A trauma-healing process developed by Dr. Peter Levine, an award-winning American body-based pyschotherapist. The program is a 3-year training as a starting point, with subsequent masterclasses and opportunities to keep refining the subtleties of the skills.

I was introduced to Somatic Experiencing in California and I undertook my training in Spain (2015 - 2018), starting my private practice in 2019 in Lebanon. Somatic Experiencing (SE) is more than a technique, science and skill, but a way of relationship to life itself.

Over the years, I have assisted on regional and international SE trainings in Europe and the Arab world. I am a certifed session provider for SE students at all levels - Beginner, Intermediate and Advance. I have also attended Masterclasses with Dr. Peter Levine in Switzerland on 'The Interplay between Developmental Trauma and Shock Trauma, and on the Autoimmune Syndromes - along with chronic illnesses like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue - in relation to autonomic nervous system dysregulation and unresloved trauma.

Proud to be a member of the Arabic translation team for the Somatic Experiencing workshops & trainings in Cairo and in Dubai.

Yoga is an ancient physical, mental, and spiritual practice originating in India that aims to unite the body, mind, and spirit. Derived from the Sanskrit word "yuj" (to yoke or unite), it combines physical postures (asanas), controlled breathing (pranayama), and meditation to improve overall health, reduce stress, and achieve inner peace.

I was introduced to the world of yoga through two dear mentors, Deborah Felmeth and Tasnim Kassem, in my home town of Damascus. With their encouragement, I enrolled to become a certified yoga teacher in 2009, by the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashram in Austria. I found yoga practice to be a structured path that allows deep transformation, maintains overall wellness, and helps people to regain their sense of self-sovereignty and joy.

There are many schools of yoga nowadays. My preferred approach is gentle yoga. It is safe, accessible and integrative. Teaching a gentle approach combined with trauma-healing training to help release tension, improve coordination and develop inner stability. The gentle approach is also more suited for people with auto-immune issues and those recovering from illnesses.

I am also a Trustee of Tools for Inner Peace, a UK-based charity dedicated to offering yoga classes and trainings in conflict zones and underserved neighborhoods, particulalry refugees, asylum seekers and communities living in extreme poverty.

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 help cultivate life-force energy for health and longevity. Unlike Yoga, Qi Gong remains a more private and mentorship-guided process, maintaining the old ways of apprenticeship and self-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, while loosening up and toning the body at the same time.

As my trauma-healing practice gradually grew, I became more interested in learning about healing the earliest wounds, or 'imprints', as they are called in the 'Birth Trauma' field. These are pre-verbal, procedural patterns that can be related to pre-conception, womb-time, birth, infancy, and toddlerhood. In the pre-verbal years, primitive reflexes and defensive response are deep, very close to the relationship with life itself. Under the guidance of pioneering practitioners in the 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.

The role of touch is profound in communicating with the body messages of calm connection and healing. Ancient traditions have known this and modern science confirms that there's a healing response in using one's hands to sense and connect with the body's experience. My practice is informed by SE Touch, as well as Neuro Affective Touch for healing earliest wounds, as trained by Dr. Aline La Pierre. The language of touch is the earliest nurturance, the earliest way of learning whether or not one is safe and welcome in the world. Developmental traumas can revolve around sustenance neglect, emotional neglect, priveleged neglect, misattunement and outright abuse, as well as medical trauma caused by illnesses or injuries or the medical set-ups needed for various procedures.

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

My training is also informed 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 Therapis Kolbjorn Vardal.

Last but not least, the ancient wisdoms of qi gong and certain adaptations like jin shin jyutsu help acquire an awareness of internatal energy flows through touch as well, with the aim of cultivating energy balance and promoting emotional, physical and mental health.