, okay, if I'll say this, maybe I will lose this person in the, you know, in the group. And she left the group, but I was doing the right thing. I was going there and say, hey, you're not allowed to record 65 minutes of my classes and not asking for permission, authorization. And, uh, sometimes people are just gonna leave because, you know, like with, I have 500 people in the Instagram, in the WhatsApp group now. You can't control who is there really cheering for you, really like you or not. You never know. But you're open heart, you know, just like, okay, we are here together and being yourself. So I think it's, uh, about this gathering with the community. Uh, you know, it's birthdays, you celebrate sometimes, you have, you have to have some time like to be with your students. I know the life, it's very crazy and busy, but to give an attention and help them feel seen. So for example, there's another place here that I have more time on Tuesdays. We always have a coffee after class. You know, so it's really having this exchange. So we really know about their lives and you really exchange with them. Sometimes it's not about giving the best advice. It's just about being there in silence and listening and drinking a coffee and just give this attention.
Yeah, I love all that. And I think, um, you know, you touched on something when you mentioned the AI and I really, I have this strong belief that we're, we're kind of going full circle and in many ways, um, you know, people will already are and will be craving more and more of this in-person connection. And, you know, I think the trend is definitely going back to, um, you know, finding ways to connect in communities. I especially see that in the U.S. right now. Um, and, uh, and I also feel that, you know, some of these, um, professions specifically in the healing arts and practitioners and the spiritual space groups that have kind of been— I don't want to say marginalized, but they haven't been valued or honored to the same degree that they once were, kind of in, in, in, in more ancient wisdom cultures. I feel that those, those things are going to be coming more and more valued in society again as we kind of go through these trends with AI. And so I don't have a really strong perspective on it yet, but it's just something that I'm, I'm really kind of paying attention to and being curious about. But Yeah, I know we're getting close on time here. One thing I wanted to kind of end on with the last question is, you know, we talk a lot on this show about kind of the inner experience of entrepreneurship, but in many ways you've touched on practical elements as well. But, you know, we'd love to kind of leave our audience with some sort of a practical or tactical thing that has been working for you right now or so, like maybe in the last year, you know, something that you feel that you found that has really served and supported your growth as you've been kind of building this movement here in Brazil. So if there's anything, you know, short or simple that you think has been working well for you that could be applicable to maybe not just people in the yoga space, maybe, but if there's anything that comes to mind, we'd love to hear that from you.
Yeah, I didn't follow any aggressive marketing strategy or formula. Was really very by my intuition and any guidance, inner guidance And of course I had some mentors and some teachers that helped me. But, uh, if the, for me, I really have to, I always bring this. I'm kind of an alien, I think, because I always bring this. I like aliens. Yeah, it's all, for me, it's all about the angels.
Carolina is an alien.
Yeah, just like a Pleiadian. I say I'm from the Pleiads. Um, how do you say Pleiadiano? Pleiadiano?
Um, I don't know, but I, yeah, you don't know Phil, but you know, I know you know. Something like that.
Um, uh, so for me, my strategy is how can I, my, based on my soul correction, what is the best direction? This is what I do. So, okay, my soul direction says that in order to transform, because after I leave, after I die, pass away, that's it. Everything's going to be there. So what about, what is the transformation that I have to do here? So then I have, from there, I know what is the best mentor, the best teacher that I can ask for help or something like that. And then I follow from that, not from a place of scarcity and fear that I'm going to lose money, that it is going to be missing something. Because if I go from this perspective, oh, this is going to make more money, okay, I have to do like this or I have to do like that. Sometimes it doesn't work for me. So when I feel whole with myself, like, okay, I have everything, I am You know, the best person that I ever met. You know, I know all my struggles. I know all the things that I overcome. I'm super powerful person. When I am in this state, then I go looking for directions. Then the universe, the life, whatever, you know, pop up like a message of a person say, oh, Paola, hi. I say, oh, this mentor, this teacher. Sometimes it's in America. Sometimes it's in Israel. Sometimes it's here in Brazil, you know. Thanks God I have this opportunity to be all over. So it's, I don't have to be just one place and thanks God you have internet, you know, so I can, we can follow any strategy. But before that, I really have to feel this contentment, this wholeness that it's okay where I am. Because then after everything follows, you know, everything goes on the flow.
Yeah, I think it's really powerful and it's not an easy thing to do. Because sometimes when you are not feeling good is when you tend to take action, right? Like, oh, I'm like, I'm afraid or I'm stuck or like I'm frustrated and now I need to do something. And then the energy behind the action comes with that. I don't know, like maybe heaviness. I don't, you know, the, of the emotion that you're feeling, but then when you aligned, I like to say like aligned action. Right? Like when you connect, like I'm enough, like I have all that is required. And now you go there and you're going to post the one thing, or you're going to go there and you're going to reach out to someone that just pop up in your mind that has nothing to do with your business, but then it becomes like a collaboration just because you're taking care of the energy behind or before you take an action. And sometimes this is just like, um, We don't pause to think about it, right? Like I'm frustrated and now I need to go on social media and I'm going to post like 10,000 things and, you know, the energy behind is like, oh, I'm going to take my tarot cards and I'm just going to see what is the best, the best thing to do.
Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. For example, this last time that I was in LA, what it was, was October? October? I think it was October. Um, I really wanted to spread up, you know, to plant the seeds AmaFlow there. Uh, so I was going to the, the studio that I used to work and see like my colleagues, you know, and then I was like, okay, I want to do some yoga practice here at the park, just, you know, to build up a community here, to work on this own person, you know, to go places and really like connect with people. And, but I really was work on this because I wasn't, it's really funny because teaching yoga sometimes it feels that I'm not working, but I am working. I was there working, but I was not working. Uh, but this feeling of contentment, really loving, you know, we are routine and then there and like living my past life again. So good. So I was in a coffee shop and then a couple stopped there and said, oh, can you sit here? Okay. And you start chatting and they are building up a very nice app and they invite me to be part of the app, you know? So sometimes the universe really surprises you. So it was like, okay, so we're gonna do, you know, we had like an interview. Was not 100% the thing that I was expecting because there comes the illusion, oh my God, this is going to, you know, like I'm going to explode, I'm a pro in LA now. And then in the end it was not that thing, but it was pretty nice, you know, like it was the thing that my vessel could hold in that time. And then we, we are talking, we are doing some project together. So I was going to do something and came at something else really nice. So always it can be nicer, improve, you know, your ideas. So, and I believe that came, these things show up from the place of contentment, really like relaxed, not in the, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, I want to, you know. So that's why it's really important when you have like, I don't know, a formal job. I don't know how you say that, like a set job, you know, um, save some money. If you like, you're working at two different jobs, how can you save money? Like really, uh, or sometimes, uh, when you're really in a good moment that you're really making good money, how can you save a little bit? Because sometimes you would need this money, you know, like when I say vacas gordas, vacas magras. No, that is my English is going away. That's it.
I don't think we can translate that. We have like faces of like fat cows and thin cows, which is like fat cows would be a lot of money. It doesn't make any sense in English.
You know the dream in the Bible that Joseph, uh, Joseph was having a dream saying the cows was like have a lot of like food, and then the time that was scarcity, less food. So it's kind of this, like, you really need to know when you have a good situation with money, how can you save for the moments that you're not going to have so much money. So you're not feeling this, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. And how can you live in a humble way sometimes? Because then you're getting a lot of money. It's like, oh, now I want a nicer car. Now I want to move this apartment. Now I want this. Now I want that. So the world is going crazy. How can you be humble? Not that you cannot have everything, you know, like you can have everything, but you also, you have to feed on the ground. You really understand where you're going. You're building up something slowly, slowly, you know. So this is the way I see.
Beautiful. Well, thank you so much. I want to be respectful of time and bring this to a close, but I, you know, I would love to just ask you, I believe you're actually, I know you're here on Substack because we're here on Substack right now, but if someone's been listening in and, you know, we'll be sharing out the replay and the show notes from this conversation. To our audience, but if someone's connected with anything that you've shared or felt inspired in any way, like, where can people connect more with, with your work? Would it be here on Substack? Would it be somewhere else? Anything that you would want to, want to share with us about that?
Yeah, so you can mainly find me on Substack, or I added there the Instagram website there. I have also a website. I just upgraded, I updated the information there. So you can find me on Instagram, Paola Iaelli. Or through AlmaFlow official community, also on Instagram. And I also, I also have this community and WhatsApp group, uh, one in English and one in Portuguese. I can share the link. I can add you, send it to you guys. You can put there. I don't know if is that okay. And because in the WhatsApp group is where I offer the yoga classes, the workshops, the online practices. Usually I do the international yoga practice. Classes on Friday morning, like around 10 AM in Brazil time. I think it's 8 AM Eastern time, a Zoom class, you know. Um, yeah, and I always send the updates there in the WhatsApp group. Cool. Yeah.
So we'll make sure we have all those links from you and we'll be happy to share those out as well. So thank you very much for being here with us and it's our honor to have you and it's been a fun conversation and I know I'll be seeing you again because I love coming to your yoga classes myself. So it's really an honor. Thank you. Thank you again.
Thank you so much for holding this space and for all these thoughtful questions, connections. It's really an honor and I'm really, really happy. Carol, I see you guys in the Meta. Don't disappear.
No, I was back today, but I'll see you next week again. Thank you so much for being here with us and sharing a little bit more of who you are. Take care. Thank you.
Bye. Ciao.
