Why Transformation?
Because what I know best, what I do best, what I do with love, is transformation.
I don’t know how many times I’ve been stuck inside since my childhood and turned the tightness into transformation. Or the projects I started small grew and my dreams enriched and transformed into reality. My changing life continued for a while, until a new transformation began with another difficulty. And each time I said, “I’m glad I transformed.” Seeing the reflections of my personal transformation around me gave me strength.
I experienced that personal transformation also affected my business life. My 20+ years of corporate and entrepreneurial experience have taught me that corporate transformation is not that different from personal transformation. The transformation of the teams I worked with transformed the business. The business, which unlocked the stagnation for different reasons, transformed teams and individuals. Personal transformation was reflected in the team and the work.
Transformation, like ripples in water, starts somewhere and gradually expands, triggering other transformations. Both personal and corporate transformation is the dynamic focus of my life.
F.A.Q.
What methods do you use in the transformation workshops?
First of all, I listen deeply. Listening to the other person with all my perceptions and staying in the moment. Sometimes all we want is to be heard. So much so that expecting this from others while not hearing our own voice shows how disconnected we are from ourselves. With deep listening, not only me but also the speaker begins to listen to themselves. Their listening is not limited to audio. They listen to their body, energy, dreams, desires, disappointments, and connection to the wholeness. The important thing is that they hear themselves. Do they hear what they express? Are they at peace with their expression? Where does the expression come from? Is it from self, from teachings, from wounds, from others? While listening, I need to remain impartial and neutral so that the other party can fully exist in that space and experience their reality, without judgment or censorship.
Deep listening and remaining impartial are essential. As for other methods, different yoga types, my most preferred are Kundalini yoga and meditations. Kundalini yoga enabled me to reveal the memory trapped in my body and shake the forgotten parts, the parts that I wanted to forget. It gave me strength to confront that.
Kundalini yoga is a powerful and effective yoga, it works directly on the nervous system, its foundations are based on different branches of yoga and Sufism. The first ancient yoga teachings date back to 3500-1500 B.C. Pictures of yogis in the lotus position have been found in the Indus Valley. The kriyas we practice within the framework of the ancient yoga teachings passed down to us are incredibly transformative. It does not end with shaking our foundation through kriyas and meditation, it can strengthen the fire of transformation and clear the blockages. And like a phoenix, it can bring you back from the ashes.
Kundalini meditations deepen the bond with the body, the spirit and the mind, and spread the awakened energy, increase awareness and regulate the nervous system. With Kundalini yoga and meditations, you can overcome your addictions, find your authentic self and rebuild your nervous system. These techniques are very powerful and it is important to experience them with teachers.
Vinyasa yoga is a kind of dance, moving meditation for me. Vinyasa flow balances the Saturn teaching of Kundalini yoga when necessary. Yin yoga is ideal for deep relaxation and experiencing compassion.
Other methods I use are art therapy, writing, and other creative expression techniques, which channel the fire of creativity sparked by yoga and meditation into forgotten channels, even channels that have never been opened. Participants experience the healing created by creativity. Sometimes with body language, sometimes with visuals, sometimes with words, we push aside the familiar ways and work on reflecting what comes from within. The trapped energy that comes from within, when reflected, transforms.
Why yoga and meditation?
For years, I lived disconnected from my body and my mind. I was obviously not ready to listen to what my body had to say, so I ignored the signals. I was afraid. I didn’t like being sick at all, and I would neglect myself, continuing to work even when I was sick.
The brain hemorrhage I had at the age of 17 taught me something, but it wasn’t enough to wake me up. When I lost the abilities that make me who I am, such as walking, speaking and balance, due to the concussion I experienced 8 years ago, and when I could not feel my emotions, I was finally able to stop. And I stopped. Concussion shook my life. It turned my life upside down, and that was necessary.
And yoga and meditation saved me. Even though I couldn’t walk properly, I did yoga every day. Sometimes I cried, sometimes I laughed on my yoga mat. It was satisfying to discover my body again. I experienced that I can connect to life outside of my mind.
I started meditation with nature meditation. There was a forest I went to every day, Eagle Rock. After months of wandering through the forest, one day, I finally noticed the trees, birds, bushes, dirt road, and fallen tree trunks around me. Until then, I was living whatever was in my mind, instead of breathing in the forest. After this experience, I started silent meditation and Kundalini meditations that deepened my experiences in unifying the body, soul and mind.
Why art therapy, writing, and other methods of creative expression? Why creativity?
These methods healed me along with yoga and meditation. When I saw its effects on me, I wanted to share it with those in need so they could benefit from it, too. I received their training, and through workshops, retreats, classes, and individual counseling, the program developed. This program was formed when the interest that started small turned into personal healing, then into deep interest, training, deeper practicing and sharing. This program is a story of transformation.
Just like after the accident, my drawings turned into stories, stories turned into a big story and then into a book. My book, Jumping on the Drips, is also a story of transformation. A transformation story triggered by creative writing.
