I was born in Istanbul, a city defined by chaos, depth, and the meeting of cultures. Growing up there shaped how I move through the world. As a child, I was diagnosed with advanced scoliosis, and for years I lived with the belief that my body was fragile, unreliable, and something to be endured rather than trusted.
At eighteen I moved to Los Angeles, and two years later I began practicing yoga. For the first time, I experienced my body not as a limitation but as a source of strength, adaptability, and change. Teaching yoga became a way for me to share that discovery with others.
On October 7, 2023, my world view completely shifted. I saw through how colonial systems of oppression and occupation were shaping our world and started protesting for the end of the ongoing genocide in Palestine and the liberation of its people.
After a year and a half of protesting, in May 2024, my body broke down in a way I could never have anticipated. After teaching a class, I was suddenly struck with excruciating pain from my lower back down my right leg. What followed was nearly a year of immobility: months of barely being able to get out of bed, unable to walk more than a few minutes, cycling through endless medical treatments, unable to practice the yoga that had once been my anchor.
Eventually, I decided to leave the U.S. and return to Türkiye. I settled in a small village on the Aegean coast, surrounded by family, community, and nature. It was there that I encountered the work of Dr. John Sarno and the field of mind-body medicine, which I began to weave together with my own practices of yoga and breathwork. I read, I journaled, and I allowed myself to turn toward the pain that had been commanding my life, listening for what it had to say. Within two weeks, the pain lifted completely.
As I healed the pain in my body, I began to notice how many people around me were living in a similar situation. When we are in pain, our world contracts. We lose access to connection, to movement, to hope and to our power. The loneliness of chronic pain can only truly be understood by those who've experienced it. Having found a way through, I carry a responsibility to share what I've learned.
At the core of all my work is a commitment to easing suffering and contributing to the transformation of the systems that create it. I root my work in what I learn from nature and in the wisdom of indigenous cultures that have long carried practices of collective healing. I am deeply shaped by liberation movements, which show us again and again the strength and resilience of our people. And I hold close the truth that my own awakening, and my personal liberation from colonial ways of thinking, was made possible through the struggle and perseverance of the people of Palestine.
If this resonates with you, and you feel I could be a source of support in your path, I invite you to reach out and connect.
