Women In Wellness: Ana Muñoz Of OMM Wellness On Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Wanda Malhotra

Be cautious with your time. Spend it with people who add value, make you happy, or uplift you. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Think for a moment about the people you frequently surround yourself with, do they give you energy or drain it? There you’ll find your answer.

Today, more than ever, wellness is at the forefront of societal discussions. From mental health to physical well-being, women are making significant strides in bringing about change, introducing innovative solutions, and setting new standards. Despite facing unique challenges, they break barriers, inspire communities, and are reshaping the very definition of health and wellness. In this series called women in wellness we are talking to women doctors, nurses, nutritionists, therapists, fitness trainers, researchers, health experts, coaches, and other wellness professionals to share their stories and insights. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Ana Muñoz.

Ana Muñoz (38) — She is a psychologist, dedicated athlete, loving mother of Valentino, a visionary entrepreneur, and certified health coach from Duke University (2022). Her story embodies extraordinary resilience, unwavering courage, and remarkable transformation. After surviving a devastating shark attack, Ana discovered an inner strength that propelled her to recover and thrive. Fueled by an unwavering passion for helping others, she has devoted her life to inspiring individuals to overcome their own challenges, embrace self-love, and unlock their true potential.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

I have always been a dreamer. One day, I dreamed of living by the sea, and that dream took me from Bogota and brought me to Cartagena. My rebellious spirit made me dream of breaking out of the mold, of doing things different, and that’s how I created my first company, Two Travel, a concierge company that plans customized itineraries from A to Z. While building Two Travel I was also preparing for my second Ironman, and working as a single mother, life had a surprise for me that would change me forever… a shark bit me while diving on a remote island in the Colombian Caribbean. This accident made me reassess my dreams, and change my course, and prompted existential questions about the purpose of what I was doing in the world. That’s how OMM was born, with the belief that we are in this world to make it a better place for others. I dream of changing people’s lives, of helping them become better human beings, better parents, better children. I dream of leaving my world better than how I found it. I know, I am a dreamer.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

I studied psychology, and when I was in my fourth semester, I was convinced that I had chosen the wrong career. But I believed I needed to give it more time, that I would change my mind. However, my true passion was business. I tried to ‘correct my mistake’ by doing a master’s degree in Commercial Management and Marketing, and I dedicated my entire professional career to distancing myself as much as possible from psychology, always working in business and focusing on making money.

Never, not even in my wildest imagination, did I think that one day my skills would merge with my passions. Sometimes, we may not understand why things happen because we lack the ability to look back until we’ve overcome difficult moments and everything becomes clear. Today, I have no doubt that my studies in psychology were a fundamental part of my life — I didn’t choose the wrong career. Absolutely everything happens for a reason, and the answers aren’t in the ‘why,’ but in the ‘for what,’ even if it takes us a bit more time to discover it.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

During one of the first retreats we organized, an attendant lost a very close relative during the event. The organizers found out about the death before she did, and being present to support her in such a difficult moment was very hard. Two other participants who were her friends accompanied her to the funeral, and it was a very challenging moment because we lost three attendees, and the rest of the group was left feeling sad and with low energy. The greatest lesson I learned is that no matter how much you want to control everything, there are things that simply cannot be controlled — life itself is unpredictable.

Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

At OMM Wellness, the company I founded, we aim to be a channel through which people can work on the things that hurt them, overcome the difficult moments they’ve experienced, heal their childhood wounds, understand and overcome their traumas, and learn to live lighter, more present, and more peacefully. I believe that happy people have fewer problems with the world because they are focused on themselves rather than on others, and this undoubtedly creates a better world for themselves and those around them.

Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing?