The healing effect of creativity is amazing. No matter what it is, leaving aside the way you know and have learned and doing something differently opens blocked energy channels. The energy spread throughout the body is life energy. Pleasure in creativity is joy in life. Maybe you have noticed the sparkle in the eyes of someone who tells their story differently for the first time, or the amazement in their eyes when they realize something about themselves that they have never noticed before, or the reflection of their curiosity in discovering themselves in their voice while telling their intuitive drawing. These are special and beautiful moments. They are precious.
Concentration in the creative process contributes to the crystallization of inner awareness, both visually, in writing and physically, so that the participant leaves traces to remind themselves of their transformation. Their creations actually guide them, pave the way, focus their attention and energy, and bring them closer to their authentic selves and actualizing their authentic dreams. There are many art therapy techniques, some of which are about realizing a dream by focusing attention, and these techniques actually direct the life energy. It accelerates the transformation by channeling the abstract compression on the path of transformation.
What triggers transformation?
The accumulation of discomfort, emotions, and situations over the years can initiate transformation, just as a moment of awareness or an unexpected surge of anger can trigger it.
So, what do you want to transform? Something that no longer serves you, that you don’t want anymore but can’t destroy. You want to make it useful, to evaluate and repurpose that energy. That energy is valuable. Why would you want to destroy it?
If you like, I can explain personal transformation through physical transformation. Concretizing the abstract can make it easier to understand and relate to.
We periodically review our belongings, clothes, books, and accessories at home. One by one, we pick them up, turn them over, and check if they are still useful or if it’s time to say ‘goodbye.’ Some things go to the trash, some are set aside for others to use, some undergo change and are repurposed for different functions or forms and accumulate in a different corner. Some are sold. This is a transformation.
If we don’t do this review regularly, the list grows, and the time and energy required for sorting increase. Naturally, the desire to postpone also increases, because there’s a lot to do.
The review process becomes more difficult. Items and clothes that were once useful are no longer usable. Memory capsules that were once easy to say ‘goodbye’ to have turned into memory prisons, becoming obsessions, and it’s much harder to part with them. The transformation has developed in an undesirable way. The undesirable situation has become entrenched. It’s harder to liberate oneself.
We see the same pattern in our relationships, our work, and our relationship with work and life. The more we postpone, the harder it gets.
But this is not about rushing through things without digesting them, without allowing our relationship with whatever we want to transform to reach a point of change. Those moments won’t initiate transformation. We know internally what the transformation process feels like, and as they say, “If there’s a situation, let’s have an intervention”
Why is a guide needed in this process?
On our inner journey, we may encounter doors that we do not want to open. Sometimes we are afraid and don’t open it, sometimes we open it and regret it. It feels like we don’t have the strength to face it. We don’t know what or how to face it. It feels like we can’t get out of the darkness. Instead of delving into the root causes,, we can try to heal our wounds with a band-aid, with the painkillers we take when we have a headache, the melatonin on our bedside when we cannot sleep, or the anti-depressant medications that soothe us when we are lost in the dark. This is very natural, because we felt powerless. We don’t know how to get stronger.
It may be difficult to digest the transformation process and integrate it into life, but it does not have to be difficult. With guidance, group or individual work, this process can be much easier, deeper and more effective. Sometimes one workshop or session can be enough to find answers to questions we have been asking for years.
I also received help in my own transformation. I worked with a dear consultant for years. The roads in front of me got clearer, I paved new paths, I gained strength from the sessions when I felt weak. I was nourished in the healing space with compassion my counselor offered. I saw that I didn’t have to go through this process alone. When I need help, I just need to know how to ask for help. Our friends and family can help up to a point; Relationships, expectations, time constraints and priorities can distort the support we receive from impartiality. It is very important for the guide to create a compassionate space without expectations in individual and group work.
What would you like to say to those who are ready for or already in their transformation process?
We came to live this life with love, and we can choose to live with love. This does not mean that we will be happy all the time. Not losing inner confidence and peace even in our unhappiness is key. The darkness we encounter is to come to light. Bottomless pits are for big leaps.
Experiencing the integrity of life, as well as the personal experience, gives peace and confidence. There is no need to look for this peace in the sky or in the mind. It is hidden within us, in our body.
Whatever we experience with this body is the same in our outside reality.
We are all on the road. We are all transforming, whether we want it or not. We are progressing slowly on our way. Sometimes we stop, smell the thyme that comes our way, sometimes we dive into the unknown after a rabbit, sometimes we get lost in the forest, sometimes we swim in a flowing, icy stream before stepping on the ground, sometimes we guide those who have lost their way, sometimes we move forward with other comrades, laughing and playing, sometimes we fight and break up, sometimes we find the way barefoot, sometimes with winter boots.
We are always on the road. It is a joy to be on the road, especially breathing with love. By adding a little bit of curiosity. By stepping in with pure enthusiasm.
Life can be the love of all of us. Why not?