About Lilia Roman
Learn more about Lilia Roman and her transformative work.
From healing retreats for women in Malinalco, Mexico, to sustainable projects and much more…
LILIA ROMAN is from Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, from what has been known as “the city of eternal Spring”, or from its indigenous (Nahuatl) name: Cuauhnahuac, ‘surrounded by or being close to trees’. She received a B.A. in Public Communications in Albany, NY. and later travelled throughout Asia and Europe. She now shares her time between California and Mexico.
In 2011, after leaving her job as a tech writer at the company she was also co-founder, Lilia became a Yoga teacher, went back to her writing and activism and offered somatic practices to different population in Mexico, and beyond.
Insomnia, migraines, and other imbalances showed Lilia the way to self-care. She went into long healing journeys in nature where she acquired a meditation practice. These disciplines, which she committed to for years, completely changed her life and led her to a full inner journey, re-connecting her to the sacred Earth elements. Her grandmother was a Curandera, a Mexican traditional healer. Her mother cultivated these practices and healed her children using traditional healing methods. Lilia learned about the magic of nature and the importance of spiritual practices to balance the Fire and Water within, which in ancient Mexican medicine are the two most important elements that, when out of balance, can create dis-ease.
Coming from a lineage of powerful women healers, Lilia has deep respect for her traditions, Madre Tierra, and Mexican Curanderos and farmers. She believes it is the re-connection to the Earth that has the great potential to help humanity awaken and find its path towards liberation.
LILIA has brought her Holistic Wellness practices, Practicas Holisticas de Bienestar, to homeless people, at-risk youth, LGBTQ communities, seniors, rehab centers, and Spanish-speaking populations. Through Healing Clinic Collectives, she volunteered to assist people affected by the wildfires in Northern California. Lilia has also worked with women and children in Mexico. Through donations, she funded a Yoga and Art Programs for orphan girls affected by the September, 2017, earthquake, which left hundreds of people unemployed and hundreds of children out of schools.
YOGA STUDIES: Lilia is ERYT-500, iRest Yoga Nidra, Urban Zen Integrative Yoga Therapy, Chair Yoga, Prenatal Lev. 1, Yoga Therapy 200hrs, and Yoga for People with Cancer 100 hrs certified. She continuous to educate herself on the subjects of trauma and stress and their impact on the physical, emotional, and physiological bodies.
CURRENT PROJECTS: On December 10th, 2022, Lilia, along with other artists and activist, launched the First Traditional Medicine Event in Temixco, Morelos. The second event was on March 18th, 2023. These were the first of several TM events now being scheduled through out the year. Please subscribe to Lilia’s Newsletter for further information.
Lilia has also joined a group of students and farmers to create an agricultural project in Malinalco with the intention to help farmers become self-sufficient and make the land sustainable. Please stay tuned!
LILIA continues to bring her holistic wellness practices to underserved communities in Mexico and leads online public classes. She supports her business and other women’s businesses through her online Store: Ollin Products. She works with Artesanos from Morelos, Malinalco and Oaxaca, artisans who are now threatened to become extinct in the current globalization process. The balms/Pomadas she creates are organic, plant-based.
OLLIN PRODUCTS always consider its environmental impact and the health of the next seven generations and beyond.
THE PURPOSE: To Awaken, Activate, and Balance.
Lilia uses her practice as a tool to ‘unlayer’ the body of traumas and get rid of obstacles that hinder human beauty and growth. Her belief is that conscious movement and somatic practices can help people find freedom within, bringing them back to a place of deep surrender. Lilia believes that the breath is a powerful tool that can help people soften so they can release tensions, stress, and grief. The intention is to balance the energies within. This is one way in which people may flourish and live happier, healthier lives.
Lilia is aware every person has a unique, special body, background and skills. She encourages people to recognize and embrace their uniqueness and possibilities.
In her own words:
“I have been a traveler and a student all my life. I was always an active child, climbing trees, running, always in awe of nature. My love for animals was a deep, humbling experience. I was always trying to find out what this body was all about, nurturing compassion for all beings. As a child, I always had a deep connection to the Divine, or to something greater than myself. I left home when I was nineteen; it was something I felt compelled to do in order to survive and discover further truths about myself.
A more conscious discovery of my body and path began in my late twenties. I began to explore my inner and outer energies and realized how these energies have the power to greatly impact my life. As a Mexican woman, living in a society of expectations, repressions, classism, and other traumas, I found myself confused and fragmented, which caused further suffering. Depression issues led me to solitude and meditation. A couple of year later, I found yoga. I realized that yoga, or Quin (Nahuatl word for yoga), was a powerful tool I could use to help myself heal. That was the beginning of a long journey which brought me to a place of constant discoveries, immense joy, and also tears. I re-connected to my own body, found my voice and began to heal from the inside out. Through a disciplined practice, this path became the unfolding of my own being. I now see those challenging years as great teachers that came from beyond to show me the way and I am deeply grateful. I was blessed to understand what is of value to my life.
