From burnout to aliveness.

Before I became a somatic practitioner, I was an environmentalist. My journey into the climate movement started out simple, wanting to reduce pollution, cut waste, and learn about conservation. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, surrounded by biodiversity, it was easy to feel responsible for the land. But the more I learned, the more I realized the climate crisis was a symptom of a much larger problem: exploitation and dominance. This ignited an internal fire, leading me to challenge the status quo and search for alternatives that were life-sustaining.

Driven by this purpose, I earned a Masters’ in Behavior Change and Education with a focus on the psychological impacts of climate change. My passion took me across fields, from supply chain management to political organizing and environmental education to urban farming. No matter the role, my commitment remained: protecting nature and advocating for those most impacted.

But after a decade of non-stop work, the emotional toll of constant exposure to tragic realities, coupled with slow progress, left me desensitized. Hardened, I realized I had become a shell of myself and unable to see a way forward.

Forced to confront cycles of perfectionism and urgency, I knew my approach had to change. Through intentional practice, I slowly began to increase my capacity to feel big and complex emotions that had been numbed for years. I turned to embodiment and grief rituals rooted in Buddhism. Through that work, I discovered that caring for myself wasn’t separate from caring for the world - it was essential to it.

This shift was transformative, allowing me a path to reimagine what it means to show up in service as my authentic self. I now help others do the same.

My approach is informed by my lived experience as a queer, first-generation Turkish American living with ADHD. The work I am called to do centers on somatic intelligence, climate justice, and community-led initiatives to best support collective liberation.