An Interview with Relationship & Fitness Coach, Ceza Ouzounian

Tell us about your journey! What led you to this point?

My journey truly started when I was picking what degree I wanted to do. I had always wanted to do a degree in acting, but I was worried that would mean I wouldn’t be able to get a job. So, I instead opted for a safer option – a degree in Engineering. However, after I left university, I spent five or six years looking for work within the engineering field. I spent all of my free time looking and applying for jobs. I went to assessment centres, went to interviews, but kept getting rejected. I didn’t really understand why seeing as I had two engineering degrees and knew how to do the work. I managed to get an internship to work in Madrid. This was my last hope of gaining experience so I would be able to get an engineering job. However, the internship turned out to be more about translation than actual technical work.

Eventually, I reached a point where I felt miserable. I felt lost and trapped. I had spent most of December 2011 crying; or trying not to cry. I was invited to go shopping with my flatmate and while he was trying on clothes, I remember looking down from the fourth floor to the ground floor and thinking that if I fell, I’d be free of my feelings and the situation I was in. This scared me so much because I never anticipated having such a dark thought. Yet I now know this was the start of the next phase of my journey. I had always wanted to do acting, so I decided to pursue it. I had nothing to lose.

I moved back to London and started acting school. I loved it and managed to get some acting roles afterwards. I was finally doing the thing I had always wanted to. While I was doing my training and going to auditions, I joined Pilates classes and also needed a job to keep me going. The opportunity arose for me to qualify and teach Pilates, so I did. I love teaching it and never thought about a career in fitness, but I love helping people become stronger and more confident. 

A few years later I discovered the Energy Alignment Method course. Even though the acting and Pilates had helped me work on myself, I still didn’t fully feel like me. The Energy Alignment Method course came up at a time when I was looking to do self-development work, so I signed up to it. I loved how it made me feel and helped me move forwards in my life. I was in a somewhat toxic relationship at the time and it helped me be able to deal with those issues. So, when the chance came up to train and qualify as a coach, it was a no-brainer. 

I eventually walked away from the toxic relationship I was in and realised how much I had allowed my ex to get away with; how much I had changed who I was to be with him; how many of my boundaries I had let him trample. I used the coaching I had learned to heal from this and, for the first time in years, truly felt like myself again. I saw that I was not the only one who did these things and not the only one who put up with toxic behaviour.

This is why I decided to go into Relationship Coaching, to help other women work on their inner resistances that keep them stuck in toxic relationships, or that stop them from attracting the right partner. I help them let go of the limiting beliefs and negative experiences that keep them stuck, so they can be confident and in their power. I now combine fitness and coaching because mind and body always affect each other, and need to work together to get the best results.

What has been your biggest achievement?  

Creating a business doing something I love. Combining two of my passions: fitness and coaching. Keeping going when I had to start from scratch after moving cities. Staying determined when things weren’t going so well. Not letting an ex influence me to give it up and do what he wanted instead.

 What’s the biggest result you help your clients to achieve?  

I help my clients to be who they truly are, to be the confident and empowered version of themselves. From there, they have more clarity on what is right for them and what they truly want. I help them to have a relationship that is totally aligned with them and that brings them happiness, love and everything they desire.

 What would be your biggest piece of advice for readers who want to achieve the same?  

If you aren’t happy in your relationship or love life, look inside first. We hold onto limiting beliefs and negative experiences, and they shape how we do things now. Sometimes we aren’t even consciously aware of it, but when you start looking inwards, that is when you can start to identify patterns and beliefs that hold you back, or have allowed you to put up with something that hasn’t felt good. 

When you start working on these resistances, you can let go of so many of them and start tuning into what you truly desire. You show up authentically and confidently, and start to attract the right people into your life. This means you’ll then meet the right partner for you; or improve your existing relationship if you’ve already found them.

One point to stress here is that no matter what has happened in your life, do not judge yourself at all. We’ve all done things we’re ashamed of, feel embarrassed about or wish had never happened – but we can’t go back and undo them. Acknowledge those experiences, learn from them and let them go without any judgement.