Today, I devote my time to working with communities and studying and practicing ancient healing arts, listening to what my body has to say and remember. I work with activists, healers and the youth; we support each other and have found ways to grow and evolve. In 2020, I moved back to Mexico to take care of may ailing mother. It is with her that I learned about true surrender, compassion, and unending gratitude. My mother passed in September of 2024. Her transition took me to another level of living and being. I miss her deeply, but her energy guides me in everything I am and everything I do.
As I work with communities, my intention is to bring community projects to fruition. We support farmers, the youth and indigenous people to move forward. This is one way to help alleviate some of the suffering marginalized communities are going through.
Growing up in a small town in Mexico, I was surrounded by ancient archeological sites and beautiful hills and mountains. My neighbors were the indigenous people who spoke Nahuatl, the native tongue of Central Mexico. They taught me about hard work and humility. I also saw their poverty and suffering due to discrimination and isolation. This also woke me up to another reality of our world. This is the reason CASA XiMALI exists, today.
As a child, I helped my mother feed the chickens, pigs, and turkeys that we raised. In my community we also grew corn, zucchini and other vegetables. What I remember with much love is the beautiful corn feast that we had every year. During the harvest season in the fall, my father and mother would make a big fire in the corn fields; they would roast corn for everybody who came to visit. That fire warmed up my body and lit up my soul.
I also remember the rivers and beautiful flowing waters where I used to go with my older brother and sisters. The cooling, fertile earth, the strong majestic trees and the smoothness of the stones are the memories that marked me. That is the nature I came from, the nature that lives within me, and the energies that guide my work and my life today”.
PAST Projects
SOME of Lilia’s causes for the past ten years have been helping abandoned cats in her home town. Her hope is to eventually build an animal shelter for rescued cats and dogs. To support this project, please email: LIRIOroman@gmail.com
ALGUNOS de las causas que Lilia ha apoyado en los últimos diez años han sido esterilizar gatos abandonados. Lilia y su comunidad en Morelos han esterilizado más de cien gatos y uno de sus planes es eventualmente conseguir un hogar para gatos y perros abandonados.
WORKING ON SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS!
Defending the Land – Protecting our Youth
With the youth and activists farmers, defenders of the land, we are working on a project to create opportunities for our young communities to learn and work with permaculture. Our goal is to give our youth the opportunity to become conscious and develop skills to take care of their own environment. At the same time, these skills should help them make a living for themselves.
Without support and guidance, the youth finds little incentives for growth. Globalization has caused unemployment and other issues in agricultural towns, threatening to make organic farming difficult to achieve. Many young people in Mexico find themselves marginalized and deprived of opportunities for growth and, therefore, they are left out of the economic and political conversation.
In our towns, as a result of climate change and unplanned globalization, farmers are finding it very challenging to compete with big industries. Mexico is now importing the food it used to export to other countries, and it has become more dependent on the U.S. for basic products such as corn, Mexico’s staple food. Each year, we see more campesinos and young people migrating to the United States, risking their lives crossing the borders to find better opportunities.
Our projects have the intention to form conscious leaders. We are working towards the preservation of the environment and community integration. We want our farmers to do what they love: work the land in a sustainable way and achieve better productivity.
Seven months ago, we started working on a documentary video to highlight the struggle of the Campesinos in Malinalco and Morelos. Our intention with this video is to offer different alternatives to the problems caused by unconscious gentrification.
This project would be a dream come true. Stay tuned!
ARTS AND TRADE SCHOOL FOR OUR YOUTH!
Another project that is on the works is the development of an ARTS AND TRADE School in each of our communities. David Roman, the leader of this project has an M.A. in Literature at UGA, a BA in History at the Normal Superior in Morelos. He was the original founder of Universal, a Spanish school in Cuernavaca and also has over thirty years of experience as a Spanish teacher. We are now working together on this beautiful project.
In 2025, CASA XiMALI intends to donate at least 25% percent of its yearly proceeds to help in the creation of this school. With your help, we will be able to create the first Arts and Trade School in Morelos. Please contact us and let us know how you can support us in this ambitious project. We need your support to make it happen!
Please contact us for more info or if you wish to support financially, become a partner or volunteer. We hope to hear from you!
IN GRATITUDE
LILIA is deeply grateful for everything given and everything received. She bows to the mystery and to everything that keeps unraveling. Some of her first and greatest teachers have been her parents and siblings, and her beloved cats and dogs who came to teach her about strength, gentleness, and unconditional love. She is deeply grateful to her ancestors who paved the way for her to become resilient and always aspire for the truth. She also thanks her teachers for their honesty, support, graciousness, humor, and for being the eye openers she needed to continue on her path as a student and teacher of ancient practices. She aspires to be, first of all, a human being and continues to learn and be inspired by wonderful teachers who come to her in many forms.