Meet Serena Muniz

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Serena Muniz.

Hi Serena, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was a personal trainer for 6 years, & later moved my business to online coaching. I have practiced holistic medicine and “healthy living” my whole life and have always been in or around the health and wellness space. About a year and a half ago, my little brother passed away unexpectedly, and all of that came to a very abrupt halt.

In the year following, I was learning to navigate through grief and an overwhelming sense of sadness that never seemed to go away and ultimately caused a lot of health issues that I knew nothing about. I became the opposite of everything I had always believed in and practiced because I was so desperate to feel normal again.

My brain played tricks on my body because it was looking for someplace to store all of my pain. I have always been an advocate for mental health and the role it plays in our healing/wellness journey. My little brother was a 24-year-old Navy Veteran, and losing him in the way that my family did (an unexpected glioblastoma – brain tumor) was truly a catastrophic event in my life, and the toll it took on my mental health was devastating.

But it DID re-directed my path and re-ignited a burning passion within my heart to want to help people learn and heal. Because of this, I am now studying & pursuing my degree in clinical psychology and therapy in hopes of helping others make their brain a safe place to be. I hope to one day work with people who have PTSD, especially Veterans, and give them better care, along with others who suffer from severe mental health obstacles.

All of this while I continue to maneuver my way through the fitness industry, and while I grow my business in the travel space as a luxury travel advisor. I do believe the combination of these 3 things is a huge contributing factor to developing a positive relationship with our mental, emotional, physical, AND spiritual well-being.

I think a lot of us forget that our health is so much more than exercise and the foods that we eat. I just want to shine a light on the importance of nurturing our souls and leaving a positive and lasting impact on the world moving forward.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It absolutely has NOT been a smooth road.

I don’t think any journey with a destination of value will ever be easy to reach. I talked about the loss of my brother, and that will be the biggest thing. Not only because of the loss but because of the giant dominos that fall after the fact when you are trying to heal. (I think anyone who has ever suffered from grief will know what I mean).

You lose so many parts of yourself, and those losses are permanent. I had to re-learn how to look at myself with love and give myself grace because I really did give up on myself for a moment. I felt like a failure because I couldn’t overcome the depression. I couldn’t eat, and I definitely couldn’t work or work out.

I pushed many friends and family members away. It was like the hole just kept getting deeper and deeper, and I was falling faster and faster. You learn a lot about yourself and your resilience when you finally realize that you are really the only person who can save you.

Only I had the tools to help myself, and it took nearly a year to truly believe that I could rise out of this darkness and somehow become the light that I so desperately needed. In saying all of this, I just want to reiterate the fact that PTSD, anxiety, and depression are all very serious and real and we should be gentle with people because we really just don’t know the battles they could be fighting.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe you can tell us more about your work next?
As of right now, I am a student pursuing a professional career in clinical psychology. But I still work throughout the fitness industry in sharing my workouts and my journey and my expertise (mostly on my IG @SerenaMFit) – where I am thinking I may be releasing another workout program for Summer to give the girlies something fun to challenge themselves with.

Aside from that, I am a luxury travel advisor through FORA. (I love planning adventures, and traveling is something I am very passionate about because of what you are able to learn about yourself and about the world when you are overseas. But I also help plan domestic travel as well). It’s at no extra cost to the traveler; they just tell me what they want and where they’re going, and I handle all the hard stuff for them. It’s really fun, and I do love it a lot.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
So, I had never been to Nashville before I moved here, and I was feeling pretty spontaneous. But I fell in love with it quickly. The energy here is just different than most places. I’m very passionate about art in all of its forms, so it being Music City is a good place to start. It feels like home.

Everything is so naturally beautiful; there are so many unique places to check out to eat and drink, and the people I have personally come in contact with have all been so kind and genuine. You don’t find that many places these days.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.foratravel.com/advisor/serena-muniz
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serenamfit/?hl=en