1. Gratitude is the cure for unhappiness — When you are grateful for what you have, you stop thinking about what’s missing. You won’t be happy with what you think is lacking if you aren’t happy with what you have in the present. Every night, my son and I sit down to give thanks for the people in our lives and for the good and not-so-good things that have happened to us. I also teach him to be grateful for problems and difficulties.
2. Move Your Body — It doesn’t matter if you’re not a great athlete, walk, go to the gym, swim, dance; just move your body in the way you enjoy the most. Moderate exercise, like everything in life, is the key to success. In Sardinia, Italy, they discovered that people who live in the blue zone (those who live more than 100 years) owe much of their longevity to living in hilly areas where they had to walk every day to get home. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk 10 minutes to get to the supermarket. It all counts.
3. Don’t Feel Bad for Sleeping — In a world of over-demanding expectations where sleeping more is underrated, prioritize your sleep. Establish a routine, and most importantly, try to stick to it. Sleeping well is a habit, and like all habits, it can be learned. A study by the University of Pennsylvania and Washington State University found that the mental and physical performance of participants who slept 6 hours a night for 2 weeks fell to the same level as if they had stayed awake for 48 hours straight — even though they believed their performance levels were unaffected by the shorter sleep. For ideal productivity and health, we need more than 6 hours of sleep.
4. Have Deep Connections — The longest study on happiness, conducted by Harvard over 86 years, concluded that the greatest predictor of happiness and health as we age, is deep relationships. Cultivate your friendships, and spend quality time with them. Life isn’t about the destination; it’s about the company. Ask yourself: What are your priorities in life? How much time do you dedicate to it? Is there congruence between your priorities and the time you invest on it?
5. Keep your blood sugar stable — There is a ton of hype around blood sugar control at the moment, But this isn’t something new. Research has known for decades that having a steady blood sugar not only helps to beat cravings, lowers belly fat and wrinkles, but is also important to keep inflammation, free radical production, cellular ‘rusting’ and ‘aging’ plus a stronger immune system. Instead of cutting all carbs out entirely, focus on ‘coating’ your carbs with some protein, veg and fats to lower a blood sugar spike. Which brings us to the next trick. Blood sugar swings also play a large role in hot flashes, mood swings, brain fog and stubborn belly fat. When you learn to eat better, you realize it’s not just about eating well but about eating smartly.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

If I could start a movement that would change the world, it would be to teach emotional intelligence on a massive scale. If we educated our children from a young age to be more aware of the role of emotions and how to learn self-regulation, how to control anger and sadness, how to resolve conflicts assertively, we would see a decrease in homicide rates, assaults, addictions, domestic violence, and bullying that currently exist in the world.

When I talk about doing this on a massive scale, I mean normalizing this teaching in all the environments where we learn. Incorporating it into the products we consume widely, in movies, bestselling books, work training, and university studies, and including it as a mandatory subject in school curricula, which would be much more useful for life than learning the Pythagorean theorem.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

1. You are going to fail many times. What’s important is not falling down but getting back up. When you know you’re going to make mistakes, you lose the fear of failure because it’s something inevitable on the path of an entrepreneur. What matters is having the strength to keep trying.
2. “Inspiration exists, but it finds you working.” Many times, we sit and wait for things to change, but things don’t change overnight. We wait for divine inspiration to tell us how to change the course of our lives or our businesses, but inspiration comes at the most unexpected moments — while having a coffee, when you wake up in the morning, in those moments when you’re not expecting anything. Focus on staying aligned with your purpose, and the magic happens on its own.
3. No one knows what they are doing. Literally! Nobody really, truly knows what they’re doing. Everybody has really great guesses. They have models they’ve based things on. They follow common business practices. They have stats, advisors, and all sorts of information that guide their business, actions, and decisions. But really, there’s no guarantee. You can ask for help, listen to different opinions, but in the end, trust your instinct.
4. Run the extra mile. Always. There is nothing to gain by doing the same thing as everyone else. If you look around, you’ll find that people who break out of the hamster wheel do things differently; they see life differently. You have to make an effort, work extra hard, dreams don’t come true on their own, you have to go for them.
5. Be cautious with your time. Spend it with people who add value, make you happy, or uplift you. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Think for a moment about the people you frequently surround yourself with, do they give you energy or drain it? There you’ll find your answer.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

At OMM, we believe that a fundamental part of our work lies in the conservation of our resources. We want our travelers to have a positive impact on the communities and places they visit. In this way, we aim to preserve and properly manage natural resources by avoiding single-use plastics, ensuring zero impact on tours, planting native trees, and collecting and properly disposing of waste produced.

We also work to maintain and promote cultural heritage through the living communities that still exist in our country, creating experiences for our visitors to learn about their rituals, cultural knowledge, how they live, and how they see the world.

What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?

Web: www.ommwellness.co

Instagram: @ommwellness_

Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.

About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com.