Five years ago, I resigned from my role as Managing Director and President of Azraq, a marine conservation not-for-profit I had founded.
At 45 years old, it wasn’t where I expected to find myself.
From the outside, I looked successful. I had built a meaningful career, led an organisation I cared deeply about, and spent years advocating for causes close to my heart.
Inside, however, I was exhausted, burnt out, anxious and experiencing regular panic attacks.
I had spent so long looking after projects, responsibilities and other people that I had forgotten how to look after myself.
The day I resigned, I wasn’t celebrating or making grand plans for the future.
I was simply trying to find some relief.
Later that day, I booked myself into a sound healing session at a yoga studio in Abu Dhabi.
Nobody recommended it.
I wasn’t particularly interested in “wellness”.
I had simply heard that sound healing could be relaxing and thought, “Why not?”
What did I have to lose?
More than anything, I wanted a reason to leave the house, some time for myself.
And I wanted to be around other people without having to be responsible for anyone.
As I settled onto the floor before the session began, another participant smiled and asked if it was my first sound bath.
I nodded.
“You’re in for a treat,” she said.
She wasn’t wrong.
Looking back, it feels like such a small decision.
One hour.
One class.
One evening.
Yet it would quietly alter the course of my life.
As I lay listening to the vibrations of the crystal bowls, something happened that I hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
My body relaxed.
The constant tension softened.
The endless cycle of worry, planning and overthinking became quieter.
Nothing in my external world had changed.
I still didn’t know what I was going to do next.
I still had unanswered questions about my future.
But for the first time in a long time, I felt a sense of peace.
And at that point in my life, peace felt like a miracle.
That evening sparked a curiosity that would eventually lead me to explore yoga, meditation, nervous system regulation, sound therapy and emotional resilience.
Not because I was searching for a new career.
But because I was searching for healing.
Over time, those practices became part of my life.
Then they became part of my work.
Eventually, they became the foundation of Breathes Wellness.
People often assume transformation happens through huge life-changing decisions.
My experience was different.
The biggest changes in my life started with a single act of self-care.
A decision to try something new, a willingness to admit that what I was doing wasn’t working and the courage to prioritise my wellbeing for an hour.
Five years later, I often think about that evening.
Not because it fixed everything. Life has continued to bring challenges, uncertainty, grief and growth.
But it was the beginning of a different relationship with myself.
A relationship built on slowing down, listening inward and understanding that wellbeing isn’t something we earn after we’ve finished everything else.
It deserves a place in our lives now.
Today, I teach yoga, coach others in emotional resilience and nervous system regulation and, perhaps most surprisingly of all, I offer sound baths as part of my work through Breathes Wellness.
Often, as participants settle into their places before a session begins, I wonder if there is someone in the room who feels the way I did five years ago.
Overwhelmed.
Exhausted.
Searching for something different.
Someone who isn’t looking for a life-changing experience, but simply an hour of peace.
If there is, I hope they leave feeling the same way I did.
A little lighter.
A little calmer.
And perhaps curious about what might be possible next.