I’ve always been sensitive to energy and able to feel a wide range of emotions with depth. I felt very connected to my body from a young age - I remember doing weird dances and movements in my room and thinking to myself, “What if no one has ever moved exactly like that before?!” I was enthralled by the thought!

My parents are both Hungarian, and I’m first-generation American. Both of my grandmothers lived with us during different times of my upbringing, and they had a huge impact on who I am today. They taught me to read, write and speak in Hungarian. They taught me about taking care of plants and the joy of learning, and always encouraged me in my creative pursuits.

I was exposed to a broad spectrum of ideas and alternative health practices from a very young age. At age five, I was sipping on repulsive algae drinks that dyed my teeth green, drinking strictly spring water, and eating all organic foods. We were only allowed to eat sweets on Sundays, my mom made all of our meals from scratch, and we had limited screen time.

Philosophical discussions were commonplace in our home. My family is very traditional in some ways and quite unorthodox and open-minded in others. I guess when your parents grew up in Communism and are totally privy to propaganda, it’s easier to believe that “authority figures” and mainstream media might not always be, ahem, forthcoming. My brother and I had the benefit of being familiar with American culture and Transylvanian culture, as we visited the “old country” every summer growing up. We traveled quite a bit as a family, and I was fascinated by the gypsies, villages, beautiful craftsmanship and bumpy roads of my parents’ homeland.

As I got older, my focus was primarily on physical activity, where I excelled in a variety of sports and dance. That’s about the time I got caught in societal conditioning and acquired people-pleasing tendencies, fears of being rejected, fears of not being good enough, and engaged in a seemingly unceasing battle of comparing myself with others. I was desperate for attention and behaved unconsciously in attempts to receive external validation that would provide me with a (very temporary and unsubstantial) sense of worthiness. I had very high expectations for myself and developed habits of perfectionism that would both serve me and limit me in the coming years.

I competed at a national level in track and field in high school and was a straight-A student in AP classes. I chose easy coursework in college, opting to lean into the (only?) rite of passage for most American adolescents and focused on the social element of the experience. I got in trouble freshman year, and during my disciplinary meeting I finagled my way into becoming a “Community Leader.” For the remaining three years of college I worked as a Resident Assistant and navigated a whole slew of outrageous situations in that chapter.

I got good grades, made good friends, spent a semester in Honolulu, didn’t take advantage of any academic resources whatsoever and was very curious to explore the world as soon as I wrapped up my formal education.

While I had no inclination towards pursuing more academia (I was a bit jaded by the educational system by that point), I began studying independently and traveling intensively throughout my 20s. I had the opportunity to travel to Italy, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Fiji, Canada, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and New Zealand, and I lived in Australia for over 3 years. I also lived in six different states throughout the U.S. in all different climates and ecosystems.

I’ve kept a journal for over a decade, and I have thousands of pages of notes from this period of traveling solo, where my main impetus was investigating my inner and outer worlds. I dove deep into learning about yoga, meditation, psychology, music, astrology, reflexology, Human Design, creative writing, shamanic practices, wilderness skills, art, sewing, physics, Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine, herbalism, crystal healing, somatic therapy, ancestral healing, kinesiology, qigong, permaculture, gardening, regenerative farming, and breath work.Through the teachings, experiences, and remarkable guides I met along the way, I gradually began to shed the deep-seated fears and limiting beliefs mentioned above. This work is ongoing, and luckily I’ve adopted the perspective that life is much more enjoyable when we learn and share from a place of excitement and curiosity as opposed to a fixed mindset based on fear and/or as a means to an end.

At this point, it seems to me that the degree of which we can be aware of the energies and ways of Nature is the determining factor in our journeys of healing and self-realization.

Creativity, cultivation, studying and experimentation are central pillars in my work and life. From facilitating ecstatic dance in three countries, to recording a one-of-a-kind EP featuring renditions of Hungarian folk songs with a very modern twist, to publishing a not-just-for-children children’s book titled Millie the Mycelium, I feel blessed to be in close relationship with my inner child and soul! One of my favorite authors of all time, Tom Robbins, has a fantastic quote that I love…