About Diyanat Ali / Somatic & Transformational Coach
Change begins with how we meet ourselves.
I am Diyanat Ali, a somatic embodiment and transformational coach, experiential educator and leadership facilitator.
My work is an invitation to slow down, notice what is happening within and around you, and explore ways of living, relating and leading that feel more aligned with your values.
I bring together reflective inquiry, embodied awareness and experiential learning, shaped by more than 15 years of working with individuals and groups. Not to tell you who to become, but to support a deeper understanding of who you are and the choices available to you.
The person behind the practice
My path to coaching
My professional life began in technology. I studied Computer Science & Engineering, completed an MBA in Marketing, and spent more than eleven years in information technology management in the telecom industry. That period taught me about expectations, responsibility, achievement, and the human experience of working under pressure.
Over time, my interests widened from what people do to how they experience themselves and each other. Why can we understand something intellectually yet respond differently in the moment? How do people build trust? What helps insight become a lived capacity rather than simply a good idea?
Nature and experiential education became important teachers. In 2008, I founded the Great Hyderabad Adventure Club (GHAC). In 2012, I founded Outlife, designing experiential education, outbound learning, leadership development and team-building programmes. In 2017, I began Selfcraft, extending this exploration into self-leadership and personal inquiry in nature.
Earlier, I also developed a trainers’ forum through the Centre for Experiential Learning and Outdoor Leadership, sharing ideas in experiential and outdoor education.
Working with teams, outdoor learning groups and individual coaching clients gradually led me towards presence-based coaching, somatic embodiment, needs-based communication and transformational inquiry. I have come to see group facilitation and personal coaching as connected practices: both involve listening to what is happening, making space for different perspectives and exploring how new choices become possible.
My own inquiry continues. I do not see coaching as a position of having arrived, but as an ongoing practice of listening, learning and meeting experience with greater honesty.
How I work
Working with the whole experience
We are not only the stories we tell ourselves. Our experiences also show up in the body, in relationships, in attention and in the ways we respond to everyday situations. My coaching makes room for all of these dimensions, without assuming any single method has every answer.
Presence & self-awareness
Creating room to notice thoughts, emotions, needs and familiar responses before rushing to explain or change them.
Reflective inquiry
Looking with curiosity at assumptions, beliefs, relationships and the questions that matter in your current life.
Somatic awareness
Including sensations, attention, movement and embodied habits as optional sources of information in the coaching conversation.
Experiential learning
Testing small, practical shifts in communication, boundaries, leadership and everyday choices, then reflecting on what you learn.
“Understanding something about ourselves can be important. Learning to respond differently in an actual moment is a different kind of practice.”
Our work is collaborative. We begin with your aspirations and circumstances, agree on a focus, and adapt the pace and practices as we go. You are free to decline or modify any exercise; embodied exploration never requires physical touch.
In group facilitation, I also draw on needs-based communication, conflict navigation, emotional intelligence and experiential process design. Whether working with an individual, leadership team or learning group, I pay attention to participation, consent, relational safety and what becomes possible through shared reflection.
Who I work with
For people seeking a more intentional way forward
I work with individuals, professionals and leaders who are curious about the relationship between inner experience and outer action. You may be navigating a transition, noticing recurring patterns, or wanting to show up differently in the relationships and responsibilities that matter to you.
Personal life & relationships
Questions of identity, meaning, emotional resilience, self-expression, needs, boundaries and the ways you relate to yourself and others.
Work & leadership
Presence under pressure, communication, confidence, difficult conversations, decision-making and the relationship between values and behaviour.
Ways to work together
Two connected pathways
Both pathways are personal, reflective and practical. The distinction is a matter of emphasis, and our work can draw from either approach when appropriate.
01 / Personal & professional growth
Transformational Coaching
Explore the beliefs, patterns, values and questions shaping your current experience, and translate insight into meaningful choices.
Explore transformational coaching02 / Body, attention & action
Somatic Embodiment Coaching
Bring curiosity to lived bodily experience and practise responding with greater awareness and choice in everyday situations.
Explore somatic embodiment coachingI also facilitate experiential and nature-based learning through Outlife and the personal exploration work of Selfcraft. These experiences have deeply informed my way of being with people.
Beyond the coaching room
Selfcraft: a journey of self-discovery
Selfcraft brings together reflective inquiry, somatic awareness, contemplative practice and time in nature. It is a facilitated personal transformation journey with a wilderness rites-of-passage experience at its heart.
Rather than offering a predetermined answer to who you should become, the journey invites participants to explore their values, habitual patterns, relationships, sense of purpose and connection with the natural world.
