Hello! I'm Selen
My name is Selen Çağlayık Eloğlu. I am a midwife, full spectrum birth and postpartum doula, a certified massage therapist, herbalist in training, an end-of-life and transitions guide and a womb healer. By academic training, I have been an archaeologist, an art historian and a sustainable food expert and for many years I have worked as an organizer, educator, coordinator and translator. I have taken many paths in my life and seen various journeys leading me to acquire many professional directions, but so far my midwifery and healing service stands out as the most valuable and courageous. Valuable because I get to help people directly and courageous because it is an endless, mysterious path.
Birth and the postpartum period are intense and daring rites of passage in a woman's life and offer a woman and her family the possibility of creation both inside and outside. Emotions emerging during those times can be properly addressed with good support and your birth can be experienced as a positive memory with the help of a professional birth worker. As a birth and postpartum doula, I stand with you at the edge of your creation, I help you move from one dimension to the next, I hold your hand and celebrate your own creation. One breathe at a time, we pace through your journey together and I support your confidence, fears and ability.
At the center of my healing work with women is Holistic Women's Health Support and womens' womb health, derived from ancient wisdom and practices performed by wise women, midwives and healers through time. At the center of my work is helping to align the womb.
A woman's pelvic region and womb keeps the structure of the body aligned and affects circulation. Many cultures from ancient times discovered practices to keep the uterus properly aligned. I use these sources of ancient wisdom combined with my personal experience and trainings to enhance womens' health using
herbal medicine, massage, movement and sound therapies, and elemental healing.
My Healing Work gives women back control over their own health by teaching them about their cycles and enabling them to create mind-emotion-body balance. I teach life long womb care and other health practices and techniques that support and enable women to manage their your own health story.
My work is informed by these practices and modalities:
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Arvigo® Therapy (Arvigo Techniqıes of Mayan Abdominal Therapy®)
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Yin Healing Massage
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Personal Support and Guidance
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Healthy Menstruation
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Natural Fertility
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Healthy Menopause
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Menarch Support for Young Women
I also offer Personal Support and Counseling for:
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Menstruation
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Natural Fertility and Pregnancy Prevention
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Sexual Health
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Pelvic Floor Health
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Menopause
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First Menses (Menarche)
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Breast Health in accordance with your cycle
Counseling sessions provide information about healthy menstruation, up until menopause and beyond, and give you strength and understanding for your holistic health. Personal practices include self-massage, herbal support, aromatherapy, fertility awareness, moon cycle observation, meditations, movement and sound therapies, lifestyle changes, and nutritional awareness.
My Story
I have always known innately as a kid that my path was to be in healing arts but the courage to accept and embrace my truth came later in life after the birth of son in 2012 when I was able to observe the deeper meaning of bearing a soul to world. The experience led me to change my life direction and I fully immersed myself in learning about doula work and different healing modalities that I can offer to women to support them during times of transition. My work slowly emerged as a full spectrum women's health practitioner. When it was time for me to birth my second child, my daughter, my work materialized with even more depth and helped me to gather a greater soulful approach. I had a natural homebirth in 2017 that proved once again the importance of support and opened new doors to me resulting with me going deeper with healing modalities and also evidence-based medical support and choosing to become a midwife.
Starting from my early childhood years and beyond I spent most of my time on and off in hospitals where I was an active observer and caretaker for my father’s chronic illnesses. Hospitals and health issues were never foreign to me. This continuous experience is what made me an avid participant in health issues and an advocate for humane and intimate health care systems. I wanted to help people when they were handling their body, mind and soul matters and when they were facing the intensity of crossing a threshold of life. In addition to my personal experience, my social experience in the outside world, my experiences abroad in different communities all shaped and contributed to who I am today. Being a nonstop and enthusiastic traveller helped me to see and experience the love and compassion all around the world and I have learned and I still learn to this day from people and their cultures about the ways of humanity. Combining all this experience and the skills I gained in my previous works, I am now able to offer my services internationally to a wide array of people in different languages.
My approach in life is guided by my belief in nature and its harmonious methods and also my belief in humanity’s sacred connections to worlds here and beyond. I depend on nature’s healing properties and people’s ancient wisdom acquired over millions of years. My approach in healing takes compassion and heart-to-heart communication as its core values and I surround it with touches of women solidarity, ecological awareness and community building.
Education
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2018-2022 B.S. in Midwifery, Uskudar University
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April 2022 Holistic Pelvic Care® with Tami Kent
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January 2022, Waterbirth Training, Waterbirth International
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2021-present Art of Birth Training with Midwife Noali Vinaver
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September 2017 Female Pelvic Floor Training by Isa Herrera
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November 2016 Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy®, Certification Training
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September 2015-June 2016 608 hrs Women's Massage Therapist Training
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July 2015-January 2016 Women Healing Arts Teacher Training, Mentoring from Kara Maria Ananda
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July-December 2015 Stillbirthday Birth and Bereavement Doula Training
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April 2015 The Farm Midwifery Center Midwife Assistant Training - Summertown, TN
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2014-2015 Childbirth International Birth Doula Training
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2010-2012 Master of Science in Sustainable Food and Farming Systems - Norway
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2003-2007 B.A. in Archaeology and Art History - Bilkent, Ankara