About Me
Global health professional. Guide and holistic coach. A woman who had to learn the hard way that we are more than just a body, and more than just a mind.
The professional path
My professional life has been shaped by twelve years in global health, work that has taken me across continents and into communities where the stakes are real and the problems don’t fit neatly into one discipline. At Jhpiego, a global health non-profit affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, I currently advise on a $400 million Department of State flagship project, teach at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and George Washington University, and have worked across maternal and reproductive health, infectious disease, and health systems in more than ten countries. I’m a published researcher, a peer reviewer for the Global Health Science and Practice journal, and a graduate of two women’s leadership programmes — WomenLift Health and the Johns Hopkins Academy for Women in Leadership. I speak conversational French, Swahili, and Hindi.
Academically, I hold an MSc from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a BA cum laude from Mount Holyoke College, and have completed all doctoral coursework and examinations at Boston University School of Public Health. In 2020, I received the Mary Lyon Award, an honour recognising alumnae who embody leadership and service. I share all of this not to list credentials, but because it matters for what comes next. This career trained me to think in evidence, in data, in systems. I trusted what could be measured. And then life invited me into experiences that couldn’t be.
The journey inward
It started with my physical body: a chronic health condition that took me to doctors across multiple countries, none of whom could get to the root of it. I had to get into the driving seat of my own health, take a holistic approach, and treat my body as one connected system rather than a collection of separate problems.
Then came the mental body, and anxiety was the door. It had been there quietly for a long time before I was willing to face it. So had burnout: years of pouring into demanding work without ever learning to fill my own cup first. That reckoning led me into years of deep inner work: exploring old wounds, unpacking trauma, examining limiting beliefs and inherited patterns I’d been carrying without questioning. Through it all, I discovered that nervous system regulation is foundational — perhaps the single most important skill I’ve learned. I explored EFT, breathwork, grounding practices, and other modalities that I now share with my clients.
Then came the emotional body. I came to understand that I experience the world with a heightened sensitivity. I don’t just notice other people’s emotions, I absorb them. For years I didn’t have the language for it, and it left me feeling overwhelmed without understanding why. Learning to observe energy without taking it on, to validate my own emotions rather than suppress them, and to stop being afraid of what I felt — that was some of the most transformative work I’ve ever done.
And then, in 2022, something happened that no framework I’d ever been taught could explain: a spontaneous rush of energy through my body that marked the beginning of a profound spiritual experience. For someone trained in evidence and proof, it was disorienting. It was also, in time, the most expansive thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ve since come to understand these experiences through traditions that have recognised them for centuries. I now lead a spiritual discussion group, and I’m an active member of the International Association of Near-Death Studies (IANDS) — communities where people navigating extraordinary experiences can feel seen and understood.
I’ll be sharing more about this part of my journey on an upcoming episode of Rebecca Kastl’s podcast, Arc of Awakening. Stay tuned.
Podcast link coming soon
From living it to sharing it
Long before I formalised any of this, I was already doing the work. For over a decade, I’ve been mentoring, coaching, and guiding people on their paths, across countries, cultures, and some of life’s most challenging terrain. I’ve guided people through mid-life crises and confounding spiritual experiences, through navigating narcissistic parents and healing father wounds, through connecting with the Universe for the first time. I’ve walked alongside people as they unravelled anxious attachment styles, learned emotional regulation, and found their way through relationships that shaped them in ways they didn’t yet understand.
That instinct to hold space for others also led me to create Thrive: a self-care workshop series for women in leadership, developed through the WomenLift Health Leadership programme.
Watch the Thrive project →How I coach
My approach is integrated and holistic. I don’t believe in separating body from mind, or mind from spirit. I work across all of them, because they’re all connected, and because the answers we’re looking for usually live in the spaces between them.
In practice, that means each session combines tools depending on what you need. For some, that’s nervous-system regulation through breathwork and EFT/tapping. For others, it’s intuitive coaching to surface a stuck pattern. For others still, it’s dowsing rods, angel oracle cards, and quiet listening for guidance from your Higher Self and Angels. The work shapes itself to you, not the other way around.
What stays constant: I meet you where you are. I don’t push, I don’t impose, and I don’t follow a script. I trust that you already know more than you realize. My role is to help you hear it, work with it, and bring it into your everyday life.
“After going through the toughest year of my life personally and professionally, I had a breakthrough of sorts and was beginning to cautiously make sense of the spiritual side of things, feeling the freedom of stepping outside the ‘known’ and ‘logical’ way of doing things. I came to a place where I knew I needed more information but didn’t know what questions to ask or where to even begin looking. A chance message to Aleefia was probably what I would call a life-defining moment. Besides being a source of comfort, empathy and heart, Aleefia is a walking library who lit up all the pathways in front of me and equipped me with the tools to explore my life, my sense of being as a human and a soul, and how to pursue wellness in a truly holistic sense, without any gimmicks or meaningless filler.”
— Ekta M.
The name
A few things drew me to the hummingbird. There’s the symbolism it carries: harmony, joy, and presence. There’s the incredible way its body works: a heart beating over a thousand times a minute, wings flapping fifty to eighty times a second, and yet, in the middle of all that motion, it can hold perfectly still. I thought about the sound the wings make: a hum. And humming regulates the nervous system — the vagus nerve runs through the vocal cords, and vibration activates our ‘rest and digest’ states. In addition, in Sanskrit, this hum is the makara — the closing “mmm” of Om, the syllable where sound dissolves into stillness. And finally, one of my favorite things about hummingbirds is how they cross many traditions — Mesoamerican, Caribbean, Native American. In these cultures, the hummingbird is a messenger between worlds, flitting between the spirit realm and ours. It’s a very positive symbol to see one. That movement across dimensions is what integrated and holistic work is, too: living in body, mind, heart, and spirit at once, not just one of them. At Hummingbird Path, I work to meet people on their path. Similar to the hummingbird, we each fly our own course, and sometimes, like the hummingbird, this can be 500 miles in one day.
Training & credentials
I’m a Certified Spiritual Life Coach, and currently completing training as an Intuitive Energy Healer and Hypnotherapist — three specialist certifications that reflect the integrated, whole-person approach at the heart of Hummingbird Path:
I’m also completing an ICF (International Coaching Federation) accredited coaching certification, grounding my years of intuitive guiding and coaching in a recognised professional framework. I also lead a spiritual discussion group, creating space for open, grounded conversation about experiences that don’t always have a place in mainstream settings.
How I guide and coach
Every part of this journey lives in how I guide and coach. The chronic condition taught me to advocate for my own body. The anxiety led me to the nervous system. The sensitivity forced me to understand my emotional world. The spiritual experience cracked open everything I thought I knew. I don’t work from theory alone. I work from a place of having walked it, integrated it, and come out the other side with tools, training, and a deep respect for how much courage it takes to look inward.
In practice, that means I draw on a range of modalities: breathwork, EFT and tapping, somatic movement, grounding, guided meditation and visualization, nervous system regulation, values clarification, resilience mapping, and more. For those who are drawn to it, I also incorporate intuitive guidance, angel oracle cards, and dowsing rods. In our work together, you won’t just talk about your experiences — you’ll learn to feel, process, and shift them. Whether I’m working with your physical health, your mental patterns, your emotional landscape, or your energetic body, I’m always working with you — the whole of you.
Key Awards and Fellowships
Awarded to alumnae who embody the pioneering spirit of Mount Holyoke’s founder through outstanding service and leadership.
Read the citation →
Selected as a Global Fellow in a leadership programme dedicated to expanding the power and influence of women in global health.
View profile →For a full list of publications, awards, and fellowships, please visit my LinkedIn profile.
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