In Conversation With Ornella Hutchison, also known as Ornella Selflove <3
Yogi. Healer. Mindset and Embodiment Coach. Sound Healer. Founder of Om&Beyond Retreats.
We meet Ornella Hutchison in that luminous space she seems to naturally inhabit. Soft yet grounded. Deep yet playful. Born and raised in Kenya and currently based in Geneva, Switzerland, Ornella, known to many as Ornella Selflove, has spent the last decade on a path of self-inquiry and the last four years actively guiding others through theirs.
Her work moves between the subconscious mind, ancestral healing, embodiment practices, yoga, sound, and identity-level transformation. It is not about fixing yourself, she tells us. It is about remembering who you were before the conditioning took over.
Here is our full conversation.
For readers encountering your work for the first time, how do you describe your practice and the need it responds to?
“My work exists for souls who are self-aware,” Ornella begins. “People who know there is a whole lot more going on beneath the surface. They feel their potential bubbling underneath. They are brave. And they deeply crave community, clarity and inner work that actually reflects into their outer world.”
She explains that many of the people who come to her have already done a significant amount of self-work. They understand their patterns. They have beautiful dreams. They can articulate their wounds. And yet, in daily life, they still find themselves reacting in old ways, repeating familiar cycles, or feeling disconnected from their full power, confidence and deep inner trust.
“At its core, my practice responds to a gap I see everywhere,” she says. “We have learnt how to understand ourselves. But we have not learnt how to be ourselves.”
Ornella works deeply with the subconscious mind, ancestral patterns, the nervous system and the body. The goal is not just insight, although she values insight. The goal is integration. Moving from survival-based ways of being into conscious, thriving-based living.
“One thing to get straight,” she adds with a smile. “I will not help you fix yourself. I help you dissolve obstacles and remember who you were before conditioning, coping strategies and compensation behaviours took the wheel. Then we learn how to live from that place, consistently, in real life.”
What personal or professional journey led you into this work?
“Just like you,” she says gently, “I experienced darker times. What we call big T and little T trauma.”
Ornella believes that everything she has gone through prepared her to be the guide she is today. She speaks openly about moving from a relationship with herself that felt like self-war, including an eating disorder, numbing behaviours and extreme perfectionism, into one of compassion and care.
“Yoga came first,” she explains. “It transformed how I live in my body.”
Her path took her to Nepal, where she deepened her yoga practice and completed her Sound Healing training. A year later, NLP and deep subconscious work entered her life, alongside what she calls a big spiritual awakening, including the awakening of psychic and intuitive gifts.
“This work changed my life. And it continues to do so,” she says. “It showed me that we have choices. That we can rewire our conditioning. That we can turn our traumas into our greatest powers. Transmute our shadows into light.”
She emphasises that she does not believe in turning away from darkness. “There is treasure there. Magic there. Change your perspective of a thing, and watch how that thing changes.”
Today, she has guided hundreds of souls around the world to similar realisations.
How long have you been practising, and how has your work evolved over time?
“I have been on this journey for ten years,” she tells us. “And actively sharing my work for the past four.”
In the beginning, she explored modalities as separate tools. Over time, she realised that lasting transformation does not come from doing more. “We do not want to get stuck in the healing loop,” she laughs.
From this came her signature SDB structure.
S is for Subconscious Rewiring. “We are only aware of one to five percent of our mind. The rest is subconscious. That is a huge amount to leave governing our lives on autopilot. I see that as potential.”
D is for Deep Healing. Once safety and awareness are established, the work moves into inner child healing, ancestral lineage clearing, nervous system work and relationship work. “This is where self-trust, self-love and confidence blast through.”
B is for The Becoming. “What often gets missed is who we are after the deep healing. We get to choose who we want to be in this life. We start being that version now. And you will be surprised how quickly your life starts to shift.”
What does a typical session with you involve?
