Sedona, Arizona
About Sanatya
and Michael
Sanatya is a small practice. Everything below is meant to give you a clear picture of what it is.
Spiritual coaching, breathwork, and retreat work.
1:1 and small group, based in Sedona.
Spiritual coaching, breathwork, and retreat work. 1:1 and small group, based in Sedona.
30-minute discovery call · No pitch, no pressure
- Sessions in English and Spanish
- 1:1 coaching by application
"Michael is one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met! He has an exceptional ability to show people the light within themselves."
- Chauncy H.
What Sanatya means
The name pulls from three Sanskrit roots that sit at the foundation of how Michael approaches the work.
Satya
Truth
In Vedic tradition, linked to Satya Yuga, the age associated with clarity and integrity before the layers of obscuration accumulate. The orientation isn't toward a truth that has to be constructed or performed. It's toward what's already there to be recognized.
Śūnyatā
openness ·
spaciousness
Often translated as "emptiness," though that translation can be misleading. The sense it points to is the open ground from which experience arises. Not absence. Spaciousness underneath form. In contemplative traditions, the encounter tends to feel less like void and more like room. A kind of internal space that wasn't there before.
Sananda
indwelling presence
A name found across multiple traditions, pointing to the indwelling divine presence. In Michael's framing, this connects to the awakening of Christ-consciousness - divinity already here, not as religious doctrine but as direct recognition. The work doesn't introduce something foreign. It points to what was always present underneath.
About Michael
Michael Pupiales is a certified breathwork practitioner, men's coach, and motivational speaker based in Sedona, Arizona. He's worked primarily with men in 1:1 containers, small group settings, and retreat work on the land over the past decade.
His academic background is in Health and Exercise Science (BS, Colorado State University). His breathwork training came after, through the LOKA School of Yoga, in the lineage of Swami Satyananda Saraswati. That foundation is classical Vedic pranayama, taught as a complete system rather than a single technique: asana, pranayama, mudra, and bandha treated as integrated parts of one practice. His broader training includes modern approaches to nervous system regulation and emotional processing. Putting you in tune with what's actually happening in the body when something shifts.
The work he facilitates isn't theoretical. He came to it through his own. During his time at Colorado State, he had what he describes as an awakening vision. An experience that pointed him toward a different relationship with his life and pulled him into a practice that's continued for over a decade since. That practice has included Vipassana meditation, ceremony with indigenous elders, modern somatic work, and the longer process of integration after each.
The path wasn't an academic interest. It came out of addiction recovery, self-doubt, and a period of real disorientation about what his life was for. The work he teaches now is the work that brought him through.
Outside of coaching and retreat work, Michael speaks publicly on themes of remembrance, presence, and embodiment. He co-facilitates couples retreats with his wife, Omkari.
Credentials
- BS Health & Exercise Science (CSU)
- Certified breathwork practitioner
- LOKA School of Yoga · Satyananda lineage
- Decade-plus personal practice
- Vipassana · ceremony · somatic
What the work draws on
Michael's facilitation pulls from a specific blend of practices, treated as integrated rather than mixed. The breathwork comes through classical pranayama, structured by intent and sequenced for what's needed in a given session. The somatic work comes through years of training in modern nervous system approaches alongside personal practice. The ceremonial elements come from years spent in ceremony, taught by people who hold those practices seriously.
Beyond those primary modalities, the work draws on meditation, qigong, dance and embodied movement, time on the land, and creative practice. The coaching layer is its own thing: relational, intuitive, grounded in the premise that the man across from him isn't a problem to solve. The pace follows what's actually present. The work doesn't run a curriculum.
How the practice is structured
Sanatya operates as a small practice by design. 1:1 coaching is the primary container. Monthly sessions by Zoom or phone, structured around what you are actually working with rather than a predetermined program. Twice a year, Michael facilitates a small group container with a defined arc and a specific focus. Retreats happen in Sedona, capped at small group size, typically ten men or fewer, so that the work has room to be real. Couples retreats are bespoke, co-facilitated, and built around the specific intentions of the couple.
01
1:1 coaching
Monthly · Zoom or phone · primary container
02
Group container
Twice a year · defined arc
03
Men's retreat
Sedona · 10 men · bi-annual
04
Couples retreat
Bespoke · co-facilitated · 3–7 days
Para hombres Latinos.
Michael is Latino and works in both English and Spanish. Many Latino men grow up holding deep spiritual and familial inheritance and an unspoken expectation to carry it alone. That inheritance is foundation in the work, not background detail. Sessions in Spanish are not translation. They're how the work happens, in the language and frame it was always meant to happen in.
The guiding principle
Truth remembered is only the beginning. Truth embodied is the work.
If something here lines up
The first step is a discovery call. A short, real conversation about what you're working with and whether this is the right fit.
30-minute discovery call
Reviewed within 48 hours
FAQs
Find answers to commonly asked questions about Sanatya and our services.
Who does Michael primarily work with?
Men, mostly. Most are between 30 and 60. Past the early career-building stage and clear that something underneath is asking for attention. Some come from a specific spiritual tradition; many don't. The common thread is readiness.
Why does Michael work primarily with men?
A specific intent of the practice is creating containers where men can do inner work without performing, and many of the patterns men carry move differently in single-gender settings. Michael also has lived experience navigating the territory men tend to come in with. Couples retreats are the exception, where the work involves both partners by design.
Is this a religious practice?
No. The frame draws on multiple traditions: Vedic pranayama, contemplative practice, ceremonial work, and the recognition of indwelling divinity that some traditions call Christ-consciousness. It isn't tied to a single religion or belief system. Men come from a range of backgrounds, including no formal tradition.
How is this different from therapy?
Coaching isn't therapy and isn't a substitute for it. If you're treating clinical conditions or in active mental health crisis, a licensed clinician is the right fit. Coaching is for men who are functional in their lives and want a deeper container for inner work.
Do I need to be in Sedona to work with Michael?
No. 1:1 coaching is remote. Zoom or phone, monthly. Retreats happen in Sedona; the rest of the practice can happen anywhere.
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Sanatya
Guiding men back to themselves through embodied presence, breathwork, and honest inner work. Based in Sedona, AZ.
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