I began training in Somatic Experiencing in February 2015 and became a certified practitioners in 2018 by the European Association for Somatic Experiencing (EASE) in Spain. This 3-year training is one of the most transformative journeys anyone cane take, and I highly recommend it, for its thoroughness and subtlety. It is both fine art and science; the nervous system is approached with utmost respect and creative collaboration as a living, breathing and intelligent entity. Far from being a 'life-hack' or a 'tool', Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a way of relationship to life itself, internally and interpresonally, to create more harmony and compassion in the world.

With the onset of COVID, I discovered also the fascinating capacity of providing Somatic Experiencing sessions online, and how working with energy perception and processes can be well-guided even remotely; sometimes better remotely! Most of my practice is subsequently online.

In person and virtually, I'm proud to have been an assistant in several regional and international SE trainings over the past six years and I am currently certified as a session provider for SE students at all levels - Beginner, Intermediate and Advance.

I'm also very proud to have been a core member of the Arabic translation team for the SE trainings that have taken place in Cairo since 2019 and a proud to be a member of www.seps4palestine.com & www.egyptschoolofsomatics.com

I became a certified yoga teacher in 2009, by the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashram in Austria.

Right away, I preferred teaching yoga in community support contexts, especially to social workers and refugees. I found yoga practice to be a safe and structured path that helps people to regain one's sense of sovereignty, dignity, freedom and joy, even when so much is lost.

Teaching a gentle approach to yoga as a way of cultivating a relationship of curiosity and care with one's own self was helpful in supporting people with auto-immune diseases or those recovering from illnesses.

Trauma science now tells us that 'the body keeps the score' and yoga has always known that the body also unlocks the path to transforming pain and limitation towards greater health and happiness.

As a yoga teacher and trauma-informed yoga trainer, one of my most meaningful collaborations has been as a member of Tools for Inner Peace, a UK-based and volunteer-run charity dedicated to offering yoga classes and trainings to war survivvors, refugees, asylum seekers and communities living in extreme poverty.

If you would like to support this grassroots and volunteer-run initiative, do visit us at www.tools4innerpeace.org

From the worlds of Traditional Chinese Medicine and martial arts come the ancient practices of Qi Gong (Chi Kung) and Tai Chi. First introduced to me by Deborah Felmeth, long-time student of Master Lee of Sheng Zhen Qi Gong, these noble traditions of cultivating life-force energy for health and longevity also open up a whole world of knowledge and relationship with life. Unlike Yoga, which has become a teacher-training industry, Qi Gong remains a more private and mentorship-guided process, respecting the old ways of apprenticeship and seslf-guided discipline. I'm lucky to have met several highly qualified teachers including Sifu Amira Chouaib in Beirut and Sifu Yasser Bilgrami in Dubai. For me, these practices are profound. They help deepen connection to the source of vitality, power and wellbeing.

As my trauma-healing practice gradually grew, I became more interested in learning about healing the earliest wounds, or 'imprints', and these are the ones related to pre-conception, womb-time, birth and the pre-verbal years. Here, primitive reflexes and defensive response are deep within the core of the body and can feel as if entering another dimension. Under the guidance of pioneering practitioners in the birth trauma field, Kate White and Lois Tresize, I became certified in IPPD - Integrated Prenatal and Perinatal Dynamics. This advanced somatic training adds more depth and nuance to working with adults in relation to earliest attachment and the embodiment process of coming into being.

My wellbeing and trauma-healing practice is informed by SE Touch, as well as Neuro Affective Touch for healing earliest wounds, as trained by Dr. Aline La Pierre. Touchwork is particularly helpful in renegotiating disassociation, ie clients who feel numb and disconnected from their bodies, always in a non-invasive, safe and consensual way. The language of touch is the earliest nurturance, the earliest way of learning whether or not one is safe and welcome in the world.

Approaching touchwork somatically is to work with an intention of restoring safety and sensing skin-to-skin holding; it is not massage/muscle kneading, nor physiotherapy/mobility training, but a neurological language that touches on deep emotions, attachment processes and internal rhythms of avoidance or acceptance that can be renegotiated with care. In our earliest years of life, touch is the primary language through which harm or neglect is registered, and through which healing is recieved, pre-words and pre-thought.

My touchwork training in relation to healing developmental trauma and birth trauma is also supported by the foundations of bodymapping as taught by Bodynamics - with Ditte Marcher, Kalliopi Zorzou and Kristina Marcher - and by Neuro-Resilience Excercises as taught by Relational Trauma Therapy - as taught by Kolbjorn Vardal.

My touchwork training for supporting wellbeing in general is informed by qi gong and by jin shin jyutsu which promote proper internal energy flow and promote emotional, physical and mental health.