Most of Ornella’s coaching work is hosted online. She runs a thriving three to four month group container called The Becoming Room three times a year, welcoming eight to twelve participants per season. She also offers one-to-one mentorship over three to six months.
Her programmes blend live and pre-recorded material designed to support clients for decades.
In Geneva, she teaches yoga almost every day at Sol Studio, offering Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Yin and Yoga Nidra. “I love this special in-person time with my loyal community,” she says.
And then there is her newest offering. Om&Beyond Retreats.
Her very first retreat runs from March 2 to 10 and includes attendance at the Kilifi Wellness Festival. She plans to host three to four retreats a year in what she calls Mamma Earth’s most beautiful spots, weaving subconscious work, embodiment and community into lived experience.
“So watch this space,” she smiles.
Who is your work most effective for, and who is it not suited to?
“My work is most effective for souls ready to take responsibility for their inner world,” she says. “Without blaming themselves for how it was shaped.”
Participants need to be brave, curious, self-aware and ready to move beyond insight into embodiment. The work touches relationships, leadership, money, health and daily choices.
“One thing you absolutely must be,” she adds, “is ready to take a leap of faith. To fully commit. To change the trajectory of your life.”
It is not suited to those looking for a quick fix, external validation or purely intellectual understanding. Healing, she says, is not about bypassing discomfort. But it is not always heavy either.
How do you define wellness, particularly within an African or Kenyan context?
Here, her voice softens.
“Wellness is not individualistic or aesthetic. It is relational and embodied.”
Raised in Kenya, she describes a deep appreciation for African ways of being that centre connection. Connection to community. To ancestry. To land. To nature’s cyclical rhythms. To Spirit.
“The body is not separate from that. Or it should not be.”
She defines wellness as the ability to be with life without contraction or self-abandonment. The capacity to respond rather than react. To feel deeply without drowning. To live in alignment.
“One of my teachers says, life will reveal to you the places in which you are not free,” she reflects. “So all in all, wellness is freedom.”
In what ways does your practice support local communities?
Ornella’s work extends beyond individual transformation into community spaces through group programmes and retreats designed to prioritise safety, inclusivity and real connection.
She works with both men and women above the age of sixteen and has begun weaving scholarships into her coaching programmes for those without financial resources.
Her retreats intentionally collaborate with local small businesses through sponsored goodie bags and exposure to a global audience. “We honour the land and the people’s wisdom where each retreat is held,” she explains.
What are common misconceptions about your work?
“The biggest one,” she says with a laugh, “is that this work is purely spiritual or abstract.”
In reality, it is deeply practical. Ornella weaves spirituality with science-led approaches, grounding complex subconscious and nervous system work into accessible language.
Another misconception is that healing must be heavy and overwhelmingly hard. “When you feel safe, change does not need force. It can be gentle. Even fun.”
What shifts have you consistently observed in your clients?
“Self-trust,” she answers immediately. “Deep internal confidence.”
She sees it in their decisions, their reactions, their devotion to their lives. She sees it in their physical presence. A glow in their skin. A sparkle in their eyes. The shy becoming expressive. The overly performative softening into calm.
“When you shift from the inside, your outer world shifts too,” she says.
For someone at the beginning of their wellness journey, what is one grounded place to start?
“Learn how to listen to your body and emotions without trying to fix them,” she advises.
When sadness arises, welcome it. When anxiety surfaces, ask what unmet need it represents. Treat emotions as energy in motion. Be curious rather than dismissive.
“When you start to welcome yourself, all of yourself, you realise there is nothing to be ashamed of,” she says. “Piece by piece, you return to wholeness.”
She pauses, then smiles brightly.
“Anything else? See you in Kilifi.”
You can find Ornella on Instagram at @ornella.selflove or join her private WhatsApp community where she shares resources and free events.
From Nairobi to Geneva and back to the Kenyan coast, Ornella Hutchison is building spaces where healing is embodied, community is honoured and becoming is not just a concept, but a lived experience.