My earlier nature-based work has also included men’s circles and rites-of-passage inquiry, using storytelling, reflective dialogue and shared time outdoors. These experiences are offered as invitations to explore, not prescriptions for how anyone should live or believe.
Explore the Selfcraft journeyExperience & background
A foundation in learning, leadership and lived experience
My approach has been shaped by technology, outdoor education, group-process facilitation, nature-based inquiry and individual coaching. Different settings, but a consistent interest in how people learn and change through direct experience.
Technology & business
A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Engineering, an MBA in Marketing, and more than eleven years of experience in telecom IT management.
Outdoor learning & leadership
Founding GHAC and Outlife, working with individuals and teams through experiential education.
Selfcraft & coaching
Creating Selfcraft and developing a coaching practice grounded in presence, somatic awareness and reflective inquiry.
My experience records more than 15 years designing and facilitating programmes, over 600 adventure-based expeditions and thousands of outdoor learning journeys. It also records a TEDx speaking engagement and recognition associated with Outlife, GHAC, ETNow, the Limca Book of Records and Founder Institute.
Community building, adventure-based experiences and opportunities for learning through nature. Visit GHAC.
Outbound training, team development, leadership facilitation and experiential learning with corporate and educational groups. Visit Outlife.
A nature-based journey of self-discovery, introspection and embodied inquiry. Explore Selfcraft.
Education & professional development
Training that informs the practice
Alongside experience, I have invested in formal study and ongoing learning across coaching, facilitation, communication and experiential education.
Education & experiential education
- Computer Science & EngineeringBachelor's degree · 1998
- MBA, MarketingMaster's degree · 2000
- Diploma in Experiential Education & Practice180 hours · 2015
- Advanced Diploma in Experiential Education & Practice120 hours · 2018
- Advanced Certificate in Training & DevelopmentIndian Society for Training & Development (ISTD) · 2015
Transformational & embodiment coaching
- Transformational Presence Coaching52 hours
- Deep Transformation Coaching52 hours
- Embodiment Coaching138.5 hours
- Human Potential Coaching20 hours
- Human Potential Organizational Coaching34.5 hours
- Embodied Transformation Coaching23.5 hours
Additional coaching, somatic and facilitation training
Further programmes listed in my 2025 professional profile:
- Needs-Based Coaching65 hours
- Somatic Consensus & Leadership FacilitationLiminal Somatics · 80 hours
- Trauma-Informed Safety & Coaching Modules15 hours
- Nonviolent Communication Intensive160 hours
- Rites of Passage & Nature-Based Facilitation45 hours
- Train the FacilitatorProfac · 40 hours · 2018
- Certificate in TOP Process Facilitation ToolsICA · 40 hours · 2018
Other selected professional development
Additional historical training previously listed on this About page:
- DEEP: Experiential Education, Philosophy, Methods & PracticeKaveri Group of Institutes · one-year programme, 2015–2016
- Certificate in Experiential Education and PracticeExperiential Leadership Institute · January 2016
- Advanced Skills in Experiential PracticeKaveri Institute · May 2015
- Actio Workshop — The Gift of FacilitationCentre for Experiential Education · December 2015
- Actio Workshop — Facilitation as a ToolCentre for Experiential Education · December 2014
- Basic Lab on Human Process (BLHP)ISABS · March 2013
- Personal & Organisational Effectiveness Training — NLP PractitionerSuccess Unlimited · April 2007
- The Neuroscience of LearningLinkedIn · October 2016
- Certified Trainer in Behavioral CompetencyITC Learning
Further professional background is available on LinkedIn.
Coaching supports personal and professional development. It is not psychotherapy, medical treatment or a substitute for qualified mental-health care. Where a different kind of support is needed, it is important to work with an appropriately qualified professional.
A continuing practice
What I try to bring into the room
I value attentive listening, a willingness to question my own assumptions, respect for each person's history and context, and the freedom to choose what is right for oneself. My relationship with nature, contemplative practice and ongoing self-inquiry continues to influence this work.
I do not see transformation as becoming an ideal version of yourself. I see it as developing a more honest relationship with your experience, recognising what matters, and experimenting with how you want to live. Some insights arrive in conversation. Others become clear only through practice.
Whether we work together through coaching or you simply encounter an idea in my journal and reflections, I hope this space offers an invitation to pause, inquire and discover what feels meaningful to you.
For individual coaching enquiries, you can arrange a discovery conversation. For group facilitation and organisational learning, visit Outlife or email [email protected].
Begin where you are
You do not need to have everything figured out to begin.
If you are curious about coaching, we can start with a conversation about what is happening in your life, what you want to explore and whether working together feels like a good fit.
Explore a discovery conversationOr begin with my writing