Healing isn’t about “fixing” what’s broken. It’s about opening and allowing in a new way of being.

I’m Ariel Figueroa, and for the past 15 years, I’ve dedicated my life to creating sacred spaces for healing, transformation, and deep self-discovery.

My work is about guiding others through life’s thresholds—whether stepping into a new and uncertain chapter, unraveling blocks in body and mind, or returning to what’s most true inside.

Like many who find their way here, I once felt trapped. Disconnected, lost, and held down by my own patterns. That pain became a doorway. Through it, I found healing practices that not only transformed my life—but that I now use to support others in reclaiming theirs.

A Path of Healing & Integration

Halfway through my sophomore year of college, a friend invited me to my first yoga class. During the final resting pose, I laid down and sank into a sober, psychedelic, out-of-body experience—quiet, spacious, and deeply moving. That moment would change everything. It lasted only a few minutes, but something inside me shifted.

That was the beginning.

Over the next six years, I immersed myself in yoga, dance and movement. This led to studies in Thai bodywork, energy medicine, and somatic practices from around the world. My path guided me to the Peruvian Amazon, where I was initiated into plant medicine work by Indigenous and Mestizo healers.
That work unraveled me and awakened me onto my spiritual path- something had not not fully opened in my upbringing within the Jewish tradition.

Since then, my life has been an ongoing integration—bridging medicine work, therapeutic study, and healing traditions across Eastern, Western, and Indigenous lineages. Over time, I developed my own approach: weaving together somatics, trauma-informed care, energy work, and wisdom teachings to support others in their healing process.

But my deepest lessons didn’t come from a healing work. It came from working with children.

After returning from Peru, I pursued a Master’s in childhood education. While teaching preschool, I learned the essence of what it means to hold space— to create an environment rooted in trust, presence, and safety. Not through doing—but through being.

Healing doesn’t happen through force. It happens through receptivity. And that begins in spaces of deep care and attunement.

This is the quality of presence I bring into every space I hold—whether one-on-one, in group work, or a the corporate boardroom.

A Bridge Between Worlds

As the son of a Puerto Rican father and a Jewish mother from New York City, I grew up moving between cultures, religions, races, and classes. People would ask, What are you? Until eventually, I realized—I’m my own category, a Jew-Rican 😉.

That search for belonging shaped much of my professional life’s work.

In many ways, we are all on a journey of integration—bringing together the parts of ourselves, healing what was inherited, and finding where we fit in the larger whole. My mixed heritage helped me become a bridge between worlds—just as my work now bridges healing traditions with both science and spirit, ancient roots with modern tools.

This lens led me to study sociology and expand beyond healing spaces into teaching and experience design within the professional world. For five years, I co-founded and served as Chief Experience Officer of Inheritance Project, an initiative exploring identity, leadership, communication, and conflict resolution.

There, we explored the idea of inheritance—the beliefs, wounds, and patterns passed down through generations—and how they quietly shape the way we lead, love, connect, and live.

Supporting individuals and organizations to uncover their deeper narratives, align with their values, and evolve their leadership has become a powerful bridge—linking my healing work with systems and narratives ready for change.

My Offerings

Today, I share my work through one-on-one sessions, workshops, group experiences, and the stewarding of reliable resources that explore the healing potential of plant medicine, somatic practices, and multidimensional healing traditions.

I offer integration coaching, somatic and energy-based treatments, and support for those navigating altered states or life transitions. Whether you’re preparing for a psychedelic experience, moving through a challenge in body/mind/spirit, or seeking deeper alignment, my role is to help you return to your own clarity, your own power, your own knowing.

Healing isn’t something we arrive at. It’s a practice—a continual unfolding of presence, transformation, and creativity.

Outside of Work

I live and practice in New York City, in Sugar Hill, Harlem, not far from where I was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Outside of work, you’ll find me cooking for friends, dancing with my community, hosting meditation gatherings at my home with my partner Mallory, or walking the hiking trails of the Hudson Valley.

Wherever I go, the heart of my work stays the same: to hold space for safety, depth, and transformation.

Let’s Connect

If something here resonates, feel free to look around or reach out. I’d love to hear from you.