More about Alara

Hello, I am Alara Paragas. As a life-change-artist, I work on a blank “canvas of life” as I re-invent myself at certain junctures in my life. There had been times when I didn’t welcome those turning points, but I get it now that “we create our reality every minute, everyday .” So I adopt “beginner’s mind” as I create life on my canvas, always repeating those two mantras whenever I slip into unconscious creation.

Through the years – spent time off from my day corporate job empowering people through energetic readings and sharing with them resources that support our innate self-healing abilities and inner wisdom. It’s about “teaching what you most need to learn.” But in all those years, I was doing the work “from the closet.”  As a kid, I wondered why I knew a lot of things that I hadn’t read about nor heard anyone speak of. I ached to know who I was inside and who I was becoming, why I thought differently from my siblings and friends, why I knew what I intuitively knew. I turned to astrology, numerology, tarot, I Ching, meditation, for the wisdom they offered in bringing light to who I am.  Outside the privacy of my room or house, I tried to stay in the box to conform, albeit painful.

Where I come from – is a place for the creative intuitive.  A turning point in my late twenties catapulted an immersion into various new thought, energy and healing modalities, such as Core Energy, rebirthing/breath work, TM meditation, Raja Yoga, TaiChi and Qi Gong, Reiki, Quantum Touch, body-mind/belief and reality concepts, and the Star’s Edge Avatar process, which now form part of my eclectic skills set.  My energetic reading skills were honed at the Church of Natural Grace seminary, a meditation school in San Francisco, California where I became a licensed minister and later taught foundation classes to beginning students.  An avid student of astrology and tarot, I also trained in BTB feng shui and continue to learn and train in other modalities.  As of this writing, I am completing a certificate program for “The Law of Attraction” and also working on becoming a certified member of the Kabalarian Society (based in Vancouver, Canada).  On the creative side, I dabbled in impressionistic oil painting and got educated in multimedia, became a personal/family historian and created digital photo montages for family and friends, as well as a couple of personal video shorts.  Passionate about the arts, music and my writing, I get inspiration and renewal from walks in nature, artist dates, yoga and TaiChi.

On the flip side of energy consciousness – is my past life in the corporate world, grounded in my Bachelor’s degree major in English and graduate work in business administration and also, Philippine literature. My work history is as checkered as it can be: worked after college as an editorial assistant at a publishing company; taught freshman college English at the University of the Philippines; was a language instructor/coordinator with the U.S. Peace Corps; and held various positions in government that utilized my business/project management skills, the last one of which culminated in spearheading the turn-around of a government-owned hotel from “red to black” and preparing it for turn-over to the private sector. In the U.S. mainland, I re-invented myself from the bottom of the corporate ladder, working in various management positions where I put to good use my organizational and problem-solving skills. During the last five years, I was financial manager for a boutique consulting firm in the Bay Area/California until I was downsized in 2012. That event brought on a career transition to becoming a free agent, a midlife dream as it turns out to be. Now I’m  currently navigating my way as I go, discovering what works for me along the path.

And the girl finally gets the boy (an “it’s-about-time, feel-good ending” to a romantic movie a la The Barbra ) – yet another blank canvass that I have been joyfully painting on. The role of “wife, lover and partner” got added to my resume when I married my soul mate more than a year ago.  My husband and I were two never-been-married kindred souls with no kids, a perfect match to begin with.  My mother can finally be happy from wherever she is.

What I know so far – is that this next phase of my life is an exciting process of yet again re-inventing myself, drawing from my eclectic training and my business management background.  My TaiChi, yoga and meditation practice continues to teach me the value of working with our own energy and engaging the energy that’s around us – the ebb and the flow of life, the yin and the yang. Through this energy consciousness and the power of the word, I will connect with you, and hope to empower, inspire and support you towards your goals and dreams. I also offer practical tools and tips that can energize your life and encourage moving forward to the next step, especially during those crucial periods of gear-shifting.

Where I am now – is where living deliberately and being like water intersect. Where writing and making a living accompany each other. I am finding my voice as a writer and finally out in the global sphere to share what has worked for me in my journey towards wholeness and joyful living.