In January 2019, World Peace Initiative Foundation and Peace Revolution project hosted the Peace Architect Awards Ceremony to celebrate the work of more than 60 mindfulness and meditation trainers accomplished throughout the year of 2018, as well as give special awards to those who have showed outstanding efforts and results in spreading peace to their communities. Gabriela Maria Torres Rios (Gaby) from Peru was awarded as the Peace Architect of the Year for her selfless work on peace-building.
Gaby has been actively working with the Peace Revolution project since 2014, spreading the message of peace through countless classes, workshops, retreats and other events that she has organized and conducted at yoga studios, holistic centers, schools, universities, hospitals, among other organizations in her home country Peru, as well as in Ecuador and Bolivia. She has also facilitated online sessions for people from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador reaching to more than 2500 people altogether.
This year, she was awarded for her strategic Mini Peace In Peace Out events organized in different cities of Peru throughout the year reaching over 1200 people in more than 30 sessions. She had also been an active Peace Coach and has guided online sessions for over 50 people which helped the participants complete their online Self-Development Programme successfully.
“I do it without expecting any rewards,” says Gaby upon receiving the Peace Architect of the Year trophy. “I do it from my heart, and I am lucky to do what I love.”
Apart from meditation and mindfulness, Gaby is also a yoga teacher, holistic therapist, a traveller and has a degree in business management. Here is a short interview with Gaby to get to know her story better.
1) How long have you been meditating?
My first contact with meditation was in 2010 as part of a yoga class. With time, my interest in this practice increased and I started to look for a meditation school. I remember having joined different classes and even attended a weekly session in a holistic center nearby home, but it was in 2013 when I found Peace Revolution and took my first Dhammakaya meditation course; since then I have been practising this method consistently.
2) How did it happen that you started this self-development journey?
About 10 years ago, I suffered from chronic stress. This condition affected my health, my relationships and my life in general. I lost passion and interest in everything, even the things that I loved the most. I was all the time complaining and holding on negativity and living the life on an autopilot.
At some point, I realized that I have lost myself, the kind, peaceful and easygoing woman that I used to be. It was in that moment when someone spoke to me about yoga. This practice not only helped me heal from negative stress, it was also the beginning of a deep personal journey of transformation. It was along this journey when meditation found me, to dig deeper into myself, make sustainable changes from inside out and show me the path to true peace and happiness. Moreover, it led me to find my purpose which is enlightening the lives of others.
3) How long have you been teaching meditation to others?
I conducted my first meditation sessions in 2015, after attending the Peace Revolution fellowship in Thailand. I went back to Ecuador, where I was living at the moment, with a big motivation of sharing meditation with my friends and yoga students, so I invited them to gather once a week for practicing meditation together. But it was at the beginning of 2017, when I attended my first Peace Architect training and became a certified mindfulness and meditation trainer. This training helped me refine my skills as a meditation teacher and acquire new knowledge and tools to guide others in the learning process of meditation and mindfulness.
4) Do you hold regular sessions where we could practice with you?
In 2018, I did regular sessions every new moon and full moon at One Love Yoga in Miraflores; one Sunday a month with Cathe & Franco at Roosevelt Park in San Isidro and one Friday a month at Balance Studio in San Borja. For this year, I am in conversations to continue with regular sessions in the same places or finding new spaces where to keep sharing.
5) What is the main message that you tell to people?
I share about the power of inner peace as a foundation for any personal journey of transformation. Inner peace is the path to true happiness and sustainable world peace.
If you are in Peru and want to learn meditation or yoga with Gaby, contact her via email (gabriela.torres.rios@gmail.com) or mobile phone (+51 993479466).
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